Unsung Hometown Heroes



Most teacher heroes are unsung and their good deeds get no mention in the newspaper nor do they win awards and get accolades from anyone but their students.

Mary is a special education teacher in a local high school.  She has a masters and almost 20 years experience.  She knows regulations inside and out and absolutely loves her students and her job.  Mary rarely takes a lunch period or a prep period for herself.  She knows her students need extra help and she makes herself available for them all day.   She is especially busy because her supervisor has dumped placed students with major learning problems in main stream classes and she does not like seeing these kids fail.  Mary not only works selflessly with students, she works with other teachers as well, sharing materials and mentoring newbies.  She works with administration to create the best possible conditions for learning environments. 

Mary knows her students and their parents appreciate her hard work and all she does for them.  She has heard this time and time again and seen it in the work they produce.  Perhaps the administration knows this too, but, if they do, they don't share this with her.  Her supervisor likes making her miserable, probably in hope of getting her to leave.

There are hundreds of teachers like Mary who never make it to the media as a hometown hero, but these are the ones who make our schools successful.