Since 2021, NBC6 and Telemundo 51 have joined forces to survey teachers across South Florida.
More than 900 teachers responded to our survey – and the biggest concern, by far, was the difficulty of making a living in South Florida.
Let’s look at other important issues brought up by teachers in the survey.
Whether they work in a Broward or Miami-Dade County public school, teachers overwhelmingly told us they have too many kids in their classrooms.
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“One of my biggest concerns as a teacher is class size. My biggest class is 48 kids," said Kristin Murphy, who teaches at Nova Middle School in Davie. "We’re getting double the kids in some instances, which means double the work, but we’re not getting double the pay, we’re not getting any increase in pay."
These are some of the comments teachers left in our survey:
“Class sizes are humongous. Teachers can't teach with large class sizes. Students are not held accountable for their behavior.”
“Teacher shortage left most of us having to shoulder the load and this impacts students' learning.”
“You like to have maybe a classroom of 20 kids, or 25 kids, but the reality is that you have 30 or 32, because of circumstances,” said Nancy Howard, who teaches at South Dade Senior High School.
NBC6/Telemundo 51 teacher survey
In the survey, 63% of those who responded say they’re concerned with staff shortages, which sometimes lead to overcrowded classrooms.
88% said cellphones should be restricted in school, and 92% are concerned about the impacts of social media on kids.
“Some of them, really the best thing for them is to be off social media because they get really depressed, it makes them super anxious, it’s an age where you want to fit in so much,” Howard said.
One teacher sent this comment, saying, “The impact technology (phones) and social media has on children and young adults. No one reads anymore, except the quick blurb from questionable sources on social media. Children have great difficulty thinking critically and simply thinking (and making decisions) for themselves.”
“It leads to fighting, it leads to a lot of problems that could be avoided if it just wasn’t there,” Howard said.
“The kids are completely distracted by the phones,” said Jen Kaelin, who teaches at Jose Marti MAST Academy.
She banned cellphones in her class last year.
“With the phones locked up away from them, they’re so much more engaged, they’re participating,” Kaelin said.
What about safety? Should Miami-Dade install metal detectors in high schools as Broward has done? 71% of teachers in our survey said yes.
“And I feel safe, I worked in the inner city before this and I felt safe there and you know what made me feel safe? The parents, my kids’ parents made me feel safe,” said Howard.
Are controversial state laws that restrict mentioning sexuality and gender issues impacting teaching? A majority, 53%, said no, but we also received comments like these:
“I am concerned about being able to reach my students against the rising tide of uncertainty, divisiveness, and misinformation that runs rampant in our society.”
“Concerned about the politics continuing to affect the children.”
So it’s clear that teachers face some headwinds, but it’s equally clear that dedication to kids and the satisfaction of making an impact on young lives keeps them on the job.
“The good days and the rewards outweigh those tough days,” said Michael Floyd, who teaches at Jan Mann Educational Center.
Other issues mentioned in the survey include the need for more mental health counselor at schools and concerns about standardized testing taking too much time away from teaching their subjects.
One teacher told us she hopes lawmakers will take our survey results into account when they make education policy.
