I wrote a column a week ago about a personal reason I have for supporting teachers during this walk-out for higher pay and appropriate student funding from our lawmakers at the capitol. I knew a teacher when I attended elementary school back in the day, whose family survived on $290 per month in take home pay. She was the sole bread-winner for the family, as her husband was disabled and she had three hungry mouths to feed at home. Being a teacher was one of the few professions available to women back in the sixties, so she went back to college to earn her credentials, spent thousands for tuition and textbooks - and then went to work. Her family still survived on "commodity" foods, even after getting a job.
Teachers today are in no better shape than they were in the 1960's. Oklahoma teachers' pay still ranks 50th among all states and our state appropriated student funding has been cut 28% over the past ten years - which tops the nation. Many among us still ask why teachers are walking out of the classroom and wonder why administrators and school boards still support teachers. For me, personally... for all of the above reasons. This "support" is provided at a personal cost to administrators and board members, although we will continue to stand by teachers. An Administrator's Guide - LEADING WITH INTEGRITY (Reflections on Legal, Moral and Ethical Issues in School Administration) begins with a Mark Twain quote - "Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." One "astonished" person recently messaged me:
" Well I think you are a liar... Some places are doing this (teacher walk-out) just for Monday. That I understand. I understand teachers frustrations and challenges. I agree with teachers needs. I do not agree with how you are doing it. You have all summer to make your demands and be heard before starting school next year. Im (sic) watching how this 'BS' (sic) works out... you and the teachers here are going to pay personally for it... Lets remember that, we have to interact on the streets or sidewalk. So there is that (sic).
The message was anonymous and sounds like a threat - but it also sounds like it could have come from several of our many local lawmakers. You probably know them as the legislators who say things like "I really do support teachers and believe they need a pay raise. Furthermore, I've voted for every teacher pay raise bill that's been introduced this year, so get out of my face." These type of statements have been blurted out by corporate lawmakers lately as "the curtain has been pulled back" on their vilifying behavior. Most lawmakers who abhor our public schools and find teachers distasteful, are term limited, so have no reason to hold back. They do not have to be re-elected again, and are probably going to work for corporate entities such as the oil barons. Most don't owe teachers one thin dime, because teachers didn't get them elected in the first place, and teachers certainly can't turn them out to pasture now. Others keep a low profile, because they do have to go through several more election cycles. They don't express their true feelings for teachers (which is no better than those who call teachers "slugs" like a former governor did), until they too are termed out. The only thing most corporate lawmakers (who are not terming out) do is to "thank" those schools and teachers who are not walking out (one school received a thank-you note from a local lawmaker for not walking out).
I'm quite sure that messages like those above only serve to inflame teachers and those who support them. I'm also sure that teachers and others are not intimidated by those who are astonished that teachers would actually walk-out over teacher pay, and stay out over student funding. Then again, there are just as many who are gratified that teachers are doing right.
Over the past several days teachers have been persecuted, vilified, petrified, hammered, disrespected, ignored, criticized, intimidated, figuratively slapped, cussed, had doors slammed in their faces, yelled at, etc..., for daring to point out the facts to our corporate lawmakers. I believe teachers have no fear of those who disparage them personally and have disparaged them professionally for several years now. They are now receiving national and international attention for "doing the right thing". More power to them! A reporter from a publication in France is in Blanchard this afternoon to interview one of our teachers. I'll post the interview in this blog (with permission of the teacher).
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