Mr. G for District 3, What am I going to do for your student?

A mother asked me what I was going to do for their student, and this is a big and fair question.

I thought about it for a second, I didn’t know them, I didn’t know their age, grade, school or if they had a specific need or a disability but I still knew what I was going to do for them.

What I am going to do is make sure their student has a teacher who is appreciated. One who is not micromanaged or marginalized. I am going to make sure their teacher is listened to and their needs and workload are considered by the district. You see, way too often the district does not think about how their policies and edicts affect staff until after it affects staff. That must end.

We are not where we could and should be and one of the biggest reasons is, we often marginalize staff and treat them like they are easily replaceable cogs rather than the professionals that they are. If we listened to teachers, if we involved them in decision making, and if we supported them, we would be doing so much better.  

Day one new policies would be teachers with effective evaluations would not be surplussed and teachers required to take academic courses will be given the time to complete them. Day one how new policies affect teachers would have to be considered before implemented.    

So what I am going to do for their student, is the same thing I am going to do for all the students and that is make sure things improve for teachers, because the better things are for them, the better things will be for everyone.