Another one bites the dust (TL;DR at bottom if you want to know why)

I'm a (female) SPED teacher at a Title 1 middle school. I have 14 years of classroom experience and a masters degree. I've (officially) resigned from my position.<br><br>It's not because I got spit on, slapped, or had my property stolen. Kids are kids and while they suck sometimes, I have no problem showing (most) kids grace. <br><br>It's not because I have too many kids. How the hell I (or anyone else) could possibly manage 33 students in a single class boggles my mind. It's a failing system that crams our schools full of kids and then shames us for not helping them succeed. I've got 10 kids in my classes, and that's all because I am the only self contained classroom in the school for my subject- i. e., there is no gen ed class for the kids I services. <br><br>It's not the parents. I get calls from parents asking if my kids could be moved from my classroom. As if the am I fucking joke. I am not moving your kids because you don't like me. Fuck you, Karen. <br><br>It's not even the piss poor pay. I've been doing this for over a decade. I know what I am and am not paid for, and I am okay with that. <br><br>It's not even because of the bullying and gaslighting from the school leadership. A lot of people in my school are leaving for various reasons. The admin is doing their best to gaslight us all into questioning our sanity. My proficiencies for the year are excellent, my kids are thriving, and their parents love me. I am widely liked by my coworkers. Leadership has made a personal attack on me (and several others), and I cannot stay in a toxic environment like that. My health has actually begun to decline. <br><br>It's not the lack of recess. It's not the two hours a day of online remedial work. It's not the total lack of electives and extracurriculars. It's not the psychologizing of small children. It's not the lists and lists of behavioral expectations and grief and loss therapy and other inane lists on classroom walls. It's not the isolation from the natural environment and the (virtual) removal of the arts.<br><br>It's not even because I have to work with a para who is actively working against me. I've worked with this para for years, and the last few have been...different. I have been advised by many to just fire the para, but they are a person, with a family to feed. I can't just fire them. During the lockdowns, the para would make very blatant, passive aggressive comments about how I was instructing the kids while we had class on zoom. I made a mental note of it, but didn't think much of it. This has increasingly become a problem, and the last straw was when I blew my whistle for kids to close laptops and get finished with their assignments. One of my kids (who was instructed by the para) said "the para doesn't want us to finish the work". (So now I have to fight the para and administration, on top of parents and kids, to get them to do Their. Own. Fucking. Work.) And that brings me to the final reason...<br><br>I am done with being seen as a paid babysitter and secretary and therapist and warden. I'm so sick of being told I am a "hero" while simultaneously being treated like a slave. I am sick of parents showing up on campus to yell at me for demanding their children do the bare minimum. I am sick of parents showing up to tell me that I am a poor teacher, as evidenced by their child's lack of effort. I am sick of being told I don't do enough by the parents who don't speak a word of English, and I am sick of being grilled about my lesson plans by those with Ivy League educations. I can't take my students to the library because the librarian is using the space for a meeting. I can't take them outside because the asbestos is being removed. I can't do this and I can't do that. I am tired being told I can't and being treated like a child in front of the children I am expected to teach. I can't take the parents who emulate the shitty behavior of their spawn. I am a grown fucking woman and I will no longer be treated like a child, or spoken to like I am. <br><br>Kids are being treated like prisoners, not learners, and I am sick of being a warden. I am sick of a system that treats children as less than. I am sick of the fact that we are so rigidly being held to an outdated, fucking stupid standard that does not allow us to treat kids as people with thoughts and passions. I am sick of the fact that our school is literally falling apart. I am sick that my kids are being told they need to be good little automatons, to work in (unskilled, menial) jobs, to be thankful for the minimum wage they are offered, and to get used to the fact that they will never have the same opportunities their parents had. <br><br>I don't want a (bigger) handout. I don't need smaller class sizes (although that would be a start). I don't want the right to carry a gun. I don't want to police other teachers, or create some secret underground cabal of teachers who (illegally) teach the kids what they really need. I don't want to be treated like a hero.<br><br>I want the system to change. I want kids to be treated with respect. I want kids to have therapy and individualized learning plans. (Not one or the other, both.) I want kids to be taught critical thinking skills, and to have the autonomy to (safely) express dissent. I want kids to be taught how to handle a fucking pipe wrench, and to have access to trade classes. I want kids to learn about fucking money management, and to have access to financial aid. I want kids to have free access to higher education and trade schools. Fuck college. Fuck readiness. Fuck career and technical training. Fuck standardized testing.<br><br>I want kids to be fucking treated like people. I want kids to have recess. I want kids to have arts. I want kids to have the ability to buy a home in the area where they grew up, and to have a modest fucking income and actual fucking healthcare. I want kids to be able to breathe fresh air and wander around the fucking forest.<br><br>I am done fighting against a system that treats kids as beasts of burden.<br><br>TL;DR: I am done with a system that treats kids as beasts of burden and teachers like pieces of shit.