Category Archives: Current Affairs

Support Strikers Even If You Aren’t Sold On The Idea

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Current Affairs, Parent Involvment

Sometimes, you don’t realize how much you need a hug until someone reaches over and gives you one. Sometimes, you forget to hug the people closest to you and say “thank you.” Anyone who became an educator knows this is part of the deal. We don’t become teachers or counselors for the praise. We do it because we believe in community and the power of education to change lives. We believe our work makes the world a better place.

But for many public school educators this summer has presented a challenge to the “Why” of our work. By now, you’ve seen or read the news about education association contract negotiations. When the legislators finally agreed to put money towards funding the McCleary decision last spring, districts across the state celebrated. They also began to grapple with what the new funding would mean in terms of teacher salaries and program development. Simultaneously, education associations across the state began re-negotiating their contracts, specifically focusing on compensation. The purpose of this post isn’t to explain the ins-and-outs of the work (start here if you’re feeling wonky and listen to Nerd Farmer & Citizen Tacoma) but what I am going to ask you is to support the educators in your community.

We may disagree on the way McCleary funds should be spent locally or what percentage should go to educator pay. Perhaps you feel the whole thing is such a confusing mess. Regardless, it’s critical that you support your public school staff.

I’m part of Tacoma Education Association and we’re headed into day three of striking. Every box of donuts, case of bottled water, tray of cookies, baggie of fresh fruit, or cup of coffee dropped off to striking educators, is like a giant hug of support that means more than any pictures, hashtag, or blog post could convey.

As I reflect on the last few days and look through the countless photos of educators from across this state, I’m reminded of a couple things. Teachers aren’t perfect. We have our faults. We mess up. But because research shows that an effective classroom teacher is the number one in-school factor impacting student achievement, we have to make sure that the best teachers are working in our public schools. A competitive compensation package is one way to ensure this.

If that doesn’t persuade you, then think about the individuals. The person in the red shirt holding a sign is the same person who taught your son to read last year. The lady in the capris is the same person who comforts your child when he falls down on the playground. We are the people who wipe snotty noses, help tie shoes, celebrate SAT scores, wrestle through career choices, and cheer your baby on from kindergarten to senior year.

Support your educators any way you can.

 

OUR Mandy Manning

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Current Affairs, Teacher Leadership

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks. I got moved out to a portable this summer, and the new carpet didn’t get installed until August 27.

By that week, of course, we were doing teacher work days, so I did trainings and meetings all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; afterward I stayed late each night working in my room. Then I worked in my room all day Thursday and Friday and Saturday and Sunday and Monday. The day after Labor Day we had more meetings and that night was Back to School Night.

Of course that week, last week, was the first week of school. I think the earliest I made it home any night last week was about 7 pm.

This morning I got up early and worked on school work until about noon.

I talked to my mom. I did some cleaning.

I decided late this afternoon I could sit down, put my feet up, and do some reading. I picked up the neaToday, which I hadn’t opened since it arrived.

About five minutes into my relaxing moment, I saw the headline for the article “Meet 2018 National Teacher of the Year—” and said, “Wait a minute! That’s OUR Mandy Manning!”

Holy COW!

National Teacher of the Year!

I am so impressed, and so proud of her!

She’s OUR Mandy Manning. Washington State National Board Certified Teacher, Mandy Manning.

I immediately tore out the page so I could share it with everyone I know.

She’s OUR Mandy Manning. Regular contributor to “Stories from School.” Inspiring writer. Voice for us all.

I called my mom back so I could share the news with her. She’s a retired teacher, and she loves hearing good news about teachers.

She’s OUR Mandy Manning. Teacher extraordinaire. Compassionate advocate for students.

I want to be more like her. And isn’t that what the National Teacher of the Year is supposed to be—a model for all of us?

Congratulations, Mandy! I’m excited that you get to share your ideas with the rest of the country!

Janus: Thoughts from an Association Leader and a Self Proclaimed Supreme Court Nerd.

