Only We Can Make The Change Together

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This old gal…

Is heading out…for another day of substitute teaching…

TitIe I this time…reading intervention…lived it…breathed it…loved it…for 36 years…could teach it…with the eyes closed…

The what ifs…the panic…not there like before…what if…I can’t control the class…what if…I suddenly get sick…what if…I have no idea what I’m doing…

But still woke up…in the middle of the night…a new fear…clenching the gut…the what if…there’s a sh**ter…

Lay there in bed…making a plan…where to go…how to protect kids…pictured the classroom…interior…no window…does the door lock…wouldn’t have a key…

Tip a bookshelf in front…throw books…throw anything…run to bathroom across the hall…private…locks…carry phone…at all times…

This fear…new to teacher me…but not unique…as surely educators everywhere…are also…making the plan…just in case…

This…is not ok…this…is not…just the way it is…this…is not a fair reality…for children…who deserve…to feel safe…

This…is an us issue…an all…of us issue…and only we…can make the change…together…
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And this husband of mine…agrees…