J'Espere

I have become obsessed with lunch boxes. There. I said it. It’s out there.   Now we can all move forward into the dilemma that comes with obsessing over something like a lunch box post elementary school.   I think for most people lunch boxes aren’t a big deal, because it’s just lunch. And if you forget lunch you can always run out and grab it. Unless you’re a teacher. And only have half an hour on a good day if everything is running smoothly and on time. If you’re wondering how often that happens, I’m going to go out on a limb and say 70% of the time. The other part of this is that even if everything is going great, and running on time, and no one is sick, injured or otherwise engaged, it’s not like we’re bringing in the big bucks. So for most of us, eating out is both unrealistic and physically impossible.             Of course the upside is we are healthier, right? We’re pulling things out of our pantry and putting toge...

    Our sweet, always diligent legislature passed the new teacher pay schedule this summer, and with it touted the "largest teacher pay raise" in NC history. Except is it really a pay raise? Again, I question it, this time with numbers in front of me.       So I started looking at the numbers, reminding myself of the scale I had been handed when I began teaching. It showed small but steady increases for each year I taught. In case you are one of the many who believe that teacher pay is ridiculously high, the numbers were usually around $400, with larger jumps at certain increments.  Our legislature argued it wasn't competitive enough with other teacher salary scales around the country- it isn't, it didn't offer many incentives for teachers to remain in NC after finishing their education degree- it doesn't, and it needed to go. So it went.  NCAE and teachers everywhere were hesitant, but at least something was being done, right?    ...

This post is not about our house, just as a warning. You are about to delve into the mind of an educator who believes in public education, in the right to that education, and also believes that if you are able, you should be helping the needy. So I'm talking politics today. Just remember I'm not an expert, I just believe that everyone should get and deserves a good education. I dread Thursdays because I know I'll find out what happened in the Legislature on Wednesday, and no matter how hard I pray it seems that it always ends up being bad news overall. Like passing the initial vote on the motorcycle helmet law (I can't even write about it without getting angry), or deciding that Water quality in some parts of NC is too high a priority so we're going to pass a law to literally lower standards for drinking water. But I think the School Voucher Debate takes the cake. First, I'll touch on my understanding of the school voucher (please, correct me if I...