A Year Later

  An education is one of the most valuable things a person can have. It prepares people for events or jobs later in life, it grows individuals as a person and it enlightens people to new ideas. 2013 was a year to remember in Strongsville, as of March 4th the SEA voted to go on strike against the Strongsville Board of Education. This event changed the city in many ways as the community became divided and polarized to two different sides. Friends were fighting against friends and family members were against family members. However, throughout the strike there was one thing that everyone could agree on and that was the fact that the student body suffered the most in the classroom and outside of it. A year later, the effects of the strike can still be felt and it is our job as a community to make sure that an event like this does not happen again. To accomplish this Strongsville needs to continue to heal by moving forward, focusing on the students, and making sure that the education in the district does not become political.

With the animosity left by the teacher strike still being felt, members of the Strongsville City School district have a greater watchful eye on the teachers causing people to still look back on the strike like it is currently happening every day. To move forward the city needs to accept the fact that the strike is in the past, to look towards the future, and focus on making the district better by creating an environment where people feel wanted and the education of the students comes first and foremost. The reason the strike still has a strong impact on today is because it was divisive, but it’s the city’s resolve that will heal the wounds left by the strike.

     Throughout the strike the student body was strongly affected. The students suffered from a lack of organization, less meaningful instruction in the classroom, and the emotional toll of abandonment by the teachers, causing their opinions of some to change forever. There were no winners in the strike, but only the best losers and everyone who participated in the cause has to live with that fact. A year later the students are again learning and are the most forgiving.

     In the end, education is about growing the mind and throughout the strike that was forgotten. Education became politicized. A students education should not be used as leverage in a dispute especially a political one because all it does is harm the students and they will be left behind, guaranteeing them not the best possible education, but guaranteeing a harder fight for what comes after. Strongsville needs to keep moving forward; students, parents, and teachers alike need to put the past behind them and focus on a brighter tomorrow. Together we can.