A Commentary
A Day in the Life
I read the news today oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
Without a doubt, this song by Lennon and McCartney has always been one of my top five favorite Beatle tunes. Like many of you, I grew up learning the words to all of the Beatle songs. I can’t say I ever really gave them thoughtful consideration, I just knew that they were loads of fun to sing. This song was no different. It sure was fun to sing, “Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.” Yet as I’ve grown older, this verse comes back to me more and more as something other than just a rhythmically clever collection of syllables. It speaks to how we can sometimes get stuck in counting the ordinary and expected instead of acting for positive change. At least, that what it tells me today.
Making your way in the world today is getting harder and harder. I suppose I don’t have to tell any of you that. Gas prices have spiked into uncharted territory. Food prices, in tandem, have jumped as well. Milk is $4.00 a gallon. The prices of cheese and meat have recently spiked as well. There seems to be no end to these economic pressures in sight.
As teachers, support, and staff members, our jobs haven’t gotten any easier. In fact, they are exponentially more complex today than they were just ten years ago. SOL pressures cast their knot of anxiety over us all, but other issues have also crept into our daily lives. Children today need so much more from us from basic health and nutrition services to education needs. So many more children come to school with insufficient preparation. The population of children we serve is rapidly evolving with more and more children coming to us from fractured homes and incomplete families. The challenges that face all of us are scary and exhausting.
Precisely for those reasons, our positions in the community and school system have become even more vital. It is our contention at the RCEA that our educator compensation packages should reflect our important roles in the community. At all levels in the education program and in all classifications, we should be receiving benefits and compensation that are tops in the region and comparable to colleagues in the country.
Over the years, I’ve taught in several school districts. In one district I remember becoming frustrated every budget cycle. In times when tax revenues were tight, teachers were told that since the locality needed to tighten their financial belts, we’d have to fore go even the most basic cost of living salary increases. We were promised that when revenues returned to normal, we’d get back on track. Predictably, when revenue returned to normal, two things happened. The local supervisors would cut the tax rate and the school board would divert salary monies to build a needed school or other facilities. I’ll never forget being told in meetings, “Well you have to make a decision here…what do you want, more money or a needed elementary school?” Instead of rightfully placing that burden on the community, the schools and facilities were built on the backs of the teachers. I’ve never forgotten that.
I’ve begun to hear a similar argument whispered here in Roanoke County. The implication is that if teachers and staff are to get salary and benefit reform, then some hard choices will have to be made. What are we as teachers willing to give up? Are we willing to give up technology? The ActivBoard program in elementary schools? Low teacher/pupil class sizes? School nurses in elementary schools? Elementary Art/Music programs?
In each case, my reply is that I’m not willing to give up anything that is right and good for the children, and I’m not willing to give up on proper compensation and benefits. Instead of directing these types of questions internally, the school system, with our important and valued input, needs to be defining exactly what we need in order to run a first class educational program in these challenging times. Our locality already does much more than most in providing a wide variety of non-state supported services, and they should be commended for that support, but there is still so much more that needs to be done.
Once we’ve identified our real and justified needs, the supervisors should be presented with those reasoned and supported requests. It may be that the supervisors will have to look deep into their pockets and even seek additional revenue to assist the school system in maintaining and excelling as a division.
One thing that I can never accept is to be told that employees have to decide between compensation, valued programs, and needed facilities. Such an approach only ensures, at best, the maintenance of the status quo and at worst the erosion of the entire program. It’s like counting the holes in Blackburn Lancashire to find out how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
Thom Ryder
RCEA President
