• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

April 14, 2018 Current Events in Education

Dear Madame Secretary DeVos: We Will Not Be Ignored

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Aimee Cribbs

Dr. Aimee Cribbs has twenty years of elementary classroom experience in Georgia's Title I schools. She's taught in a diverse, urban setting and a small rural system. She currently serves as an Education adjunct for Piedmont College and the Morningside College Applied Research Center. She is also a teacher candidate supervisor for Dalton State College. Her research focuses include teaching creativity, educators as the instruments of reform, and graduate writing self-efficacy. She is an advocate for teachers, who she believes have the single most important job in the world.
  • White Privilege and the Power of Revision in Education - June 4, 2020
  • Getting Reading Right: The Education Week Online Summit - February 4, 2020
  • Putting the S in PBIS - February 11, 2019
  • How Teaching is like Shopping at Aldi - October 4, 2018
  • Teaching Your Way through Controversy: Responding to Kaepernick's Stance - September 5, 2018
  • The State of the Teacher Union - April 15, 2018
  • Dear Madame Secretary DeVos: We Will Not Be Ignored - April 14, 2018
  • The Ins and Outs of Walking Out: Understanding Strike Law - April 11, 2018
  • Dear TER Readers and Educators: Let's Change the World - January 21, 2018
  • Blueprint for Reform: Building the Foundation - December 3, 2017

Dear Madame Secretary DeVos:

In response to the recent surge of teacher walkouts, you stated that teachers should “serve the students that are there to be served.”  I couldn’t agree more. I also understand why, as the highest-ranking Education official in the nation, you must discourage teacher protests.  However, as a veteran public-school educator who believes that our education system is our nation’s greatest resource, I ask you to consider what you can do to give our nation’s educators the voice they need and end the strikes once and for all.  This isn’t just about pay raises, new textbooks or smaller class sizes. It is about our nation’s educators being respected as the hard-working professionals we are.

This isn’t just about pay raises, new textbooks or smaller class sizes. It is about our nation’s educators being respected as the hard-working professionals we are. Click To Tweet

Of course, like any career, there are a few bad apples out there.  There are disgruntled folks who take to the picket line as a day off, but this is not the norm in a profession that is devoted to growing human beings.  Teachers don’t want to strike. They understand the impact it has on their students and the community. Walking out is only a last resort after years of focus groups and letters to the editor and calls to representatives.  I’ve read stories about educators in West Virginia packing lunches before the strike began to make sure students would have access to healthy food. I’ve heard about educators in Oklahoma who paid substitutes out of their own pockets.  These are people dedicated to serving students.

You stated that teachers need to stay “focused on what’s right for the kids”.  For years-- day in, day out-- I’ve been required to do things that go against everything I know about human development, teaching and learning.  A few days of strikes is not a drop in the bucket compared to the years since NCLB turned our system into a testing machine.  Endless standardized testing, scripted lessons, limiting the arts:  this is not right for the kids.

A few days of strikes is not a drop in the bucket compared to the years since NCLB turned our system into a testing machine. Click To Tweet

You tweeted that “children should not suffer for adult squabbles.”  This is not a squabble. We are witnessing the breaking point after years of unanswered requests.  The phone calls, the board of education meetings, and the impassioned public resignations by our nation’s best educators just aren’t working and we don’t have any alternatives to walking out.  In 28 states, we don’t have the right to collective bargaining and the other states sit in limbo as we wait to hear the Supreme Court’s summer decision on the Janus case. The educators of our nation are asking for more than increased spending.  We are asking for a voice.

The wonderful thing about giving educators a voice is that it’s free.  No test, no computer program or state of the art technology can take the place of an effective teacher.  When the Department of Education leads our nation in a movement to respect educators as professionals, that’s when we’ll see measurable reform in our schools.  And the need for walk-outs--and maybe even letters to the editor--will end.

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

The Ins and Outs of Walking Out: Understanding Strike Law The State of the Teacher Union Conversations About Betsy DeVos What Teacher Choice in PD Should Look Like
« The Ins and Outs of Walking Out: Understanding Strike Law
The Importance of the 2018 Mid-Term Elections: A Teacher’s Perspective »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • "Let's Make This Happen": Following Student Interests to Interest-Based Mentorships
  • Want to Keep Special Education Teachers? Try Mentorship
  • An Idaho teen who won his school board election has a message for educators
  • Moving Beyond Diversity to Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging: Lessons from a Sunday Sermon

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.