Walking toward the light of my people.

Last night, I walked from the parking lot toward the collection of faces lit by phones in the cold.

Tall, short, narrow, wide in lumpy coats bundled up in December; for better or worse, these are my people. We educators gathered to tell our employer, the school board, that lengthening our contract day by thirty minutes without discussion, without reason, without evidence that it will have impact, without trust and respect for the hours we willingly give students is wrong.

My people are lights in these days of discontent and discouragement. We teach not for today but for the tomorrow we see coming. We teach through our contract hours and beyond to get the job done…to teach the people we want to see in this world.

We teach when we are tired, have to fight for our jobs and our benefits and our time clocks. We will continue to teach even though the School Board did vote to add this time to our contract day because we believe our work matters more than the number of hours printed on our contracts.

I will need the warmth and the light of my people to help me today as they have for these decades now. I'm tired but my students are not. They need me to be teacher-ready today and tomorrow and all the tomorrows of school.

Peace and light,

Linda