So there's this kooky rumour going around that morale is low here.  Oh, do you think?  So, for what it is worth - and that isn't much, I know - here are my thoughts.

You want to improve morale?  Here are some hot tips:

• Observe Teacher Appreciation Week.  We aren't looking for the lavish food spreads, daily massages, and general things other districts get.  Nah.  We know the deal here.  We would just like an acknowledgement.  At the very least.  Two years ago it was completely ignored.  Last year, the week ended with some snarky e-mail about where we should park.  Hot tip:  No more PV tchotchkes.  I don't need another PV mug or key chain, for God's sake.
• And on the topic of e-mails....  You know who is guilty of an infraction - coming late, not signing in, leaving early.  Aw, heck, those people were allowed to get away with it for years with the old admins, so we all know who they are.  It is demeaning to send an e-mail to the whole staff.  Deal with the individuals.  You remember when you were in school and the teacher punished the whole class for that one kid who broke the rules?  Yeah, you are that teacher.  And we feel like children.
• The state is treating us like sh*t.  We are scapegoats, drug mules, greedy bastards.  We are being forced to implement tests and practices we know are not best for our students.  This is demoralizing and depressing.  Many districts have admins that will call a spade a spade and express their professional beliefs regarding this junk, like the PARCC.  Refusing to drink the Kool Aid and letting us know you are with us would go a long way.  Pedagogically, this endless testing, SGO BS, and accountability & data race is not sound.  Any professional educator knows that.  Hopefully you do.  If you do not, I have to wonder why.  Stand with us.  Acknowledge your frustrations with these horrible ideas and practices.  We are not looking for revolution.  As employees of the state, we know we must do this.  But we shouldn't have to be forced to drink the Kool Aid too.  Solidarity is not a four letter word.
• If I have to follow the rules, so should he/she.  Do not tell me to take a little sticker off the back of my ID (meaningful and given to me by a student, by the way) when the same staff members NEVER wear their IDs.  Don't look for cell phone infractions in our classes when the SAME teachers use their cell phones anywhere and everywhere (halls, cafe, during class).  Hell, I should not have to look at a student's images of a teacher and half her class on cell phones.  During the school day.  I should not have a student ask if she can go see her girls activity advisor right now because "she just texted me to come up to get something."  We do not want to be lectured or written up for infractions we see day in and day out.  And we know you see them too....
• Little ticky tack reminder slips to do even more paper work is demeaning.  If your department takes care of discipline, you write the kid up for what you determine to be an unexcused tardy.  If I determine - as a professional who can do these things - that a student skipped out on my class, you can bet your ass I will write that kid up.  However, I am not the person who determines whether a tardy to school is excused or unexcused.  As that is your determination, you take the responsibility for completing the paperwork and administering the punishment.  And do not tell me to not point the finger at you and take the blame.  That is childish.  
• Do not arbitrarily decide who can and cannot get professional development.  If we are told PD will not be paid for, we will be good little soldiers and not ask to have PD paid for anymore.  Until we see that every other department has been getting PD paid for when we read the Board meeting minutes.  Be honest with us.  But also give us the same opportunities for improvement that all the other departments get.  Inequality is not fair....or good for the students.
• If a staff member proposes a policy change or improvement, read the proposal.  Do not turn it down with three reasons that have been solidly refuted in the proposal.  Condescending, disrespectful actions like that do not make for happy staff.   Especially when staff spend countless hours for the betterment of this school community.  She might not shout it from the roof tops like some attention whores, but the courtesy of reading said proposal is professional and respectful.  Not doing so is rude, and a slap in the face.
• Old R.E.M. line from "Begin the Begin" that have been my motto for decades:  Silence means security silence means approval.  Bad things have been happening.  Do not act like you don't know.  now 

So acquaintance A has partner B.  B recently used the word "retarded."   When I heard this word used, I felt like I was punched.  It took the wind out of my sails.  First reason:  B seems to portray him/herself in one way - friendly, fun, kind, loving.  Second:  A is certainly a very intelligent, discerning person.  The fact that she/he would associate with a preson who uses that word shocked me.  I waited for a rebuke.  None came.  The word just hung there....  And I have a hunch I am the only one with the problem.

I do my best to make sure my classroom and this school is welcoming for all.  It is part of my job to make sure of that.  When I hear the words retarded or gay used as slurs or in an insulting way, I stop the kids and discuss the problem with that.  Even if I hear kids in the hall doing it.  I ask them to not use the word.  They say they didn't mean to use it that way.  I ask what they meant by it, and then explain that using it in place of a word like dumb or stupid mean using it in a disrespectful way.  And so it goes....

