We Are Asked The Impossible, And Most Of The Time We Find A Way To Do It by Lee-Ann Pepper Nolan

Please stick with me as I finally vent about this issue. This is MY personal soapbox. I am not speaking for my school or district. I just feel like I need to speak my mind while I am still calm about baseless accusations being made. I will be professional and polite. Hoping this clears up any misconceptions.

Let me begin by saying that I love my school, my admins, and my students. I do not love where education is and has been for a long time. The focus is not on the students bc it is ab money. No one asks teachers what should be done and where the money should be spent (on the students). Too many decisions are made by legislators who know zero about public education. It’s all big business. That’s why the high stakes testing is so important. So the problems have been here for years and boom the pandemic hits … and it’s the perfect storm for things to get worse.

(Remember when Katrina hit and New Orleans became all charter schools? Education reforms/takeovers are shady like that)

So here we are in the middle of a pandemic. Teachers have NEVER worked so hard under such difficult conditions. Some people get that and appreciate all the extra work we are doing. Some people realize we are learning so many new things as we go. Some people realize we are doing so many new jobs all at once. We are hanging in there because we care about our students and what will happen to their futures. We know they are better off in school. And let me say that we have some AMAZING parents at our school that are understanding and encouraging. Being able to work in a partnership with these parents is the ideal situation for their children.

Yet we are accused of crazy stuff. Stuff that most parents don’t really know what they are talking about. It’s just a way to put teachers in their places. To control us for some strange reason. Parents making threats to us. Trying to tell us what we can and cannot do. We follow the laws and guidelines we are given. I promise you that we are all aware of them. We may agree or disagree with them, but we follow them.

We are bending over backwards to educate ALL of the students who walk through our doors. Parents must work with us by teaching their children to respect their teachers and school staff. They need to respect each other and treat each other as they want to be treated. We have to spend so much time trying to get these messages across that we lose time teaching the academic lessons we need to be focusing on.

We are asked to do the impossible and truly most of the time we find a way to do it. If you are not in the schools, you have no idea how hard everyone there works. Everyone. Our school nurses are rock stars this year. There is no way to explain even one of their days. No possible way! They should be paid double what they make!! Our school counselors are working miracles helping in ways they never imagined. Everyone from office staff (God bless them! ) to assistants to teachers to cafeteria staff to custodial staff to admins to whoever I am forgetting is working harder than ever before.

I love my students, even the most challenging ones. But the last two years are pushing good teachers out the door. We don’t make a lot of money. We work all the time. I mean ALL the time. The stress is ridiculous. We lie in bed and worry about our students and their families. We think about ways to help a student learn a skill. We cannot turn it off. We are getting sick just like everyone else is getting sick. Trying to stay well under these conditions is hard. The way wearing masks became so politicized just made it all the harder too. I don’t care who you voted for, I just want to keep everyone safe, control this virus, and keep our kids in school. Distance learning was not effective.

As hard as it is, when we see a student master a skill it makes it worth it. When a student obviously feels good about themself, it’s worth every bit of the stress. When a student takes a risk and achieves their goal, I just want to hug them. When we see a student take the initiative to do more on their own or to apply what they have learned, we know we have achieved our goal.

But right now, it would really help it the parents and community would understand that teachers are not your enemy. We are here for our students. Work with us. Not against us. Quit assuming things. Talk to us.

As for me personally…I teach math and science. That’s it. I try to teach the students to respect each other and to develop responsibility. I want to keep my students safe in every way possible. I love my students and my job. I love most everyone I work with as well. But I am tired. As are most teachers already this year. Peace.