Twenty-two years ago, I walked into my first class, an alternative high school English class at Colorado's Finest Alternative High School. I taught night school, and our goal was to have students complete work as they moved toward attaining their high school diplomas. My time there was short-lived, only six weeks, and I wished I could have stayed there longer. The kids were screwed up, but they were kind. It felt like a family rather than a school. I had always wanted to work with 'at-risk' kids, but my career took a different path.
My first full-time job was at a middle school in Texas. There, the kids were not kind, and neither were their parents. I fully enjoyed teaching summer school at the high school, however, mostly because those students were more like the alternative students I'd already taught, but the rest of it was not a great experience. The middle school gave me a couple of understandings: I was ill-suited for middle school, and I was lucky enough to work for a phenomenal principal, one who trusted his teachers to do what was right. It was years before I would have another phenomenal principal.
My second full-time job was at a private, illustrious high school in Denver. I made nearly nothing and could barely support myself. In fact, without help from my parents and grandparents, I would have had to live at home because my salary was insufficient. I was there three years, and at the end, I wasn't sure I was cut out to be a teacher. I was harassed, sexually, physically, and mentally, by teachers and students. During my first year, I wasn't given a lunch break; they 'forgot.' Instead, I had a planning period toward the end of the day I was told I could use as my lunch break. However, private schools don't have substitute teachers as a rule, and I often gave up my lunch to substitute for other teachers. When a student wanted a grade changed, I was threatened and harassed for the remainder of the year for not accomodating him. In fact, the president of the school board visited me to imply I might not have a job in the future. The stress was so bad, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure at 27 years old, a condition I currently suffer.
When I moved to my current county, I immediately joined the union. I learned from my experiences at the private school that a school without a union can do whatever it wishes. For example, because I wasn't 'vested' in the retirement program, I lost all money I had contributed to my retirement. When I left the private school, I was making 21,000.00 a year. However, other teachers were making more with less teaching experience. Although we were not allowed to discuss our salaries, there were always those who chose to do so. Because of a union, my salary was based on a scale of experience and was vastly more than the private school. Because of a union, I have a guaranteed 30 minute, duty-free lunch break each day. Because of a union, I have a retirement plan. Even if I wasn't vested, my money is in a retirement account that I can take with me should I choose to leave the district. Because of a union, I am not harassed, sexually, physically, or mentally by students, administrators, other teachers, or parents. Because of a union, I am guaranteed an unbiased evaluation that I can challenge if I feel it is unfair. At the private school, for example, they decided to make a teacher they no longer liked leave by harassing her throughout the year. By Christmas, this teacher has lost 80 pounds and could barely talk to people without crying. A union prevents this same scenario from happening to me.
But now, my membership in the union is threatened. What could potentially happen, as has happened in Douglas County, is the district will no longer work with the union, which means the district can do as it wishes to its teachers: cut our pay, restrict our benefits, take away our planning periods...and this must not be allowed to happen. Teachers need union representation, especially because of the population they work with: children. Teachers also need union representation because it is too easy to take advantage of us. We need someone in our corner. So as I watch a new board of education work on destroying our teachers' union, I feel the need to post my frustrations, my thoughts. I want to work on behalf of all students; however, I need the backing of a union to make sure I am treated fairly as well.
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