After many years of festering anger and frustration, the pot is starting to come to a boil. Teachers and school staff and parents are done. Fed up. We can't handle one more thing.
There are several issues that have been brought into the discussion. Pay is one. The people of the State is Washington asked that teachers get a Cost of Living Adjustment every year. And every year we hear how there's no funding. Another issue is class size. The people of the State of Washington asked that class sizes in schools be lowered so that teachers don't have unbelievable amounts of children in their classrooms and so that they can give the children the individualized attention that so many of them need and crave. We are also fed up with Common Core and testing and the new difficulties that these assessments have brought to educators and students alike. Did you know that the state wants to tie the scores that my students receive on these standard tests to my teacher evaluation? 27% of my evaluation would be tied to how well my students perform on one high-stakes assessment. We are also hoping that the state leaves our health insurance alone and that we have the ability within our district to choose the health plan that we want. I think those are the main points. There are probably more I am not remembering. And as teachers in the state of Washington, we are upset.
So, we voted to strike. A one-day walkout within our district in a sea of rolling walkouts across the state to show the State Legislature that we are serious and need to be listened to. That they need to start funding education. That they need to start treating the teachers and staff and our children like investments into the future of this great state and not afterthoughts in the great juggling of the budget.
So, May 7th was our day. Our day to walkout and take action. And as I fretted and thought about the activities of the day and the time leading up to the vote even, and what was planned, I began to think. And I began to pray. And I may be putting myself out there in a negative light and may be looked down upon by my peers, but the day we sat in that gym and voted to walkout, I voted NO! Selfishly, I thought of my own children at home. I thought of how I am a widowed mom of two little girls that depend on me for their needs and wants. And I thought about the paycheck that I get, and how desperately I need that paycheck, no matter what the amount is. I have bills and a mortgage and debt that my husband left me with and I panicked. And I voted NO. Not because I don't agree that we need change of some kind because we desperately do. But because I need to be paid. I need that job. I need MY job.
So then schedules started coming out about what we were going to do for our walkout. What activities we had planned. And I ignored them...selfishly. I had other plans.
I had plans to take my kids to school. You see, I am a public school teacher. But my children are enrolled in private school. Why? Is it because I don't trust our teachers in CK School District? Not at all! Every year I contemplate bringing the girls to the school where I teach. But I don't. I choose to not only pay my taxes but also to pay tuition for private school. Why? Because I get to drop my girls off at a school that does not strictly follow Common Core. They don't give the kids the Smarter Balance Assessment. They don't do Standards Based Grading. They teach the kids what they want to teach them! They get to teach to their interests and passions, not to a high stakes test! Another reason? Amelia is in a second grade class with 14 students. 14! If she were in public school she would most likely be one of 25! I would drop off my student with a teacher who was underpaid and overworked and most likely pushed to her maximum. So, I choose to drop her off in a classroom with 14 students, where she gets individualized attention, and can grow and thrive in her environment.
I had plans to take my kids to school and pick them up from school. This was more important to me than participating in the walkout. Why? Because I am a teacher. And as a teacher, I am out of the house every morning by 7:30 a.m., when their babysitter arrives to take them to school. Being a teacher, my girls start school around the same time I do, so I don't get to be a mom to my kids and take them to school. And, I also do not get to be a mom and pick them up from school either, so my babysitter picks them up from school, and takes them to dance, and has relationships with the other moms in their classroom. While I am at my school, making relationships with the parents of my students. Do I regret my job choice? No, I am glad that I am a speech-language pathologist and I enjoy getting to know my families. But, when presented with a day that I might get to take my children to school and pick my children up from school, I will always choose them, over walkout activities any day. I am a teacher, but I am also a mom. Being a teacher makes being a mom difficult. And for those that would jump in and say "Well, you shouldn't have had children if you can't take care of them." I say back that I didn't really have a choice. When my husband died, our plans to have a parent at home with them changed, and now I work to make ends meet.
I also had plans to go and see my doctor on the day of the walkout. You see, I have neglected going to the doctor for some time now. It's cheaper if I don't go in and pay copays and deductibles. I also don't have much sick leave accrued so it's hard for me to justify taking sick days when I have to save them "just in case." When you have kids at home, there are a lot of "just in case" things that come up. So, when I heard that we weren't working on the walkout day, I scheduled an appointment to see my doctor, so that it wouldn't impact my time at work.