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Current Affairs, Uncategorized

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS for us Supreme Court watchers) released their opinion on the case of Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31.  For the majority and dissenting opinions visit: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-1466_2b3j.pdf.

Janus, as it’s popularly known, reverses an earlier decision (Abood v. Detroit Board of Education) made by the Court in 1977.  In Abood, the Court ruled that a public sector union could charge an agency fee to any person who decided not to be a member of the public sector union.  This fee is charged for the work that the union does on behalf of all of it’s represented population, not just it’s members. For example, when I, a local association president, go in to negotiate our  collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the school district, that CBA addresses the work environment, compensation, and benefits for all teachers, counselors, school psychologists, instructional coaches, etc.. not just the dues paying members of the union.  This fee provides our local union officers compensation for the work that we do on behalf of the fee payer. In Washington State, agency fee payers can complete paperwork asking for reimbursement for any of those fees that have not been spent on their behalf but paid out for/toward activities/benefits that only members of the association can access (such as members only scholarships).

This isn’t the first time a case has come to the Court on this issue. Two years ago I wrote about the Frederich case here https://storiesfromschool.org/understanding-the-frederich-case/. This might help break down the challenges to a case like this and address some legal lingo associated with Janus, as well.  The Court ruled 4-4 in Frederich (Associate Justice Scalia had recently passed away and his seat remained vacant, hence only 8 members of this court).

So, two years later, with a Court of nine, the question posed in Janus is whether requiring an individual to pay the agency fee to a union is a violation of the individual’s First Amendment right to free speech.  The argument made by Janus and ruled by the majority of the Court (5-4) was that Janus’s requirement to pay the fee to a public sector union represents his agreement with speech that he may not condone.  Therefore his right to free speech was infringed upon by having to pay the agency fee.

So, on Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued their opinion and here’s what it boils down to:

  • Agency fee payer status does not exist in public sector unions.
  • Some teachers may choose to no longer become members because they want to save some money.
  • Those non members have lost a right to union representation (including legal representation) in any disciplinary meeting unless (according to footnote 6 on page 22 of the decision) the nonmember asks for representation by the union. Then, the union may charge a fee for that grievance procedure.
  • Fewer local dollars coming into the local union ultimately means fewer funds available to do the work.  

Why is this of concern?  Well here’s what our local association does:

  • We provide 3 scholarships to local graduating seniors.
  • We provide money in the form of grants to support classroom teachers. Our teachers use this to buy library books, guitar strings,  classroom snacks, materials, calculators, copy paper, student novels, etc…
  • We provide scholarships to our members.  This has purchased: robots for student use, guitars, attendance at college classes, and professional development at our local ESD.
  • We provide dinners and refreshments for evening parent teacher conferences so teachers can be fed when they have to stay at school late.
  • We bargain benefits, work environment, employee rights, and now, salaries.

These dollars support teaching and learning 

It’s not that I can’t see the argument held by the Majority in Janus. I’m an AP Government teacher who teaches civil liberties and the judicial process to my students each year. While it might be a fair argument to make, as a government and politics teacher, I learned a long time ago to see competing arguments as just that.  As a teacher and advocate for civic engagement, I instead encourage my students to embrace questions instead of opinions. So here are my questions:

  • What will bargaining look like now?
  • Will our local members remain committed to one another?

And here’s the big question:

  • Will our association continue to serve as a beacon of teacher leadership and strong student advocacy if resources are depleted?

Letter to a T-shirt in the Bookstore Window:

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Current Affairs, Education

Dear T-shirt:

I agree with you we should Celebrate STEM! But I could do without the exclamation point.

Don’t get me wrong, I like science, technology, math and the like. I seriously like electric light, heat, washing machines, and toasters. I just think your exclamation point is a bit much. And, yes, I am an English teacher and hold my own biases, but I, honestly, am as interested in dark matter as I am in doppelgangers. I love physics, but just can’t do the math. What I’m concerned about is the implied hierarchy, or prominence the exclamation point insists upon.