So why do I hear adults use this word more than my students?  Teachers, friends, relatives, acquaintances....  No one thinks anything of it.  When they do slip up in front of me, I get "Sorry, I know you don't like that word."  No.  Wrong response.

"I can't be racist.  Some of my best friends are black."

"I love gays.  I'm friends with lots of gay people."

"I didn't mean anything insulting saying retarded.  My aunt/uncle/sister/brother/cousin is disabled."

Yes, all those excuses for using homophobic, racist, or insulting language are ignorant and naive.  They separate members of society into an "other" that we can disassociate ourselves from.  By doing that, we do not see an injury or abuse of that separated group as offensive in the same way as if it was done to one of us.  The North Jersey Developmental Center can be shut down without a real care to what will happen to the residents when put into group homes with inadequately trained staff.  It enables us to not care or be affected in the same way when three deaths result from this hurried placement of people.  It enables us to not care as much when a black boy or girl is gunned down by a cop or white person because they are not seen as the same as "us".  The "retarded" person was ill and wouldn't have lived a full life.  The black person must have been guilty of some crime.

I think it is this mentally grouping of segments of society into "others" that allows cruel things to be done to those parts of the population.   For awhile, people were becoming more conscious of this.  People were learning to be kinder and not use those cruel words.  But now my kind of reaction is seen as infringing on someone's freedom of speech.  I am too sensitive.  I don't get it; the comments aren't meant in that way....

Blah blah blah....

Look at your history folks.  When have groups been able to persecute and try to eliminate portions of society?  When they are not seen as a part of the whole but identified as an "other".  Your right to use an offensive word is more important that the marginalization of a part of the population?  Really?  We aren't naive 15 year-olds anymore.  I wish the people around me would grow the f*** up.  My students have....

Beat

There is no enthusiasm, excitement, or happiness left in the school year.  We teachers are trying to muster up all the energy we have, get our kids into each new assignment or project.  It is near impossible.  We are beat, they are beat.  The sculpture teacher and I have been talking about this a lot.  Her kids are normally super psyched for the current assignment.  I sit in on second period.  They are blah.  They are merely going through the motions.  They are doing an excellent job - the effort has not wavered.  the eavesdropping on the planning discussions is still interesting.  However, there is a lack of enthusiasm.  They are normally bouncing off the walls with excitement for this assignment.  Not this year.  And through absolutely no fault of the teacher.  My student teacher has introduced a couple of new assignments that I had been contemplating for this year:  Surrealism for Photo I and Artwork recreations in Photo II.  This is the stuff the kids salivate for other years.  This is something that appeals to their tastes and age group.  Not this year.  Oh, the lack of excitement.

Is it our fault?  Hell no!  I see a few kids on my route to signing out every day (can I please get some recognition for being the ONLY one who does this every day? PLEASE?) and we have some little chit chats.  Tuesday, I saw this group of three.  The boy looked tired.  I said hello and asked how they were.  He said they were worn out.  From what?  All the testing was his answer.  Bravo legislators.  Bravo private companies pushing their testing and text book products on us.  You are killing the magic and the spirit of education.  It is a struggle to keep many of our kids engaged anyway given the outside life factors faced every day.  Now you throw all this testing into the mix and the result is a quick death.  Not slow.  We teachers saw this coming, so in our minds it might be slow.  But to the kids, it is a rapid change and thus a very quick death.  To see some of my more challenging kids start to like coming to school for my class, choose not to drop out because there are a couple of us who have kept them engaged and convinced them they can succeed at a little something.... And to force them to sit at a computer and spit out answers to inane questions that are not pedagogically, age, or grade appropriate.  Well, bravo.  You have shot these kids down in a matter of a few months.  It might not be a visible violence, but it is a violence of spirit.  And we teachers are still going to keep trying to keep the kids going until June, but it will be hard.  Really hard.

What did I tell that kid on Tuesday?  I told him to go to meetings.  I don't know that most Boards of Education know that this is going on.  How would they?  There is not normally a dialogue between students and board members.  Go to our governor's town hall meetings.  And do not back down when he tries to berate you.  Write to your legislators.  Let them know the ramifications of their decisions.  Who are they beholden to?  You or Pearson?  My last words to the kids is always this:  You have a voice.  Use it.  All of you need to use your voices and speak up.  He nodded.  They always nod.  I hope they get it.  Soon.