And about making those ends meet, there have been numerous articles in the newspapers about the teacher strikes throughout the state, and one of the first comments on these articles is always a link to teacher salaries. Being that we are state workers, our salaries are public record. So anyone has the right to be able to look at see what I make. But, before you go and look at those sites, I think there is something you should know. I clicked on the site. I looked up my salary. Did you know that the website says that I make $77,000 per year? Wow! I've only been teaching for thirteen years, so that is a very impressive salary for being just a teacher. But do you know what else that salary is for? That salary is before taxes. That salary includes all of my benefits. That salary does not tell the entire story. Like I said, I get benefits. Did you know that some of our pay goes to paying the premiums for our benefits? Did you know that my copay goes up every year? Did you know my deductible goes up every year? Did you know that our district tries hard to give us pay increases because they value us as teachers, but that those pay increases typically don't cover the increase in our benefits? Did you know that for the last four years, my pay has gone DOWN? Did you know that I have stopped going to regular doctor appointments for myself in an attempt to save money for myself? Did you know that after taxes and all of the deductions from my paycheck that my take-home pay is $3000 per month? And for those that are not great at math my take home salary for a year is around $36,000. Which is almost exactly the amount that I have lost out on over the last six years from not getting my cost of living adjustment. $36,000! A whole year's worth of pay that I have lost out on because when the legistlature is looking for cuts to the budget, they deny us our voter-mandated COLA, and yet can always find the money to give themselves an 11.2% COLA, like the COLA they are getting this year.
But, what about being paid all summer? I don't even work all summer! I'm getting paid for the months that I have off! That is correct. I am. They take my salary and thankfully divide it over twelve months so that I don't have to go all summer without getting paid.
And seriously, you only teach from 8:20-2:35. That's not a full day. You're right! It's not. But I get to school around 8:00. And I typically leave work around 5:00 on a good day. And then I take work home with me. Often, I try hard to be a mom when I get home so we do the regular dinner, bath, bed routine and then I'm up sometimes two, three, four hours working on reports, or IEPs, or evaluations, or planning for therapy for the week. But I only get paid for 7.5 hours a day. I don't get overtime. Or comp pay. So the four hours sitting at home on my computer is my donation to my job, because I love the kids that I work with, and I love being a professional for my bosses so I always make sure that my paperwork is completed.
And don't even get me started on Common Core. The concepts of common core in itself are not bad. Having a common teaching tool to work with across the nation is a fantastic idea. Knowing that the Navy babies that I work with can leave Washington State and move across the nation and see the same standards is fabulous. But, did you know they ruined these concepts by restricting teachers' freedoms to teach what they want? They added in Standards Based Assessments (SBAs) in order to determine if students were learning the Common Core Standards. This assessment is so hard, and so time consuming that many teachers can't pass it, let alone the students that we work with. We have practice SBAs, and pre-SBAs, and run-through SBAs, and we are testing and testing and testing until we can't test our kids anymore. And they are stressed. And teachers are stressed. And the good teaching that has happened in our schools for years and years is out the window because they are so uptight that they are not hitting all of the teaching points of the assessment, that they forget that they are amazing teachers.
And now, 27% (I believe) of our teacher evaluations are going to be tied to the SBAs and how our students perform on this assessment. And for me, who doesn't have a classroom that I teach out of? My evaluations appears to be based off of a building average of how our students do. So, my teacher evaluation will be based off of how well my colleagues prepare their students for the SBA. How is that fair? And just as a sampling, we have been working on various grade levels of SBAs for some time now, since at least the beginning of April. And what stories are coming out of the SBAs? There are stories of how whole classes have persevered and done their very best on the assessments. There are stories of kids who are in tears because they are so stressed about taking this test. I work in special education. My students have a whole range of learning and behavioral and sensory and communication deficits. There's the story from one of my students how he couldn't answer his writing question because it asked him to play out a social scenario. He has Aspergers and didn't know how to answer the questions. There was the student who was so stressed by the question he was given that he clicked on the "end test" button and it finished his test and he could no longer continue with the assessment. All because he was angry and the teacher couldn't help him or she might "breach assessment security." There was the student who got into a fight with his brother on the playground the morning that he took the assessment and he also his the "end test" button and his test was locked out. There was the student who finished his reading assessment in 14 minutes because he randomly clicked answers on the test and didn't read any part of it. But guess what? My ability to continue teaching in this district, and the ability of my peers and colleagues may be impacted by these test scores, because they want to tie these test results to my evaluation. Is that fair? I don't think so.
