On my way to work, I hit a deer (or a deer hit me). My car was undamaged; apparently I have an angel on my shoulder. But I can't say the deer made out so well. I'm sure the deer's legs were damaged, but making her situation even worse, while she was trying to run away from the road after we collided, she jumped off a bridge. I hope her passing was as quick and painless as possible. I was pretty shaken up and had to pull over to collect myself. I absolutely love deer and was so upset to hurt one. Once I got myself together, I was back on my way to work, but I was already a few minutes late.
After work today at our staff meeting, I got some bad news. Actually the whole school staff got some bad news. There are some serious financial issues in our county and it looks like our teaching contracts are not going to be honored (for the third year in a row). Except this time their talking about some damaging actions for our family. They have a few options on the table-- a 5% cut in pay, a 3% furlough, a 20% increase in our insurance contribution, and a certain reality, a 2% contribution increase to our pension (even though we're already rated as the 49th WORST state teacher's pension in the United States). If all of these options happen together, we're talking a 10% decrease in my salary which would be devastating to our family. I don't know how we'd make it, honestly.
And adding insult to injury was the comments from the county members and the media about our "cushy" jobs and pensions and the fact the fire and police union are lobbying against us. I always felt we were on the same team.
Anyway, I got home and started to get ready to run, but I just broke down and cried. I'm scared about my family's future, and I just feel completely unappreciated.
I didn't go to the gym to get my run in. Instead, I stayed here with my guys and they started to make me feel a little better. And then I opened an email from a parent. I won't give all the details, but she wrote to thank me for helping her daughter. It's rare that teachers get these letters of appreciation, and honestly, we could really use them right now. So if your kid has a favorite teacher or a teacher who has really helped your kid (or you), please let it be known. Most teachers I know do their job out of love, but it doesn't hurt to know others see and recognize our hard work.
Seriously, go hug a teacher!
(and tomorrow I'll get that run in!)
