Public School Teachers
Teacher? Babysitter? Social Director? Therapist?
For years, those claiming that they want to reform education have savagely attacked the teaching profession. The pandemic proved them wrong.
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- Aannestad Andelin & Corn LLP
We live in a society that has deprioritized the needs of children. The days of a parent being able to stay home to raise their offspring are long gone and an appropriate work-life balance is out of reach for most Americans. Decades of trickle-down economics have frayed the social safety net leaving too many children hungry and homeless. Even for those with access to good health insurance, mental health services are difficult to obtain. Our neighborhood social structures have disintegrated leaving today’s children without the villages that helped raise previous generations.
Our public schools have done their best to pick up the slack by providing food for hungry children, after-school care for students whose parents are working, and access to technology for those who desperately need 21st-century job skills to have a shot at the American Dream. Spearheading these efforts have been public school teachers, many of whom reach into their own pockets to pay for school supplies for their students. To pay for projects not covered by diminishing funding for public education, others become beggars, soliciting donations on programs like DonorsChoose.
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of public school campuses, parents from all ranges of the economic spectrum felt the effects. Those from socio-economically disadvantaged areas were hit particularly hard. While Los Angeles quickly instituted a Grab and Go meal program to keep families fed, other school districts were not as responsive and food insecurity increased. Low-wage workers were less likely to have the option of working from home and were left scrambling for child…
