A teacher's perspective on Pinellas schools' budget cuts

Melanie Sekora, a teacher in Pinellas County, writes a candid piece about budget cuts from a teacher's perspective on ItsYourTimes.com.

Sekora says the state Legislature and the Pinellas County School Board have failed teachers, staff and students. That's not new, she writes, but now the cuts come with catch phrases, such as "You should be glad your job wasn’t cut."

She writes about the profound impact devoted teachers have on children and laments that teachers are left out of the decision-making process.

"Now envision how a disillusioned, discouraged, despondent teacher will impact your child over the next five years. You should be concerned. You should be alarmed," Sekora writes.

She concludes by imploring all parents to contact their legislators to explain how reduced funding will affect their children.

Read Sekora's commentary, share your reaction

[Photo: Fifth grade teacher Margo Evancho high-fives Timothy Morand and her other students in her class at Melrose Elementary. Willie J. Allen Jr. | Times]

Comments

[Wondering]

I am confused about the teacher who said she couldn't get unemployment because she was a contract worker. I have a friend who is contracted and doesn't have tenure and she was able to get unemployment and so was her friend. Make sure you double check on that. If you are an employee of the school and are laid off due to budget cuts you should qualify. Apply.

[Chalk Dust]

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs one can ever have. There isn't enough money to pay anyone to be a teacher because, as this blog shows, the general public has no idea what the value of education means. Anyone who reads, writes, or figures had someone to help them learn. With all the adversity why do teachers teach? Well, it isn't for the big pay check and big perks. Teachers teach because they are teachers...they are born with chalk dust in their blood. If a person goes to college to become a teacher or they use another degree to transition to teaching but do not have chalk dust in their blood, they have wasted their time and money. There are two reasons God gives crowns in heaven to teachers 1) It is gift He has given to a person and rightly used, changes the world for the better, 2)Teachers will never receive the appreciation, compensation, or recognition they deserve from people here on earth. I am very thankful to anyone who shows me any kindness and understanding as I struggle to teach our FUTURE leaders, employees, and parents.
I am sorry that your property taxes have gone up...so have mine...I am sorry that your children have homework and I only have 48 minutes per period to teach and 6 classes per day because it is cheapest way to educate...I am sorry that parents don't have the money for school materials like paper and pencils but their kids bring cells phones and electronic games to school and wear designer clothes...and I cannot afford a cell phone and buy my clothes from that super store...however, I will go back into the classroom and do my best to teach them every year; I will love your kids like they are my own giving them what you and the world cannot; and hopefully, it won't cost you too much.

[teacher]

Hey Lila et all,
Why is it whenever people run out of cogent relevant arguments they fall to the lame and idiotic "I pay your salary" or "If you don't like it , go somewhere else". With that great Long Island education, I would think you could do better than that. Typical New Yorker... when they say something.. it's fact. If anyone else does...it's whining. Get a grip on reality like others have told you....perhaps you should go back to Long Island and pay property taxes there. I can assure you teachers make about $15,000 more per year there and taxes will be higher

[Soylent Green]

Yuo must have been one of those babysitting losers that teach the retards how to tie their shoes or a parasitic 'social worker'.

[dedicated]

I was a successful bussiness woman 10 years ago, but after my son started school I desired a job that would allow me to have time with my child and still be satisfied personally. I love my job and the children I teach. The politics are similar to the business world and yet, the responsibilty is far more than I signed up for. Why is it that people love to complain about teachers? One guess is that when children come to school sleepy or unmotivated they confess the realities of their homes. Daddy screamed at Mommy all night...Mommy got drunk again and Grandma had to come get them.. Those are the lucky ones. More often teachers in South county hear about drugs, guns, abandonment and abuse. Hungry, tired and unloved students deserve an education, but it takes more than one person to motivate and nurture a classroom of kids. The community needs to get involved because a majority of the parents aren't. They are combative and defensive if you try to help. Many simply change schools. Check out the movement of south county elementary kids, many have been to 4 schools before the end of first grade. The world is not pretty, but the schools cannot feed, nurture, counsel and clothe the masses. Our job is to educate. Sadly, it has fallen on us to answer to all of societies short comings.

