I am sitting here reading every word that people are saying, the good, the bad, the ugly… and I don’t know what to do. I want to go to the capital and support my fellow teachers. I fully support the walk-out, I fully support the need to educators and the students they serve first.
HOWEVER… I have put my job, my students, and the communities I serve before my health and myself for far too long. Just a few weeks ago, I went back to work, with strep throat and a low grade fever, because I put my students first. I went to school on Friday last week with a full on gout attack, swollen foot and all, because I could not let the community I serve down. And now with the walk-out looming and the threat of additional teaching days added to the school year, I have a very very difficult choice to make.
I have surgery scheduled for my torn meniscus on May 30th. I have already put this off 60 days, my doctor wanted to do it end of March, because I could not A) Afford the 2 weeks off and B) I could not take 2 weeks off from my students knowing full and well they would not have a substitute teacher. So i scheduled it for the week after school was supposed to get out. Now I am being told that even if we stay and support students those days will be non-academic, and thus might need to be made up.
So I will walk out, but for how long, I do not know. My health, my life, needs to take priority.