Today I talk to a good friend–Chad Oliver–and good teacher who lost his job last month due to teacher layoffs. We talk about the changes facing education, what role tax cuts play in government layoffs, and just how hard it is to be a teacher with all these new attacks taking place.
1. Hi Chad, thanks for coming. First off, everyone reading this is sorry to even see this interview as you had to lose your job to be able to do it. Tell people that might not know exactly what your job was with the school you worked at.
Chad: I appreciate your time and it seems like every teacher and hard working American is losing their job these days. I was a first and second grade physical education teacher at a primary school.
2. Everyone I’ve talked to said you did a great job at the school, but when they called you in to let you know you’d been laid off, what was the reason they told you they were doing it?
Chad: I went to the conference room and they told me the board decided not to renew my contract. The reason couldn’t be discussed because of specific laws. The next day on the school website it showed who got fired and how they moved the staff around in the system. It was then I found out that I had been replaced by a high school correction teacher who is a coach..
3. So I’m looking at it from this perspective: As long as I’ve known you you’ve had some kind of job trying to put yourself through school, you work hard, you graduate, and it’s a slow time because no one is really hiring new teachers as government employees are getting laid off left and right. Then you get a job, perform well at it, and they lay you off so they can hire someone’s buddy from outside the system. To me it seems like a pretty shitty reward for someone that has done everything they’re supposed to do.
Chad: When you get done with High School it’s time for the real world which I was already in since age sixteen but knew I had to work towards a career. The education route at the time seemed like a promising career since I substituted fresh out of high school for surrounding counties. Then when I got my certification the opportunities are slim to none but by the grace of god I got placed at my “Dream School”. It seems like every school system has a good ol’ boys club running the shots.
4. The other side of this is that Alabama has tried to cut public education to the bone for years. We’ve been in proration for as long as I can remember, and we’re constantly told we have no money for new teachers. And yet Alabama is one of only five states in the country that doesn’t have a lottery.. Why don’t they just have an education lottery like Georgia does so we can hire some more teachers?
Chad: The word ‘proration’ seems to be a never ending situation. The college that I attended was under proration but received millions of dollars and placed ignorant statues on campus. Alabama’s poor economy, heavy job losses, our chronic and worsening budget problems and hope we could have a different attitude toward an education lottery now. Getting approval for a lottery will not be easy but I don’t see any other way for Alabama to fund an education initiative. I believe that our government officials are in with the other states and don’t want to pursue a lottery.
5. You and I both know that someone in Alabama that really wants to buy a lottery ticket just drives to Georgia or Tennessee or Florida to buy one. When you see all that money going over state lines, is there a part of you that says “That could have paid for my job right there?”
Chad: I have several friends that drive to Georgia on a weekend basis to play the lottery. Personally I would only play the lottery unless I was on vacation. I never thought of the severity of how much money we were losing until the aftermath. It’s very discouraging thinking how much money goes into other states lottery that could help fund our education budget.
6. Then of course we have to bring up taxes. People hear “tax cut” and think “Well damn that’s great,” but that’s actually a revenue cut for the government. Most of the Bush tax cuts went to the wealthiest 1 percent that didn’t need them anyway–I think my parents got 200 dollars which you can barely wipe your ass with spread out over the course of a year–but it cost us a lot in government jobs. If you cut taxes you don’t have the money to pay salaries for firefighters, teachers, police, etc. So I guess I’m wondering if it’s worth it. If you’d rather have 100 bucks back or a job to get taxed in the first place?
Chad: The American people are getting distracted everyday and not getting the whole picture because all they hear is “tax cut”. Then some story about how a new immigration law is passed. I believe Americans need to make up and research what’s going on with our job opportunities..
7. The Tea Party got started as this movement that was supposed to be for the average American, but they’ve been the exact opposite. Tea Party politicians want to cut taxes for corporations to create low paying McJobs with at the expense of well paying government jobs with benefits. And then they want to cut social security, medicare, medicaid, Pell Grants, unemployment, it’s just endless. What’s your take on all this?
