I hate you Greg Howard from Stonington!
Hello friends!
Ghetto Mami is back once more.
Recently, I read an article from the CT Mirror, that made me kind of upset.
That article titled “CT bills would fight teacher shortage by changing pay, certification” discusses legislative measures aimed at addressing teacher shortages and enhancing the teacher workforce in Connecticut. Here are the key points:
Salary Increases:
The legislation proposes raising starting salaries for educators. Specifically:
Senate Bill 381 suggests using state subsidies to increase the starting salary for educators up to $60,000.
House Bill 5348 aims to raise the starting salary for paraeducators to $45,000. However, these bills face challenges due to their cost, as the state is cautious about exceeding fiscal limits.
Teacher Certification Simplification: House Bill 5436 introduces changes to the teacher certification process. The goal is to streamline the pathway toward professional status and facilitate educators teaching across different grade levels.
In that article I could not avoid having a beef with Greg Howard, an American politician, who currently holds the position of Connecticut State Representative for the 43rd District., because he says,
“I think [this bill] is probably going to Appropriations and not making it much further … If we want to get serious about the teaching profession and teacher recruitment or retention, in this legislature, … I think we need to start taking a hard look at the environment that we’re creating for our teachers when we put mandate after mandate on what they need to do in their classroom. … I think what we need to do is take a step back instead of putting bills like this forward that we know really aren’t going to make it.”
Now, you must be wondering, why do I hate Greg Howard?
Well… I don’t really hate him, but I am very disappointed. I work as a paraeducator in a self-contained classroom with teenagers with severe case of autism, for New Haven publics schools, earning a salary of 23,000 a year, before deductions. I have been punched three times in my back, and once on my left breast, scratched twice in my hand, suffered the destruction of one of my favorite blouses, and my hair pulled in a horrible way more times that I can remember.
Nevertheless, I still love my job and I want to help those students. However, it feels horrible to read in the newspaper people like Greg Howard believes paraeducators are not worth the fight. If you think paraeducators are teenagers between jobs, think again. Most of us are middle-aged people, but that salary forces us to take two or more gigs on the side and make lines for the food pantry to make ends meet.
R-Representative Greg Howard, can you and your children live with 23,000 a year?
Do you know what happens when people like you step back?
People like us quit. We are tired, and it seems no one wants to help us.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, but people like you make me think your main purpose is to destroy education, or any kind of help for children in poor communities.
If anyone in Stonington cares about teachers, please don’t vote for people like him who do not even pretend to care.