Even before the snakes in the ceiling, teachers face so many challenges in classroom

Jeni Ward
·3 min read
Henry Clay High School teacher Nathan Spalding said a baby rat snake fell from his classroom ceiling Wednesday and landed on a desk phone. Spalding said a mouse fell from the ceiling Thursday in another classroom. Henry Clay is dealing with infestation problems, he said.

It’s not about the snakes.

I mean yes, the snakes do play their role, but it’s not about the snakes.

I’ve thought about snakes more in the past week than I’d ever care to think about them again.

Two weeks ago, I had two panic attacks at work on a Wednesday. It was scary. I was lucky that I realized what was happening both times, which helped to stop it more quickly and lessen its impact.

They happened for a multitude of reasons, some I can talk about, many, most, I can’t because of privacy laws and ethics. The long and short is that I feel the to-do list is often way longer than my work day. That the endless amounts of paperwork and surveys often keep me from being able to do meaningful lesson planning. Many of my union sisters and brothers at other schools in district and across the state report endless meetings that take any planning time that may remain. I am fortunate that our administration always errs on the side of protecting our planning time, but I have worked in buildings where that was absolutely not the case.

And there is so much gaslighting and toxic positivity while actual issues, actual barriers to improving teaching and learning remain. We are understaffed, and as a result, are doing the jobs of multiple people that we did not apply for. Often, with the underlying layer of guilt… “but it’s for the kids…” of course it’s for the kids, that’s exactly why we’re here, but many of us also have kids, and families, and lives, and we miss them when we’re repeatedly asked to give up time outside of our contract hours to do jobs that we didn’t sign up for and may or may not even be equipped to do. And if we ask for support, we are often met with another training, another sheet to sign off on, and walk away with nothing tangible feeling like nothing has changed. It’s endlessly frustrating.

But it’s not just me that feels as if I’m hanging by a frayed thread on any given day, being a part of a union, hearing the stories of my union family as they talk about the issues, the behaviors, the conditions, the workload, the expectations… I am absolutely not alone. Thank god for my union. We are working hard every single day advocating for the big and small changes that will remove those barriers to teaching and learning, yes, including the snakes. Call us idealistic, call us dreamers, but I have seen the hearts of my union family, and know we collectively dream of a better day in education. We are joining our voices together, because together, we are absolutely stronger, and we are showing up and acting for change. Positive change. Real change. I’ve seen it first hand, and will enjoy the fruits of that advocacy and action while on our first full week fall break next week. We did that, together. That’s the power of a union.

So, no, it’s not about the snakes. It’s about seeing what we could be, seeing where we are, and working together to make positive change to meet our enormous potential, together. I still believe I have the best job in the world, that I have the honor of teaching the best kids around, and the privilege of working with an amazing faculty and staff, and that we are all lucky to have great building leadership. I just have the unending desire to see my peers across the district and state be able to say the same thing. And I have no intentions of stopping working toward that anytime soon.

But if building and rodent issues aren’t a good argument for the nickel tax, then I don’t know what is.

Dr. Jeni Ward is a proud Kentuckian, teacher, mom, and union member of KY120 United-AFT.