Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed them, along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, as well as some priests with trumpets, and also Zechariah son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zakkur, the son of Asaph, and his associates—Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah and Hanani—with musical instruments prescribed by David the man of God. Ezra the teacher of the Law led the procession.

• Nehemiah 12:32-36

“You shall not murder.

• Deuteronomy 5:17

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

• James 3:1

Pray for students who want to learn in embattled school districts.

In the week before the students arrived, the administration put the teachers to work making their rooms look nice.  It seemed that lesson plan preparation took a lower priority.

My son, being the music teacher for K-5 grades, worked hard preparing his room.  But he brought his bassoon, so that he could practice in case he had some free time.  The school administration thought it was a weapon and they feared for their lives.  They did not call the police immediately.  Instead, the custodian was retired military.  He would be able to assess the threat.

The custodian walked into the music room and asked, “Is your bassoon loaded?”

My son’s concern was that the school administrators saw a weapon.  The administrators have college degrees.  The custodian has a high school diploma, but he knew what he saw.

But I was concerned in the mindset.  Two school administrators saw a package that they did not recognize and their immediate reaction was that they feared for their lives.  Did they realize that they had created an antagonistic atmosphere between administration and the teachers?

The administration, in the two weeks since, has filed a disciplinary action through the school district against my son for aggressive behavior and not following school rules.  All the charges are false, even the filing did not meet district protocol, but if the other teachers fear for their jobs, will they back up my son if the charges go forward?  And is this witch hunt only because he brought a bassoon to school, before the students were scheduled to attend?  It was just a bassoon, but the fear was there before and the fear remains, and they have the power.

When the woman who is investigating the above disciplinary action talked to my son, he was trying to turn negatives into positives, so that he would not be perceived as the aggressor, since that was the accusation. Then she asked pointed questions that his only recourse was to answer the question honestly. The first question set the tone for the rest of the interview. The interviewer felt that my son had a long running aggression against the principal. My son had been served a disciplinary action two years ago. My son filed a grievance, due to the falsehood of the claim and how it was filed and violation of both school policy and federal law. It went before the board, and the principal lied, even invoking a non-existent conversation with my son’s wife. The board dismissed the grievance without allowing my son to make a rebuttal. With the discipline clearly violating my son’s rights under federal law, the investigator told him he had a case for a lawsuit against the district, thanking him for not pursuing the lawsuit, and it was clear that the aggression was in the opposite direction. It is possible that the district might transfer him out of this hostile situation, but my son still clings to the love he has for the few children he has been able to reach.

This post has gone from a comedic story about an active shooter incident involving a loaded bassoon to the tragedy that is the case in many schools across the U.S.A.

And people wonder why the schools in the U.S.A. are falling further and further behind.  Many of the teachers, especially in the South, are paid barely above poverty wages.  But they keep teaching out of love for the students.  And yet, they must fight battles that simply make no sense.

Pray for our schools and our teachers. And pray for school administrators also; may they not be enemies of the teachers.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.