A discussion of the Wauwatosa School District’s culture and teacher retention rates provided one of the more jarring contrasts at last week's School Board candidate forum, when two candidates cited two seemingly contradictory metrics.
“We have to address what’s in fact become a crisis,” Christopher Merker said, “and that is teacher retention.” Merker is one of four candidates running as a group known as the 2030 Slate, and he said their group had produced an analysis of Tosa’s teacher retention rates. It concluded, “they’re horrendous,” he said.
Wauwatosa’s four-year retention rate is 57%, Merker said, and at some elementary schools it has dropped below 50%.
A little more than three minutes later in the forum, Lynne Woehrle, the current School Board president and one of three incumbents running for re-election on April 7, emphasized the district’s efforts in recent years to support teachers in their classrooms and to provide competitive compensation. Though not addressing Merker directly, she sought a contrast with his more negative assessment of teacher retention.
“I have different numbers that come right from the district HR department. We had a 90% retention rate in our district,” Woehrle said.
Two numbers. Two very different conclusions. Tosa Forward News took a closer look at where those numbers came from and what story they might tell about district culture, finding that the apparent discrepancy is largely a matter of interpretation and emphasis.