RIF (a.k.a. Reduction in Force)

I've been preparing myself for this day since last spring. Yet regardless of all the preparation, I feel that you can never fully prepare yourself to lose your job unless you already have a job lined-up, which I do not.

I guess what I mostly feel right now is anger and sadness. Yes, I understand that the economy is bad and that there somehow isn't funding for the most important thing in the world (Education), but seriously, how is there not funding for the future leaders of our world? This is a question that has kept me up countless nights. People say I will move on quickly and that moving away from Pahrump will be the best thing that could happen for me, yet I am still angry at the lawmakers who have done this to the children that I love and care about. I've poured my hard earned money back into my classroom and have found technology grants to give my students what I feel will prepare them for the 21st Century, AND I am enraged that this could be happening to the kids that have become my surrogate children. I worry about my students I have come to know and love. What about them!? Did the politicians who failed to fund their classes ever think about them? They are not just a number that needs to be balanced! They are real. They are just like us. AND they deserve to have an education that is equal to students in other states…yet how can they in a state that has bottomed out as the state with the least funding per pupil?!

My only hope is that the teachers who remain will have the strength and stamina to keep up with 30-45 students they will have in their classrooms. That they will somehow be able to help these students overcome their family/friend issues, build their character, stop classroom bullying, identify troubled students, identify students with learning disabilities, help below-level students reach on-level reading and math scores while challenging students with on-level or advanced scores, grade countless papers, tests, and essays for the two assignments per week for each subject: Spelling, Reading, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Mathematics, and Health, plan/make differentiated activities for students that are engaging and interactive, and all the while ensure that students pass the CRT's for the No Child Left Behind Act.

I hope that somehow politicians will figure out that it is unwise to bankrupt the children that will one day be making the decisions that will affect us. Sadly, I'm sure that this thought hasn't crossed their minds.

And even though I'm sure politicians had the best intentions of not "leaving a child behind," they have now left behind an entire generation of learners. Shame on them! Shame on us for electing them...May we learn from our mistakes and make the future a brighter place to live.