BandDad
His daughter said he tried to talk the shooter down while protecting others. Chokes me up as a fellow Iowa teacher. I identify with that so much. Never met him, but I respect the hell out of him.
As a teacher, this is our daily ritual. They think we indoctrinate students, but by law we have to say this every morning. If students want to abstain, they just sit quietly. When asked if I can demonstrate that as a teacher, the school lawyers said I have that right, but they can’t defend me if a parent complains…
As a teacher who has fed kids who otherwise would have gone hungry over the summer, I’m appalled.
As an Iowan, I have no idea what more to do. Voting certainly hasn’t worked so far and reasonable arguments fall on deaf ears. Yes, I could move, but is it really any better anywhere else? I would feel like I was abandoning my family, my students, and community. It is important to show through action and compassion that there is more than just this kind of conservative nonsense in the world. Of course, she fast tracked giving our public education dollars to private schools with no change in accountability measures…
In a household of four with two full time incomes (both teachers, so take that with a grain of salt), we are at the point that the food budget is the only thing left to cut. We have canceled any subscriptions, cut all other spending, and often skip lunch/breakfast or eat Ramen noodles to save the bulk of our money for the kids and feed them better. I’m sick of beans and rice, BTW. Due to the nature of our jobs and the outside of school hours (which we are compensated for), side hustle is not an option. We would like to actually be present and part of our kids lives. I keep getting told “it gets better,” but the stress of making the bills and feeding the family is relentless, and that says a lot since we are way more fortunate than most. We need change.
Wasn’t Thanksgiving, but a potluck for teachers provided by students. Thought it was a bowl of snickers salad (Snickers, Apples, Cool Whip/pudding). Sat down and took a huge bite… Pickles… Not sweet… Some form of horrible salad with the main ingredient being pickles… Somebody give that kid an F, please!
I feel guilty doing that. My kids deserve better from me.
For some reason, my town decided to open a second Dollar General 1.3 miles away from the first one.
It really is amazing how people just believe whatever outlandish story they hear. Had an elderly woman tell our state legislators at a local forum that teachers where I work were literally locking children into closets and teaching them to be gay. Legislators response: “Mumble, Mumble, yeah… we need to do something about these teachers.”
Lady, if we had the power to “indoctrinate” children, we wouldn’t have any late homework again, let alone tolerance for people different from yourself.