I apologize for my previous post. I am so fed up with how educators are treated in this country, especially in the state of Idaho. The ratio of expectations to amount of support for them is incredibly lopsided.

Teachers in Idaho get paid like dog crap but are expected to babysit, befriend, support, encourage, enlighten, teach, love, and take on the burdens of many children, all while abiding and adhering to an ever-increasing number of government-issued regulations and guidelines.

IEP, 504, ELL, AP, GT, RBI, RTI, DOE, FERPA, GE, SPED, PD, BLT, GLT, PowerSchool, PowerTeacher, MilePosts, Canvas, Moodle, Schoology, Google Classroom, STAR Testing, SAT, ACT, ARL, AR, and ZPD are just some of the things teachers have to worry about every single day.

We are also expected to contact the parents of at-risk and struggling students, documenting each parent contact and attempted interventions and strategies to help these kids succeed.

Oh, and frequently we get yelled at and chewed out by parents who feel we aren’t doing a good enough job for their child. And when you have 125 students each semester like I do, that’s a lot of individual accommodating to try and avoid a verbal scolding.

Don’t forget the hours and hours of grading that happen outside of contract hours, including personal time at home that should be spent with family. English teachers like me have over 100 essays to grade multiple times throughout a school year.

Teachers carry the weight of expectations from parents and children, plus the emotional load of trying to get kids to understand that work equals success. Oh, and how to do math (according to ridiculous state guidelines) and how to write functioning thesis statements, etc.

Teachers adapted their instruction from in-person to online at the drop of a hat in March. Us educators lamented losing our time in the classroom with our students and the personal contact that is so vital for the educational process.

I, as well as many others, spent hours and hours using our own personal phones to contact parents of failing students, begging these kids to do the bare minimum in order to pass. Tears were shed and heads were aching, just to try and convince a kid to turn in one assignment.

As thousands of people are succumbing to COVID-19 across the United States, teachers continue to use their summers to prepare for what will be more online learning, with the hope that we can get into the classroom with our students at some point.

Very few of the overwhelming state and national regulations are being withheld during this pandemic, which means teachers are expected to do the same work that’s impossible to do in the classroom anyway, all from home.

There has already been a huge budget cut for education because of the pandemic (somewhat understandable, if not completely regrettable) and salaries are frozen. So the measly pay I and other educators are getting won’t increase (by another measly amount) as it normally would.

Yet clowns like @toddstarnes, @realDonaldTrump, and many others are advocating and threatening not to pay teachers if schools don’t open in the middle of a pandemic. Are you serious? No flexibility, understanding, or acknowledgement of current circumstances exist for these turds.

As big of a concern as this virus presents for kids, what about the teachers, many of whom are older and high-risk should the get sick? I want to get back into the classroom as much as the next guy, but can we at least pretend to be intelligent about things for a while?

I absolutely love teaching and I love being with my students. They are a huge part of my life and have a huge impact on me, and I like to think I do the same for them. But there is so much head-scratching bull crap in education that I see why so many people leave the profession.

Teachers don’t want tweets and social media messages of congrats, we don’t want “Heroes work here” banners posted outside schools, and we definitely don’t want empty words that aren’t backed up by legislators.

Teachers want support and understanding. That’s it. I love my students and will continue to teach, but every year that goes by I question more and more if it’s all worth it.

Leave it to the government and idiot pundits to squeeze the life out of anything good and rewarding.