Over the last 5 years, I’ve watched my school go from successful to on the verge of collapse. I don’t know what to do.

I teach at a small charter with about 650 students. I’ve been there since the beginning - I started my student teaching with them 11 years ago, was hired on as a sub the next year, then became a GA the following year. The next year, they created an EA position for me. I worked in that role for 2 years and then was promoted to an administrative assistant role. I did that for 2 years, and then went back to school to get my teaching certificate. That was 5 years ago.<br><br>I remember us being a school that everyone was excited to come to work at. We worked SO well together. We were a cohesive unit, and I’m not sure if it was just because I was in a support staff role, but there was very little drama between employees and departments.<br><br>The students were reasonably well behaved, of course there were the occasional students that were a pain in the butt, but they were few and far are. Most of our parents were incredibly active. They made up a huge percentage of our volunteer hours.<br><br>I started teaching 5 years ago, right when COVID was hitting hard. Things got difficult, but we got through it. I remember being on a call with our administration once a week for the first month, having training on how to use canvas and the online curriculum, and just generally working together AS A TEAM. <br><br>The students were (for the most part) great at adapting to online learning. The parents were super communicative. There were a few students who fell through the cracks, but for the most part we were able to support them.<br><br>2 years of COVID passed, and our district decided to go back to in person. We did that, and the kids did okay (as well as expected). Behavior was a little worse, but not bad. Grading was a pain in the butt, for some reason students had turned into assholes when it came to interacting with teachers - all we heard was how everything was “too hard”. We made it through.<br><br>Last year, we started having bigger issues. Students were getting more violent, parents were being super combative. It was as if they thought we were the reason for all their student’s problems, and if we would just “do better” everything would be okay. The kids were getting lazier, the parents were getting more demanding, and the gap between those who had parental support was becoming a chasm. Most of the kids last year were okay. They were less adaptable, and they were rude.<br><br>THIS YEAR. This year has been absolutely insane. Our current student body is the most violent, lazy, rude I have ever encountered. Our parents are demanding, combative, and generally difficult. I have had more requests for special accommodations this year than the previous 5 years combined. Admin refuses to hire subs, so teachers are ending up covering classes during their planning time, prep, lunch, etc. with no extra compensation. We have had the most calls ever this year - kids threatening suicide, kids who are cutting, kids who have been raped, kids with eating disorders, kids with adhd, ocd, ptsd, tic disorder, allergies, epilepsy, autism, downs syndrome, physical disabilities, mental disabilities, etc. We keep pretending like we are equipped to handle this, when we are NOT. We have a student whose medical condition requires her to have a monitor on her at all times. She will likely die if she has an episode and no one steps in. We had a student with a pacemaker get into a fight… we’ve never had so many students sent to the hospital before. And through it all, the parents are LIVID when we don’t bend over backwards to make sure their kid is treated like the golden child.<br><br>Not to mention how violent and aggressive the students have gotten. We’ve had a stabbing, a student bring a loaded FUCKING FIREARM to school, a student bring a knife and threaten to stab another student, a student pin a teacher to a wall and INJURE them. Students are HITTING teachers. Students are grabbing teachers. We had an incident where a kid punched a teacher in the face and got sent back to class. I could go on and on with examples.<br><br>Our teaching staff is burning out at an incredible rate. We have teachers who are good friends of mine who are contemplating quitting teaching all together, not just leaving the school. None of our staff is happy anymore. And the students can feel it. <br><br>Over the last 5 years, I’ve watched us go from functional to barely holding on for dear life. We are drowning. The kids are drowning. And I don’t know how to save us. <br><br>How do you save a dying school?