As a teacher in this school system, I have been not only encouraged by the outpouring of support from the community and business leaders, but have been reaffirmed by many people’s willingness to help find solutions to the financial obstacles.
However, what the public sees in this dynamic mix galvanized action…
… there are realities that are still ever-present in our schools.
And what has happened to the Exceptional Children departments in each school due to cuts and RIF in this county is causing more and more students with IEPs and truly unique challenges to fall further behind academically and socially. That’s a debt that none of these community donations is helping.
There are administrators whose jobs have more than doubled in duties.
There are people taking early retirement just to keep their mental and physical health.
There are young teachers who still see a bleak future working in this system.
There are students considering transferring to other programs who could have been walking motivators for other students in our hallways.
Sure, celebrate these unexpected victories, but do not let it fall in the category of performative art. There are debts that have not even been addressed in this school system.
caffeinated rage 
They call it “inclusion,” but it’s really exclusion with impossible caseloads that leave hours wide open one day and no time to breathe the next. Staff are so overstimulated, overworked, and traumatized that even sitting down to complete legal IEP documents feels impossible. I’m now on anti-anxiety medication and two pain medications just to get through each day. My lawyer even advised me to start writing protections for myself and my TA directly into the IEPs — because no one else is protecting us.
Pre-K intake completely blindsided every EC teacher supporting kindergarten — missed transitions, unserviceable hours, zero supports, zero push-ins. At this point, the system is broken, and it’s shocking that lawsuits haven’t already started rolling in.
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