Showdown at the OK Coral

Showdown at the O.K. Coral

Well, its official, the teacher strike is over; what a mess!  This has been a trip for over a  year now.  The teachers announced at this time last year that there would be a strike if negotiation was not commenced.  They even said it would be on the first day of school.  We have only lived here 15 months, but I heard them say that then, I remembered it, I knew it was an important part of the horizon of planning, but obviously many on our education board did not.  They seemed aghast, surprised at the audacity that the teacher’s union would even think about action, about strike.

And the truth of the matter was, no one was listening to anyone.  Both sides failed in their very public adventure of  ”rightness”.  Everyone kept their own agenda, own concerns, disregarding anyone and everyone.

The adults in this matter may have had the power, but they failed in the deepest level of education – they all abandoned the children.  Its so frustrating to sit and watch grown adults and management facilities fail at the most important lesson taught to children – how to communicate.  There is a combination of pressure and release with compromise.  Concession when wrong is influential.  Trust and follow-through are critical to nurturing trust and follow-though.  Power is a privilege and brings obligation and responsibility.

I did send my children to school for day 1 and 2, in good faith that the substitutes and security and planning measures were enforced to the best care for the children.  Police investigation and background checks proved that this was naïve and foolish.  The background checks that were used in hiring were unbelievably lax, not wide in scope, and certainly not complying with the typical check which is used for the educational system.  After 8 firings and 18 releases of this temporary workforce on day 2 because of terrible indiscretion, my children did not return to school.  And would not return until I had my pre-scheduled teacher in each of their four classrooms.

I drew a line in the sand.  

And as I stood back from that line, I noticed my hands were shaking and slightly sweaty.  “What have I done?  This has the potential of lasting until Christmas.”  I was not on strike, I was not going without my salary or any union supplement; I was not arguing with a brick wall the way each side was; I didn’t present a full-fledged home schooling proposal and curriculum for my four.  Yet still I was nervous.

I was nervous because my children truly enjoy school, and mom drawing a line in the sand was taking away an order and process to their world.  Mom got hot and now they had to pay.  And the explanation given to them needed to be fairly vague – the indiscretions which led to the uproar for many parents was the criminally sexual and stalking nature.  “There are people in the world who don’t protect kids the same way I do,” were my words to my 6 year old.  But my nearly 12 year old reads the paper, he knows the real thing.  And I asked him please not talk about it with the young ones, not at dinner, just with the parents.  (He felt so encouraged to be considered “an adult” in this matter)  Someone else’s careless decisions had placed our precious treasures in dangers path, and provided a structured place and time to fuel that danger.  

There are many things I need to teach my children, and I only have a short time to be able to do it, but this type of knowledge carries a darkness with it, and it pains me to know they will be aware of it someday.  The depth of sin which is present in this world is powerful – it claims many people and rules their hearts.  It is a reality of our society, it is present in my town.  But why does it have to be knowledge kids get in elementary school?

In Jessieland, where all things are rosy and positive, caring, generous and compassionate, they would never need to encounter it.  But we don’t live in Jessieland (to my dismay) and I need to be walking with them, hand in hand, through the darkness, and steps at a time defining that darkness.

I pray a blessing on them each day as they leave for school, “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.”  Number 6:25  Be with them every step of their day, Lord.

Walking through a dirty world in white, not avoiding the dirt but knowing that God has sealed us with a “scotch guard” to stains the dirt could make – praise God for His son Jesus and His redeeming sacrifice.