During the first quarter of the 2021-2022 school year, many teachers left their positions. While this affected multiple departments, it’s had the heaviest impact in the World Language department.

Patricia Gonzalez, the department head for World Language, has had to inform students that due to the lack of Spanish teachers the students will have to choose between dropping the class or taking credit recovery to maintain credit for taking that class, which is not ideal.

Freshman Janaay Tait, who is one of the students currently taking credit recovery, is not thrilled with the situation.

“I hate it, it’s very frustrating.”

Teachers understand that while credit recovery is seen as a good idea, most students prefer to have a real learning experience their first year back in the classroom after nearly two years of learning from home in front of their computers. Students dislike credit recovery because it lacks what they need in order to successfully learn a new language.

Gonzalez understands the struggles the students are going through, but still believes that it is a better option than dropping the class because students will still have the credit they would’ve received if it were a normal class.

“Learning online is not ideal, [students] are just coming back into school.”

Thomas‌ ‌Alteiri believes that the pressure from Danbury High School is the main drive for the resignation of most teachers.

“[It’s] really important to understand that a teacher’s time and what’s on their plate is finite. It factors big into teachers burning out.”

Teachers in the World Language department are now experiencing additional challenges that add more stressors to their plate. Due to these departures, World Language teachers had to take on an additional class.

The stress of health management also plays a factor due to teachers having to worry about not only their safety, but the safety of their students during our first year fully back in in-person classes in two years.

Even though there are effects of COVID on the staff and teachers, the turnover rate has stayed consistent from before the pandemic. High school teachers are already dealing with a lot of stress and they get new things added to their lists frequently, without getting anything removed.