A former
teacher and a current school staff member share their opinions on the state of
Indiana education and House Bill 1134.
Tammi Benedict
recalls that she “looked for every legal way you can to get out of high school
without skipping.” This led her to sign up for the Special Olympics as a coach.
She remembers at that time spending her day off of school with “the two cutest
little boys” who after a long and exhaustive day gave her each a gold medal and
deemed her “the best Special Olympics coach ever.” By Monday morning, Benedict
had gone to the office of her guidance counselor Ms. Lindsay and told her she
was taking the ACT and going to college to be a special education teacher. She
never looked back. But in November of 2021, after over 37 years of teaching,
Benedict left the force, acting on the desires shared by over 25% of teachers
that year, according to a RAND Corporation survey.
After graduating out of West Virginia, Benedict knew she
needed to leave the state.
“I applied to every state in the union that had reciprocity
with West Virginia because our economy wasn't good,” she explains. “Coal mines
were going down.”
She ended up applying to and getting her first job in
Indiana. This would be the state she would spend the rest of her educational
career in. Benedict initially worked out of Winchester, Ind., a job she got
because she could sign. She says her first two years of teaching were
challenged due to the fact she taught kids ages 5 to 17 in a "severe profound"
classroom. She recalls finding kids with IQs that were mild and moderate as
well, despite this classification.
“It was a mixed bag of tricks,” she says.
She then moved to Shelbyville after getting married, where
she taught special education in junior high for two years. Next stop was
Moorestown, where she earned her master’s in learning disability and emotional
handicap. After this, she worked for various schools in Warren Township, as
well as working in a partial hospitalization program, where she had kids
diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. She
then worked between Warren and Preston before finishing off her last nine years
in functional academics grades five through eight.
Benedict used a strike system when explaining how she made
the ultimate decision to leave her job. Strike one was when she was informed
she did not qualify for full FMLA or, in other words, paid family leave to
travel to West Virginia for her mom’s health. This was a 27-year-old working
relationship between herself and the administration. She was five hours short,
despite the fact she worked before and during the spring break, a fact the
administration denied taking into consideration to make up that time. The
second strike was when she received an email from administration informing her
she had used consecutive sick days when traveling to West Virginia in September
for her mother. The third and final strike was when she was struck by a student
who left a bruise on her arm “the size of a quarter.” The student returned to
her classroom just 10 minutes later after playing with Play-Doh with no
consequences.
“It’s a bad precedent for the other students,” she says of
that day. “They learn they can hurt a teacher and not have to worry.”
Benedict was not the only one to make the decision to
leave. She says her former school lost 12 teachers between the start of the
school year and Christmas. This is a trend that is not exclusive to just one
school. In fact, according to government data, the Muncie Central
High School’s teacher population has declined by eight percent over the last
five years. She attributes numbers like these to a lack of support for teachers
from general administration, among other issues she sees looking now from the
outside in.
Jennifer Brinker is an assistant principal and WTHR
Indianapolis’ education expert. Prior to becoming assistant principal, Brinker
worked for eight years in special education as well as a few years as a social
studies teacher. She says this experience gives her a better understanding of
the current issues teachers face, though she admits things have changed since
she was last behind the teacher’s desk. Another helpful factor? Her husband is
a sixth grade teacher for all subjects as well as the union representative of
his building.
According to survey data from the Indiana State
University Bayh College of Education, 96.5% of Indiana school districts
reported teacher shortages. Brinker says Indiana schools are definitely feeling
this impact. This has resulted in numerous things, one of which being a
complete change in the way the hiring process works.
“We've gotten to the point where sometimes you have to pull
in resources— people that you know from different districts. I've gone so far
as to go on Facebook and say, ‘Hey, who wants to work at the best school
ever?’,” she details. “I mean, we're having to market ourselves in a way that
we haven't had to do before.”
Another notable change is a lowering number of applicants
with a large number of jobs available. Brinker recalls the first position she
had to fill upon taking the job as assistant principal: her own former social
studies teacher slot. She says that at that time, there were between 30 to 40
applicants, with few open positions. In today’s time? Around an average of 20
applicants, she says, with over 800 open positions across the state.
“People are burnt out,” Brinker says. “The public can be
very ugly towards educators.”
Benedict and Brinker agree on a few things. One of these is
an opposition against the “Education Matters” bill, better known as House Bill 1134. The bill recently
passed the Indiana House and is moving on to the Senate. Benedict’s largest
concern rests in teachers having to submit all lesson plans by June 1st.
“Tell me you can put your shopping list down for the whole
year by June 1— what you need for your groceries…tell me you can do that,” she
rants. “Each classroom operates in a different way. It's all about the students
within the classroom.”
Some of Brinker’s greatest concerns regarding House Bill
1134 lie in the restrictions regarding children and mental health and potential
fines for violations.
“We have a lot of kids who are in abusive situations in
their home. Unfortunately, we have to make a lot of referrals to the Department
of Child Services,” she laments. “None of those parents are going to give us
permission to speak to their kids about their emotional needs, because they
don't want exposed some of the bad things that have happened in that child's
past or are currently happening.”
She is afraid teachers will be more likely to quit, as
Benedict did, as a result of the added pressures and restrictions on teachers.
She describes other parts of the bill, such as a 60 percent parent-led
committee, as a lack of respect for their professional opinion.
Another complaint of Benedict’s regarding Indiana education
is the pay. In fact, a study by the Rockefeller
Institute of Government found Indiana ranked last in raises/changes in salary
between the years 2002 and 2017. Brinker says this has improved slightly in the
last 5 years, but isn’t enough after such a long period with no raise. She also
notes an increase in public dollars going to private institutions. Benedict
says House Bill 1134 only adds to this problem.
“Teachers will tell you we don't really don't teach for the
money. We teach for the kids,” she says, “But when you start stifling us and
telling us what we have to teach, you should compensate us and make it
equitable at least.”
Despite quitting her job late last year, Benedict’s undying
passion for teaching and children remains. Brinker also shares this passion. She says regardless
of what happens with the new legislation, one thing will stay the same.
“We're going to show up for kids every day because that's
what we do,” she assures. “And that's our calling.”
Comments
Post a Comment