Chad: I was very pleased with the Tea Party movement at first then it’s like they got everyone on board then they changed their agenda. It seems like its all part of the government keeping us down and taking away our freedoms and rights. They are just dummying down the system every day. If they take away Pell Grants that will be a scary day for numerous underprivileged children trying to better their education. The social security, Medicare, and unemployment will devastate our future forever.
8. First they want your job and then they don’t want you to get any government help after you’ve been laid off. What’s somebody like your grandmother–who’s still working in her seventies–supposed to do without healthcare or social security? Starve to death or disappear?
Chad: My grandmother has worked her entire life away since I could remember. The hard work that she has slaved in her whole life then the government just pulls everything away is a sickening thought. I believe she is prepared for whatever outcome may occur. It seems like they are trying to get rid of low class citizens and just have a high dictator society.
9. Then there’s the tenure bill in Alabama where they want to take tenure away from teachers saying it will lead them to do a better job if they have no job security, but I don’t believe that. I think it will just be them pushing out the teachers that have been there to make room for their cronies like what happened with you.
Chad: The tenure bill in Alabama should be getting a lot more press since the outcome will shape education for life. I believe the tenure bill should be rewritten because there are several teachers nationwide who have job security and are terrible. That also goes for previous coaches that are filling up the system. They get all their cronies in and then in three years get a new head coach and they get stuck with tenure coaches. It could be devastating for good teachers as well because of a principal who wants to get there cronies in the system while they have the power.
10. Even if you had not been laid off, were some of these radical changes targeting teachers (no tenure, changes to their retirement, etc.) making you worry a little bit? Republicans always say that “Obamacare” makes people think twice about becoming doctors, but won’t all these changes make people think twice about becoming teachers?
Chad: It seems every since “No Child Left Behind” got passed the education system is getting worse. The benefits that persuaded me to become a teacher are getting taken away every year. They just did away with the “DROP” program since high salary coaches and administrators were retiring and grossing large million dollar checks. In education you do it for the students not for yourself but at the end of your career the benefits have to be in place. If those rewards are not there then the college education of a teacher will slowly disappear and loose respect.
11. Of course, the really scary thing is that your story is more and more frequent with a lot of the US working class getting laid off in the last three decades. More and more jobs get sent overseas and the ones that can’t be outsourced (like teaching) get laid off due to “cutting costs” a polished turd version of the phrase “firing people.” Unemployment is at almost 10 percent and our generation has an unemployment rate of 20 percent. Are you a little worried there won’t be many good jobs left in a few years?
Chad: The unemployment number is a frightening thing to think about right now or any day. The outsourcing of jobs to go overseas is very high. Nearly every piece of physical education equipment that I used was from another country. It’s sad when another country has to put our dodge balls, footballs, and basketballs together. In education this state fired nearly two thousand teachers and then opened up the teaching market with only two hundred jobs. The overcrowding of classrooms is getting worse and there is no money to hire aides or other teaching units. In that case I am very worried for our youth to sit in overcrowded classrooms with just one teacher trying to instruct. I strongly believe the structure of education system is falling down slowly and teaching jobs will be very scarce.
12. Finally, I know any school would be lucky to have you as a teacher, and I wish you the best. So what do you think is next? Continuing teaching in the same system, a different county, or a different state? Not like things are any better elsewhere if Wisconsin and Ohio are any indication.
Chad: I really appreciate your time, kind words, and opinions it’s really been an honor doing this interview. I believe the school system has made their moves for the next school year but anything can happen over the summer is what they keep telling me. I would go back to the same school system for another contract year if at all possible. I enjoy the hometown atmosphere and know several teachers in the system very well. I have applied to several physical education post across the state and only have two interviews so far. It can get difficult getting passed the secretary just to speak with the principal to set up an interview. I also know that some school systems hire a teacher but still have to publish a job post on the state website for legal purposes. I am playing the “its all about who ya know” card in two systems since I have friends coaching. I have thought about other certifications such as special education, health, and drivers ed. I am going to apply for a Georgia certification but education across the nation is suffering. May you and everyone have a blessed life!
We as a society are F****D! No Teachers = No education = No future