Short Supply

 This summer, I will turn sixty. Years old. Aside from being the reason for kids at my school to be amazed that anything could live that long, this has become a source of consternation on my part. Not because of the reaction of the short people, but because I have entered a phase in my career during which the question of retirement begins to loom larger. And larger. Especially at this moment in history in which I find myself being told that the school where I have done the entirety of my teaching is about to be closed. 

The math does not support the idea of me pulling the plug on this particular life support system. I've got another three or four years left in my public service bucket before I can cash in on the version in which I can wander off into the sunset. Retire. 

Because part of me would like nothing more than to say, "I gave my best years to this school and have no interest whatsoever in finding a place to mark time for a few years while the clock runs out." Once a Horace Mann Jaguar, always a Horace Mann Jaguar. It pains me to recall that the Arby's I worked at is now The Ali Baba Grill. The video store where I spent my college years is yet another brunch spot in Boulder. The office furniture warehouse I worked at is empty, and Bookpeople where I got my first job when I moved to California is now the county food bank. The thought that I might outlast yet another place of employment is no real testament to my longevity. I would much rather leave a legacy at a place where I could come back and visit, not just to say, "This used to be..."

All the while I keep reading about all the places in this great land of ours where there is a teacher shortage. It would seem that far too many educators took the threat, "Don't mess with Texas" literally and chose to flee rather than be forced to pretend to teach the retrofear currently being passed off as curriculum in the state that would be Taxes if spelled incorrectly. Last month a Texas American Federation of Teachers survey of 3,800 of its members found that sixty-six percent of educators throughout Texas said they have recently considered leaving their job. This is a place where the annual salary for teachers decreased from $55,433 to $54,192 between 2010 and 2019. And now they have to lie about slavery in their classrooms. This is also a place where when they close schools it's because they don't have any electricity to keep things warm. 

Which brings me back to me. I won't be heading to Texas anytime soon to continue my career. Nor am I certain that I want to find a quiet closet to monitor for what remains of my tenure as a California teacher. All the more reason to keep searching for ways to keep my school open. I don't want to go to Houston. Really I don't.