Legislation won’t stop at teachers

I became a teacher 15 years ago. Over these wonderful years, I was extremely lucky to coach as well.

Coaching sports was a passion of mine even before I became a teacher. From chess club to floor hockey to drama productions, I have always individually chosen to take the time to be a part of everything offered in school for the students’ extracurricular activities.

All the students over the years who I have taught and coached know me well and know that not coaching right now is tearing me apart inside. My students and their parents know that not coaching is the hardest thing for me to do.

I get just as much, if not more, out of coaching at school, than the students do. So, for me not to coach, there must be a very important message I myself, and teachers, are trying to make.

There sure is. There is a bigger picture that people need to see. People in Ontario need to open their eyes and see the future of everyone’s living standards.

The bigger picture is the downfall of all working class people, our children and our society as a whole. This legislation, and the future ones to come, is a bullying tactic that takes our rights as workers away.

It will not stop at teachers. It will not stop at two years and, in the end, our children and students will have a terrible future trying to make it in this world.

I do not get paid for doing these extras with money. I get paid with the smiles when students are triumphant, the memories of wins and losses, the comebacks, the camaraderie, the rapport I gain, the pure enjoyment of watching my athletes compete and get better.

That’s how I get paid. I love every second of it.

It’s a shame that there are people out there, still, who are telling me that is my job to coach. If you made it my job, it wouldn’t be as fun.

The fun is that it is extra and “wanting” to be out there is the part that makes it the most enjoyable for everyone involved.

Please understand that when the coaches do not coach, we are not taking the easy way out. It is the most difficult decision we have had to make.

It hurts us as much as it hurts the children. Please, know why.

We are doing more for your children right now by not coaching, than we ever did when we coached. JASON SCHNEIDER, teacher, Benson public school, Windsor