[Dan]

Be assured that when this becomes final, Pinellas County will still have 2 more county commissioners than any other surrounding county. I'm sure that the service these two extra commissioners far out-weighs the salary we pay them!

[Karl]

The plight of these union workers is so sad. I wonder how the "disillusioned, discouraged and despondent United Auto Workers Union is going to run Obama's General Motors?

[Lila]

Get a grip? Nice talk from someone I pay with my property taxes. Yes, I volunteered. Lots of time. Please, if you feel that your situation is untenable, go to another state and start over. Technology? That is so yesterday. How about art history, literature, humanities? Teachers teaching? Yes? In all fairness, did you think that your son, with a "technology" degree should earn less because? You will retire from the system, benefits intact. Not a good chance your son will have the same privilege. Time to be grateful for what you have.

[morganan]

Kim, Dawn, and Lila all need to get a grip and walk a mile in a teacher's shoes.
Kim.. extra hours signing homework? Hours? If you think a private school education is so much better than public, let's compare the FCAT scores.. oh, that's right- they don't give the FCAT- they don't have the same accountibility level as public schools.
Dawn can't seem to think for herself, simply parroting Kim's warped views... perhaps educated in the private sector...
Lila, northern school teachers don't whine?
Believe me, if the teachers are whining it is because they don't have the tools, resources, or support to adequately educate your children. I am a teacher with a masters degree and 15 years experience. I make less than my son who just graduted from college with a technology degree. If you want to truly change education, get involved, volunteer in your child's classroom or school. Then maybe you will seee what the teachers really face each day...

[Lila]

How can one keep track of a budget when there are two pots for the property owner? The regular school property tax and the referendum? Which referendum was presented for a revote one year, repeat, one year early so that the fools who voted for it (probably lots not owning property) would not see what whiners the teachers and their unions are. I had wonderful teachers growing up on Long Island (where the parents paid very high school bond taxes and essentially ran the schools) and in Virginia in college I had very good teachers as well. I find it reprehensible to listen to teachers whine, latest ploy, let's make parents suffer with screwing with the schedule on Wednesdays and maybe they will pay us more for that. Do they care if their students learn? What is their deal? Public schools should be the pinnacle of education like they were. NOT choice busing and whining. Equality begins in the home. Don't have children if you cannot parent.

[Dawn]

Thank you Kim. You stated that very eloquently and I absolutely agree with you.

[Kim]

Without budget cuts, with teacher pay that is on par with the average income in FLA, the public school system has failed so badly in educating children that my choices for my son were to put him in a rigid fundamental school and put in a lot of extra hours on "protocol" items like signed homework slips that don't benefit his education or pay for a private school where he will get a more rounded education. I applaud anything that prevents wasting more of my tax dollars on a system that I've evaluated and found too broken to use. I think they should be focusing on correcting flaws in the system, not saving jobs.

[Kenneth]

I'm a former teacher myself. Pay is just the start - inept administrators, flavor of the month curriculum requirements, and an excessive push for standardized material/curriculum have all made the teaching profession very unattractive. I left to work in the private sector and couldn't be happier.

[anne]

I spent 3 mos worried about losing my job. Jumping when my principal came down the hall. Wondering if I could afford to buy stickers for my students. Thinking about vocational school, even though I have a graduate degree. After 96% of my students passed FCAT...I was let go due to budget cuts. There are 'no' jobs if you are laid off. Principals think you did something wrong. Teachers are contracted until they get tenure (I was scheduled to get tenured in June). Contracted teachers (despite 3 yrs working) cannot collect unemployment. So, now I face losing my house, my family, and my life. I will beg to become a substitute teacher and my own children will suffer. My coworkers cried when I told them. How do you think that will alter their teaching? How do you think it will effect your children when the teacher they loved gets fired? They will most likely replace me (in the Fall when new federal funds come) with an inexperienced teacher who is less expensive. This is what is happening.