The exclamation point is not often used (or is discouraged) for good reason. It has power. Implies strong feelings or shouting. It is an exclamation. An imperative. All of this implies STEM should or has the right to eclipse other subjects. What would happen if you were surrounded by fellow T-shirts with similar emblazonment? Celebrate Art! Celebrate Humanities! Celebrate Social Sciences! That’s a lot of imperatives.

Truth is, I like you, shirt, I really do, and I’m concerned about you. I actually think the exclamation point is not good for you either. I don’t think everyone should learn Calculus. Or learn how to code. Or learn how to scan a poem, for that matter. I don’t think everyone should do all of these things, because everyone is not necessarily suited to them. Dabbling is great, as it allows for discovery, and everyone should dabble (hence my reading in theoretical physics, and my coding classes, etc.) as it helps cull us into the people we will become (or are constantly becoming). I guess what I am saying is that everyone should get to explore each element of education as they wish, and that I wish our culture could mellow out about it. STEM isn’t a celebrity, why treat it that way linguistically?

I recently read that in Finland students get as many hours of music instruction as they do math. It is just the way things are; the subjects are integrated—as subjects are naturally. For a grand example, see Malcom Gladwell’s Revisionist History episode called Divide and Conquer where he makes a case for Texas’ right to become five states thus multiplying their influence in all elections is already granted by congress all because of a semi-colon.

All this cultural campaigning for STEM is odd to me as it is already central to most school curriculum and this campaigning mostly means to make it central to funding and student interest. It helps create access for students, and I respect that. I also dream of an education system that stops trying to prepare students for “jobs we can’t imagine” (what else has education always done?) and just educates them in a way that allows them to become the best version of themselves, and apply transferable cognitive and physical skills to whatever task is before them. I believe if we make students interested enough in their world, and give them skills to discover things independently and collaboratively, we’ll have all sorts of weird and wild Einsteins.

I love the weird and wild Einstein. I love him because he played the violin, translated poems, loved to sail. I love him because he came up with his theory despite most academics not wanting to work with him, that he just could not let his curiosity rest and drum away hours at the patient desk, and that most people don’t understand his theory and revere him as a genius anyway. I love that he saw through that, that the ticker tape parades amused him and were not something he felt he deserved. I love that he had trouble connecting to his son. He was a man and the humanity of him is loveable. I love that I’m fairly certain he would have similar concerns about your exclamation point, T-shirt, that he would argue everything is connected, and relative, and the things most imperative to our culture and our education are not tied to any subject, but to the humanity that lies behind our growing, learning, and living.

Sincerely,

English Teacher
(wearing an Emily Dickinson T-shirt with a line portrait of the poet and the quote “Forever is composed of nows.”)

Another School Shooting

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Current Affairs

I read those words and felt like I’d been punched in the gut.

A girl at Santa Fe High School in Texas said she wasn’t surprised. “It’s been happening everywhere,” she said. “I felt — I’ve always kind of felt like eventually it was going to happen here, too.”

After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and after all the student–led protests, it felt like we might be building some momentum. Just this week I got an email from David Hogg, one of the student organizers for the Never Again movement, asking if I would help with high school voter registration at one of our district’s high schools.

I was feeling optimistic. Not for the immediate future. But at least for a few years down the road, when these kids start to vote. (And run for office.)

But for now, the thousands of high school students who just want to go to school safely get outvoted by the handful of unhappy students with guns.

The news stories impact the kids at my school.

Just a week ago an announcement come over the intercom, “All students on the playground must come into the building.” Moments later we heard, “We are going into lockdown.”

After school I heard stories from other teachers of high anxiety with their students. One teacher dealt with the rising panic by having the kids barricade the door to the room they were in. One fifth grade teacher had a student who threw up. There were tears in multiple classrooms.

Even our little kids watch the news. They know what’s out there. They are afraid.

When the announcement came on, my kids went into high alert. So I talked to them as I moved around the room. “I’m checking to see if there is anyone in the hall. Nobody. You all know I keep my door locked so all I have to do is close it. I undo the roll of paper to cover the window so no one can see inside.

