An Open Letter to the Helena School Board

 *Disclaimer: This letter was sent to the school board but also figured the thoughts should be shared publicly so those outside the school system can read what this teacher feels about "phasing up."  This comes from the perspective of a teacher but mainly a parent and doesn't necessarily represent the views of the HEA or HSD.

Good Evening Board Members and Dr. Ream:

Thank you for this opportunity to share my thoughts. 

I email you as a fifth year teacher in this district, the spouse of a 14-year veteran teacher and coach of this district, and - most importantly - a parent of three children in this district.  I have seen this school community from almost every angle, except yours, a position I do not envy nor desire.  You have a difficult decision before you and one that will frustrate a large portion of this community regardless of what you decide.  Please be assured, there is little you can do to change that. 

You can, however, listen to the reasoning, look at the research, then make a decision in good conscience that will benefit the center of our district the most - our children. That is all any of us can do. 

In that vein, I urge you to phase us up to a five-day in-person school week.  We are at a tipping point with our children.  We have done our best to protect their physical well-being but it is time we look at their mental and emotional well-being as well.  I don't say this as a "mushy" teacher. If you ask any of my students, they will be the first to tell you that I'm all about that tough love.  I'm honest with them but also hopeful.  I'm tough but genuine.  I push them but with support.  

I'm not being dramatic or a fear-monger when I say that our students are at the brink. They are surviving but one can only fight that for so long. Survival can and will eventually give way to denial and isolation.  And that can be a slippery slope. 

I do believe we made the right decision to be in the hybrid model for the first half of the year. It hasn't been easy - as a teacher, as a parent, or as students. But we did it.  If we go back to five days a week and there is a spike that forces a school to go remote, we have all the tools in place to continue the education.  If a student has to quarantine, they have the access to join classes remotely to avoid falling behind.  But if we do not go back to five days, I truly fear what will become of many of our students. 

A report was released recently by the 5th largest district in the United States - Clark County, Nevada. I'm sure some of you saw it. They stated they were making the decision to go back to in-person school because of the spike in youth suicides.  In 9 months, 18 children killed themselves. The youngest was 9 years old. That is 3rd grade. In July, they installed a tracker on the school devices and in just a couple short months, they found over 3,000 red flag warning signs indicating a high risk of suicidal thoughts and plans.  Some will want to say "that's not us" or "the kids just don't understand." Please believe me when I say the kids do know what they are doing.  One student - who's suicide plan was flagged by the tracker system and therefore stopped - said "I miss my friends. I just don't have any."

When I read that, my heart stopped.  Because just two hours previously, I sat at our kitchen island comforting my 12-year-old son who said the exact same words. "I have no friends."  My fear is that I will miss the signs and one of my own children will join the hundreds of Montana kids who thought there was no other way, including several my husband and I have personally known at Helena High and elsewhere. Our children are already at the highest risk group for suicides in the nation.  We don't need to exacerbate it. 

I recognize that part of that thought process is typical  middle school development.  I remember thinking the same thing. But I had my peers all around me to show me differently at various moments. I didn't have to hear "In a non-COVID year, this would be different." To them, it doesn't matter the reason. This year is different. Our children are isolated and broken off from half of their friends then told to chat with them on a screen to "stay connected" - the very thing we know continues to isolate and draw them deeper into themselves. 

We have to start emerging and figuring out how to live with this new "thing". I don't dispute its veracity or its danger. But I do recognize a more pervasive and insidious danger for our children if we continue this status quo.  

Please do what you've done so often before: put our students', your children's', best interests at the center of your decision. 

Thank you, sincerely, for your time. 

Meghan Schulte

Something for Nothing - 2020 Election Anthem

 It's very rare if even possible to get something for nothing.  The concept of "free" is an arbitrary one.  An action must be taken in order for the "free" to be received.  

If you win the lottery ("free money!"), you had to buy a ticket. 

If you were given a free car wash from the repair shop, you had to take your vehicle in. 

If your coffee was bought by the person in front of you, you had to first join the line. 

It seems that the idea of free or getting something for nothing has become more prevalent over the years. Why? Where did this come from? How did it become part of the fabric?  I see it in many aspects of life. 

My students feel they should just "get" a grade...which technically they do. But if they have not taken any action, the grade is an F.  

