Back in 1977, when I was hired as a full-time teacher in Jamestown, things were still pretty much like, what I call, the “Leave it to Beaver” days. Most of the students were living in two-parent homes, many of them where moms were home when the kids got home from school, and for the most part, parents backed teachers and the discipline of the district, school, and classroom.

Things did change from the beginning of my 31 years in my own classroom, until it ended in 2008, as single-parent settings became more and more common, where moms couldn’t stay home as the family needs and settings situations changed, and where teachers were being asked assume more and more roles in their job as teachers. What also changed much was that outsiders were not only wanting, demanding, and expecting teachers to assume all these extra roles, at no increase in pay, but those outsiders wanted to dictate how they wanted teachers to do them.

So as my career progressed, teachers were teachers, then gradually, assumed some parental responsibilities, taking on teaching some of the behaviors, values, that may not being taught in homes. During my time in education, I experienced, and witnessed, teachers becoming counselors, not educational counselors, but ones who lent an ear, consoling, giving suggestions, deciding if a student may be in danger, etc., to students who were carrying some pretty heavy weights on the shoulders. Teachers also became providers of school supplies and food (I knew of teachers who kept peanut butter, jelly, and bread, along with fruit, crackers, even milk and juice, for kids who may have gotten up late and missed breakfast, or maybe who forgot their lunch).

I knew of many teachers who kept warmer clothes in their classrooms, winter items (hats, mittens, scarves, etc.), for kids whom they saw outside before school without those items of warmth.

In some cases, what the teacher saw as needed by the children, and provided, was appreciated by parents and/or guardians, with no questions asked. In some cases, some parents and/or guardians wanted it to happen, but also wanted to tell the teachers what else they wanted for their children, and wanted to tell the teachers how they wanted their children to get it. And in some cases, some didn’t want the teachers doing anything beyond Reading, “Riting,” and “Rithmetic”, but the teachers knew the students needed, but were not getting, those necessities unless they game them to their pupils.

Another role teachers have always had, that they automatically take on when they become teachers, is that of protector. Teachers have been preparing their students what to do, and how to do it, when a fire alarm sounds and the building has to be evacuated in the safest manner possible. This has been one of the most important roles that is at the top of the list of responsibilities for teachers to assume. Unfortunately, nowadays the role of protector has become expanded to preparing students for situations where there is a threat of an intruder entering a school, often times, as seen in too many news reports these days, including a threat of weapons being involved, as well. One of the avenues being taken in some schools in our country, as to how teachers can do this effectively, is to give teachers have access to firearms, and training in how to use them. My personal thoughts on this is that this carries the possibility of even greater trauma to the students in the teachers’ charge. There are already trained people, whose job it is to respond to these situations, people who have been trained hard and often for situations like this, who are better suited to deal with the intruder. I realize time is a key issue, but the teachers’ first responsibility should be to keep things as calm as possible to keep the students as safe as possible until those fully trained in these situations do respond. Again, I’m looking at this through the eyes of this teacher and these are my thoughts only.

Through all of the training teachers have to do already, and all the “side jobs” they have had thrusted upon them, it seems the job their title carries suffers the most. With all of what they do, teaching, itself, seems to have diminished, due to time constraints, and attention to these other side jobs.

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m in huge favor of the well-being of the students being first and foremost. Their physical, emotional, and mental well-being has to be the greatest priority, but teachers have been trained in technology, workshopped in teaching methods and new programs, and using the tools of those areas of education, and that is very important, but can’t be compared to the dangers of being trained to carrying and using a firearm around children in dangerous settings, in my eyes and mind.

May God’s protection be blanketed over all students, teachers, and all personnel in schools, and all patrons and employees in any setting where these situations have taken place. Thank you for listening to me express my feelings about this matter.