When you cut teachers,

or lower their pay,

or decrease their paid time off,

for no damn good reason,

it's the kids you're really screwing.

It sucks for the teachers, absolutely.

But those intelligent,

caring,

selfless,

creative,

intuitive,

altruistic beings,

they'll find another way to reach the children they know they were put on this Earth to educate.

And, they'll find a way to do it in a way that leaves them feeling

proud,

appreciated,

and respected.

They'll leave the public school system to work for a private school.

They'll jump ship to a virtual education program and tackle teaching online.

They'll start private tutoring or become an education consultant.

A few, perhaps, will start and open their own school or learning facility.

What they won't do is sit around while being fed BS about how they are expendable and 'a dime a dozen.'

As a parent to three young elementary-aged children, who each have been attending some sort of the formal schooling since age two,

I know and will avow that teachers are anything but,

and I can tell you that not a single teacher my kids have been blessed enough to have had,

has been nonessential

or dispensable --

which is precisely how you make them seem (and feel) when

IN THE MIDDLE OF A GLOBAL HEALTH PANDEMIC,

you take away their jobs,

their campus' and classroom's funding

or force them to come to teach in an in-person classroom when they'd feel safer teaching e-learners.

Any single educational decision that hurts

fully capable,

uberly-effective,

ridiculously hardworking teachers in the name of

‘saving money,’

is a dumb one.

Any single educational decision that hurts

our teachers,

hurts their students,

our kids.

And that is my honest, direct opinion as a parent whose kids need these undervalued, stellar humans (who feel called be a vital member of such a thankless profession) in their lives.

To parents, teachers are an extension of us.

A very much necessary one.

They are everything to our children during the hours we can't be, and I can't imagine why anyone would think it smart to write them off during a time in our history when, now more than ever, they and their role are critical.

So, how about instead of cutting public school funding or cutting teachers,

you just cut the bullsh*t.

Pay teachers what they are worth.

Provide for them what they need.

Listen to them.

Trust them and empower them.

And know, that by doing so,

you are investing in the what matters --

people;

the big ones and the little ones.