Teacher

I have been in the classroom off and on, mostly on for the past 20+ years. I have taught everything from early childhood to high school and most grades and subjects in between. So many things have changed from when I first started, and not for the better. The standards that we are held to have become increasingly difficult to reach and even harder to do on a consistent basis. The work given to us each year grows by leaps and bounds, but our pay has not. The expectations continue to rise and our benefits are decreased almost as quickly as our workload is doubled. But this year, well this year we are asked to do the impossible.

We used to be asked to teach, mentor and inspire. A little bit of class behavior management and that was a tall order in itself. The pay was never very good, but we had respect and support of administration and parents. That began to go away in the late 80’s early 90’s and we were put on the spot if a student acted out, or was failing a class. Many administrators became so afraid of lawsuits around this time that they began to side with parents more and support us less. Free lunch programs were cut and so teachers began feeding students out of their own pockets without reimbursement. It was pretty much expected by us by mid mid year, and we reached deep, provided snacks and paid for lunches. Now it is totally expected. Again, we are not making more but spending more just to go to work.

Then school budgets got cut. Standard testing became top of the list so we could get the funding we actually needed, with no thought given to the schools that were working with inner city students, disabled students, poverty stricken students, and already underfunded programs. Now, if our students could not pass the tests, our jobs would be in jeopardy as well as the funding going toward each individual student would be cut even more. Free lunches were back on, but breakfasts were still cut off. So we were still feeding students. Now teachers were under even more stress and many of us were outwardly crying during heated staff meetings because we just could not do one more thing. Our pay was pretty flat except for the few lucky teachers who managed to get their students to pass, they got a “stipend”. Which did nothing but create deep resentment in the breakroom. We were already stressed and angry due to increasing behavioral problems with no real student consequences and this just added to the overall exhaustion.

Then the nurses were cut. So we were asked to maintain a first aid kit in our desks on top of snacks, and school supplies as parents were often not able or not willing to. School fees went up but that did not really go toward better pay. They go towards things like building upgrades and repairs, athletic equipment, (sometimes) and office equipment. Our technology needs kept increasing and it was teachers who wrote asking for grants to supply our students with the bare minimum. For those who can not or will not pay student fees, they get passed onto the next student in line by increased fees for the same services. Now our school nurses are for medication handouts only as our students are on more and more psychoactive drugs for depression, anxiety, reactivity disorder, ADD, ADHD, psychotic disorders and many more serious mental health conditions. She also has to manage student diabetes cases, tube feedings, colostomy bags and the like. Therefor, if a student gets hurt, it better be bad to send them to the nurse. The rule is stitches or ambulance. Otherwise, we have to take their temps, patch up wounds and talk them out of calling parents if they are ill. This on top of everything else. Nothing has been removed from our plates. Our pay increases have been minimal and we are having to pay for more on our own.

A typical years shopping list has grown by leaps and bounds. But the last two years we have had to provide books for our students as our library funding was cut and the library is now only open two days a week. So not only do we have to provide school supplies, (pens, pencils, markers, paper, colored pencils, rulers, glue, pencil sharpeners, folders, notebooks, erasers, dry erase markers,tape, tissues, sanitizer for every table, clorox wipes…) food for students, first aid kits, books, and our own computers, of course. This is in the hundreds of dollars before you even walk in the door. Usually we need our own bookshelves, file cabinets, storage cabinets, and file folders. Remember most of this we do not get reimbursed for, and our benefits continue to be cut as does support from administrators and parents. In addition, every year we donate to students families for sub for santa, and even staff members who would not be able to afford a holiday on their salary. You can’t afford much for under $40,000 a year. Especially if you have been sick or have a family member ill, or an accident or a wedding, or funeral…you know life things. We do not get holiday bonuses anymore, so all the gifts and money we are pretty much expected to donate come out of our pockets, and away from our own families.

