Megan Betche has been teaching since 2004. Much has changed during that time; she notes that it is now harder than ever before to strike a work-life balance. The need to see a positive change led Betche to step outside her comfort zone and run for political office.In this episode of Educating from the Heart, we talk with Betche about her successes, her challenges, and her view of what public service should be about. 

Episode 21 Show Notes:

Guests

Show Resources

Transcript

GuestMegan Betche, Seminole County ESE teacher

ResourcesSee Educators Run Candidate Training, NEAHundreds of Teachers Ran for Office, Education WeekMegan Betche Candidate Profile, Orlando Sentinel Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District  

TranscriptAndrew Spar, FEA President: Hi, this is FEA president Andrew Spar. To stay on top of all the latest news and issues impacting our public schools, be sure to follow FEA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For more information on this podcast, visit feaweb.org/podcast Sharon Nesvig: You're listening to Educating from the Heart. Thank you for joining our lively conversations with teachers, support professionals, parents, and students, as they share issues that matter most in our public schools. Here are your hosts, Tina Dunbar and Luke Flynt. Tina Dunbar, Host: Welcome back to another edition of Educating from the Heart. Thanks for listening. Luke, I have a puzzling question, which I believe you'd be able to provide some clarity. We've recently completed local, state and congressional elections, where we asked educators to identify and select candidates who support students and public education. We urged them to talk with their family and friends to choose the best candidates for their schools for teachers and for support staff, and to talk with those who have some knowledge of the ongoing issues and concerns that educators face. Well, to my surprise, I received pushback from some who stated that school employees should not be actively involved in politics.Well, Luke, that doesn't make sense, especially when you consider every decision made in public education begins with an elected official. I just don't get it. Everyone employed in public service, especially education need to be engaged in the political process to actively advocate for themselves, for their profession and their livelihood.Luke Flynt, Host: You know, Tina, when I started my teaching career, I didn't see myself as a very political person, but what happened is I realized that the over-testing that my students were facing was a policy choice, that my low pay was a policy choice, that Florida being last in the nation and student funding is a policy choice.And when we look at today's current environment, from book banning to the attacks on LGBTQ students and staff, those are policy decisions. And whenever there is a policy decision that negatively impacts you, you really have three choices: number one, continue to support the people who are making those policy choices.And for me, that was untenable. Number two, just go in the classroom and teach, and this is what a lot of teachers like to do, and ignore the policy choices. But that was untenable too, because it matters to me more than just what happens in my classroom, in a state where all children can thrive, we really have to make choice number three, which is to actively, consistently, year-round, oppose any policy that hurts children and lift up policies that support every child in Florida.Tina: Yeah, that's it. It's those decisions and policy choices directed by politicians that have left many teachers and support staff feeling ignored, undervalued, and unsupported.Many of our past guests have mentioned this as a major concern for all educators. You know, teachers enjoy working with their students. They look forward to it daily, but navigating the classroom has become a real challenge for them and wrestling the politics of education.  I understand teachers wanna just teach, but all school employees must understand they've got to get politically involved because these decisions spill over into the rest of our lives.Luke: I think you were spot on, Tina. In order to keep experienced teachers in the profession, they absolutely must feel like they have a voice. Unfortunately, right now, too many teachers feel that politicians aren't listening to them. Or even worse, that certain politicians are actively trying to undermine them.Tina: And that leads us to our guest, an educator from Seminole County who has spent the last two decades instructing students. She'll share her experiences in the classroom and explain why it's time to move on with the second career in politics.Megan Betche, Seminole County Teacher: My name is Megan Betche. I'm a teacher in Seminole County, and I'm considered a transition resource teacher. So, I work with our 18 to 21 year-olds on job skills in the community. I always say we don't graduate to the couch, we graduate to our community.So, I started teaching in 2004 in Volusia County, started at elementary. Left Volusia County to go to Seminole County in 2010 and taught middle school there until 2016. So, 2016 until now is this transition program. All of it has been in special education. So, I've taught elementary, middle, and technically high school now for special ed.Why I still do it is because of the kids. That's where my passion is. I think I learn more from them every day than I can actually teach them. So, every day is, you don't know what you may go into, because it's special education. They're nine times out of 10 they're happy, they want to be there, they're motivated, they want to learn. And so, it makes me want to do my job better.We're all used to working above and beyond or doing more with less. But this doing more with less and working shorthanded has taken away some of my, I don't want to  say livelihood, but you know, those extracurriculars and the fun and all of those things. Because now instead of working a 10-hour day, it might be a 12, 13 hour day to get done what I need to get done.And it's easy for somebody else to say, “Oh, just turn that off and do it the next day.” Well, if grades are. Or an IEP is due, or, “Oh, I gotta get back to that parent. Let me make a phone call, send another email.” You don't just not do that. I think that's what's made it really hard there is that short-staffed, having more students, more responsibilities with less and just trying to help each other.Tina: How has that impacted your personal life?Megan: So, that's interesting. But I don't go visit my family as much. I don't go and do everything I want to go do. I'm a scuba diver. It's one of my, it's my favorite hobby. Even during Covid and before Covid, I could at least die once or twice a month. But now, because there's so much going on, taking that time away from trying to get work done and making sure I'm doing the job I should be, I can't go and do that like I used to.Tina: There's no balance.Megan: The balance is gone. The balance is definitely gone, and I think that's what some of those new teachers are starting to see. They're starting to see the burnout happening. For those of us who, although I'm considered a veteran teacher, I've been teaching 18 years, I'm still pretty young. I still enjoy going out and doing things, but I'm exhausted.I do enjoy having a day of where, you know, you can stay in your jammies all day, hang out at home, not have to worry about anything. And those are few and far between now because of it. I would also say those new teachers getting into the profession, they're trying to balance it all as well. They're just getting used to having a job, having these personal life things, whether it's family, spouse, children, all of those things.And some of them are leaving the profession because they don't have that balance. They don't have the support. Some of those new teachers weren't reappointed because they're not able to get their work done. You know, they could have, if they didn't have the 17 other things that we have to do. It's hard.Tina: You mentioned being able to help your colleagues.Megan: Yes.Tina: Tell me what that's like. It's gotta be tough to even do that because everybody's struggling.Megan: Oh it is. Um, hoping colleagues is just,  sometimes you have that kiddo in your classroom that might be misbehaving and you send them out with that little post-it note that has something like, “Hey, go do this errand.” Because you know they need to get their wiggles out and things like that. And yes, that's more elementary way, sometimes it's the same people do those extracurricular activities, so you're like, “Oh, I'll do afternoon pickup so you can actually get grades done.” It's just helping each other out because that's what you want done for you.It's helping that new teacher that is like, “What do I need to do with this lesson plan?” These lesson plans are crazy. They drive some bus nuts sometimes. Um, being in Seminole County, I do work closely with some of our bus drivers and support staff, and to do my job, I have to have my job coaches, my paraprofessionals, those things.And what's really hard there is that sometimes like yes, you can pull them, put them in a classroom for the day, but then that means I'm on my own all day. So, sometimes helping out is making yourself shorthanded.Tina: Where do you get support from? You support colleagues, but you need support also.Megan: Yeah. Um, I, and that's been interesting. I think I've, this year I've really had to learn how to ask for help. Before sometimes people just jump in and help you, and other times they're already there. You know, they know that, look, they know that, um, expression because we have had teacher shortages,