“Oh, by the way, check this out.” I pushed the wooden wedge under the door and kicked it tight. “That’s an extra lock.”

They laughed. “It’s old school, but it works!”

“What about the other door?” a student asked as I moved across the room.

“It’s always locked,” I answered as I rolled down the paper strip over its window too.

As I was taking care of the doors, one of my boys—on his own initiative—closed the shades on all the windows in the room.

Then I went back to the front of the class and said we could go back to the lesson we had been working on.

Kids said, “Wait! Aren’t we supposed to get under our desks or hide or something?”

I reassured them that the announcement hadn’t said anything about a dangerous individual. And it started with getting kids off the playground.

One student said, “Yeah, at one of my schools we had a lockdown because a bear got on the playground!”

I nodded. “And I worked at a school where we had a lockdown because the neighbor’s bull got loose and it got onto the playground.”

We got back to work. Even my high-anxiety students did fine.

A few minutes later, the lockdown ended.

Shortly after the Florida shooting In February, we had a lockdown drill at our school. I wrote a brief note to parents after the drill:

We had a lockdown drill yesterday. I explained how we keep the doors locked and the windows covered. I said in a real emergency the most important thing for kids to do is to listen and follow directions.

It’s my job to take care of them.

Then I reminded them all that I have been thinking about students’ safety and planning and preparing for how to keep them all safe since before they were born.

(And you should know the district is continuing to plan and implement additional security measures.)

They’re not just your babies.

Jan

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Teacher Appreciation Week: Don’t Read the Comments

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Current Affairs, Education

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Make sure to enjoy this week, so don’t read the comments under any article, post, tweet, or Facebook share that in any way references teachers, teaching, or public education.

There is growing evidence that engagement in social media, including even the comment sections under mainstream media articles, can have a significantly negative impact on mental health. For people like me, whose twenty-year ebb-and-flow battle with clinical depression has made me unnecessarily sensitive to the venom and hate online, settling into some mindless social media perusal after a rough day at work ends up nudging us into the kind of downward spiral that for far too many culminates in bona fide burnout.

It is important during this teacher appreciation week that we also appreciate each other…both online and in person.

Often we take the time to (rightfully) single out those teachers who made a difference in our lives. For me, names from the 80s and 90s like Mary Jo Jones (science and math teacher), Jennifer Stenkamp (English teacher), Dale Crawford (FFA Advisor) and Elizabeth Shelley (English teacher) will always come first to mind. There’s also Wendi Kuntz and Jan Franke, whose support during my student teaching made me the educator I am today. There’s Fran Oishi, my amazing first-year-teacher mentor from my days in Federal Way. Appreciating the teachers of our past is important.

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Thoughts on Testing Season from the Heart of Testing Season

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Assessment, Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Life in the Classroom

 

It is hard to sleep.

Often preparation, at this point, feels futile.

Changing schedules can feel as stressful as examinations.

Young students who love school often don’t want to go to school.

Teachers learn to hope and to let go.

This is hard on teachers too.

And administrators.

Administrative calendars fill with colors.  From March 5th to June 8th thousands of Washington students (as students all over the country) will take ELA, Math, Science exams, re-take exams, take make up exams, all during school days, in libraries, spare rooms, classrooms, headphones and computers must be found and provided, pencils provided, tools provided, time provided, proctors trained, proctors reminded, schedules changed, altered, and developed to both provide the lowest impact to a school and honor the time and intensity of the test takers.

A bumper sticker reads: a child is more than a test score. When Graduation is on the line it is hard to remember that a child is more than a test score.

As a Washington state student you want to be in the 2500 range for math and for English.

For Washington state:

In grades 3-8, students take tests in ELA, math, and science for federal accountability.
In high school, students take tests in ELA, math, and science for federal accountability.

For some students the exam is not stressful. The calendar change is not stressful. They will cruise through this, like a subway commuter. We are all happy for them.

