Teaching Profession

Teachers Speak Out

By Francesca Duffy — July 11, 2011 1 min read
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Frustrated by a lack of opportunity for teachers to participate in policy decisions, a Florida teacher has launched a new website which aims to connect teachers across the state and address issues important to educators. Mike Rychlik, who teaches at SAIL High School in Leon County, Fla., told Florida Today that state leaders have done little to include teachers’ input in discussions surrounding legislation changes and education reform, and so he decided to take matters into his own hands. “It’s pretty depressing to go to House and Senate meetings and listen to education committee discussions, to hear how uniformed they are about the brass tacks of educating young people,” said Rychlik.

According to the paper, the new site, Empowereducators.org, will encourage teachers to “hold town meetings, share experiences and stay on top of pending legislation and election cycles.”

John Schaller, another teacher at SAIL High School, commented that websites like Rychlik’s “will help teachers understand they have a say, too.” Schaller added that he hopes the grass-roots effort becomes “contagious” and helps teachers realize that their voices are important to the education debate.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Teaching Now blog.