My children feel they should just get food and water and shelter...which technically - yes - that's my responsibility as a parent.  But we do require they complete chores and help maintain the household to make the getting of those things easier. 

Where the idea of getting something for nothing has really begun to burn my shorts is in the realm of society - politics, economics, education.  Election season has only made this idea more pervasive. 

In Montana, we are debating the issues of legalizing marijuana, implementing a sales tax, among the usual battles over various state seats. Both sides have augered themselves into their own ideology with very little budging seeming to happen.  We are also dealing with the same issues as most of the rest of the nation - reforming police forces, funding public education, reducing incarceration rates, updating crumbling infrastructure, and many more. 

The left says "make marijuana legal!" The right says "It will kill our kids."

Our Republican nominee for governor says "Sales tax is great" and our Democratic nominee says "Sales tax is the devil's work." (Not verbatim quotes - just the general gist based on the 110 colored pamphlets I've received). 

These cries fall among other ones we've heard around the world - defund the police, increase mental health care funding, expand medical services, make schools great, rebuild our cities, build roads and bridges, make all areas of America accessible to all...and on and on and on. 

So how do we do it?  How do we get all that...for nothing? 

That's right, we can't. 

Most Americans want similar things.  The 'how' is the sticking point.  But what can't be ignored is that most of these "things" cost money.  Again - can't get something for nothing. 

An action must be taken. 

So let's legalize marijuana and tax the shit out of it with all taxes going to mental health services, hiring social workers, increasing training of law enforcement, and updating our justice systems. 

Let's implement a sales tax with exemptions for residents then put all that money towards public schools and updating the infrastructure in the state and investing in parenting programs so we can all become better parents.

Let's tax gambling machines and put that money towards medical funds and systems to help our residents receive incredible services. 

We can't have top schools, top mental health services, top hospitals, top infrastructure, top law enforcement if we don't do something.  You can't get something for nothing. 

No solution is perfect because every solution involves humanity.  So let's get over finding a perfect solution and work on finding solutions period.  Our state has a population that just skims 1 million.  We do not have the ability to fund our programs through property tax alone.  We are causing harm by ignoring the fact that our pie is only so big and more pieces keep getting cut from it. 

So politicians and policymakers reading this - go do something so we can get something. 

Why Educators Should Make Educational Decisions...

It was with great disappointment that I read Commissioner Heather O’Loughlin‘s Letter to the Editor regarding the current SRO debate in our school district (“We must make evidence-based decisions to support community safety”, Helena IR, July 15, 2020). The myriad of issues and discrepancies presented during the public meeting on July 9, 2020 and in Ms. O’Loughlin’s letter regarding the SROs and Helena public schools can be broken into three distinct categories: the anecdotal examples that were given bordered on slander of our professionals, there was a massive group of stakeholders missing from the public conversation, and - most egregiously- the data was skewed/misinterpreted/miscontextualized.

During the token testimonies of the panelists the ACLU assembled, an individual of the school district was named and misinformation was given out on her role in the anecdote shared by the former student. It was the general understanding of the public present that this meeting was called to discuss the role of SROs in the school not the job performance of individual professionals employed by the district. It can be assumed that since it used the anecdote as part of its argument, the ACLU was fully aware of what the young adult would say and therefore blatantly ignored professional standards of not calling out unrelated individuals just to vent past frustrations. Additionally, several times, classroom teachers were entirely disregarded and SROs were elevated to the level as “first responders in a crisis”. Police officers are trained in first-response but they are not the first encounter a student will have in a time of crisis. The vast - almost exclusive - majority of the time, the first responder to students is the classroom teacher. We are trained to identify telling signs of a student’s current mental state as well as building relationships with students so we can be on alert for any deviations in behavior that may indicate trauma or mental health struggles.

Additionally, through their own ignorance or lack of preparation, the organizers of the meeting made the assumption that all stakeholders had access to the Internet and email necessary to jump into the Zoom meeting in order to participate in the public comment time. They neglected to consider our most impoverished stakeholders and those allegedly most negatively impacted by the presence of SROs. What measures were taken to ensure that everyone who wanted it had access to the meeting? Was there concerted effort by the commission or the ACLU to notify all stakeholders and to provide the easiest access possible to the meeting? Were there community hotspots established to ensure connectivity for those who don’t have Internet at home? Was there access to public computers for those who don’t have computers at home? The city commission and ACLU neglected to involve those parties who were held up as the subject of the meeting in regard to the SROs. Given the circumstances of how we ended our school year, the school district could have been tapped as a resource and partner in how to reach as many stakeholders as possible. But that “oversight” forced a large group of our community to be left out.