From May 7th to May 18th hundreds of Washington students will take AP exams—a different exam offered each day, all offering the possibility for college credit.

It will be hard to sleep.

Last night I listened to Naomi Shihab Nye talk about books and the importance of voice for everyone across the world, but especially for children. Among the many inspiring and thoughtful things she said, was a story about one of her own essays that was used for a state standardized exam and how a reporter smuggled that section of the exam (essay and questions) out and showed them to her. She said she could only be certain of the answer for 3 of 10 questions about her own essay.

Ms Shiab Nye also mentioned that, though hailing from Texas, Washington State’s motto is her favorite. The motto is Al-ki, Chinook Jargon (a native pidgin trading language of the PNW) meaning “by and by.”

This is my new mantra for testing season, by and by. Presently, be present, as things will happen, things will pass, students will succeed, students will fail, and by and by we will proceed with school, with all sorts of tests, and with our lives.

It’s Bad. And It Keeps Coming Back.

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Current Affairs, Education Policy, Social Issues

Eugenics.

It’s the idea that we can create better human beings by encouraging the breeding of the higher class people and discouraging the breeding of the lower class people.

There are all kinds of pseudosciences. Eugenics is the one that makes my blood run cold.

In the early 1900s eugenicists in the United States focused on weeding out “undesirables”—poor, immigrant, minority families.

Sound familiar?

Fast-forward to 1994. Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray wrote a book called The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. Now, more than a decade later, the book has gotten a new and highly critical write-up in The Vox because of the influence Murray is having on current US policy. There’s a lot not to like in The Bell Curve, but I’m going to focus on one aspect that has an impact on teachers in the classroom.

Here is one quote from the book:

The technically precise description of America’s fertility policy is that it subsidizes births among poor women, who are also disproportionately at the low end of the intelligence distribution. We urge generally that these policies, represented by the extensive network of cash and services for low-income women who have babies, be ended.

Basically, stop any program that gives assistance to low-income families. Because that just encourages them to breed. And we don’t want any additional poor, unintelligent people being added to our population.

That’s eugenics rearing up its ugly head again.

It’s not just a theory in a book from the 90s. The bad political philosophy of eugenics (it’s not a science) is being applied to governmental policy right now.

That’s why you have leaders in the federal and state levels of government attempting to roll back Medicaid expansion, tighten eligibility requirements for and reduce enrollment in the Department of Health and Human Services, and make it harder for individuals to access Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Here’s the truth. Eugenics doesn’t work.

What does work? Giving moms good pre-natal care. Making sure moms and their children get good nutrition. Making sure they have a healthy environment, free of lead, pesticides, mercury. Making sure children are in a safe environment, free from sexual and physical abuse. Providing children with a warm and nurturing home.

Parents who have plenty of money have the means to provide all of the above. That doesn’t guarantee they necessarily have the will or the character to provide them, although The Bell Curve assumes they will.

What the authors ignore is that moms in general want all those things for their children, whether they can afford them or not.

I’ve seen some of those “poor” moms. The dads are gone, leaving the moms on their own with the kids. The moms are working full time. They’ve gone back to school to try to get a better job. They’ve maybe had to declare bankruptcy. I’ve seen them standing in the grocery store trying to figure out the most nutritious food that they can afford to feed their children. They are doing everything they can on their own. And they still need help.

Let me tell you a personal story. My husband graduated and interviewed for a job back at the beginning of the 80s. He was hired on a Thursday afternoon. He called the next day to get the details about starting. They said, “So sorry. We just got a call from corporate. There’s a hiring freeze. We can’t give you that job after all.”

I had already quit my job. I was pregnant. We spent eight months without work. We applied for work in multiple states. There was no work to be found.

In the end, my husband got a job with a friend of his father’s, and we moved back with his family.

That’s not the main point of the story. The real point? I was visiting with a woman a month or two later, sitting in her kitchen. She made a comment about a man she had seen by the side of the road with a sign “Will work for food.”

“Oh,” she said. “Those people just annoy me. Everyone knows you can get a job if you really want one.”

