Hi, my name is Hannah Hood and I am a 4th grade teacher at Village School in Marblehead. As a community member and a teacher for the past 11 years, I truly love Marblehead, but currently our district is struggling with creating safe schools. We are in a time where we need more clinical staff working with our students to support their mental health. Without this support we will not be able to truly support the full child. It is so important that the school committee recognize this need in order for us to meet the needs of all students. Our guidance counselors and psychologists are spread thin and unable to meet the needs of all students. Until we meet these needs, we cannot expect all students to be ready to learn in a classroom setting when there are bigger issues. Teaching has changed significantly in the past few years, and we need to change with it to support all students. 

School: Gloucester High School 

Position: Life Skills/ABA Classroom Teacher

What is the biggest issue or struggle you face in your school district/ building? For the two years I’ve been working in my classroom, staffing has been a constant struggle. A class that began with two severe special needs students now has five and all five need one-to-one staffing.  We have never been able to provide that  one-to-one staffing on a consistent basis in my classroom.  The staffing shortage has negative effects beyond just the obvious one of not being able to provide my students the services they need and deserve.  It leads to prep times and lunches being missed,  creating burn-out among staff and putting me constantly behind in trying to create and modify lessons, and keeping up with data collection.  Staff cannot be adequately trained and staffing constantly changes making it difficult to build staff-student rapport  Consults and team meetings are either missed or when they do happen it is at the expense of programs being properly run in the classroom.  It can be a struggle to keep up with progress reports, family communication, and IEP updates.  In short, we simply do not have the people to do the job of running the classroom effectively.  That’s what I see directly in my everyday experience, but the stories I hear from colleagues make it clear that staffing shortages have deleterious effects throughout my building and throughout my district.  We all talk in so many words about doing a good job “given the circumstances” or “all things considered.”  We want to be to do say we do a good job full stop. 

What is your students' biggest issue or struggle in your district/ building? We have diverse learners who need a diversity of staff to provide a diversity of services to them and we’re simply not attracting enough adequately trained staff nor are we doing nearly enough to support or retain that staff. As a result, student needs academics to mental health go unmet. 

What do you wish the School Committee understood about being an educator?  The School Committee needs to understand that we are professionals every bit as much as any doctor or lawyer or any professional in any other industry.  We deserve to be treated with the respect due any other professional.   We are hired because we have the training and experience to educate our district’s children that everyone else lacks.  Our training and experience obligates them to trust our judgment, provide us with support, and yes (and this does not make us greedy or mercenary) appropriate salary.   In short, give us the tools to do our jobs,  pay us in a way so that we can focus on our job (and be distracted by anxiety about paying our bills), and then get out of the way and leave us in peace to do our jobs.  Provide the resources and then let us take it from there. 

What do you wish the community understood about being an educator? I want our whole community to know that teaching is a passion for us.  We spend hours working to be better educators for this community’s children.  We lose sleep over caring for this community’s children.    We don’t love our students the same way their parents do, but that’s a matter of different dynamics not different degrees.  We know and love our students as teachers which is different from knowing and loving them as their parents– but only different, not all less.  We are public servants,  we consider that service a profound duty,  and we approach that service with fervor and seriousness and professionalism.

Hi, I am Dawn Leoni. I am a paraprofessional in the Gloucester Public School district. A pressing concern for paraprofessionals in Gloucester is the urgent need for a living wage that truly reflects the cost of living in the area and provides them with the means to support themselves and their families. The current situation leaves many paraprofessionals needing help to make ends meet. I empathize deeply with my students who encounter various social and emotional challenges. These challenges often manifest as complex behavioral issues, significantly impacting their academic and personal development. It's essential to create a supportive environment that addresses these underlying challenges to ensure that every student has the opportunity to thrive. The Gloucester School Committee needs to understand the challenges that educators in Gloucester face because of the lack of a living wage. It's also crucial for them to recognize the immense dedication, patience, understanding, and flexibility required to meet the needs of all our students. As an educator, I wish the community understood the challenges and responsibilities of the profession. It's not just about teaching subjects but also about nurturing and guiding students, managing diverse classroom environments, and constantly adapting to meet the needs of every learner.