Finally, the data cited at the meeting and again in Ms. O’Loughlin’s letter was faulty at best and given through an incredibly biased perspective. In Ms. O’Loughlin’s letter, she states “the [data shows] disproportionate levels of discipline that Black, Indigenous, and other students of color face in the Helena School District...students of color represent 11.5% of total student enrollment, and yet, they face 25% of our-of-school suspensions.” She continues on citing ACLU Montana’s 2019 report “Empty Desks...” staying the aforementioned groups of students “are more likely to be disciplined in school" with the report concluding that this leads to thousands of days missed for those groups of students. This is where the opponents of SROs’s argument breaks down. The police officers present in our schools do not discipline the students according to district discipline policy. They enforce the law and would do so whether physically present in the school or not. If a law has not been broken or if protective custody is not needed, the officers are not involved.

Furthermore, in ACLU’s own report, they recommended various strategies to combat the connection between frequent discipline in school and incarceration rates later in life that range from “banning zero tolerance discipline policies at the state level to arranging classroom desks in a circle, rather than rows” (“Education leaders respond to ACLU Montana report...”, Great Falls Tribune, January 20, 2020). Those recommendations are a far cry from removing SROs with no plan as to what happens next. Concerns have also been raised about the report regarding its scope. The report gathered one year of data, which is not best practice in research, because individual years could have had a myriad of specific issues. For example, in the same article cited above, it was reported that Flathead High School had a senior prank that “went bad” (according to Superintendent Flateau) resulting in 21 students facing two criminal citations each. This was construed in the report as “42 arrests” giving Flathead a total count of 50 arrests instead of a more realistic number of 8. The report also disregarded the fact that the district worked with all 21 of the students to ensure they graduated with their class (low graduation rates was one of the major detriments (according to the ACLU) that suspensions and/or citations can have). The superintendent also stated that the recommended practice of Restorative Justice was being implemented in the district already. Further quotes in the article from various individuals recognize the issue in inconsistency and therefore misreporting of data between the districts and the Office of Civil Rights. 

Ms. O’Loughlin seems to disregard the issues with the report and take the data at face value, which is not how “evidence-based decisions” should be responsibly made. The data contained in the report is also becoming quickly outdated since it is from the 2015-2016 school year and many schools have already made efforts towards minimizing the number of suspensions and moving towards Restorative Justice systems and educating teachers to have more trauma-informed classrooms as well as implementing MBI programs and bringing in CSCT counselors (all recommendations by the ACLU).

Another key fact missing from the ACLU's presentation and Ms. O’Loughlin’s reiteration is that the report does not contain a full picture of all schools in Montana and therefore should not be used as a blanket statement for the entire state. As reported in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle on December 6, 2019 (“Bozeman schools prefer a kinder approach...”), “Bozeman isn’t mentioned in the report, which focused more on problems at schools on or near Indian reservations.” In fact, as part of its efforts to help create safer and more equitable school environments, Bozeman is using a 2019 law to raise $418,000 to go toward four new SROs. And most indicative is that in the actual report that serves as the entire foundation for ACLU's argument against SROs in the Helena school system, under the section titled “Schools With Arrests”, Helena does not appear on the map or in the charts.

The arguments being made to remove SROs are not about our officers at all. They are arguments against systemic racism, broken school systems, and generational poverty as well as arguments against current district administration and practices. The former realities are far too big for one group of city commissioners to tackle, and the latter is far beyond the scope and reach of the City Commission’s duties. Change is absolutely necessary on the former and discussions in the appropriate venues occur on the latter. However, stating SROs create a racist environment does detract from a more reasonable and achievable argument to remove them - the city can’t afford to pay for them.

