In 2024, Kit Kresky was a teacher for the sixth grade at an alternative school for children who had previously exhibited behavioral issues. This school was a standard, licensed public school in the state of Ohio, but mostly taught kids with “high behavioral needs.”

During the school year, a student who was struggling was outside the classroom, screaming in the hallway. 

“When I went to grab her hand so she would go take a walk with me, she took my hand, she bit my thumb, and now I have nerve damage in my thumb,” Kresky said. “She bit me so hard I had to go get a tetanus shot.”

Another day, Kresky took a student to what staff called the “safe room,” a room with padded walls aimed at keeping aggressive students from hurting themselves and other people. Kresky said she took this student to the safe room and sat down with him. She said she tried to help him calm down.

“He told me, ‘Tomorrow, when I come to school, I’m gonna bring a can of gasoline, I’m gonna bring matches and I’m gonna light this whole place on fire,’” she said. “This was a 9-year-old.”

Kresky said he then made further threats of violence. A DePaul researcher says these types of incidents are increasingly common. 

Susan McMahon, a DePaul psychology professor and American Psychology Association researcher, found in a study published last year what she called “crisis-level” rates of violence against K-12 school teachers. McMahon’s task force maintains updated information on the issue as violence and aggression against educators remain on the rise.

“There is a lot of new information out there,” McMahon said in an email to The DePaulia, “including a peer-reviewed article in the American Psychologist.”

McMahon and the APA’s Task Force for Violence and Aggression Against Educators and School Personnel also found that 57% of teachers said they were considering quitting their positions after Covid-19 restrictions in the classroom ended. 

“Heightened societal distress … has further impacted educators’ well-being and intentions to leave the profession,”according to a report from McMahon and the task force. Teachers had the highest intentions to transfer or quit out of all school personnel surveyed.

McMahon believes the current amount of teachers choosing not to return to work in the classroom may be due in part to the levels of violence they experience while on the job, and Kresky agrees. 

“I was filling out maybe 10 incident reports a day,” Kresky said. “I was supposed to be co-teaching with another teacher, but she quit within the first two weeks of the school year because it was so difficult, and she was getting injured every day.”

Though Kresky works in public schools in Ohio, schools across the country — and even the world — have been impacted, including in Illinois. Chicago Public Schools reported a 26% rise in violent crimes in 2023. The APA Task Force also has called school violence a “global epidemic.”

Zoë Stephan, a private school teacher in Miami, Florida, said she left one position halfway through the 2022-2023 school year. 

“It was definitely a burnout thing. I was feeling overstressed,” she said. 

Stephan said the turnover rate at her new school is also high. Many teachers only last a year or two. “There are a lot of newer teachers who enter the profession and then immediately bounce off,” she said.

McMahon, the DePaul researcher, believes burnout and anxiety aren’t the only reason for current teacher shortages. 

“My sense is that the number of young people going into education to become teachers is down,” she said.

Stephan believes administrators can make things easier on teachers, both by serving as stronger intermediaries between parents and teachers and by easing instructors’ heavy workloads. 

Stephan said fewer responsibilities and less pressure to manage every facet of school life would make her job less overwhelming. For her that would mean smaller class sizes, less at-home preparation work, and more help in the classroom.

McMahon’s study proposes a few “research-based solutions” such as stronger supportive resources for teachers and enhanced organizational functions.

In the meantime, Stephan said she still really enjoys her job. She added that she just wishes her compensation and support reflected how difficult and important her job as an educator is to students’ futures.

“I love working with kids. I like working with students,” she said. 

Related Stories:

• Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei’s death shines a light on domestic violence
• PlayStations, Lunchables, and Beyoncé: DePaul University Library touts new and improved offerings in the new year

Stay informed with The DePaulia’s top stories, delivered to your inbox every Monday.