A School Board Meeting

She then told the school board that she had not become a teacher for the money. She had become a band director because of her deep love for music and children. But recently she had been examining the money issue. Since school started, she has contracted pink eye and other infections. And for the first time in five years of living independently, she was unable to pay her bills because the health insurance provided by the school board has such a high deductible. She had to pay for doctors' visits and prescriptions out of her own pocket. Her voice broke as she told the school board that she had been forced to go to her parents during the past week to borrow money to buy groceries until she received her next pay check. The school board looked at the pads in front of them or stared off into space with little smirks on their faces or stared stoically at the young woman pleading for a safe classroom and a living wage. But they did not respond. Early in the meeting the school board chair spoke proudly of all the accomplishments in the the district schools during the past year. She told the audience that awards in the form of money and certificates would be presented to individual schools for their hard work. But I ask her these questions. If we have been doing so well, why did she treat those responsible with disrespect when they voiced an opinion? Why did she walk out of a public meeting when a teacher was disagreeing with her? And why did she reprimand another teacher as if he was a five year old child because he wasn't turned in her direction? It is time for all school boards to realize that teachers are fed up, not with the students in our classroom, but with the disrespect shown to us by those who sign our paychecks. Negative perceptions will never change for teachers as long as we remain quiet and allow our elected school board members to pay us salaries below a decent living wage and to treat us as second class citizens not worth their consideration.

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