Bobby Liberatos ‘ 24
Have you seen an unusually high number of new faculty faces this fall?
You are not imagining it. There are 18 new faculty members on campus for the 2021-2022 school year. This is three times the historical number – which, according to Assistant Head of School Seth Low, is around six faculty members a year.
A nationwide issue has developed over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic: teachers leaving their schools and often their profession. The RAND Corporation’s annual State of the U.S Teacher Survey of 2021 found that teachers were heading toward the exits in large numbers. This was largely due to health concerns and fatigue from hybrid/remote learning models.The study also stated that the number of teachers likely to leave their current teaching job increased by 50%. Is the same trend happening at the Frederick Gunn School? Is it causing a surge in faculty turnover?
After the 2019-2020 school year all hiring was frozen. Mr. Low went on to explain, “With a significant amount of students learning remotely, we did not need as many faculty on campus.” This means that this year the large number of new faculty hires was mostly to make up for last year’s pause. “We also added new positions like Chief People Officer this year,” said Mr. Low. Taking into account all these factors, faculty hiring was only “slightly higher” this year.