So, I did not participate in the walkout last week. And I will admit that since that time I have thought and prayed a lot about it and I am ashamed that I did not. I am hurt and angry just like my fellow teachers, but I took the coward's way out and did not participate. I dropped my kids off that morning at school. I went to the doctor. I picked my kids up from school. And I did not participate with my colleagues. And I am sorry to them if I did not show support to them in their time of need. But, I can tell you that I will be there for the next one, because I worry that there will be a next one. The state legislature needs to listen to us! We are losing a battle in the field of education. We are losing children to testing, but we are also losing teachers. Good teachers! Excellent teachers, who can no longer handle the stress of the job. Teachers who cannot passively sit back anymore and watch as our education system crumbles. No Child Left Behind is slowly turning into every child left behind, and their teachers being left behind too!
Many people will read this and be upset or angry, on both sides of the fence. Many of my colleagues will be disappointed in my decisions that day. Many people in the public will think that I am whining and that I am spoiled for wanting these things to happen. And, it is not about the pay for me. It is about the health and well-being of my students, of my peers, and of the educational system in this great State of Washington!
I am a teacher. I did not get into this profession for the pay. I did not get into this profession for the glitz and glamour. I did not get into the profession for glory or honor. I got into this profession to help my students, to teach the kids that are entrusted to me to the best of my abilities, and to carry my students from the point they come to me to being successful in their next point of life. I am a teacher, and I am proud to be a teacher, and I will always be a teacher no matter what my pay is, or what my benefits are, or how much money I lose every year. Unless my evaluation says that I didn't have enough kids pass the SBA in my school. Or unless parents get so fed up with this system that they homeschool their children. I am thrilled and honored that God has chosen me to be called to work in the capacity that I work, but I am quickly seeing that His plan for me may change, and my heart breaks for my students who do not get to opt out of this education system. It is broken, and it is time for change, and I will fight for my students to get what they need to be successful, even if it means someone else picking my own kids up at school those days.
It takes a village...and that village is rallying around it's children! It is time! And I hope you'll join us in educating the public and getting the word out about the misconceptions in education. Teachers are not greedy. We are not lazy. We are not just in this for the pay. We are kind, caring, compassionate, and passionate about our jobs. And we are looking for change for our students! It's time!
I also had plans to go and see my doctor on the day of the walkout. You see, I have neglected going to the doctor for some time now. It's cheaper if I don't go in and pay copays and deductibles. I also don't have much sick leave accrued so it's hard for me to justify taking sick days when I have to save them "just in case." When you have kids at home, there are a lot of "just in case" things that come up. So, when I heard that we weren't working on the walkout day, I scheduled an appointment to see my doctor, so that it wouldn't impact my time at work.
And about making those ends meet, there have been numerous articles in the newspapers about the teacher strikes throughout the state, and one of the first comments on these articles is always a link to teacher salaries. Being that we are state workers, our salaries are public record. So anyone has the right to be able to look at see what I make. But, before you go and look at those sites, I think there is something you should know. I clicked on the site. I looked up my salary. Did you know that the website says that I make $77,000 per year? Wow! I've only been teaching for thirteen years, so that is a very impressive salary for being just a teacher. But do you know what else that salary is for? That salary is before taxes. That salary includes all of my benefits. That salary does not tell the entire story. Like I said, I get benefits. Did you know that some of our pay goes to paying the premiums for our benefits? Did you know that my copay goes up every year? Did you know my deductible goes up every year? Did you know that our district tries hard to give us pay increases because they value us as teachers, but that those pay increases typically don't cover the increase in our benefits? Did you know that for the last four years, my pay has gone DOWN? Did you know that I have stopped going to regular doctor appointments for myself in an attempt to save money for myself? Did you know that after taxes and all of the deductions from my paycheck that my take-home pay is $3000 per month? And for those that are not great at math my take home salary for a year is around $36,000. Which is almost exactly the amount that I have lost out on over the last six years from not getting my cost of living adjustment. $36,000! A whole year's worth of pay that I have lost out on because when the legistlature is looking for cuts to the budget, they deny us our voter-mandated COLA, and yet can always find the money to give themselves an 11.2% COLA, like the COLA they are getting this year.
But, what about being paid all summer? I don't even work all summer! I'm getting paid for the months that I have off! That is correct. I am. They take my salary and thankfully divide it over twelve months so that I don't have to go all summer without getting paid.
And seriously, you only teach from 8:20-2:35. That's not a full day. You're right! It's not. But I get to school around 8:00. And I typically leave work around 5:00 on a good day. And then I take work home with me. Often, I try hard to be a mom when I get home so we do the regular dinner, bath, bed routine and then I'm up sometimes two, three, four hours working on reports, or IEPs, or evaluations, or planning for therapy for the week. But I only get paid for 7.5 hours a day. I don't get overtime. Or comp pay. So the four hours sitting at home on my computer is my donation to my job, because I love the kids that I work with, and I love being a professional for my bosses so I always make sure that my paperwork is completed.