Why isn’t the commission arguing it from that perspective? It’s been reported that the City of Helena is in a budget crunch/crisis with a nearly $18 million shortfall for proposed projects (“Financing slip-up delays $18M in Helena infrastructure projects”, Helena IR, May 11, 2020). The timing of removing SROs and thus not spending $292,000 on them is convenient. But no one is stating that the City can’t pay for it, which would be a logical and reasonable argument. No one in the educational world would argue finding funds is difficult and not everything we want can be paid for. But budget cuts is not the stated reason SROs should be removed. The stated reason most poignantly made by those opponents (including the ACLU) is that the presence of law enforcement officers in a school promotes a school-to-prison mentality and compounds racism. To solve it, they argue, the funds should be reallocated, not cut.

Certain members of the City Commission are promoting a removal of the SROs from our school in hopes it will resolve the incredibly difficult and complex societal issues that plague our schools, community, state, and nation. They are misleading the public as to the role SROs play in our schools and using them as a scapegoat to avoid addressing the real problems of budget issues and inherent impacts poverty has on our schools and community.

The behavior of the City Commission directly contradicts what they argue. For some reason, the commission feels that it has the right to determine who belongs in our schools and who doesn’t. They are also neglecting the viewpoints of the people who put them in their chairs.

Very few, if any, educators would disagree with the nature of the argument that there is racism present in our societal systems including education and that having students arrested from school is heartbreaking and should be minimized, preferably eliminated, but to paint our educators and officers as being racist and disregarding the mental health of our students is insidious. Very few, if any, educators would disagree that schools need more experts in the skilled arena of mental health issues and crisis management, but to remove one of our only tools without any plan to subsidize that created hole is irresponsible.

If the ACLU would like to work with the district to combat the massive problem of chronic absenteeism which contributes a widening achievement gap, worsening health issues, and higher incarceration rates, they are more than happy to have more partners guiding our students. If the City can’t afford to pay for the SROs because too many projects were approved before the budget was balanced, then the commissioners have a responsibility to acknowledge that. As with most other situations, our district professionals will do our best to fill in the gaps and provide the most cohesive, caring, and safe educational environments for our students regardless of the limitations or unforeseen circumstances.

Parents want to get paid. Let's do it.

Well...I've pretty much had it.  I've tried channeling all the compassion and empathy I could but I'm over it. 

After the third or fourth email/social media post from a parent suggesting they should get paid my salary for the last three months of homeschooling/remote learning and that I should not get paid because the parents are doing my job for me, I just couldn't bite my tongue any longer.  Now - keep in mind that I, too, am a parent of three school-age children.  I get the struggles of keeping kids on task with remote learning and trying to help them complete the work and attend the daily meetings, etc. while also trying to complete my job (though - apparently - some parents would argue I actually haven't done my job. But that's not the point).

But I feel the need to address the pervading underlying issue that is a plague of our educational system.  The system was designed to be broken.

Read that again.

The system was designed to be broken. 

The establishment of our educational system was and is not sustainable.  It does not keep pace with our ever-changing society. Our tax structures weren't built to fund the expanding system (and, thanks to our Secretary of Education, the expanding private school system as well).  But through it all, teachers and support staff try to make it work.

But since the parents want to get paid, let's do it.  Here would be the breakdown.  Note that I'm using the high school level as the example since that is my personal experience.

As a teacher with six years experience, I make around $45,000 per year.  I also have my Master's degree, which adds $2000 to that.  So a total of $47,000.  If we break that down per month (on a 12-month cycle since I opt for that), it is about $3900 per month.  Now, this is before taxes and union fees and insurance costs, etc.  So let's deduct those things and that leaves me at right around $2900 per month.

Now, since it has been /will be almost exactly 3 months since we closed down, we'll use that as our base number.  I also have a student load of 90 students.  So if I figure the amount paid per student per month, it would be $32 per student. 

So for the last three months, our parents have made $128.  Multiply that by however many students in the home.  For example, I have three school-age children, so that would mean I deserve to get paid $384 total for the last three months. 

However, I have also acted as an educational consultant providing materials for our new parent-teachers to use.  Since this is America and our President truly believes in all avenues of business and entrepreneurs and getting paid what you are worth, I gladly will change my job title from teacher to educational consultant.  So - my (former) teaching salary can go to pay the 90 parents of my students.  I will also receive money since I've educated my own children (the $384).  But, in addition, as an educational consultant, I will also earn the starting salary (since this was my first experience with it).  This is between $59,000 and 65,000 per year so let's take the average from there.

