Appreciation

From Twitter:

We were so proud to see Ms Lisa, our cafeteria manager, recognized!   She will not let anyone go without a hot meal at OMMS if they need one! She even uses tips from her second job to pay off student lunch debts!   OM loves you Ms Lisa! 

The world is a better place because of Ms.Lisa.  There’s no question about that. But this bit of information leaves me with some questions.

1.Why does a cafeteria manager in the Howard County Schools need to work a second job?

2.Why is the problem of student lunch debt continuing to fall on individuals like Ms.Lisa?

This situation brought to mind one in a series of adverts by Clyde’s restaurant picturing various employees and why they worked at Clyde’s. This particular one was of a Howard County Teacher. My immediate thought:

Why does a teacher in Howard County need a second job just to make ends meet?

This is Teacher Appreciation Week. In Howard County we celebrate all kinds of school staff as well. What kind of appreciation is this? Working with children is definitely a public service. We should honor that in a systemic way, not once a year with some nice words. 

We have cafeteria managers who are making sure that hungry students get fed, even when the money runs out at home. We have teachers who are waiting tables and working retail and selling real estate and who knows what all while putting our children first, every day. These are the same teachers who will protect our children in the event of armed attack at school, by the way.

A friend of mine once said that, the closer one is to working with the actual students, the less likely one is to have a say in the big decisions that will impact those students. I wish this were not the case. I wish it were proximity to the children we serve that brought both the highest salaries and the power to make the big decisions.

Imagine. Imagine that working with children and young people doesn’t put you at the end of the line.
Imagine acknowledging that the most profound leadership comes from the Cafeteria Manager and the Teacher who know which children need the most help, and come back to work again each day prepared to give it. Imagine challenging the old ways of doling out money and power to make that happen.

That would be real appreciation.