School Community

I really don’t know what it is like to work in a place other than a school anymore. The last time that I was a full time employee in an organization that was any different than the education system was in 1995 when I worked in a group home for developmentally disabled children. I do listen to my friends and family talk about their jobs, and note that working in a school is quite different than working in the business world.

The term “Membership has its Privileges” applies to more than just the American Express Card. Think about it – we call our teachers “faculty members” and not “employees.” There are many reasons that this is so - such as the incremental raises of the teacher contract, the fact that teachers get better with years of service, and that in the world of education people are more likely to stay in the same place over for a long period of time. This is often a highlight of high school commencement ceremonies…the part where a speaker acknowledges those who have been teaching for 10, 20, 30 years and beyond.

The nature of the school organization allows those who work together to become very close over the years that they are conjoined. It is commonplace that we celebrate the success of one another outside of work in events such as obtaining graduate degrees. There are also the milestone events of new children, marriages, home purchases, and retirement. The terms “Mahar Community” and “Mahar Family” have been used interchangeably over the years, and this week in particular.

I have recognized that working in a school is special for many reasons – the aforementioned connections being only one of them. With the good comes the difficult too though. We celebrate together, and every so often we ache together as well. Along with the joy we find in watching our students grow and learn, and the connections we have with our colleagues – we come across painful times just the same. The broken hearts of this week reminded me that before the No Child Left Behind Act, the MCAS examinations and strict standards that there is a community of people who care about one another – and how important that is.