If the average is $62,000 per year, that means I would make $5166 per month. Deduct money for insurance, taxes (but not union dues since I'm no longer a teacher!), and we'll say about $3875 per month.  Multiply that by the three months I've been doing it, and that'll be $11,625. 

Direct deposit is fine.

The Fear for the Forgetfulness of Fall

I have a fear for the fall. I want to be back in my classroom with my students welcoming them to the new year. We all know these last few weeks have been hard - hard on our parents, our kids, our teachers, our nurses and doctors, our essential workers, our small business owners, etc. Hard on everyone. No one has not been impacted by the shut-downs and distancing and rules and regulations. We've also seen a lot of heartwarming and hilarious messages about the importance of teachers.

And there lies my fear.

My fear is the human ability to forget.

We will go through 3 months of summer with rules being loosened up a bit (maybe).

New rules will be made.

New blended curriculum will be developed.

New funding structures to pay for the estimated $41 billion need will be written.

And we will be forgotten. If history tells us anything, it's that teacher input will be minimal at best.

For all the celebrity calls for "Teachers should make a billion dollars" (Thanks Jimmy Fallon and Shonda Rhimes) and every other parent out there clamoring for pay raises and expressing empathy for teachers, it will fade after the summer season.

The crisp fall air will welcome a new school year, and after doing it for 2-3 months a summer ago, online learning could be seen as the new "norm" which means the assumption will be teachers can do it.

And we will. Because it IS what we do. We teach. We don't do it for the money or for the accolades or to be celebrated. We do it because we want to play our small part in making the world better by teaching future citizens. It is a calling, a vocation for many of us.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't have a say.

And we shouldn't be forgotten.

We don't need a raise of a billion dollars (though the bottomless wine would be sweet!). What we need is this:

1. Smaller class sizes or more qualified aides [if we ever needed to focus on essential skills and closing gaps one-on-one with our students, next school year will be it.]

2. More school counselors and school psychologists [our students have been traumatized; these individuals will be ESSENTIAL next year].

3. Better school funding structures [this isn't about giving teachers raises; this is about creating sustainable funding structures within our state governments so the education systems can grow without the restraints of fluctuating budgets and political volleyball].

4. Investments in technology and technology systems that WORK, particularly in rural areas [remote learning has only magnified the massive gaps in access to basic services like internet and cell phone service].

5. Investments in education and food programs for families [food poverty and gaps in sustenance and accessibility is real and - again - magnified by the closing of our schools; in addition, parents are not always equipped to address the basic needs of their children so parenting classes and support groups are essential].

Not one of these five things is beyond reach. They are not impossible. But the process gets interrupted by personal agendas and political games.

This fall, please don't forget the teachers. Remember how frustrating it was to sit with your child who was truly struggling because they were confused or felt isolated or were missing the routine of school. Remember how frustrated you were when you didn't understand what the math problems were asking and therefore had no idea how to help your child. Remember how unnerving it was to hear that reports to CPS went drastically down the day the schools closed and what that meant for the kids who no longer had others looking out for them. Remember how truly depressing it was to hear that proms and concerts and sport seasons and graduations were canceled - along with all the memories that accompany that.

Remember how your child's teacher read to them and tutored them and checked in with them (and you) and participated in a parade and developed creative assignments that were outside the box to help teach essential skills. Remember how they turned their in-person classrooms around in (sometimes) less than 48 hours to full on remote learning classrooms with no training or clue it was going to occur.

This summer and fall, when decisions are being made and input is being sought from the community, remember the true, essential needs of our schools and our teachers for our students.

Papers, toenails, and Ella Enchanted

I rebelled tonight.  It was a big moment.  I'm not a rebel.  I'm the opposite.  I'm the embodiment of a rule-follower.  But tonight, I rebelled.

Kind of.

I had assigned a short story for my students to write and hand in before Thanksgiving.  The catch was I was gone the two days before break because I was in Disneyland with my kids and my husband and his family.  And it was totally worth it! (But that's for another post.)

The students handed in their papers, and the bright white pages sat in the basket until I got back into my classroom on Sunday.  At that point, I simply organized them into folders.

And there they sit.

I brought home one period to grade.  I even sat down to do that first before my other home duties while my kiddos were still awake.  Eat the elephant one bite at a time and start with the worst part, right?  Well, as fate would have it, I forgot the code sheet I use to grade, and since narrative writing isn't as common as expository, I don't have those codes memorized. 

