Teachers under assault. Now it's teachers of the year. You're welcome in Illinois, Karen Lauritzen.
“I once taught at a charter school in Arizona. They didn’t have a union, and it was a terrible experience. I resolved that I would never be without a union again. When I went to teach in Alaska, I was always a member of my union, but not super involved until I was asked to give testimony in front of our state legislature,” wrote 2023 Idaho Teacher the Year, Karen Lauritzen.
The MAGAs hate that kind of talk.
By any measure Karen Lauritzen, who was a third grade teacher at Treaty Rock Elementary School in Post Falls Idaho, was a talented and skilled teacher.
But in Red States across the country, to be selected as the Teacher of the Year is to put a target on your own back.
When I was teaching, being the Teacher of the Year was a pretty innocuous thing.
Teachers may be nominated or self apply. Each candidate submits a written application containing biographical and professional information, essays on topics ranging from personal teaching philosophy to the issues facing education, and letters of endorsement.
In return, the selected teacher may get paid time off, travel around the state meeting with other educators and civic organizations talking about the value of public education.
But when Ms Lauritzen was chosen Idaho’s Teacher of the Year MAGAs went ballistic.
Lauritzen was accused by Idaho right-wing media outlets of being a "left-wing activist" for her personal views, which included support for the LGBTQ+ community and Black Lives Matter. Far-right extremists, including parents of students, baselessly accused her of teaching inappropriate content.
In September 2022, shortly after Lauritzen was named Teacher of the Year, the local website Idaho Tribune wrote about Lauritzen, saying she "promotes LGBT events, promotes transgenderism, Black Lives Matter, and is active in local politics, promoting liberal ideology."
"Even if I have certain beliefs myself, that does not mean that I teach kids. It's not my job to 'indoctrinate' or make kids little versions of myself. It's to make kids into the best versions of themselves," Lauritzen told the Boston Globe.
So, Lauritzen quit her teaching job and left Idaho for a university position here in Illinois.
Welcome Karen. You can trust Illinois will treat you better.
Yet the attack on Lauritzen is symbolic of the right-wing assault on public education, public school teachers, teacher unions and public education.
MAGA extremists across the United States have increasingly targeted teachers leading to mass departures from the profession.
Nearly half of one Colorado school district's high school teachers left this year after the school board was taken over by Trump-supporting members who enacted several MAGA policies.
Ron DeSantis’ Florida, in particular, has been the site of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that removes lessons on gender and sexuality from the classroom, keeping some students from taking the nationwide College Board AP curriculum.
Public universities have shut down entire departments that taught about the politics of gender and sexuality, while some Florida students even need their parent's permission to use nicknames or preferred names in school.
I guess my high school buddy, Moose, would have a problem in Florida.
But the attack on public education is really no joke.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee recently pushed through a state law that threatens teachers if they mention gender in the classroom.
The law prohibits teaching about race in public schools, branding and teaching of our racist history as Critical Race Theory
Illinois has a long history of being a sanctuary state.
We were home to many stations on the Underground Railroad.
Our legislature has preserved the right to an abortion when our neighboring states have made it illegal.
Chicago is struggling to provide shelter for refugees on the southern border that opportunist politicians like Texas Governor Greg Abbott have sent to us. Ordinary citizens have organized to provide clothing, food and shelter.
Now it seems like we have to provide safe haven for Teachers of the Year.