TGIF! Four letters that symbolize a short, but much needed reprieve for many working Americans.
In the world of education, TGIF during the school year usually looks a little different. We may get to sleep in a few more minutes and drink an extra cup of coffee, but most of us bring work home on weekends.
I doubt that surprises anyone. It’s common knowledge that teachers work far beyond their paid contract hours. When people envision teachers working on the weekends, I’m sure the images they conjure involve grading papers or planning lessons or preparing a project. It’s true, we bring that kind of work home.
But there is another type of work we engage in on weekends, and I wonder how many non-educators know about it. For a lot of us, advocacy is our unpaid side gig. In Arizona we teachers are compelled to do advocacy work on weekends. Not necessarily because we want to, but because our profession and the quality of education in our state depends on it.
You would think our elected leaders would have this covered. Afterall, it’s their job to protect and fund the institutions that serve their citizens. Further, funding our public school system is enshrined in our state constitution. Shockingly, many of our politicians ignore this responsibility. Actually, they don’t ignore it. That characterization is too kind. They actively strategize against it.
As teachers, we respond by working to counter their harmful legislative policies. We slap on sunscreen, lace up our walking shoes, and share our stories. We spend our precious weekends fighting for the public schools that over 90% of Arizona’s children attend.
We help get bonds and overrides passed.
In Arizona, state funding does not meet the needs of all students in public schools. The state knows this and therefore allows school districts to ask for local support through bonds and overrides. Overrides help pay for people and programs. Bonds help pay for things like buildings and maintenance.
In essence, this means the school districts must implore local voters for additional funding every few years. When it’s time to renew the bonds and overrides, teachers are often the first group asked to donate time and money to help get them passed. Since it’s election season right now, many of us are spending our weekends passing out literature and talking to voters about the importance of a Yes vote on the continuation of the bonds and overrides in our districts.
We battle harmful legislation.
The legislative sessions in Arizona are always busy for education advocates because the majority of our current lawmakers try to pass as many anti-public school bills as they possibly can in their four month working session. Universal voucher expansion, tax cuts that drain the general fund, and the degradation of teaching requirements are just a few of the damaging laws that recently passed through the Arizona legislature.
Each time a harmful bill passes, we teachers must prioritize which ones to fight because there are too many to battle them all. So, on weekends you can find many of us gathering signatures for citizen referendums, trying desperately to stop the most destructive laws from going into effect. Sometimes we are successful. Other times we aren’t. The times we aren’t feel particularly defeating because we know it means forsaking more weekends until we succeed.
We support pro-public education candidates.
Because it’s so exhausting to continuously work to renew funding and battle horrible legislation, many of us know we need different lawmakers. If we ever hope to have weekends that don’t include knocking doors or gathering signatures, we need the majority of our elected leaders to prioritize public education. Faced with this reality, we find ourselves spending our weekends canvassing for pro-public education candidates. We talk to voters about the desperate position of our public education system and let them know which people have made a commitment to prioritize the needs of our public school students. We write post cards and phone bank and post pleas on social media.
I’m tired, as are so many of my dedicated colleagues. I want to spend my weekends reading, hiking, and hanging out with my family.
I can’t wait for the first lazy weekend after the battle for our public schools has finally been won.
TGIF!
Photo by Thirdman: https://www.pexels.com/photo/wood-offer-art-dark-5820045/
Nicole Wolff
I'm a California native. However, I've spent my entire career teaching in Arizona public schools, as well as instructing at the university level. My passion for teacher advocacy and support led me to become an Instructional Coach in 2013. I am currently a coach at a K-8 school in Goodyear and love the students and teachers I get to work with every day. I have spent my career actively involved in instructional improvement, chairing many committees including Response to Intervention, Academic Accountability, and Professional Development Committees. I was named Dysart Hero (teacher of the year) in 2012. I was honored to serve as a 2017-18 Arizona Hope Street Teacher Fellow. I earned a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education and a Master’s in Education/ESL from Ottawa University. I am a National Board Certified Teacher. I’m also endorsed as an Early Childhood Specialist, Reading Specialist, and Gifted Specialist. In my free time, I enjoy reading, camping, and spending time with my family.