A year ago, my colleagues and I were walking the line, the strike line, that is. Many of our students were "striking with us" by staying home, but some still came to school. The scabs that crossed the picket line gave our students packets of "busy work" and let them watch "Sponge Bob" and "Pimp My Ride" on TV in the classroom. We've come a long way from those difficult times, or have we?
Sometimes I forget about what my reactions were like when I first starting working in the public schools. I was initially outraged by the working conditions. You see, I was used to working for companies that made good money and treated their employees as important assets. The VENTILATED bathrooms were clean and stocked with tissues, lotion, etc., the kitchens were stocked with snacks and water, juice and sodas, while coffee brewed every morning for the employees. Food was ordered in for you if you had to work through lunch. All those civil "conveniences" disappeared when I started teaching elementary school.
Teachers who have been teaching for a long time don't even notice things that completely shocked me. They've become complicit in their own sub-standard working conditions. The first school I student taught at had teacher bathrooms that were converted from the kid bathrooms. The "conversion" consisted of the toilet version of a high chair. (See photo.) It was a "lift" that was set on the seat so you didn't have to squat so far to sit down. I didn't even know they made these! This same bathroom was also being used as a storage room so it was packed full of boxes. The sink didn't have hot water either. Then the first school I taught at had a staff lunch room with no hot water and a bathroom with no hot water. I was flabbergasted! Working in the "Petri dish" we call a classroom has you exposed to all kinds of germs and bacteria. I wanted to wash my hands with hot water! Is that too much to ask?
My current school has hot water in the bathroom. It also has hot water in the staff room. Hallelujah! This was certainly a perk! And Kathy, our office manager (and much more!), puts out snacks everyday in the office for us all to munch on as we pass through. I've never asked, but I'm sure she buys those snacks with her own money. What she may or may not know is that those snacks are a morale booster. It makes me feel appreciated. She also decorated the bathroom, so it feels like a real honest to goodness adult experience. It may sound silly, but those things make an impression on a person. (Thanks, Kathy!)
I've had to modify my belief that my work environment is a reflection of how I am valued. If I went into the public schools clinging to that theory, I would have quit after my first week. I think the schools/districts/state get away with it because most teachers are crazy when it comes to what they are willing to do. Why? Because it's for the kids. And what a way to exploit us! We are willing to put up with all kinds of crap because our goal is to make things better for the kids. So many teachers spend thousands of dollars a year on their classrooms and the kids. It's not as if they're buying laptops for everyone. They're buying, markers, pencil boxes, pencil sharpeners, erasers, copy paper, art materials, etc. Basically, it's the NECESSARY supplies. And most teachers never get reimbursed for everything, if anything. I ask you, what job can you think of where an employee buys things for the office or a client and they DON'T get reimbursed?
They've got us, though. Because "they" know that we won't stop buying what the kids need, because we don't want them to suffer. I realize I'm not being exploited like a migrant farm worker or something, but it IS still criminal, in my mind.
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