Next Thursday will not, or at least should not, be just another day off of school for area students.
Teachers are going to Olympia to speak their minds and make their needs known to the legislature and they deserve our support.
The North Kitsap School District’s decision to take part in the Day of Action speaks volumes of its dedication to the families it serves. In the face of a possible $600 million in cuts to statewide education, our local teachers are joining others to say “no.”
For the majority of employed people the standards we are used to in our working environments are pretty much a given. Although there are always possibilities like layoffs, firings and office shut downs, we take for granted that when we show up for work our job will be the same one we agreed to and we will be doing the same work that was always expected of us.
Now imagine, if you will, life in public education. Each and every year educators, administrators and public education supporters must justify their needs or risk cuts.
The same programs you’ve seen work miracles in the lives of students may be on the chopping block and you have to defend its funding.
You make less money than similarly educated people. And yet a pay raise you rallied for, and voters strongly endorsed, had to be fought for in the courts as well.
You’re asked to do more to ensure our kids are ready for the real world, yet you may have to do that with less money.
If public education is failing, it is only doing so because we have failed it. We hope that on the Day of Action, the North Kitsap community will remember its educators and wish them well.
If you’re of voting age, why not send a message of support to the school district by writing or calling your legislator on Jan. 14? If you can’t make it to Olympia, your voice sure can.
If you’re a student, why not show appreciation for your teachers by finding something educational to do, instead of staying home and vegging out in front of the boob tube? There are tons of fun things scheduled from parks and recreation to the Marine Science Center.
Remember, the Day of Action isn’t just a personal day for our educators. They’re going to be working hard at the Capital in support of one thing that we all can agree is worth saving.
Our future.