And don't even get me started on Common Core. The concepts of common core in itself are not bad. Having a common teaching tool to work with across the nation is a fantastic idea. Knowing that the Navy babies that I work with can leave Washington State and move across the nation and see the same standards is fabulous. But, did you know they ruined these concepts by restricting teachers' freedoms to teach what they want? They added in Standards Based Assessments (SBAs) in order to determine if students were learning the Common Core Standards. This assessment is so hard, and so time consuming that many teachers can't pass it, let alone the students that we work with. We have practice SBAs, and pre-SBAs, and run-through SBAs, and we are testing and testing and testing until we can't test our kids anymore. And they are stressed. And teachers are stressed. And the good teaching that has happened in our schools for years and years is out the window because they are so uptight that they are not hitting all of the teaching points of the assessment, that they forget that they are amazing teachers.
And now, 27% (I believe) of our teacher evaluations are going to be tied to the SBAs and how our students perform on this assessment. And for me, who doesn't have a classroom that I teach out of? My evaluations appears to be based off of a building average of how our students do. So, my teacher evaluation will be based off of how well my colleagues prepare their students for the SBA. How is that fair? And just as a sampling, we have been working on various grade levels of SBAs for some time now, since at least the beginning of April. And what stories are coming out of the SBAs? There are stories of how whole classes have persevered and done their very best on the assessments. There are stories of kids who are in tears because they are so stressed about taking this test. I work in special education. My students have a whole range of learning and behavioral and sensory and communication deficits. There's the story from one of my students how he couldn't answer his writing question because it asked him to play out a social scenario. He has Aspergers and didn't know how to answer the questions. There was the student who was so stressed by the question he was given that he clicked on the "end test" button and it finished his test and he could no longer continue with the assessment. All because he was angry and the teacher couldn't help him or she might "breach assessment security." There was the student who got into a fight with his brother on the playground the morning that he took the assessment and he also his the "end test" button and his test was locked out. There was the student who finished his reading assessment in 14 minutes because he randomly clicked answers on the test and didn't read any part of it. But guess what? My ability to continue teaching in this district, and the ability of my peers and colleagues may be impacted by these test scores, because they want to tie these test results to my evaluation. Is that fair? I don't think so.
So, I did not participate in the walkout last week. And I will admit that since that time I have thought and prayed a lot about it and I am ashamed that I did not. I am hurt and angry just like my fellow teachers, but I took the coward's way out and did not participate. I dropped my kids off that morning at school. I went to the doctor. I picked my kids up from school. And I did not participate with my colleagues. And I am sorry to them if I did not show support to them in their time of need. But, I can tell you that I will be there for the next one, because I worry that there will be a next one. The state legislature needs to listen to us! We are losing a battle in the field of education. We are losing children to testing, but we are also losing teachers. Good teachers! Excellent teachers, who can no longer handle the stress of the job. Teachers who cannot passively sit back anymore and watch as our education system crumbles. No Child Left Behind is slowly turning into every child left behind, and their teachers being left behind too!
Many people will read this and be upset or angry, on both sides of the fence. Many of my colleagues will be disappointed in my decisions that day. Many people in the public will think that I am whining and that I am spoiled for wanting these things to happen. And, it is not about the pay for me. It is about the health and well-being of my students, of my peers, and of the educational system in this great State of Washington!
I am a teacher. I did not get into this profession for the pay. I did not get into this profession for the glitz and glamour. I did not get into the profession for glory or honor. I got into this profession to help my students, to teach the kids that are entrusted to me to the best of my abilities, and to carry my students from the point they come to me to being successful in their next point of life. I am a teacher, and I am proud to be a teacher, and I will always be a teacher no matter what my pay is, or what my benefits are, or how much money I lose every year. Unless my evaluation says that I didn't have enough kids pass the SBA in my school. Or unless parents get so fed up with this system that they homeschool their children. I am thrilled and honored that God has chosen me to be called to work in the capacity that I work, but I am quickly seeing that His plan for me may change, and my heart breaks for my students who do not get to opt out of this education system. It is broken, and it is time for change, and I will fight for my students to get what they need to be successful, even if it means someone else picking my own kids up at school those days.
It takes a village...and that village is rallying around it's children! It is time! And I hope you'll join us in educating the public and getting the word out about the misconceptions in education. Teachers are not greedy. We are not lazy. We are not just in this for the pay. We are kind, caring, compassionate, and passionate about our jobs. And we are looking for change for our students! It's time!
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