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This Fragile Partnership: A Year in the Civic Life of a Florida Teacher
A CANDID, COMPASSIONATE VIEW ON FLORIDA EDUCATION FROM 2022
In the aftermath of a shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old gunman entered his old elementary school through an unlocked door and killed 21 people, two teachers and nineteen students, the nation was rattled. Understandably, there were educators who thought about quitting, moms and dads who thought about keeping their kids home, and legislators who got more aggressive about security. At the heart of this uniquely American tragedy was a terrifying breach of trust. Every parent and grandparent, every sibling and every guardian who chose to hand their child off to a school the next day suddenly felt the weight of letting go. And at the head of every classroom was a teacher more keenly aware of their role as a partner in the safety of children.
This fragile partnership between parents and teachers has always been a matter of trust. Not because of violence only, but because children of all ages are vulnerable, mentally, emotionally, and physically. That's why every state was built on a system to ensure, as best as possible, that schools are being managed by qualified, competent professionals, accountable to a strict code of ethics, with very few falling outside those lines. But after 2020, an exhausting and lingering pandemic gave rise to a false and dangerous narrative about teachers, with elected leaders attacking their own systems, their own well-trained educators, inciting parents to fear and anger. This is an inside look at what happened in Florida, and the heavy burden of trying to restore this broken trust.
In the aftermath of a shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old gunman entered his old elementary school through an unlocked door and killed 21 people, two teachers and nineteen students, the nation was rattled. Understandably, there were educators who thought about quitting, moms and dads who thought about keeping their kids home, and legislators who got more aggressive about security. At the heart of this uniquely American tragedy was a terrifying breach of trust. Every parent and grandparent, every sibling and every guardian who chose to hand their child off to a school the next day suddenly felt the weight of letting go. And at the head of every classroom was a teacher more keenly aware of their role as a partner in the safety of children.
This fragile partnership between parents and teachers has always been a matter of trust. Not because of violence only, but because children of all ages are vulnerable, mentally, emotionally, and physically. That's why every state was built on a system to ensure, as best as possible, that schools are being managed by qualified, competent professionals, accountable to a strict code of ethics, with very few falling outside those lines. But after 2020, an exhausting and lingering pandemic gave rise to a false and dangerous narrative about teachers, with elected leaders attacking their own systems, their own well-trained educators, inciting parents to fear and anger. This is an inside look at what happened in Florida, and the heavy burden of trying to restore this broken trust.
367 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 28, 2023
1 person is currently reading
About the author
Jeremy D. Lucas
13 books5 followersJeremy D. Lucas has been an active classroom teacher for more than a decade, serving elementary and middle school students across South and Central Florida since 2010. Following a degree in history and political science, he went on to earn a Masters in Library and Information Science from Florida State University, allowing him to double as an academic reference and research librarian through the University of Central Florida since 2013. He and his wife live in Lake Mary, Florida.
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