I am a teacher in the Kent School District. I wish I could say those magic four words that so many teachers are expected to say: I love my job.
Unfortunately, I cannot. The Kent School District apparently has so little regard for the work that I do, that they will not bargain with my union a fair contract that allows me the time to effectively do my job, that attempts to compensate me for my service, or that helps to reduce my workload.
I love my students, I love the process of planning lessons, I love sharing new ideas and adventures with my colleagues, and I love talking with parents about their children. But I don’t love being treated unprofessionally by the district that employs me, I don’t love time missed with my own daughter so that I can plan and prepare the 20 or so individualized lessons I have to teach each day, I don’t love being asked to sit in staff development meetings for up to 2 1/2 hours a week that do not pertain to my classroom (as an example: imagine a P.E. teacher sitting in a class that teaches how to teach reading, writing and math), and I don’t love watching some of my brightest and most energetic teammates become demoralized and exhausted by the threat of layoffs.
When I decided to become a teacher, I suspected that there would be long days, and that my work would never truly be done; I knew there wouldn’t be a clock to punch and that I could never really expect to be compensated for all of the work that is done. However, I did expect to be acknowledged professionally. It won’t take magic for me to love my job again, just an honest attempt at the bargaining table by the Kent School District.
Cara Haney
Kent
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