Tuesday, March 8, 2011

A heavy heart

Today, in Idaho, the state in which my husband and I both teach and plan (or planned?) to raise our family... some legislation was passed similiar to what is happening in Wisconsin.  Our legislation passed a bill taht will essentially take all teachers' job security away It will take away due process, tenure, as well as our right to negotiate salary and working environment.  Here is a sickingly true spoof I copied from a teacher/blogger in the southern half of my state:

If all of these bills pass then I think that I will have captured the essence of the future outcomes in the following Teacher Recruitment Ad.







IDAHO TEACHERS NEEDED–COME TO BEAUTIFUL IDAHO WHERE CORPORATE AMERICA RATES …FIRST–TEACHERS WILL ENJOY THE FOLLOWING BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES






BEGINNING SALARY OF $30,000/YEAR WITH NO ANTICIPATED INCREASES FOR SIX YEARS. YOU AND YOUR FAMILY MAY QUALIFY FOR FOOD STAMPS, MEDICADE, AND FREE OR REDUCEd SCHOOL LUNCHES.


ENJOY THE CHALLENGE OF NEEDING TO WORK AT ONE OR TWO MORE JOBS IN ORDER TO SUPPORT YOUR FAMILY.


EXPERIENCE THE CHALLENGE OF LARGE SIZE CLASSES WITH FIVE OR SIX SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS IN THE MIX.


N RURAL DISTRICTS YOUR CONTRACT MIGHT BE TERMINATED IN EARLY OCTOBER IF DISTRICT FUNDING IS CUT.


IN CASE OF DISPUTES ARISING FROM YOUR ASSIGNMENT YOU HAVE NO DUE PROCESS PROTECTION.


UNDER PAY FOR PERFORMANCE YOU ARE HELD ONE HUDRED PERCENT ACCOUNTABLE FOR IMPROVING STUDENT PERFORMANCE. I


IN YOUR SPARE TIME YOU CAN LISTEN TO INSPIRATIONAL SPEECHES BY OUR SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.


CONTRIBUTE TO HELPING MOVING IDAHO INTO A THIRD WORLD EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT THE IDAHO SPI–BUT SEND A SELF ADDRESSED AND STAMPED ENVELOPE.

My heart hurts. I do not know at this point what the future holds for my family.  I am uncertain of what moves I or KK need to take in order to ensure we can pay all our bills and keep our family afloat. Please pray for all of us. Pray that I continue to put my faith in God's plan for my life.




1 comment:

Alexa said...

I am so sorry to hear about this. Every time I see something on the news about cuts to budgets for the states I don't think they should be allowed to touch school systems, law or emergency personnel. I'm sorry, but I would rather see the infrastructure type things go until we can figure things out.

I appreciate everything you do for our children! I am sorry you have this to stress over. Trust me, I know how it feels to not have any job security. The new administration has left NASA in a complete state of limbo for over a year now. Things are bad everywhere. Thank God for our sweet children to make us smile!

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