So I said, "Screw it."  Well actually, I said "F- it" but I'm trying to clean up the lingo a bit.

I left my grading on the table.

And went upstairs.

And brushed my daughter's hair.

And clipped my boys' nails.

And calmed down the sobbing 4-year-old.

And showered him.

And cuddled.

And read Ella Enchanted to my daughter.

I rebelled tonight.

I chose to be a mom over a teacher.

And it felt great.

Until I see that damn stack of papers tomorrow.

Fuck.

Because there's no easy answer.  There's a hard balance to try to figure out as a mom and a teacher.  I love the advice I get though:

"Just be more efficient."  Great - teach me how!

"If you don't want to grade it, then don't assign it!"  - Yes, because having our students do less work, less reading, less writing is scientifically-proven to help them be smarter and more productive citizens (sense the sarcasm).

"Just put points at the top but don't actually read it." I have heard teens are easily buffaloed.

"It really doesn't matter how quick you get it back to them.  They don't care anyway."  The 20-page short stories my students handed in after revising 3 drafts would beg to differ.


So what to do?  I find it so difficult to get grading done during the day between meetings during preps and copies to make and students to meet with.  I'm jealous of the teachers who can get it done (my husband being one of them!).  I keep saying I should hire an education major to help me grade so they can learn the ropes.  But I struggle with this as well.  They are my students and I should be providing the feedback.  Do I follow the advice above?  That last three aren't very feasible and the first one seems beyond my reach.

So what to do?  For tonight, it's putting the stack back in my bag and trying again tomorrow.

But, damn, that stack of papers is huge!

#teacherlife #backtoschool

This article.  This article got me this week.  I felt ashamed.  I felt ashamed that I help pay their low salaries.  And yet...I'm in their boat.  I'm referring to the cover article from TIME Magazine.  Another feature on the state of teachers in America that will do little to change anything.  But, thank you TIME, for the effort.

Back-to-School pictures abounded Facebook a couple weeks ago, giving me goosebumps as well as ulcers.  The former because it meant my kids were so close to starting; the latter because it meant I was so close to starting!  I never feel ready enough even though I am more ready this year than previous years.  It's like a marathon (which I use as a vicarious metaphor because there ain't no way I'm running that shit): excited when you sign up, some bumps in training, then the day draws nearer and you think "What the F*** was I thinking?"  until a friend pushes your ass over the starting line and you have no choice but to finish.

I try not to wish away summer...or the school year but there are moments both need to disappear.  I realize I'm lucky to stay at home with my kids in the summer but I'm SO tired of having people tell me HOW lucky I am to have summers off and how "family-friendly" teaching must be.  So after reading that article and seeing Back-to-School pics and hearing comments as the year gets underway, I felt a need to explain the fallacies in common misconceptions:

1. "You get summers off!  So nice!"  Summers are not "off" for teachers, for many reasons but for teachers who are parents, telling them they are lucky to have summers off is like telling a stay-at-home mom she is lucky to not have to work every day.  Also, we actually do work in the summer.  I spend a week post-school wrapping up the non-grade parts of my year: organizing binders, prepping units, completing reflections, possibly packing up and moving, filling out work orders and technology requests (then laughing at the absurdity of it), and looking at potential purchases then researching ways to pay for them.  Then there are conferences we are "encouraged" to attend.  They are optional but also make getting the required professional development hours during the school year much more feasible.  Throughout the summer, there are high school camps to help with (or in my husband's case - run).  About the end of June, we have stopped shuffling our children around while we complete these tasks and are ready for summer...

...only to realize we have five weeks left (until football starts) and our project to-do list is long.  Because - who has time to work on those projects during the school year?!  So four weeks are spent rebuilding the deck that is falling off the house and the work is done on our own because it's now mid-July and I realize the three paychecks we received all at once at the beginning of June need to last until the end of September...and we've probably already blown that budget.

So after those four weeks of trying to keep the kids out of my hair and danger while trying to convince them we aren't ignoring them to work outside, we have a week of relaxation...but - again - no money to go anywhere so we stay-cation it.

Then football practice starts with two-a-days which one spouse tries to survive with three kids at home who are bored and who's exhausted because she's been waking up with nightmares about school starting and not being entirely ready!

