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rachel downing
Thoughts, Theories & Therapy.
This is a long post so bear with me…
Yesterday was payday and a great way to end the work week! Our middle school had just finished Illinois Standard Achievement Tests (ISATs) and everyone was feeling particularly giddy. Me especially, because I had just completed a major leg of the ISAT race in my first year as ISAT coordinator (my ISAT job is far from done for the year, but getting the bulk of the testing done this week was a great accomplishment). Usually I just throw my pay-stub in my bag without even opening it but today it felt like there was something else inside. As I looked at my pay-stub, I found a letter from our superintendent that made me angry. Not at him or our school district, but at our government.
Now I am not the type of person to get angry or rant and rave about issues especially online, but this fired me up enough to write my first blog in how long? 11 months? Nor am I one to stir up debates. I do not pretend to know much about the government and politics and usually leave my husband to explain things (or rather dumb things down) for me, but I am just going to write about the things I am seeing… . and beginning to experience firsthand.
The Past
First of all, if you don’t know me well, let me give you some background on my occupational history. In 2005 I finally completed my graduate degree and began working at a small school district south of Peoria. I had never heard of the school district before, but when I saw the job posting for a full-time middle school counselor, I applied. Though the school was an hour drive from my home, it was a good fit for me and I immediately felt a connection to the staff and students. In many ways it was an ideal job. The middle school was located in a different town from the rest of the district, in an old but roomy building and there were about 200 students in grades 6-8 which is an ideal caseload for a counselor. We had our own principal and the staff worked very well together.
In my second year working there it became evident that big changes were coming. Balancing a budget and finding funds to cover all the expenses are always a concern in any school district, and you can always find articles in the paper about a school dealing with budget problems. Our school was no exception. They were doing everything they could to cut costs while still providing a quality education to their students, not to mention meeting government regulations such as Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB). That spring we found out that some the budget cuts would include closing our building moving the middle school over to the building that housed the high school and grade school, eliminating the middle school principal position, and eliminating my job. That news rocked my world and it was hard not to take personally. However, as devastating as it was, it wasn’t a huge shock. Middle school counselors are a bit of a luxury in the Illinois school system, and on paper, it is a logical position to cut.
As I said, I was devastated. And 5 month pregnant. Being a stay-at-home-mom was never in my vocabulary and now I was faced with that possibility. Or find a new job and start said job on maternity leave. Not exactly an ideal situation for an employer either. Long story short, my husband and I decided that I would not take another position but stay home for the time being and see what the future would hold.
That fall, I got an email from one of my old co-workers. She had worked with me the previous year and had also lost her job as the MS girls PE teacher, but was able to relocate to the HS as a teacher. In her new position she was also in charge of the school’s Career Link chapter. Through funds provided for this program, a little money had been allocated to pay for a part, part-time career counselor for the year. It would be one day a week and included co-teaching a career class for juniors and seniors, career counseling for high school and any other miscellaneous counseling needed. It was right up my alley so as we worked the details, I accepted the position working on Wednesdays starting in October and ending in April.
The following year the school reopened the middle school counseling position on a part-time scale. I guess everyone complained enough to get some changes! Needless to say, I got my old position back and it was an ideal situation for me. I love my job as a counselor and I love my job as a mother. Though I hadn’t planned it, I had come to love staying at home and had not been pursuing a full-time position. I still wanted to work, so going back to my old school, working with the people I already knew and had a working relationship with, picking my own schedule and hours provided the exact opportunity I was looking for.
The Present
Flash forward to now (lots of history to cover!). I am finishing out my second year working part-time with plans already in motion for next year. Though it is always a fear that my job will be eliminated again, I have been informed that I am good to go for next year. It tends to be a running joke between the principal and myself, and I tell him, “if you fire me again, I am NOT coming back!”
SO, back to the original intent of this blog post. The purpose of this post is not for me to express my worries of losing my job (that’s not something I would blog about) but more to give you context of my thoughts and feelings as I read the letter from the superintendent. The letter actually had nothing to do with my position but did bring up the concerns of the budget. From my understanding our school budget has been balanced for the 10-11 school year, but we, like many other schools, are running into problems because we are not being paid by the government.
As of current, the government is almost $300K behind in payments to our district (and this is small potatoes compared to some districts) with 2 quarters down and 2 to go of the fiscal year. So our superintendent and board are re-working the budget in the event that the problem is not rectified. And that means more budget cuts. Our district is already doing as much as they can to close the gap without cutting more personnel or necessary expenses. But how long will that last? Not long if the government doesn’t cough up what is already owed.
The Future
My question is why? Why is the government spending so much in stimulus packages, bailing out big businesses, credit card companies and any other entity you can think of and not paying out the money needed to keep the institutions that are educating tomorrow’s leaders operating adequately? Now granted, I understand that schools received stimulus money as well, but again, that is part of the problem. The government has not been able to put it’s money where it’s mouth is. Not only are schools dealing with not getting the money promised, but trying to balance their budgets on a significant amount of money that was once there and now no longer. Seems like to me, instead of helping our country out of the hole of insufficient funds the government is just handing everyone a shovel to dig themselves deeper.
Like so many others, our school is suffering because our government isn’t following through. AND then, they set standards and benchmarks setting everyone up to fail and say the government will take over the school if these conditions aren’t met. How are we supposed to even have a fighting chance of meeting these standards if we don’t have the resources in place to succeed? It’s called an investment and the government is doing a heck of a job investing in the people who will be in control of this country in the not-to-distant future. We are leading by example, that’s for sure.
Now again, I don’t pretend to know all that is going on in politics and government, and there is a whole lot more going on than I could ever or even want to fathom. You might be thinking, “Rachel this is old news. Are you just now catching up to this?” or “You have no idea what is really going.” I don’t think I could disagree with either statement. I am just frustrated. What is going to happen? What are we setting ourselves up for in the future? I know that my position is just a few more payments away from being cut. And that is an injustice. Not for my sake, because I will survive and move on. Not because I am some great counselor or person, but because kids today need all the help and support they can get. And it keeps getting taken away from them one person at a time.
