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Oh man, as a fellow Middle School teacher I wish you well and total get where you are coming from. Disrespect has gotten awful in my school as well, but I imagine I have it pretty good compared to other districts.
My buddy I teach across the hall with and I have a (joking) plan to start a "School of Hard Knocks" where we are basically allowed to give back the disrespect to kids what they try to give to us.
I'm sure every generation says the same thing, that the ones beneath them are worse than our own. I've been in it 18 years now and I'm starting to get burned out earlier in the school year than I ever have before. I've started thinking about other possibilities for my work life.
It comes down to the current generation of parents not wanting to discipline their kids and instead be their buddy so they are never upset or sad. Most kids will take as much as the adults give them so they learn to play their parents' hesitance to discipline to get the things they want (which seems to be nothing more than time to lay around and **** up on their phones). That expectation carries over to school and even in the face of teachers who don't allow such nonsense it is a constant battle of disrespect because the consequences are either not severe enough or the parents take advantage of fearful and soft administrators in order to once again pave the way for their kids by having the consequences diminished or removed all together. Then we're told to try to try to be softer and more understanding. It's ridiculous.
Having said all of that there are still a lot of great kids and families I have the pleasure to work with that put a smile on my face and keep me in the building so I'm not quite where you are yet. Though I'm starting to see the day coming.
But I completely understand you wanting out and don't blame you one bit. If you are able to find work that makes you happy and allows you to reasonably maintain the lifestyle you've established at your current pay step it seems like a no brainer to me.
Good luck!
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