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Be open for our truth that all children’s voices must be heard…

 

It is extremely frustrating and challenging for me to accept  that in this brand new year,  with the election over, President Elect Donald Trump’s selection of Betsy DeVos will be Secretary of Education…She has never been a proponent of public schools… Her focus will be on privatization and school vouchers for school choice…This choice for all children will be catastrophic for most children who rely on public schools!

Dedicating my professional life to teaching in our public schools… I know from first hand experience what such an impact will have,  when public schools  lose  resources affecting our children…

Just like it was yesterday; back in the Nineties when Jeb Bush was our governor right here in Florida. It was the beginning of privatization  with school vouchers…”The no child Left Behind” Act began, making testing and accountability priorities… School vouchers and charter schools taking  monies and resources available to our children and public schools….We were required teaching  a more sophisticated curriculum that has been characterized developmentally inappropriate,  with fewer resources…And we teachers evaluated unfairly and blamed for the failures in our public schools…

This loss of necessary revenues has led to overcrowded classrooms, fewer specialized teachers helping our children with issues impacting their learning… We even have had school closings that have caused these overcrowded classrooms with longer bus rides for our children…

President Obama signing Elementary and Secondary Act on December 10, 2015…

We must thank President Obama for realizing our public schools needed his involvement… We have been dealing with those many challenges imposed from the Bush era…And this act was to put more emphasis on children in those young years, when learning is crucial to a child’s foundation…

Having taught many children from  impoverished homes… Knowing how  they  come to school hungry for what public schools  have to offer…Their families are just surviving, and it has been  up to dedicated teachers providing them with the necessary tools to be successful… a hope for a better future…

What saddens me is that we as a Country could have made a difference for our children… I had the wonderful opportunity to volunteer for Hillary in Flagler County, in Florida… a predominately Republican County… I met wonderful volunteers who worked along with me to make that difference… We made calls and knocked on doors… Meeting wonderful people in our community who wanted a better tomorrow… Even with those who did not see the future as we see for our children…

And now we are left with a future very uncertain for our children and public schools… My hope is that we will realize what is right for our children before our public schools become severely affected…