Why We Send them to School

My children go to public school. I went to public school from 2nd grade on and FFP always attended public school. Things are not what they were 20-30 years ago though. Things have changed and I would say for the better. We have an amazing school with amazing teachers and staff. We have supportive parents and we truly do feel like a family.

 But our district is in trouble. At first we thought it was just financial trouble. They (down at the district level and the school board) made it seem like we were headed for disaster. If we didn't make payroll the state would come in and take over. That wouldn't be good for anyone. They needed a loan right then, they needed the teachers (who account for an astronomical amount of the cost to run the district, imagine that) to give up their smaller classrooms numbers, in fact dropping 160 or so teachers from the district, their raises and their adjust their benefit packages. And they did. Now they came back and said we want more even though there is money there... but they "project" a deficit so they ask the teachers for more. They ask them for it all, they ask them to live on less and work more and give no room for negotiations for a projection 3 years down the line.

The teachers keep bringing things to the table, they keep begging the district to take the $ and make it better. The district has no rebuttal, nothing to counter offer, nothing. So now the teachers feel like they'll  have to strike. I don't want my kids to go to school where there is a strike, where there are not enough people to watch them all, who have no investment in their futures trying to corral them, where they will receive no real education because the district refuses to budge because they think that this may work today but have no plan to make up for the "deficit" that doesn't yet exist 3 years away. My children will no go to school if there is a strike and I support those amazing and wonderful teachers who shouldn't have to worry about getting their salary cut by 11-13%  after so much already.

Let me tell you... I will bring them coffee and food and stand beside them because I know how hard they work for our kids, I know how hard they work for our community, I know how hard they work for their own family and the district has no idea, that is very apparent.