What A Time To Start Teaching by Dr. Michael Flanagan
Original art by Pamela Michaels
Back in February, a former student told me she was going into the NYC Teaching Fellows program and would be teaching in the Fall. NYC Teaching Fellows is an accelerated program which trains new teachers to work in shortage areas. I encourage my students to consider careers in education, because there are few more challenging and rewarding professions one could pursue.
She was eagerly looking forward to beginning her new career as a teacher. She was figuring logistics-- such as how to complete her paperwork and fingerprinting etc. I offered some insights on the Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers and was tremendously proud and excited for her. She will be an excellent teacher.
Now, sadly, because of the proposed deep budget cuts that the New York City Department Department of Education will be making due to the tragedies of Covid-19 the NYC Teaching Fellows program will be slashed. With the deep cuts to education budgets across the country, school districts could see between 8%-20% reductions in their teaching corps. These cuts will have disastrous effects on students and educators alike.
No one knows yet what the next school year will bring. Or what actual teaching will look like. Will school buildings be open to students and teachers in September? Will we continue with remote learning? Or will there be a hybrid model? Part remote learning and part brick and mortar school? Split schedules, multiple sessions? How can we possibly enforce social distancing in school buildings already overcrowded? And the most important concern--will our children and our educators be safe? These are the questions that keep us all up at night.
Worrying about job loss is a humiliating experience in the best of times. Knowing that your job is likely to be cut during an historic financial collapse and a time of plague that no one has seen in recent memory is...crippling. Teachers, and working people in all walks of life in this country, have seen the unemployment numbers climbing to rates higher than the Great Depression. Hundreds of thousands of educators know they could be next.
These draconian state education budget cuts are almost inconceivable. The damage it will do to school children, who have already had their worlds turned upside down, will be incalculable. The federal government is in contentious negotiations about a bailout package for the states, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is already politicizing the funding of public education by seeking to avoid bailing out blue states in favor of changing laws to allow them to go bankrupt. The $13.2 billion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) will only be a drop in the bucket for most states.
And when the education cuts do happen, it will not just be the new teachers who are on the chopping block. At least eighteen states have changed or repealed tenure laws to make it easier to remove senior teachers in an effort to save money.
Besides the obvious financial issues of not having enough to pay bills, there is the insurmountable angst that accompanies job insecurity. It can be worse not knowing whether you will or will not be working, than actually knowing you have been laid off. Like watching a loved one who has suffered through an illness finally pass, there is tremendous sadness, but also relief that it is over. A release.
With more than 40 million jobs lost already to this economic collapse, many teachers have become the one paycheck in a two-paycheck house. They have had to live in constant fear for their health and the health of their families, in addition to the well being of their students. While struggling with remote teaching during the pandemic, teachers must try to sleep with the thought of layoffs whispering to them in the night.
But as I worry for myself and my family, and for my colleagues who have devoted years of their professional lives dedicated to the pursuit of educating, caring for, and inspiring their students, I cannot forget my former student, and others like her. I am grieving for those who are just starting their careers as educators, and are faced with such uncertainty. This potential new generation of educators who now face an unexpected roadblock on their path to their new career, and who want nothing more than to teach, to enlighten, to help their students adjust to the new normal.
What a time to start teaching.