Oct. 11, 2024: ‘I felt like I had been deserted’

The work our members do each day, whether in K-12 schools or in our colleges and universities, is noble, vital, and so often undervalued by the folks in charge.  

Their work is also increasingly dangerous, whether that’s the ever-present worry about gun violence on campus or student behavioral challenges that are becoming more prevalent and prone to violence in our understaffed schools.  

We’ve seen the consequences on several occasions just this year. In Corsicana ISD, an assistant principal was blinded after an attack by a student. And in Northside ISD, a long-time instructional aide died after suffering a head injury in his classroom. 

Both incidents highlighted a central problem: underfunded schools are unsafe schools. What happened in Corsicana and Northside may be extreme, but it’s not rare; these incidents are exacerbated by a school staffing shortage getting worse by the minute.  

This week, Texas Public Radio discussed a grievance filed by Northside AFT on behalf of district special education teachers, calling on Northside ISD to provide the staffing levels needed to keep staff and students safe. Listen to Part 1 and Part 2 online.  

“We constantly, constantly say that the employees’ working conditions are the students’ learning conditions. And that is absolutely the case here,” said Melina Espiritu-Azocar, Northside AFT president, in an interview. “We need to do something different, and it’s not for themselves as individuals, but it’s for the students. Safety in that classroom for staff is also safety in the classroom for students.”