Claremore teacher encourages educators to stand together
Reprinted with permission from the Claremore Progress. This article originally appeared on Jun 21, 2016. Support local journalism with a subscription or a day pass for $1.99 :)
Catalayah Elementary first grade teacher Jennifer Lewis is asked every year to do more with fewer resources, and now, she is asking educators and the community alike to stand up for education.
“As teachers, if we stand together and rise up I feel like we could do many things, but we just take what we are given, and we become resourceful. I think we need someone to stand up for us and say enough is enough,’” said Lewis. “Education needs to be valued, and the future generations need to be valued.”
Over 14 years, Lewis has observed the classroom slowly lose resources for students. She felt like the classroom was underfunded when she began as a teacher in Oklahoma. Although teachers had to provide supplemental resources for the classroom more than a decade ago, basic supplies were generally funded through the school district. Now, it is difficult to get basic supplies.
“This year, education is more dismal than ever before. There are several rounds of budget cuts and less funding for education, which is leaving classroom teachers to do without. The lack of funding for our schools is creating devastating consequences for our classroom,” she said.
Teachers bring items from home or alter lesson plans to work around missing resources.
“We are creatively thinking about where we can cut to save money, and what our students can do without. It is a difficult situation to think of when you are talking about our future generations,” she said. “Teachers work diligently and resourcefully to ensure every student in our classrooms are successful, even if this means hundreds of dollars out of our own pocket.”
She said it is not uncommon for teachers to also help students with basic needs.
“We meet many other needs for our students, such as clothing, shoes, food and backpacks. Supplying extras for our students is becoming more overwhelming as we use our own money to buy basic classroom supplies,” she said.
Basic cleaning services have also been cut, leaving teachers with the responsibility of working longer to make sure students have a good learning environment.
“We deal with 20 kids or more in the classroom, and that gets messy. It is not that we mind cleaning our rooms, but it is not a deep clean that cleaning professionals provide, and when we have many kids there are germs and messes,” said Lewis.
Lewis has lost support paraprofessionals who can assist students who need extra help.
The teachers can no longer host “Pastries for Parents,” which was a relationship-building event for teachers and parents.
Teachers are also encouraged not to make extra copies. They do not receive funding for workbooks or textbooks.
“We are basically stuck between a rock and hard place. Especially because we cannot make copies, but also are asked not to reorder workbooks,” she said.
She said it is time for education to be a real priority for the state because the future depends on it.
“This would help not only maintain experienced educators, but ensure classroom stability. Oklahoma teachers are undervalued and underpaid. We are nearly last in teacher pay in the nation,” she said.
This week a group of teachers announced their intentions to run as candidates in the upcoming elections, and Lewis is hopeful this will bring needed insight to the State Legislature.
“I think the Teacher Caucus is moving in the right direction. I think it will be great to have people with teaching experience because most people don’t know what we go through every day,” she said.
Overall, she said Claremore Public Schools teachers do a great job of making sure students receive the best education that can be provided.
“I see that we are producing great students, but it just more and more of doing work with less resources. We are expected to produce the same results with even less and less,” she said.
Lewis said she isn’t fighting for better pay, but she is fighting for students in the classroom and the future. She said every leader, innovator or other professional begins in a first grade classroom.
She said, “The educational system and teachers are working hard to be advocates for our students, but this is not enough. We need the help of everyone in our community. The question on my mind is, what are you doing to support education?”