I had to take a really deep breath before I could answer her. And, bless her, she was willing to listen to me.

I wonder if the authors of The Bell Curve ever heard from people like my husband and me? Both of us with MA degrees. Both of us out of work for eight months straight. Both of us wanting work, and neither of us able to find work.

I wonder if some of the current policy-makers have any understanding of “poor” beyond the stereotypes they’ve been fed.

All right, now consider all the things we are learning about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Multiple major stressors in childhood rewire the brain to an almost continuous “flight or fight” response, which makes it difficult for the child to function in a school setting.

The more we, as a culture, invest in prenatal and neonatal care for the poor among us and the more we support mothers with young children, the fewer students with ACEs we will have in our classrooms. Then in the long run, the more likely it is that those children will grow up to be well-adjusted, civic-minded, and contributing members of society.

We’d Rather Have Tape

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Current Affairs, Education

From I Don’t Know How to Protect You Anymore to Don’t Make Me a Soldier to the #ArmMeWith hashtags, teachers clearly want to be involved in the conversation about making our schools safer—and we don’t want to carry a gun.

After one especially long day, my husband tweeted out this….

 

 

 

 

And within hours over 300 replies from across the country (note the themes). Here are some of the tweets:

  • Tape
  • I need so much tape
  • An internet filter that doesn’t violate the free speech rights of my students researching current topics
  • Tissues
  • Tape
  • A pencil sharpener that is industrial strength
  • Scissors that stand up to repeatedly cutting cardboard
  • More guidance counselors and instructional coaches
  • Thumbtacks, field trips, 40 hour work weeks
  • Tape
  • Granola bars and vegetables
  • A psychologist
  • A counseling team and a separate registration team
  • Tape
  • A stapler that won’t run away in less than a week
  • Enough SPED teachers
  • Pencils, lots of pencils
  • When I was a SPED teacher in a Behavior Support room, I needed good Reading Curriculum.
  • A gun in the room would not help ever
  • Copier, copier, copier, a classroom that’s warmer than 58 degrees, toner, copier
  • Mold free rooms and leak proof ceilings
  • Some tape?
  • Internet that works in more than two classrooms at a time
  • A pencil sharpner that lasts more than a school year
  • A roof that doesn’t leak
  • More than a class set of whatever novel we’re reading
  • Support for kids who are most “At-risk”
  • Whiteboard markers for students
  • Counselors. Glue sticks that don’t dry up.
  • A book budget
  • Enough copy paper to last the year
  • Hand soap
  • I don’t mean to sound greedy but a really sturdy 3-hole punch would be amazing
  • Real food that is cooked at school, not USDA prepacked food that tastes gross and isn’t healthy
  • Bathroom breaks
  • More markers!
  • Classroom Autonomy
  • Professional development
  • Tape
  • Lead-free water fountains, soft lights in classrooms, and markers, lots of markers
  • Increased salaries for all teachers and support staff, more counselors, a lunch break.
  • More than 3 min to pee
  • Cameras that were functional, heat and AC that worked.
  • Money to buy food for my students who have little at home
  • New books
  • Tape
  • I’d like to have the rodent situation death with. And my office to be checked for mold.
  • A reliable pencil sharpner
  • Shoes for the kids who don’t have them
  • Enough counselors/social workers
  • More tissues
  • You got a copier?

Continue reading →

Don’t Make Me a Soldier

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Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Life in the Classroom, Social Issues

Events of the last week have haunted educators around the country. School shootings are back in the news, and it seems like they never leave it anymore. We can talk for hours about how we got to this place as a society, but it is more productive to talk about how we can leave this painful and shameful chapter behind us.

We can all agree on one thing: children should be safe at school.

I have plenty of thoughts and feelings about school shootings. Like EVERY OTHER teacher in America, I have imagined what I would do if it happened in my town, my building, my classroom. How would I keep my students safe? What would I do to stop a shooter? What could I do?

