From Britt: I have wisdom teeth surgery Wednesday and anticipate being in and out of sleep and/or in pain. My husband, Kyle, will be guest blogging for me, Thursday, March 16th. Please read his post below! 🙂

“Decker, how are teachers feeling about the takeover?” I woke up to a friend’s text message from earlier this morning. I was sleeping in late because my wife was having oral surgery at 1pm CST (she’s fine, btw), and our kids were with their grandmother, so I missed the news that the Texas Education Agency was taking over the school district that I work for. I did not answer the question as I got ready, but I could not ignore it. “How do I feel?” I thought as I brushed my teeth. “Do my colleagues really care?” I pondered as I took my usual daily winter/spring dose of Allegra-D. “Will anything really change?” I thought to myself as I stared at the surprisingly few news articles about it on my phone instead of putting on my shoes.

I have been a teacher now for almost 8 years and, despite the fact that I look at job postings for other careers with more frequency every year, I know I am not going to leave the classroom any time soon, let alone education as a whole. While I am only 33, I have repaired bicycles in Provincetown, built screen-rooms in Fort Pierce, cleaned carpets in Jupiter, made coffee in Port St. Lucie and Miami Shores, served steaks in Miami, preached in Pinecrest and Sugar Land, cleaned golf carts and golf clubs and parked cars in Westchase, and managed oil supply and sales in Houston. And one thing that I have learned about myself in my very short time on this earth is that I am made to teach.

“I honestly don’t know how I feel. Some of my colleagues are supportive, and some are vocally against it, but most are just too apathetic to care,” I eventually responded. And that is the truth. I believe I was supportive when it was first announced years ago, but the district has improved on every standard the state measures, and is now ‘B’ rated. I do think education has failed in many ways, but I am not sure a group of used car salesmen are the people to fix it. It would be nice to see some actual educators, or educational researchers placed on the management board, but that is unlikely. So I am in a wait and see pattern.

“Come to law school with me,” my friend replied. He was in education before me, but got out after only a few years. I don’t know if there will be a positive change made in my district, but I do know that regardless of what happens, I will be in my classroom, doing the best I can to build relationships and teach students. And maybe I’ll use some ACTUALLY research-based strategies to do so.