“I think that there are things that administrators are responsible for when it comes to workplace happiness and then I think that there are things that we are responsible for.”
“There was a pre-pandemic phase and then there's the post-pandemic. I had a really strong and supportive administration (….) That administrator—she made me feel like I was in high school again. I was like, ‘Oh, I want to be like that when I grow up,’ and I fan-girled. That was the teacher that you would buzz around. You would just walk around a little bit to see if they'll strike up a conversation with you. So I had someone I looked up to. [And I had] my best friends in the whole world, who are incredible teachers and amazing humans and who I'm proud of and proud to know (…) They're so good at what they do. And all of the kids know that we're close. And it's our school psychologist. It's our school counselor. It's our librarian (…) It's the high school English teacher. And it works so well because we help each other out (….) It's this web of support that has contributed to my happiness.”
“Now, post-pandemic, we've had some different leadership. The [previous] administrator […] became superintendent. She retired. [The principal we have had since then] is tired and he doesn't really like teachers anymore. He does things like say ‘Your happiness is not my responsibility. I don't want to celebrate a staff that doesn't show up for work’ (….) The absentee rate has gone up 100% since Covid. We're not going past our allotted days contractually, but we're using them. People are really upset. But also we're under understaffed. We're under-resourced. We're covering classes. We're not getting lunch. And so we're tired. And we also now have kids.”
“So I have felt like I've had to do more work on my happiness in the last few years, and my friends are tired (….) So we do a lot of going for walks together.”
“[Post-pandemic] we lost a lot of the community and culture-building. I think all school districts have. I don't think it's just mine (….) But now, I know how to throw a party. And I have friends who are good at this and good at that. And so we kind of combine forces. We've done our own committees, even though our principal is kind of being a dud right now—I love him, he's a good man, but he's being a little bit of a dud right now. And he doesn't like us. He likes me. And so we're kind of taking over—we need to. We need to get back to this. It's tiring and it's more work, but it hasn't taken away from the meaning of the work. And I think that if you can hold on to that, that'll get you through. I think if you can create some strong culture.”
“And that's what's keeping us happy.”