Written by Nick Caraway

As most folks around here know, I work as a teacher. To be more specific, I work as a support facilitator and case manager. That basically means I work with special education students. Half of my job is taken up helping students prepare for the STAAR exam. I make sure they have the right accommodations and help their classroom teacher tutor them.

As much as I enjoy tutoring students for a state test they struggle to pass, I think I speak for almost every teacher when I say it’s beyond time for the state to cancel this year’s test. Of course, they can cancel it forever as far as I’m concerned, but that’s mainly because of how it effects my students.

Beyond that, we know most districts half been split between distance learning and brick and mortar learning. Most lost this past week and will likely lose part of this next week as well. Add to that lost instructional time during the fall when hurricane season was in full swing. So, this is a plea for TEA to have a heart. We are barely holding on here as it is.

Nick