This is why I stand with teachers. Please take a moment and read what my wife wrote. Please share so that folks understand the heart behind the walkout. You may not agree, but I do. I support and love my wife.

My Oklahoma Education

If you feel like education can continue on as it stands today, I respect your opinion, but I wonder if you have seen the current reality that is Oklahoma children.  I experienced Oklahoma education as a child, but I could not fathom the reality that many Oklahoma children experience every day until I left the state and then came back as an educator.

I grew up in a family of educators, as both of my parents were teachers.  My brother and I both graduated from a state university with education degrees; however, as soon as I completed my degree, I moved to a Dallas suburb to teach.  My parents encouraged it, saying things like, “Why would you not go?  You would be crazy to stay here.”

I enjoyed my time in Texas.  They had resources and programs that Oklahoma still has yet to offer, and my class size was never over 21 students.  Because of my husband’s job, we moved back to Oklahoma where I earned a Master’s Degree in an education field, and I was proud to start working for a school district in my home state, even though my salary now (with my years of experience and a master’s degree) is less than my starting salary (17 years ago) in Texas.

Although the salary leaves something to be desired, my biggest concern coming home to teach was the eye-opening experience each student gave to me.  Growing up in western Oklahoma, I assumed that most kids were living like I did-go to school, come home to eat and play, watch some TV, read some books, go to bed, and repeat the next day.  In my class of 28 six and seven year olds, I quickly realized that for the most part, the only thing we had in common was going to school.  Most of my students did not have books at home.  Many did not have food.  Some didn’t even have a bed.  I never felt such joy than when a person answered a Facebook post to help me send a bunk bed for a student and his sister, who were sleeping on the floor of a motel room and when a few of my friends joined me to deliver Thanksgiving meals to 20 needy school families.

I joke that throughout my first year in Oklahoma, I kept waiting for Ellen DeGeneres or Ashton Kutcher to come around the corner with my million-dollar check because I fell for their prank, but the sad reality was these deplorable conditions that were my kids’ realities were not pranks.  After hearing each new situation, I would tell myself, “This can’t get any worse.”  Then, the next 1st grader would show up, and their story was even more heartbreaking than the last.

Just to name a few:

• T-removed from her home because her parents were neglectful
• S-immigrant who had Autism and did not speak English, adapting to school in a room with 27 other children
• C-fighting childhood leukemia
• D-both parents were taking turns in jail, in the middle of the night helped remove bullet from family member who was playing Russian Roulette
• S-removed from family after living in a motel with parents who were charged with smoking Meth
• T-held the tourniquet on a family member’s leg after an accidental shooting, and he later died
• R-smuggled milk home in his pockets so that he could share with his baby brother and sister

I love taking care of my kids!  I know that what I signed up for was not going to make me wealthy, and I remember asking myself why I kept showing up every day.  The reason blared in my mind every morning-THESE KIDS NEED SOMEONE TO BE THERE FOR THEM.  Now is the time when I have to stand up for these children, because several of them do not have anyone standing on their side.  They deserve to learn and to be taken care of in a healthy environment where they feel safe and they have adequate resources to aid in their learning.  I can provide a safe environment, but I cannot adequately meet their needs to learn in a classroom with inflated enrollment and insufficient books/paper/supplies.  We are running out of room.  We are running out of desks.  We are running out of resources.  We are running out of paper.  We are running out of time.  If we don’t invest in their lives at the ages of six or seven or eight (or more), then some of these kids will grow up to continue the unfortunate race that their parents have begun.

We don’t need more children that sleep on the floor of a meth filled hotel room.  We don’t need more children watching their caretaker bleed out.  We don’t need more children trying to learn to read as they sit shoulder to shoulder in order to share a desk and a book.  If we don’t look at this as an investment into our future, our future and the future of these little ones looks very bleak.

I appreciate a competitive salary, but what I would appreciate more is the investment of funds that provide resources (books, teachers, non-moldy classrooms, etc.) so that the students who live like my Okie kiddos can have a fair and safe education.  They deserve better that what has been dealt to them.  They deserve to be provided for and invested in.  This can’t get any worse. Can it?