Do you know who will receive your vote on November 2nd? Do you know the issues? Do you believe that things need to change? Before you head to the polls, it is important to know that changing governors at this time will not be in the best interest of Ohio’s public schools. Check out OEA’s Campaign 2010 website so you can understand the reasons for keeping Governor Ted Strickland in office.
In the past month, I have done my homework and I am ready. I feel I will go to the polls with more confidence, knowledge, and hope than I have in the past.
Confidence…that I am voting for the right people who will maintain, and hopefully improve, education versus a candidate who will simply make bad things worse.
Knowledge…about the current political issues that could affect my job – merit based pay, school funding, competition with charter schools, national curriculum standards, and longer school years.
Hope…that I can continue doing what I love to do everyday….With the prospect of more support and less pressure, which will surely raise morale. With the promise of realistic, reasonable, and reachable expectations for students and teachers. With an end to unfair, unrealistic, biased expectations for those who are struggling to teach students who struggle every day.
For the first time in 15 years, I am standing at the top of the halfway point, where teachers often breathe a sigh of relief and say, “It’s all downhill from here.” Sometimes after a really long day, or reviewing low test scores, or hearing new demands by my students’ parents, the district, or the state, I wonder if I can possibly hang in there 15 more years.
Pessimists will do nothing, say they can’t change things, and fall ungracefully down the hill, blaming others all the way down. They may figure that the only answer is something (or someone) else.
However, I am an optimist. I love my job and I know I could never give it up. We cannot give up on Governor Strickland. Education will always be an uphill battle but as a confident, informed, hopeful voter I chose to believe that there is nowhere to go…but up.
By Melanie Krause, Dover Education Association