Then two to three weeks before students actually come back to school, the teachers are back in school having planning meetings and cleaning and prepping classrooms and completing additional trainings.

2.  "You can save so much money teaching!"  It is not a "cheap" profession.  I've had people tell me it must be nice to be a teacher and save all that money (WTF).  It's because we don't have to buy fancy work clothes (because we apparently aren't professional enough to want to dress professionally??) or fly to business meetings (what a drag) or eat out for lunch (golly - what a pain) or wine-and-dine clients (!How horrible) or pay for daycare in the summer (yes, that is nice.  Granted...we don't get paid at all...so there's a trade-off).

I laugh.

Then I explain how many hundreds of dollars I've spent on supplies for my classroom and teaching materials in addition to the hundreds of dollars we pay in camps for our kids during the summer so we can pay more money to go to conferences and clinics to become better at our jobs in addition to the hundreds of dollars we scrape together during the first few days before school when camps are over but we need 8 hours of daycare per day for three days before school starts because we have meetings before students actually show up that our three children can't actually go to.  And remember - the last paycheck we saw was in June and we won't get paid again until the END of September.

3.  "You have built in vacation days and people who will do your job for you when you are gone!"  Just because we have personal days, doesn't mean we can always take them.  I hate when people tell me - you get personal days, just take your vacation!  Let me break this down:  there are a few days throughout the year I have to be gone for professional work days.  I HATE planning for a sub.  There are about three subs that will actually try to do what we've asked them to do.  I've literally had a sub come in, set up his laptop, put in his earbuds and watch Netflix.  These essentially become wasted days for my students because they rarely complete the readings or the writing revisions or the discussion sheets to the video.  Then it's 100 students I need to get back on track.  And it drives me cray-cray when parents pull their kids out for a week for THEIR vacation right before or after we have a school-designated break, like Winter break or Spring break.  Why?  This leads me to #4...

4.  "Can you just help them out a bit since they were gone to Bermuda?"  Most students who are gone for a week vacation don't check the daily updated website for the assignments they are missing nor are their parents harping them to do so because - hey - it's vacation! Meanwhile, I'm at school continuing to teach the other 99 students while keeping track of lectures, readings, and assignments your child has missed because of your vacation.  I know I can just let them sink or swim but the whole reason I'm in this profession is because I HATE seeing kids sink because of shitty parenting choices.  So when the student returns after being gone a week for vacation then another week for break, I schedule time during my "non-contract" lunch and after school to help them catch up...which they may or may not attend because they have six other classes they missed, too.  Meanwhile I'm sitting in my classroom NOT at my house with my own kids because I'm waiting for your's.

5.  "Your kids must love being at the school!  Such a family-friendly profession."  Bringing me to number 5.  Mom teacher guilt is real and ugly.  Teaching can be family friendly and totally un-family friendly at the same time.  My kids love that they have an "in" with the cool high schoolers and have connections with them.  I love that the high schoolers see the real-time influence they have on little minds and hearts.  It benefits them both.  However, my children sacrifice a lot because their two parents are teachers and one is also a coach of two sports.  Time away for practices and games means less time at night for stories and boardgames.  Time spent grading papers means potential eggs and toast for dinner.  Mental and emotional energy spent worrying about why Johnny was so quiet and if Sandra's dad has come back and why James has missed and if they are all okay means that much less energy for our own kids' worries about mean girls and missed spelling words and tough timed multiplication tables.

We got into teaching because we love kids.  We want to see students succeed.  We want students to be told the truth and see examples of adults trying to live honestly day-to-day.  We do this together because we believe that is a valuable role model for students and our children to witness.

But it's not easy.

It is not family-friendly.

Summers aren't off.

When your kid misses, it greatly effects us and our family.

It isn't cheap.

We are underpaid and undervalued - a lot of the time.

So, as this school year unfolds, take some time to read the TIME featured article this week.

Don't tell a teacher how lucky they are (we realize entirely that we are...and aren't).

Buy the damn supplies they've humbly asked you to get.

Get your kid to school on time.

Read to them or with them at night.

And stop pulling them out for a week-long vacation outside break time!

In turn, we will utilize the tools we have been given to keep your child safe, healthy, and learning skills that will better our world for years to come.

Because they are worth it.  Every penny.