In 2006, my drama students and I volunteered to take part in a simulation of a “mass casualty incident,” a dramatized school shooting staged by local and regional law enforcement, fire departments, and hospital personnel. They used our tiny junior high building as the scene of a homemade bomb and two shooters. A few adults and about twenty students volunteered to be victims and hostages on lockdown while the professionals rehearsed what they would do. I was the only teacher, and my son was one of the student volunteers.

Here’s an article about a mock mass casualty incident like ours: http://www.chronline.com/news/article_3cd1d0af-1bc4-5340-b252-a0298b53fc70.html?mode=jqm

It was very realistic, right down to professional makeup artists creating realistic wounds on the victims. We all had cards that listed our symptoms and accounted for the progression of our injuries over time. It was like a roleplaying game, only not fun. Really not fun.

I got to imagine what it was like to have my students hide in my room. I felt the real anger, frustration, and fear of a teacher who chose to break protocol to get students from the hall to come into my room, risking encountering the shooter when I did. I waited for forty-five minutes after the “shooting” for rescue, all the while moderating student conversations while hiding under desks.“What if this was real?”

I eventually rode in an ambulance with my son and another victim, and then I experienced an eerie disconnected feeling waiting at the hospital for word of his status and anything, anything else. It was surreal. It was awful. And it was FAKE.

I can only imagine what it is like for those who face real shooters. That said, you can bet I want to avoid a real “mass casualty incident.”

I appreciate those who would like common sense gun legislation passed, making it more difficult for disturbed individuals to get the guns that do the most damage. At least that is something. The problem is that it will take too long to effectively change the gun culture of America, particularly in small towns like mine. Guns are easily available, and that’s not likely to change soon.

Here’s an interesting opinion piece on America’s gun culture from the Baltimore Sun: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-op-0218-gun-culture-20180216-story.html

I appreciate those who would like to see more security in our schools to protect the students and staff. There are elaborate systems for locking doors, metal detectors, armed guards, etc. If funding was available, I’d be all for it. Well, except for the fact that my safe-seeming little school would be more like a fortress than a place of learning, of curiosity, of hope, or of friendship. There are inner city schools that seem like they are on constant lock down. Is that where we are all headed?

Check out this article about how increased security measures may not be the answer from Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-security-measures-really-stop-school-shootings/

I appreciate those who call for more support for victims of mental illness. In my teaching context, where poverty, drugs, homelessness and domestic instability affect so many families, I would certainly feel better if we had more services to relieve the stress and treat those who suffer from depression and anxiety. Yet, again, how will we be paying for these services? In a system that has been chronically underfunded, where will we find the money to solve this problem?

If you want to explore the mental health solution, here’s a Boston public radio commentary that makes some interesting points: http://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2018/02/20/parkland-school-shooting-erin-seaton

I fear that the problem will be solved like so many others we face in education, especially underfunded, rural education. We will give another job to the teachers – armed security guard.

We don’t need another job. You see, some people think that when we aren’t on vacation we are simply delivering lessons to the children and assigning homework. The truth is that we are coaching, counseling, comforting, and teaching social skills, personal hygiene, and good manners. We are guidance counselors, amateur psychiatrists, surrogate parents, life coaches, and all-day mentors to our students. Will we add to our busy professional development schedule firearms training and hand-to-hand combat? Will we to be expected to risk our lives in combat to protect our students?

Don’t get me wrong. I will do all I can to protect these kids. But, this is too much. Don’t put a gun in my hand. Don’t send me into battle. Arm me with more counselors. Arm me with community support, mentors, and volunteers. Arm me with more programs that encourage empathy, collaboration, and social skills. Arm me with more colleagues to make sure we get to every kid every day with everything they need.

Don’t make my school a fortress.
Don’t make me a soldier.

If you want me to be part of solving the problem, give me what I really need: the support to keep my students in a safe, caring, supportive, and learning-centered environment.

#ArmMeWith

Interested in the #ArmMeWith movement? https://www.weareteachers.com/armmewith/?utm_content=1519185676&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter