So, Buna Can't Keep Teachers.....Or Find Ones Certified.

  People like the old school " Teacher" just aren't made, or can't hardly be found anymore. 

And of course there are reasons why including the kids have changed, parents think they know more history, math etc. than the person in the classroom.  

Again the important word here is...." Think." 

Then again, there is the lack of appreciation.  And I know the old Don Draper saying...."Appreciation?  That's what the money is for..."

Trouble is, compared to every other district in Texas Region V, Buna is near the bottom of money showing appreciation. 

Or do you think we appreciate the chicken sausage gumbo without Chicken.....Or Sausage....IYKYK.  I still tell stories about that.

I shouldn't have gotten mad, or disappointed.  

But yesterday, I saw a young lady whom I performed her wedding showing off the stuff she received for working at her place of employment. 

One included a belt buckle for 5 years service.  

I found the "pin" that Buna ISD gave me for 5 years service. It was in my wife's costume jewelry box. ( I may as well say, jewelry box, she has no real fancy jewelry. )

I measured the pin against a dime. The dime covered the pin like a full eclipse. And the writing on it, even with my reading glasses, well, you need an electron microscope to figure out what it says. 

I received one for 10 years, I think it was supposed to have a faux "jewel" in the center, but if you take a good look, it has fall out, long ago. Also, about half the size of a dime. 

For my 15th year, I get a windbreaker. We were supposed to get a choice of another pin, or the el-cheapo windbreaker. And the windbreaker was about 5 times too large. An entire Bedouin tribe in the North African desert could live in it. I tried to wear it to school.    

Now I know the Buna Schools is trying to do a little better pay-wise, but I wonder about the appreciation? 

And I am not talking about appreciation. Now I know the ISD got meals for teachers at this past in-service, but the "gubmint" teacher in me  wonders if they wanted the teachers on campus to keep an eye on them, so they won't tell newbies what is REALLY going on at the Mexican place in Silsbee? Mr. Taucer and myself found it was good to get off campus, if just for a few minutes, get a sandwich and a DietCoke/Regular Coke and see people we know up town and just give them a " holler." Re-charge those batteries.

I don't know. Too much micromanaging, too little pay, too little respect. 

I was told one time that me going and spending a week at the University of Texas-Tyler to get my Advanced Placement Macroeconomics qualification ( It was the only school in Texas offering the school that year. There were teachers from Austin ISD, Richardson ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Galveston ISD, Pharr-San Juan ISD, Ore City ISD at the school. We had people from Louisiana schools taking the course as it wasn't being offered over there. The AP Government class that year was being offered at of all places Louisiana Tech out of the way for everyone even in Louisiana. Ruston is even 70 miles from Shreveport. )

Anyway, I was told " It's like a vacation. " 

What? 

I am taking time off in the summer, to go get AP qualification for the school district. Away from my family, in late June, and rather than stay at the fancy hotel the conference suggested we stay at, which was a fancy downtown hotel, I stayed at a hotel saving the Buna ISD about $100 a night. I ate at Luby's, which was much cheaper then, and at IHOP. I splurged one night and ate at Texas Roadhouse the night before I left. And I paid for most of the meal out of my pocket, my meal stipend wouldn't even touch the bill. 

I passed the test, and by Noon on Fridays I was headed South. 

Vacation? 

I have never had homework or had to pass an exam at the end of any vacation I've ever been on before, or since.  

This is the mind of a school administrator.  And many admins stay gone to these overnight, spend the week in Galveston, San Antonio, Dallas conferences. Stay at the higher end Hilton or Hyatt or someplace nicer.....Never anything like the Holiday Inn Express /Ruston, Louisiana....And while there, those administrators " Hob-Nobbed " and looked for their next job. I had to pass a test to KEEP my job...

 We had 2-3 hours of homework every night. We had an exam to pass at the end of the week. And it was so hard the guy who had a Master's degree from UT-Austin in Economics said, " Wow, that was hard."       

I know Buna is trying to try, but in truth, trinkets, while they're nice,  donated tax-write-off meals seem  nice and all, sometimes just actual actions like telling people how much you appreciate them and be able to tell them what is going on in that teacher's world means a great deal. 

I keep hearing from people who tell teachers, " Well this is what you signed up for." 

You know, it really isn't. You aren't and in truth can't be prepared for what might happen at your school, in your classroom. Even a veteran teacher like myself expected the worse, and many times, it was even worse than that. 

Mr. Vaughn, here's a quick story. 

I witnessed a kid stab another kid, high schoolers,  with a large yellow handle Case Stockman's pocket-knife. Blood everyplace. I can see it to this day. No cops. No other faculty. It's you another 100 kids and it's you and wind up tackling the kid with the knife.  You get into trouble for the kid's parents for " Tackling the kid with the knife too hard." I almost get sued and the school district doesn't take your side. 

Here's another one. 

Two girls get into a fight in the cafetorium at Dayton HS. They are swinging like it is the Middleweight Championship of the World.  Girl fights are scary. They try and kill one another. When boys fight, they are generally glad to see a teacher show up so they can stop hitting one another. Girls do not care. They are literally trying to kill one another. Luckily, a newly hired asst. principal is there. It takes all we have to get the girls apart. The asst. principal, Tim Gaissett. has to take one girl down by pulling her hair. I bear hugged the other girl. Still both were fighting us to get to the other girl. We had to put the girls on the ground. 

When Tim and I got up, we were covered in blood. Covered.  We had to check and make sure it was not us hurt.

One girl had her nose broken, and had a cut beneath her eye that had to be stitched.,the other her head split open and got 13 stitches. In spite of that, they still wanted to murder each other. 

The lady custodians refused to come in and clean up the blood. It was on the floor, on the tables, some was on the wall.  

Head wounds bleed badly. 

There was so much blood on Tim and me, we could not get it off of us. My shirt was saturated.  I wanted to go home and shower and burn my shirt( And it was a good one too. an Orvis long-sleeved brown and green tattersall.) They did not let me. I was told, " You should have had a change of clothes in your closet at school." I found dried blood later in my beard.

It almost looked like we'd been baptized in blood.  

Of course, fighting over a boy.  

This was during the AIDs scare. Even now, blood born pathogens are a real thing.  Not going to lie I got tested a couple of times afterward. 

I burned my clothes. I avoided "being" with my wife until I got the " all clear" from the doctor.  

That was my last year in Dayton ISD. 

I hated my principal. I need to tell you stories about that sorry so &so...He's dead now.....Not supposed to speak ill of the dead. I'll make an exception in his case. 

Teachers need some respect and from what I am told, Buna isn't given their faculty what is needed.