A copy of this note was sent to all members on January 16th.
Hello Everyone,
I’m writing with some news.
On January 27, 2023, TeachersConnect will go into hibernation for an as-yet-to-be-determined period of time. Let me break this down for you:
- “Hibernation” means that The Community will not be accessible to aspiring and practicing teachers like you. When someone navigates to teachersconnect.online, instead of viewing the log in page, a message will appear that says that TeachersConnect is unavailable.
- “As-yet-to-be-determined” means that we don’t know how long the site will be in hibernation. We’re looking for the right new home for The Community from among school districts or other organizations and companies that nurture aspiring and practicing teachers.
This was an extremely difficult decision. As you might imagine, running TeachersConnect is costly. It requires fantastic and highly-skilled human beings to build the technology and nurture the spirit and remarkable energy of the TeachersConnect community. Those costs were putting significant stress on the business. This week, after some thoughtful brainstorming and painful consideration, we made the decision to take the site down.
We wondered about keeping the community open without employing the humans who power it, but it’s really not an option. We hear consistently from you that one of the things you most appreciate about TeachersConnect is the safety–that you can be honest and vulnerable, sharing your victories and defeats without fear of judgment. Without the people who model and support the safety guidelines, TeachersConnect would not be TeachersConnect.
So what’s next:
- At some point on or soon after January 27th, The Community will no longer be available.
- We will publish 1-2 more TC Today emails with tips for making the most out of the community before the 27th.
- We’ve already begun the work of looking for the right home for TeachersConnect, and we’ll continue that work in earnest over the next several months. Our goal is for the hibernation to be as brief as possible.
I’m very sorry to deliver this news. Together, you’ve made over 30,000 contributions to the TeachersConnect community! You’ve shared the keys to passing critical teacher tests, ignited new ideas for teachers and students, and given folks the motivation and impetus to return to school the next day during those moments when things felt overwhelming. You’ve brought joy and confidence to tens of thousands of educators. What a community; what an impact!
I admire you and appreciate you deeply for your work with students. We look forward to working with you again as we seek to get TeachersConnect back out to the world ASAP.
Take good care, and be in touch with me and with each other for feedback, questions, and ideas.
Dave