This year, there is more pressure than ever, more expense on our part than ever. We were told we would get a mask. One. One mask. We will not get eye protection at all. They are not upgrading HVAC for HEPA filters, so we are all buying our own air filters with UV light and HEPA filters. These are not cheap. We are not getting reimbursed. We will be buying our own masks for the full week. Of course we need to provide extras for the student who forgets thiers, or who loses it, or breaks it. That cost comes down to us. We will be getting three packages of clorox wipes. FOR THE WHOLE YEAR! There is no word on if we will getting plexiglass shields for between students. Probably not. We are getting a 1/2 gallon of sanitizer for all our students coming into our classes everyday. Our classes are not going to be smaller. Maybe by one or two students, but that is it. So we of course will have to supply our own sanitizer. Then the expectation is for us to start a deep cleaning program in each of our classrooms in the 5 minutes we have between classes, and then at the end of the day, and again before students arrive in the morning. In addition, we have no idea who will be cleaning the common areas of hand rails as our school has three staircases, and three floors. This cleaning is supposed to include door handles, light switches, walls, all surfaces and, of course, bathrooms. When and how we are supposed to do this is up in the air, but it will fall to us. How much of our check this will eat up is yet to be seen.

They are also asking about half of us a day to give up our lunch break because they want students to socially distance at lunch. There is no stipend for missing lunches. In addition, we have been asked to setup a quarantine room for those who have a fever or show symptoms. They are to stay there until they can be picked up by a parent. Which if you know anything about parents, most can not or will not pick up until after the majority of their work day is over. They need the money, so they can’t be blamed really. But this means that someone has to monitor that room, meaning someone is more directly in harms way, in fact as much as a health care worker without the pay. We know parents use us a daycare. We know. We get it in many cases, but we are being asked to put our lives on the line everyday. We already knew we were doing that on some level with school shooters and active shooter drills. Teachers are very often injured by students, sometime seriously injured and we have all literally come to expect it. But this, this is just too much.

When it comes down to it, we are public servants. Can you imagine any other public servant paying to do their job? What if the mayor had to buy his or her own desk? What if the people that work at the health department had to buy office equipment to do the job that they are hired for? But we are expected to do so without batting an eye, or complaining to admin, or asking people to actually pay taxes. We are on the frontlines, with no applause, no catered meals, no notes of encouragement. We are not only putting ourselves at risk, but our entire families. For an average of between $30,000 and $40,000 a year. It is not up to us to save the economy, it is not up to us to raise your children for you, it is not up to us to provide your child with food everyday. Yet it is expected, and so many of us do not have a choice. We wanted to educate to inspire. Now many of us are going to die, trying to step in for all those who have failed your children.

Will the meager life insurance they offer cover the cost of my funeral? Will my final expenses be paid for by the school, or the students family who exposed me? These are real questions that teachers are asking each other. We want to teach. We do. We miss our students, our classrooms and our routines. We do not want to end up hospitalized with no real way to pay the bill. We have been told that we have to use our PTO, (paid time off) if we get exposed or get COVID 19. We only have 8 days for the full year. We need two weeks to quarantine, and if we get it who knows how long we will be out. We were told we will not be getting paid for anything over 8 days. Even if we end up in the hospital. We are told we will have to have our insurance pay for the COVID test if we have been exposed. Our insurance will only cover one test. We are told that if we claim disability it is only short term (6 weeks) and we do not get paid, but at least they will hold our job this school year only. There is no funeral fund if one of us dies. There will have to be a gofundme I am sure. I can only hope that there will be enough of us who can afford to contribute. Now we are told that if a student has had direct contact, we are not allowed to know. They are still allowed to attend school. The numbers of the infected keep rising, now I am looking to try and buy a steam cleaner for tables, table legs and chairs. With all this in mind, I wonder what will the school tell my daughter, or my husband. Will they be angry at me for putting other people’s families first? Will the student who infected me ever know and ever understand what they have done? Will it matter? In the end, It won’t. Because in the end, teachers don’t matter.