MOREHEAD, Ky. — This week is Teacher Appreciation Week and the National Education Association is using this week to spotlight the need to support teachers.

What You Need To Know

  •  It is Teacher Appreciation Week and the National Education Association is focused on spreading awareness about issues that are affecting teachers

  •  Low salaries, lack of resources and high turnover rates are among some of the most critical issues

  •  Allison Slone has been a teacher for 24 years and has seen the effect these issues have on her colleagues

  • A shortage of teachers has had negative consequences on both educactors and students

Allison Slone is a special education teacher at Rowan County Senior High School and has worked with children who have special needs at every level in Kentucky since 1999.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. From the time I was little I always wanted to be a teacher but I didn’t know what kind of teacher so my senior year in high school I got to volunteer in that special needs classroom and that just changed my world and that’s what I realized I needed to do,” said Slone.

Throughout her career, she has heard other educators express issues within the education system and acknowledged that there needs to be a change.

“Really, the biggest issue I’ve seen, and this has been over time, the messages I get, private messages from teachers, has been how they’re treated, how they’re treated in their own schools and in their own districts,” said Slone.

Teachers say other factors like low pay, lack of resources and high turnover rates are among some of the issues they face that are making it difficult to stay in the profession.

Low salaries result in some teachers having to pick up a second job, and not having access to necessary resources leads to many spending their own money on supplies for their classrooms.

“Over the last year it’s become, ‘I’m done and I’m out, so what else can I do besides teaching?’” Said Slone. “And so watching that has been difficult because as a teacher, I want the best teachers in our classrooms.”

Teachers leaving education is an issue that the National Education Association is concerned about. The organization conducted a survey to get a better understanding of where U.S. teachers stand.

“55% of our teachers across the country were saying that they were considering leaving the profession,” said Becky Pringle, the National Education Association’s president.

Teachers leaving has severe consequences for both educators and students.

“When we don’t have enough teachers in our classroom, that means that students don’t have a qualified, caring professional who is there to nurture and guide, support, and teach them,” said Pringle.

Another way schools are dealing with this problem is combining classes, which puts a strain on qualified teachers.

Other issues, like gun violence, have also been a source of concern for teachers.

“When it happens as a teacher, there is not a day that I don’t think, ‘What if it’s us today?’” said Slone.

The current political climate has put teachers in a difficult position, even though they are following state standards of what to teach.

“Our curriculum is based on those standards and those standards are public for anyone to find on the state department’s webpage and so that’s what we’re teaching,” said Slone. “Now, will conversations happen in the classroom? Absolutely, especially as children get older.”

She said there is growing concern among teachers about those conversations and that they are having to redirect students.

It is for all of these reasons that members of the National Education Association are using this week to not just highlight educators, but to demand action.

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