The UnSeparation of Church and State

Hope everyone had a great week and enjoying the weekend!

I spend some time here and there on teacher Twitter, and there are some great stories about people’s experience on there. On the other end, there are some really depressing stories. For example, Spring Break should be a relaxing time for teachers. Yes, I am sure 11/10 teachers are doing some kind of lesson planning or getting caught up on grading or planning a head, but there should be time in there for teachers to relax and rejuvenate. To find their zen. Yet, there are stories of teachers who spent their break depressed and crying and dreading going back into the classroom.

It shouldn’t be like this.

We need to do better by our teachers. We need to make sure we take care of each other. If you see a fellow teacher in the rut, take a moment to listen to them. It probably won’t fix anything at that moment, but sometimes we just need someone to hear us out during our darkest moments.

Okay, apologies that took a dark turn.

Cheers to your morning cup ☕

School meal debt

Kids going hungry should not be a thing in the U.S. educational system, yet many students go hungry during the school day and there are too many families that carry school lunch debt. According to Educational Data Initiative: 

• National public school lunch debt is at $262 million a year (2023)

• 30.4 million students can’t afford their school meals.

• The average meal debt per child is $180.6 yearly.

• 68.8% of surveyed schools had unpaid student meal debt.

• 96% of surveyed school districts reported an annual increase in the number of students who couldn’t afford meals.

In Connecticut, the school debt across 50 districts is $366,000, and to qualify for a free meal plan, the household income must be less than $39,000. This, of course, does not take into account the expenses that families incur, such as medical debt. Currently, eight states provide free meals for all their students, and unfortunately, Connecticut is not one of them. Those states are California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Vermont. In Pennsylvania, public school students are provided free breakfast. 

Food insecurity should not exist for school-age children. Texas has the most number of food-insecure children, with 1,658,680, and Arkansas has the largest percentage of food-insecure children, at 23.3%. The smallest percentage of food-insecure children is 9.8% in North Dakota, but even that number is too high. The only acceptable percentage of food-insecure children is zero percent.

Students should not experience hunger on school grounds, and parents should not be punished for not being able to pay for their child’s lunch. For our schools to perform at the level we need them to, they need access to good, nutritional food. Universal breakfast and lunch must be the norm for all U.S. public schools. 

Florida allowing Chaplains on school grounds

Florida passed a bill that is looking to address the school counselor shortage by allowing religious chaplains on school grounds to do school counselor duties. A state senator stated about the bill:

Florida is not the first state to attempt something like this. In 2023, Texas passed a similar bill to allow religious chaplains on school campuses to conduct school counselor duties. The implementation would be left up to the school districts. The 25 largest school districts all voted no. 

Along with the school counselor shortage, Florida has the highest teacher vacancy rates in the country, with currently 4,000 teachers needed across the state. Overall, teacher shortages are prevalent in all states, and in Florida, there is the reason why it is so much more so here. Ever since Governor Ron DeSantis became governor, there has been a constant attack on teachers. Yes, teacher shortages have been going on for a long time, but having a hostile governor does not help. This is beyond the scope of the issue here, so feel free to DYOR on this matter. 

Separation of Church and state, what does this mean again? 

Continuing to arm teachers

Nebraska becomes another red state that is a step closer to allowing teachers to be armed in the United States. Most recently, Iowa passed a bill to arm teachers, and last year, Texas passed a bill to allow arming teachers. The next state up could be Tennessee as they, too, look to arm teachers. Their bill, SB1325, has been deferred, and it will only be a matter of time until it is brought up to a vote.

It is a little complicated to comprehend why the response to protecting school children should be more guns on school grounds. As a country, we do have a gun problem, and the solutions are not going to be easy.

In the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting massacre in 2017, where 61 people died and hundreds were injured, Caleb Keeter of the Josh Abbot Band said: 

Imagine, amid a shooting occurring on a school campus, a good teacher decides to take action and attempts to locate the shooter with a gun in hand. With chaos ensuing, they come across a law enforcement officer or two. It is not beyond imagination that law enforcement, in the heat of the moment, could shoot and kill the teacher who was only trying to do the right thing.

It is amazing with so many people, so many children, that have been killed in mass shootings that, there has not been any common sense gun reform. Two things can get us on the right path: federal red flag laws and banning high-capacity weapons. No civilian needs any type of high-capacity weapons.

Again, gun reform is going to be a challenge. It will be hard, but we need to start because our children’s lives are on the line.

Closing Bell

On this day in 1958…

Elvis Presley joins the U.S. Army. His army serial number was 53310761 He served two years and operated tanks. He reached the rank of Sergeant. He was honorably discharged on March 5, 1960.