Just a few days ago, the Acadia Parish school board in Louisiana honored its teachers of the year.
Each of its 27 schools selects a teacher of the year. Then, the district selects 3 teachers among the 27 as district winners: the Elementary T.O.Y, a Middle school T.O.Y., and a High school T.O.Y. to represent the district at the Regional T.O.Y. level which eventually feeds into the state T.O.Y. competition.
As readers of this blog know, the state of Louisiana has done more to discourage, demean and demoralize its teachers than almost any other state (I have to say “almost” because there is always Florida and a few other contenders).
Bryan Alleman, a teacher in Acadia Parish schools, was invited to be master of ceremonies for the event and he asked me to write a message to the teachers.
This is what I wrote:
Here is a message from me to Acadia Parish’s Teachers of the Year:
Today may be the hardest time ever to be a teacher in these United States, and the hardest place to be a teacher is Louisiana. The politicians don’t appreciate you. They think they know how to judge your worth, even though few if any of them would last five minutes in a classroom. They are wrong. They should be thanking you every day for your service.
Here is the truth:
Every one of you is a hero.
You go to school every day because you have a mission. You are a teacher because you want to make a difference in the lives of children.
You have been chosen as teacher of the year because you have succeeded. You do make a difference.
Your students know how important you are in their lives.
Your students appreciate what you do.
Years from now, they won’t remember who the governor was, they won’t remember who was the mayor or the state senator, but they will remember you.
They will remember you because you are changing their lives every day.
You are heroes.