One year later…A Look Back at a Letter I Wrote Defending Teachers

If you are feeling emotionally charged right now, please, take a breathe. Pause. Take a moment. Use it to inhale and exhale.

Now that you are breathing let me say this. Whatever you are going through you are not alone. Yet, so many of us feel completely isolated. Not just a little bit solitary, but craving a deep longing for connection. We are waiting for the world to open up again so we can resume our favorite pastimes. We are awaiting seeing our most vulnerable family members or finally enjoying a comedy show the way comedy was intended.

But you see, we are still living in a pandemic. Our country has gone from one hot topic fueled with emotion to another. Every day. The topic most present on my radar is the schools.

The amount of brain space I have spent since March on “the schools”is too much. The amount of meetings where parents “demand” answers, the amount of teachers who have been publicly criticized is a lot. WHEN, WHEN did we as a society decide that we must speak out, speak up, and not even mind our words?! WHEN was it switched from thoughts of “oh these are our community members who chose a profession to help and work with kids to teachers are suddenly not doing enough? “

I’m a parent too. I have a child who doesn’t “fit the mold” who what’s in place in my district isn’t what’s best for her. But… I’m a parent and the parts that the schools can’t provide, because of the pandemic we are in, I have had to make…