Teachers try and regroup emotionally and physically during the summer. This is done in different ways for different teachers. In my case, I try and do lots of PD, lots of pool time and time spent with my dogs.
This year, I found relaxing very hard to do even with meeting all my goals of summer. I did the PD. I lounged in the pool. I spoiled my dogs. I also was exposed to Covid-19, even though I am vaccinated and boosted and wear my mask most places, I came home from a trip to DC and tested positive. This caused me to miss important first days of school and left me feeling a little tired with a feeling of breathlessness that I am having to take medicine for.
I also came back to a shitstorm of political proportion from both counties I am associated with. I know the conspiracy theory folks, ultra conservative, abortion is murder, stop indoctrinating our students are fighting hard on one side to take over the school boards of the county in which I live and the county in which I teach.
I know we are fighting hard to retain some semblance of normalcy but even the teacher's union has backed a known person who only wants political control and does not really have our students in his vision. It saddens me but it also makes me angry.
I am old enough to retire should I want to. I turned that old in July. I had always planned on teaching until I was 70, but my understanding at this point is, several of these groups who think we teachers are indoctrinating their children, have vowed to come after any teacher who does not believe the same way they do. They were actually having classes in Tampa a few weeks ago on how to track teachers like me through their social media so they could make sure they were fired from their jobs. All this while Florida is suffering from an extreme shortage of professional teachers.
Now veterans can teach and their families, many with only a high school education. What is going to happen when a snarky teenage girl comes home crying because a teacher insults her in her mind or a snarky teenage boy who accuses one of these macho veterans of putting their hands on them in a negative way and they felt threatened so they ran home to mommy and daddy. Think that won't happen? Just wait.
So no masks, no real history, nothing that may hurt someone's feelings or you can be sued. Don't mention slavery and make sure the kids understand that everyone was not bad just because they owned humans. They were our founding fathers so we need to revere them. Not discuss their bad sides.
I am lucky. I teach at a Title 1 school where the parents are much more concerned their children are fed and educated. They don't really care how we do it as long as it gets done. They want to know when their child does good or bad and for the most part, are highly supportive of us. In all my years of teaching, I have only had two parents actually object to something I had taught.
I may not make it to 70. I am going to try. But these alt right parents who think they own the world and get to make decisions for everyone's child, not just theirs, need to take a pill and chill. You are getting your 15 minutes of fame. Let someone else step in.
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