by Tega Toney
“Intentional” is one of the most meaningful words in the English language. It means something is done on purpose or something is deliberate. It is a powerful word and shows the true purpose or goal of an action. Example: I am intentionally writing this piece to uplift public school employees and to bring awareness to a problem.
Public school employees intentionally choose to enter a career in the classroom for many reasons, some of which include a passion for helping children, a yearning to make a difference, the ability to serve families and communities by helping educate our future leaders, etc. The list goes on and on. The one constant that remains true is they are intentional about the career path they choose.
More and more, high school graduates are intentionally choosing to steer clear of a path that would lead them to a career in teaching. We also see many of our fine teachers intentionally choosing to leave the classroom after serving in their calling for a number of years. In 2015, West Virginia had approximately 600 teaching vacancies in the state of West Virginia. Fast forward to 2022, and that number has doubled to just shy of 1,200 teaching vacancies. Additionally, hard-working West Virginians are intentionally choosing to not become bus drivers, cooks, or custodians in our public schools, either. Why is that?
I spend a lot of time in the presence of our great educators (by educators I mean, teachers, counselors, service personnel and all who work in public schools). I am privileged to have an opportunity to speak to public school employees from all corners of the state. In our conversations, it becomes quite clear that many of those who haven’t yet left are dusting off their resumé and are intentionally looking for other opportunities. Why is that?
Through our conversations, I learn that our public school employees feel disrespected, devalued, overworked, underappreciated and as if they are the scapegoats for societal ills. They have doubled their workloads, jumped through hoops and put in the physical, emotional and mental work of caring for and educating kids, all while wrangling with the challenges of a global pandemic.
Yet, some in power choose to intentionally disrespect our public educators. They introduce bills that imply our teachers are community villains aiming to brainwash students. They introduce bills to nitpick their annual leave days. They introduce bills to make school board races more partisan. (Because everyone wants more partisan bickering, am I right?) They introduce bills to limit spousal coverage on PEIA. They introduce bills to make it more difficult for public employees to seek recourse when a workplace law or policy has been violated. They introduce bills to take funding and resources away from the very schools in which public educators work.
A good leader understands that when you intentionally treat employees with respect and intentionally empower them to do their jobs, they will shine. The governor’s pay raise bill moving through the Legislature is a good start to righting the ship, but we need to have a frank and candid conversation regarding what more can be done to attract people to the profession.
Every time a leader attacks public education, we lose a good public educator. We have made our best and brightest intentionally walk away from the profession or intentionally choose to avoid the profession altogether.
Why do we have 1,196 teaching vacancies in West Virginia and why does it keep increasing? Because some in power are intentionally choosing to walk down this path as evidenced by their treatment of public school employees. This hurts us all.
Intention is powerful and its effects will reverberate for generations to come.
