WOW!! February has been a stressful month! Actually I have been stressed out since October! This economy has been a nagging fear and stressor since the beginning of the school year. I have joked with my coworkers calling the economic situation a big fiery asteroid that is headed toward earth, that just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
I have noticed a difference in my students behavior due to the stress that their parents must be feeling! Lately that stress has gotten much worse, more than a few of my students have told me that their fathers have "left", not specifying where or why, even more students have told me that one of their parents have been laid off, and the state has cut the amount of money they were giving the school district twice since December. Our district has already cut more than $18 million and then this month we were told they were going to cut even more! The Governor basically told the states teachers that it was our responsibility to work for free for at least a week (in some districts more) to make sure that days weren't going to get cut off the end of the year. Those "free" days would have cost me more than half a paycheck. It looked like we were going to have to lose that much money whether we worked those days or not! I was beginning to strategieze about how we would pay our bills if that was the case. Today we got some tentative good news...It looks like the state legislature is planning on passing a bill that will give the schools more money this year to avoid cutting school days... so it looks like I will get a normal pay check for the rest of this year! Whooooo hoooooo! (but we are waiting for the legislature to pass the bill) Next year the district has to operate with a 25% lower budget than this year so we are still looking at more cuts over the summer but because I have been in the district for four years I think I am safe from those cuts! I am hopeful that the economic situation will improve but I know it will take time. I will keep my fingers crossed! I really appreciated Obama's address to congress. "We are not a nation of quiters" Now is a time to look out for your friends and neighbors and try to help them emotionally through this tough economic time! A coworker and I have started a wellness challenge at the school to encourage our staff to take better care of themselves in these rough times! It is fun to listen to people encourage each other to do something for their mental health or their social emotional health! I am starting to ramble a little, I thought getting this all out might make me feel better! Thanks for listening!
