When you f*ck with teachers, you're f*cking with my kids.

And this mama bear, well, I'm not going to sit around and just watch it happen.

Here in Hillsborough County,

in Tampa, Florida,

I'm not overly impressed with the school board.

In fact, I'm a bit embarrassed by and frustrated with them.

I'm a bit disgusted by their choices and baffled by the lack of common sense that should be present and driving their decisions.

Kids need school.

Schools need teachers.

A needs B.

B needs C.

Therefore, A needs C, which equals KIDS NEED TEACHERS.

Not iReady.

Not Achieve3000.

Not another computer program or test to assess how the state is performing.
Remember that your job is to be concerned with how

my kid,

his kid,

her kid,

their kid,

and, if you have one,

how your kid is doing.

Not what we need to do as a county or state to impress the people that give us money.

I get that it's naive to think any company or something like a school board can operate without adequate funds, but, ideally, schools boards should be comprised of

skillful,

morally-sound,

outside the box thinking adults

whose dual focus is the kids their decisions affect and the selfless as hell teachers who have chosen to make their life's work educating our babies and, in turn, the world.

There's a difference between working in education and working for education and the brave as hell teachers showing up to recent school board meetings and/or their classrooms amidst a pandemic, they are doing both.

But school board members who are working for education but refuse to

listen to,

respect,

and mandate change in honor of those working in education,

you're not doing the job you think you are.

What you are doing, well, whatever it is, it is a disservice to the teaching profession and the young and stellar humans being taught.

Now, more than ever,

every single person who has any sort of role in the field of education,

even parent and students,

we must speak up and out because the decisions being made at the school board or state level they clearly don't have our children's best interest at heart.

And what I can tell you,

as a mother of three kids whose ages are 9, 6, and 4,

is that what is in my children's best interest is

1) paying their teachers what they are worth

2) listening to them about everything from

class size,

to programs used in the classroom,

to testing,

to curriculum

3) supporting them with unforced, non-required, but gently encouraged opportunities to expand their tech knowledge, learn more about incorporating mindfulness in the classroom, or saying "hell yes" to their every request for doing things that can/could/and will accelerate learning even if a bit unconventional

4) focus on students as who they are as individuals and championing them

5) throwing unnecessary tests and their implied importance out the freakin' window, and
6) remembering that what's in my,

and all children's best interest,

is a school board that recognizes that

kids need schools,

schools need good teachers,

and because of some pretty crappy decisions, many schools in Hillsborough county,
and counties across the country, are on the brink of or have lost some ridiculously tremendous ones.

I may have gone a bit overboard with my language here,

and Lord knows that I don't ever use any of it around my kids,

but someone, or something, needs to light a fire under the biscuits of the member's of my county's school board to prompt some

positive,

effective,

and moving-in-the-right-direction type of change.

And so, I'm okay with it.

So what direction should we be going in, you ask?

Any direction in which a respected and valued educator says we should.

Any direction where you see a teacher heading,

and his or her uber-loving-of-‘em students

willingly,

joyfully,

and respectfully following -- that's where we should be going.