School districts across the United States are facing a teacher shortage that has the potential to become a national crisis. While teacher attrition rates prior to the COVID-19 pandemic were high, the pandemic and its aftermath have exacerbated the problem. The number of teachers leaving the profession continues to increase at an alarming rate. This qualitative, narrative study examined the role that building-level instructional leaders play in mitigating teacher attrition. The leadership style, characteristics, and traits of public school, secondary leaders were examined from the perspective of nine high school teachers who have each been in the profession for over 10 years. The study participants are currently employed in urban, suburban, and rural school districts in Eastern Pennsylvania and were interviewed using a semi-structured interview process. In addition, this study examined the national conversations on the social media platform, Twitter. The qualitative data analysis tool, MAXQDA, was used to analyze the sentiment and word frequency of six months of EduTwitter data. The results of the study identify actions and characteristics of school leaders that work towards creating an environment in which teachers feel valued, supported, and encouraged, both during critical situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic and normal circumstances. The findings and recommendations from this study provide suggestions for improving principal certification programs and school leadership professional development of public school secondary building-level instructional leaders with the intent of retaining existing teachers. This research contributes to the body of knowledge with respect to mitigating teacher attrition and the factors that work toward that goal. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]