Something strange is afoot in the town where I grew up. The Swampscott Reporter has revealed that “just over 25 percent” of all the teachers at the high school are leaving this Fall. Almost all of them are taking jobs someplace else in Massachusetts.

In a letter to the editor, two of the teachers (the only two who are retiring) explain what’s going on. Guidance counselor John Solazzo said:

I’ve been around a lot; I’ve seen a lot. I’ve worked with many administrators. I find the good administrators have trusted and respected the faculty and have communicated with them effectively. The level of trust is so important. In the last two years at SHS, I have not seen any of that. Last year the principal and the superintendent have communicated poorly. They didn’t create any sense of trust in me or in the faculty and this situation was very difficult to go through this year.

And retiring history teacher, Kathleen Solazzo added:

I will not miss the lack of sincerity of the administration. I found in trying to establish a rapport with the administration this year that what was said and what was done were two totally different things…Swampscott High School had such a good reputation when I first started working here. But in the last five years, it has had three principals and three superintendents. If I had stayed, It would have been four principals. This lack of consistency and continuous poor leadership will be the death knell for this system…Thanks to Swampscott for letting me teach your kids. Your kids are great. It breaks my heart that the school is in the shape it’s in. Your children deserve much more.”

25 percent are gone. Can a little town like Swampscott — which also happens to have real-estate prices that prevent young couples from moving in (you know, like the people who are teachers?) — survive such a brain drain? One of my best friends is a teacher there, and despite the fact that he knows the system is screwed right now, he’s a part of the 75 percent who are staying. The question I want to ask, though, is whether he’s staying because he has faith that the system will right itself — rather, that the people will right the system — or if it’s because he’s a young teacher and he needs a job.

While I hope it’s the former, but I suspect as I do for most of the teachers who have stayed, that it is the latter.