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Connor Philpot

Professor Tonja Vincent

ENGL-2010

Covid School Budget Profile

You are Laurie Egan. You are a school teacher helping young adults with special needs to

help get themselves out into the world. You wake up at exactly 7 every morning and get ready

for the day ahead of you. You have 4 kids, one of which is in California at the moment. As a

school teacher your pay isn’t great, but you do this job because you genuinely care about what

you do. (Denise-Marie Ordway “Journalist’s Resource”) After doing your general morning

routine, you hop in your car and head off. You think over your plans for your students today and

how you’re going to work around this pandemic. Your job normally entails that you take your

students out into public spaces, to help them adjust to normal life and work. Based on what is

said in the (CDC “Public Health Guidance for Community-Related Exposure”) however, you

can no longer take your large group of students out into the world due to safety precautions and

the like; you have to make do with what you got.

You work with your classes budget, but you are limited to what you can use. You had

already bought a large metal cabinet due to faculty miscommunication, so you have decided to

play it safer when it comes to getting new things for your students. As you arrive, you greet your

class. All of them adorned in masks. You use your creative problem solving to figure out ways to

recreate or find alternatives to doing activities normally done in public. You decided to get a

button maker so that your students can help distinguish themselves from each other. This is of

course coming out of your class budget, since you don’t have much else to work with. You

luckily find a button maker on KSL. The seller has it for a pretty reasonable price. Out of
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curiosity, he asks what you’re going to use it for. You give the full explanation of what it is that

you do for a living. Later you find out that he gives the money back to the school and wants to

consider the button maker a donation. As reported by (Christine Bramuchi of

“All4Schools.org”), the school budget was cut once again. Receiving supplies via an act of

kindness like this gives you hope. Even as a teacher with so much on your plate, you keep going.

Family

School Budget

When you have all these things on your mind, it’s easy to forget that you aren’t the only

one dealing with such things. When it comes to Laurie Egan, her struggle is all to real for a lot of

people. Teachers in America have had to deal with a lot this year because of COVID 19. They all

had to work around the pandemic last semester while also adjusting for this semester. As stated

by the (CDC “Operating schools during COVID-19: CDC's Considerations”), many schools

took on new regulations when it came to operating their buildings for their students. The

government not only cut down the budget, but they expected people like Laurie to roll with the

punches with little help from them. When I interviewed Laurie, I got a better understanding into
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how these teachers work with their classrooms in order to make an environment good enough for

the new COVID standards.

Laurie expressed her frustrations of having to rework the primary point of her class so

they can stay indoors, saying “we are a lot more limited by having to stay in the school

building.” The whole point of her class is so that they can help put these young adults out into

the world. Their core curriculum was focused on going places in order to learn. Having to shift

this curriculum on their own is not only unfair, but it’s asking a little too much given most

public-school teachers pay. I did learn however through this interview, that the school faculty

themselves have been kind and open. Laurie’s higher ups have been very inclined to help in any

way they can, offering grants and things of that nature. She states “Everyone on the faculty has

been generous with grants and getting us what we need.” The people within these schools are

doing everything in their power to provide their best. It’s not their fault here, it’s what these

schools are given to work with that is the major issue. Laurie also went on to tell me about how

the students have felt through all this. “It’s been a particular hard adjustment, seeing as they

haven’t been able to interact with the other classrooms as much as I would like.”

She went over how the focus hasn’t been all bad however. The school has offered chrome

books for the students to use. Now while Laurie was worried about how well the students would

adjust to using these chrome books, it actually turned out to be a good learning experience for

them. This pandemic has given many students a new chance to experience the benefits of online

learning. While there are many benefits to doing your teaching online, this also comes with

significant drawbacks. (Jill Barshay of the “thehechingerreport.org”) states many students have

been affected negatively by the impact of the switch to online learning. The focus of online
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learning needs to be expanded upon more. Given what time these teachers had, what we have

now is enough. People like Laurie however, think that we could be doing better.

Funds

Resources

Focus

These three things are the main points that Laurie said need to be improved. If schools

had these things, then the online experience could be much improved. Laurie wants a way to

recreate these work experiences from the school facility she has offered to her. Given what she

has though, that doesn’t seem possible at the moment. She thinks that schooling is one of the

most important things in the world, and these aren’t only the opinions of teachers. Many people

believe that schooling needs to be a focus. This pandemic has been a shining example of how

school teachers and faculty have been put aside by the government to focus on unnecessary

things. People like Laurie need more for their students if they want them to succeed the way they

want them too. Teacher are already considered the unsung heroes of America, but why must they

be unsung? Why must they be left to dry? Laurie thinks that improvement is not only possible,

but necessary.
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Teachers are the strongest people we know. I believe we all have teachers in our lives in

some way or another. Be it family, school teachers, or even strangers. Teachers are what help us

to grow and improve. So, let teachers like Laurie do what they need. So that they can bring out

the best in their students. If that can be done, then Teachers can have a fighting chance. This

profile wasn’t only just for this teacher. It’s a representation of all the teachers in America that

are fighting right now. That are fighting to teach their students, help their families, and to be

strong workers. This Pandemic has showed us that we could be doing so much better. School

shouldn’t have to be considered enough; it should be considered the best. Laurie wants to

continue to teach, because it’s what she loves to do. Many teachers do this out of their love for

teaching, imagine what they could be doing if they had everything they needed to teach.
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Works Cited:

(Denise-Marie Ordway “Journalist’s Resource”)

https://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/education/school-teacher-pay-research/

(CDC, “Public Health Guidance for Community-Related Exposure”)

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/public-health-recommendations.html

(Christine Bramuchi “All4Schools.org”)

https://all4schools.org/2020/05/26/massive-school-budget-cuts/

(CDC “Operating schools during COVID-19: CDC's Considerations”)

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/schools.html

(Jill Barshay “thehechingerreport.org”)

https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-how-deep-coronavirus-school-budget-cuts-are-expected-
to-harm-student-achievement/