Fort Mill...Change Needs Us Too and the Time is Now! #AllOutMay1
I'm SO proud to be a parent and advocate in Fort Mill right now, I can't even tell you! 🤩To see more of our teachers and parents starting to speak up and come together with other teachers and parents across our state to make a difference for teaching and learning in SC and in our district! Wow!! Yay!! THANK YOU!! 👏⚡️
Yes…we have it pretty good in the FMSD. But to me, what makes our district so great are OUR PEOPLE! Our teachers, administrators, parents, School Board members and KIDS!
It’s what brought our family here from Southern Ca 9 years ago. Warm and friendly people!
But especially our educators and teachers! Compassionate and selfless every day that you show up and go ABOVE AND BEYOND your call of duty and do WAY more than you are paid to do and spend WAY MORE time than you should for our children and for our schools!
But I think we all can agree things are not right in education right now and our district and schools are NOT in a bubble, shielded from this world that is changing faster and faster every day beneath our feet. The anxiety and stress in our kids and the extraordinary number of educators leaving this profession and far fewer coming into it seem to indicate that we are at a turning point. Something must give and the time is NOW! To ensure a brighter future for our children and our schools.
I believe that WE (parents, educators, school board members and our kids) are the catalysts for this important and necessary change. But if we wait for permission to step up and show up for change, it will be TOO LATE!
Because we'll never get that permission from the "powers that be" and the forces at work in education right now who would rather see our schools used as money-making machines it seems than what they were designed for...to guide and inspire our future generations!
Imagine if MLK, Gandhi and Rosa Parks would have waited for permission! Where would this world be?
I know the reluctance and the fear because I have lived it the past 3 years advocating in Fort Mill. I've lost my job as a sub, been removed from the SIC at my daughter’s school, been afraid for my health, my family and my sanity and I've been shamed, criticized and questioned even by well-meaning and caring family members and friends who just don't understand WHY I would put myself through all this if "I can't change anything. It's too big! And you're just a parent."
But my answer is...No challenge is EVER too big if enough people put their minds to fixing it. And the real problem is too many people thinking that they can't fix it!
And to me, this challenge is WAY TOO IMPORTANT for us to walk away from and think we can't fix it. NO. We have to fix it! Because what is the alternative if we do NOTHING?
I COMPLETELY respect teachers, parents and kids who don't want to attend Wed! Because Wed is about EMPOWERMENT and the great freedom of choice we have in this country... I have one child who wants to go with me and 2 who prefer to stay in school and I'm letting them because it's their choice!
But I just want to say from my parent perspective, I think our kids and schools will survive just fine on Wed without FMSD teachers! And I think they will be the better off for it in the long run!
Because there is NO WAY our kids can THRIVE and become the LEADERS and THINKERS this tumultuous, global world needs them to be if our teachers can’t THRIVE and be the LEADERS and THINKERS our schools need them to be!
Wed is FOR OUR KIDS AND SCHOOLS! And don't let anybody convince you otherwise. Even our Governor!
Wed is not just about teachers and giving them the pay and the respect you all deserve. It's about EMPOWERMENT, LEADERSHIP and COURAGE! And the very necessary DISRUPTION for the GREATER GOOD of education, prosperity in this state and the precious future of ALL OF OUR KIDS!
Wed is FOR OUR FUTURE!! Let's get after it, FMSD Teachers, parents, administrators, School Board Members and kids!!! #ALLINMAY1
