SHAWNEE MISSION EAST 7500 MISSION ROAD PRAIRIE VILLAGE KS 66208 DECEMBER 1, 2025 VOLUME LXVIII ISSUE 7
THE
DWINDLING FLAME
Teachers experience burnout as district oversight, large class sizes, student disrespect and AI usage increase
T
*names changed to protect identity
HE BLANK STARES of
25 students were the last thing she needed. For months, teacher *Amber Konrad had been struggling. Struggling with the question of: Does anyone care if I try? “I felt like no one saw me and no one recognized what I was going through,” Konrad said. “Admin tells us all these nice things about how much they like us and appreciate us, and blah, blah, blah, but [they’ve] actually never, ever come up to me and told me I’m doing a good job.” Students? Treated her class as a chore. Her friends? Tried to convince her to quit. But she couldn’t. She wasn’t ready to walk away from the job she fell in love with
A LOOK
INSIDE
04 NEWS
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more than a decade ago. Konrad went into teaching thrilled about the idea of being paid to work with high-achieving students in a “community of expectations.” But after more than 10 years of teaching a room of students who only wanted a grade, Konrad found herself meeting with a therapist and napping two to three hours every day after school to cope with the task of educating the uninterested. Burnout has always been a part of teaching. Konrad said that in the past five years, it has become more common than ever. A Google Form survey sent to all teachers and administrators received 30 responses and 28 teachers across all departments said burnout is an issue. These responses reflect national
14 FEATURE
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trends. According to a National Education Association teacher survey, over 90% of the teachers who responded said burnout is a serious problem. Teachers are burnt out because district policy and curriculum changes don’t reflect their perspective, according to multiple survey responses. Teachers are burnt out because large class sizes are forcing them to spend more time grading. Teachers are burnt out because students, instead of investing in their education, treat classes as something they have to do to graduate. Teachers are burnt out because artificial intelligence is forcing teachers to police technology usage.
continued on pages 16-17
28 SPORTS
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