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This article is very long, almost 2,000 words.
By keeping details behind these expandable arrow sections I hope the main article can be read as a summary that still hits all the main points.
This article was one of the hardest to research I have ever experienced.
I talked to a lot of retired educators.
I tried to talk to a lot of current educators.
Current educators either don’t talk or they talk in hushed tones.
They seem to fear repercussions for talking, everything from the administration moving your assigned room or teaching grade or school to being shunned by your fellow teachers.
Because of this, my information is somewhat slanted.
Disclaimer: These are my impressions, not statements of fact.
I will be presenting the most common and most vocal views I encountered.
None of these come from a single person and I will use no quotes.
The Current Situation: A Heavier Load Than Ever
Every retired educator told me that teaching has changed a lot in the last 30 years.
Sure the technology has changed, but the job has also expanded dramatically.
Educators now have to be many things, not just caring and knowledgeable.
They must be school security agents.
They must be mental health front line workers.
They must be impartial machines teaching to and administering standardized tests.
They must be bureaucratic functionaries monitoring how every assignment is objectively fair and making sure every individual student’s official accommodation is being observed.
Somewhere in there, they still want time to be caring and personal teachers.
The Educator’s Relationship with the Administration: Workable Paranoia
As I understand it, the educators greatly depend on the administration for time, resources, and a functional facility to work in.
Time buys the educators room for creativity and personality to pass on to their students.
Resources buy good materials to support student learning.
Facilities buy a stable and functional home to teach students in.
I have heard complaints on all of these points.
That doesn’t mean anything by itself, nothing is ever perfect.
Here are some of the concerns I have heard with identifying details removed.
Paperwork leaves less time for creative educators, elementary resources are expensive, and moving educators is disruptive.
In terms of time the educators are always needing more.
However, the most common concern I heard seemed to be too much time on paperwork and not enough time to collaborate on how best to serve students.In terms of resources I was shocked by just how many things were expected to be supplied by educators themselves or their PTOs.
This was particularly common for elementary grades and seemed to be less of a concern for high school grades.In terms of facilities, complaints varied greatly by building and was related to the age of facilities.
However, the most vocal educator complaint seemed to really be about being moved.
This could be moving teaching grades, moving schools, or even just moving rooms.
This seemed incredibly disruptive and a cause of paranoia whenever it came up in a story.
Educators also seem to be stuck playing a high stakes game of office politics.
Because educators are very difficult to fire, there is a perception that they are punished in other ways that aren’t technically punishments.
Any administrative change that seems arbitrary could be a punishment in disguise.
I spoke to several current educators that were afraid to comment or asked me not to report things because they could be traced back to them and they might suffer for it.
Whether that is true or not, the perception is there.
However, “It isn’t paranoia if someone is actually out to get you.”
Educators, both current and retired, all seemed to have a story where someone they knew had been punished without technically being punished.
It seems to be a constant anxiety right down to their year before retirement.
When something arbitrary happens to them by order of the administration it always seems possible that they have angered the wrong person.
This uncertainty causes a tension that can’t fully be fixed, just lived with.
The Educator’s Relationship with the Parents: Indirect Caring
Educators seem to relate to parents in a very unique way.
I think they feel generally supported by parents.
But the educators seemed to care more about the parents supporting their students.
I believe this is a blessing and a curse.
The blessing is that both educators and parents generally love their children.
The curse is that the educator’s focus is always on the student first and the parents second.
This can make the parents seem like a resource that needs leveraged for the good of the student.
Students now run a testing treadmill that can have a narrow view of what succeeding correctly means.
It seems the educators increasingly need the parent’s help with a new part of their student’s education: the treadmill.
The treadmill is imposed by standardized tests that can change teacher evaluations, district image, and sometimes funding.
It is also the frantic but slow motion development of each child needing to hit certain milestones with certain proficiencies so that they stay on track for their future.
This performance treadmill is monitored by uncaring instruments of mass data collection.
Every educator I met wanted their students to succeed.
Now they must also ensure that students succeed correctly, according to a test.
The educators need the parent’s help with this treadmill but how they need help changes by grade levels.
In elementary school, the educators seem to all but beg for active educational involvement.
They need the parent to help the student perform so they send home suggested games, practice apps, and pleas to keep up with reading over the summer.
In the middle grades educators seem to need the parents to teach students everything about life, proper behavior, and puberty changes that the educators can’t.
In the higher grades the educators seem to need parents to ensure school work and projects are being done but don’t need them to check the accuracy.
Towards the end of school the educators just seem to want encouragement and celebration of their students as they succeed at whatever they pursue.
This makes for an odd working relationship with parents.
I would say that educators and parents are not walking side by side in their relationship, they always have the student between them.
The Educator’s Relationship with the Community: Disconnected Service
As busy as educators are, they seem to interact with the community generally much less often.
I think educators feel that they are personally appreciated but the larger community doesn’t see all their hard work.
It seems like there is sometimes an expressed lack of respect for educators based on how much they work and how easy their job seems.
School levies bring community attention to educators but it does not seem to last.
The one time educators are thrust into the community spotlight is during school levies.
During stressful levies the educators seem to feel like they are in the line of fire.
It can feel to educators that the community refuses to support the students.
However, from my own observations this tension seems to pass with time even if the levy fails.
I think the educators don’t feel strongly positively or negatively towards the taxpaying community, they usually seem too busy.
Author notes:
My opinion on the situation:
The educator relationship with the administration is workable but guarded, this may be as good as it can get with current conditions.
The educator relationship with the parents is generally positive but they do not directly relate to each other and this makes for an odd relationship.
The educator relationship with the greater community lacks mutual understanding but is not strong either way, it is somewhat disconnected.
[This article was originally published August 29th, 2025]
This is only one side of the public school situation in Wooster.
At the end of September, I will present the view from the administration.
That will be the final part of this 4 part series.
This article has been incredibly difficult to write.
It involves a lot of vague feelings for reasons of anonymity.
It lacks the full picture because it does not include as many current educators as I would like.
I would be open to revisiting this article in the future if I get more input from current educators.
Political Statement:
As I am now a candidate for the Wooster city school board this article blurs the line between what is campaign material and what is community report.
So, because I have paid my time into it and because it may sway opinions for the election I now state:
Paid for by Why the Hill not
This is my election committee name.
Though this may be considered a campaign post, my personal hope is that this article helps bridge understanding in the community.
That has been the goal of this 4 month project all along.
Wooster Interpreter 
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