“Every single teacher that has left us, it is a tough decision for them,” said Doug Newington, superintendent of Climax-Scotts Community Schools, where Leep was a popular teacher until quitting last June.

“But when it comes down to it, you have to look at the profession and which direction it’s headed.”

Leep earned his teaching certificate from Western Michigan University, and took a job at Climax-Scotts Junior-Senior High in Kalamazoo County, in 2006. With dual teaching certifications in math and English, he taught both subjects to kids in middle and high school. He volunteered to teach night school and was an assistant football coach.

There was a job satisfaction that came with influencing young people’s lives that went beyond a paycheck. Then again, satisfaction didn’t pay the bills for his growing family. After 11 years and a master’s degree, Leep was earning about $50,000 a year to support his wife and two children. In early 2017, Leep decided to apply for a part-time job at a Chick-fil-A opening in Portage.

“The manager looked at my application and said, ‘Why do you want to work here?’” recalled Leep. “I told him, ‘Honestly, I need a second job. I need the money.’”

For four months, Leep caught a ride with a friend at 5:30 a.m. each day from his Kalamazoo home to get to Climax-Scotts Junior-Senior High School, where he’d discuss the novel “Brave New World” one hour and linear programming the next.

“I’d get home at 4:30, take a nap for an hour, then go to work at Chick-fil-A till midnight,” Leep said.

He worked in the kitchen, breading chicken breasts in a flour mixture and frying them in peanut oil in a pressure cooker.

“I was working 80 to 90 hours a week,” Leep said.

Last June, Leep was offered a full-time position as general manager at the restaurant. He left the chair and the school supplies he’d paid for himself in his classroom of 11 years, and walked away from teaching.

Michigan’s teacher turnover isn’t unusual. The state was slightly below the national average for educators leaving the profession in 2012-13, the last year national data was available. And the rate isn’t increasing: the same percentage of Michigan teachers left the classroom in 2004-05 as in 2016-17.

Still, when one in 12 teachers leaves every year, it stunts learning. In general, teaching skills increase for at least the first five years a teacher is in a classroom. Veteran teachers like Leep often are replaced with teachers straight out of college. Students typically learn more in the classrooms of veteran teachers.

What could keep an experienced educator like Leep in the classroom?