Letter from the Editor
As my fingers dance across the keys, a pit lodges itself into my stomach, questioning whether the words I pen will resonate with you, our readers. I have had my heart set on the Plainsman Press for some time now, but I never imagined my yearning for something seemingly so lost would be widely supported, and today it takes flight.
The Team Behind The Ink
Before we get into the stories that we have been so deftly crafted, allow me to proudly introduce the passionate individuals who have formed the backbone of the Plainsman Press. Each student journalist brings a unique perspective and style to the Plainsman Press.
Braxton Castles, Editor-In-Chief
Braxton Castles is a senior; creative, intuitive, curious, and shows a natural role in leadership. Braxton participated in an NYU Journalism Program, and currently partakes in FCCLA, Chick-Fil-A Leadership and Speech and Debate.
Peter (P.J) Frazier, Photo Editor, Student Writer
A senior and the Vice President here at Monterey; P.J is relentless, intelligent, and confident in his work. P.J is in Chick-Fil-A Leadership, Mock Trial, NHS,Varsity Tennis, and is recognized as part of College Board’s National Recognition Program. Noah McClure, Web Designer
Noah McClure is a senior; outgoing, passionate, industrious, and determined. Noah has an impressive background as he partakes in Robotics, PLTW, Chick-Fil-A Leadership, NHS, Student Council, UIL Academics, and is heavily involved in the Volunteer Center.
Milani Smith, Student Writer
Milani Smith is a junior; ambitious, inquisitive, collaborative, and avid in her academics. Milani is in AP Seminar, NHS and Cheer.
Izzy Medina, Student Writer
Isabelle (Izzy) Medina is a current sophomore; enthusiastic and ready to learn. Izzy has shown great strength in adaptability and leadership. Izzy currently is participating in Chick-Fil-A Leadership, Mock Trial, NHS, and participates in Law and Court Sciences at the ATC.
Zalina Muratova, Student Writer
Zalina is a current foreign exchange student here at Monterey. She is eager and passionate about learning. She has taken a special interest in Journalism and many extracurricular activities including Leading Ladies.
Cora Clifford, Student Writer
Cora Clifford is a junior; ardent, ambitious, and collaborative. Cora takes part in Mock Trial, Cheer, Varsity Tennis and participates in Debate.
Adaleigh Rivera, Student Writer
Adaleigh Rivera is a senior; earnest, zealous, level headed, ambitious, and shows intense leadership ability. Adaleigh participates in Debate, Mock Trial, NHS, Chick-Fil-A Leadership, Law Practicum, and is the Service Leader in Leading Ladies.
Lily Heinrich, Student Writer
Lily Heinrich is a sophomore; focused, contemplative, committed and expressive. Lily participates in UIL Journalism, UIL Math, and is in Yearbook.
Cassidi Gomez, Student Writer
Cassidi Gomez is a Junior; docile, eager, and attentive. Cassidi takes part in Cheer, NHS and is recognized as part of College Board’s National Recognition Program.
Our Vision
The Plainsman Press is not just ink on paper; it’s a living, breathing reflection of Monterey as a community. Our mission is clear: “By students for students. Journalism for Freedom.” Student Writers will foster connections and shed light to extraordinary stories. We invite you to join us on this journey, share your story, and be an integral part of the narrative we are crafting here at Monterey High School. Together, let's create a tapestry of narratives that reflects the diverse and dynamic spirit of our community.
Thank You for being part of this inaugural edition of the Plainsman Press, We are eager to grow, learn, and evolve together. Here is to the first of many conversations.
Warm Regards,
Braxton Castles Editor-In-Chief, Plainsman Press
Brewing Inclusivity
Milani Smith explains what Lotties and Lattes is. We learn why they're around, what their goals are and what they are trying to accomplish.
Teen of the Month
What is Teen of the Month? Why did it start and what is the goal? Student reporter Lily Heinrich gets the inside scoop.
Monterey Boy's Basketball
Cora Clifford interviews some of Monterey’s star players such as Carter Bovkoon, Elijah Smothers and Luke Arrington.
Community and Leadership
From Passion to Purpose
Adaleigh Rivera tells us about FCCLA, and what impacts they make to the students who join the organization.
Potatoes at Law
Izzy Medina tells us about the ATC’s Law Program and how they volunteered for the food bank.
Crossing Oceans and Cultures
Zalina Muratova gives us the inside scoop on what it is like to be a foreign exchange student. She also introduces us to two other foreign exchange students here at Monterey: Zoa Del los Santos from Spain and Felix Liebig from Germany.
Small Town Reporter Making It Big (Opinion)
Small Businesses Aren’t Standing on Business
Braxton Castles goes into a deep dive on what the current problem small businesses face coming into 2024. Why have so many businesses closed in Lubbock and Texas, and what is keeping them from growing?
Class Sizes: Is it a Growing Problem?
An anonymous author tells us about how the growth in a classroom relates to a hiring problem for teachers. Why do so many quit and why is nothing done about it?
LBrewing Inclusivity: Lottie and Lattes: Where
Special
Education Students Shine in a Unique Coffee Experience"
By Milani Smith
ottie and Lattes is a coffee shop run by the special education students here at Monterey.
Special education students are at a fundamental transition in their lives.
According to a study done by Exceptional Lives a special education center, “If a child’s disability prevents them from learning, the specialized instruction can use proven teaching strategies that match the disability."
Lottie and Lattes is an exceptional example of cultivating a unique learning experience in order to specially attend to neurodivergent children. Students are able to learn an immense amount of skills when participating in Lottie and Lattes.
For example, the students explore vocational skills such filling orders, interacting with customers, and counting out and distributing change, which will help guide their post secondary goals.
Vocational skills are something that students on the spectrum struggle with greatly, and any exposure to exchange conversation is vital to their lives.
There are currently 54 students participating in the Special Education program at Monterey High School.
Once a month teachers are given the opportunity to purchase beverages from Lottie and Lattes.
Students involved in this program will make, serve and deliver to the customers. They are providing a wonderful and unique experience for the students, and teachers who get coffee!
Teen of the Month
By Lily Heinrich
Students who show profound character and go above and beyond the expectations of teachers are commemorated with a pristine title that many seek to be awarded.
The “Teen of the Month” program gives one boy and girl from each grade the recognition they deserve every month of the school year. With only nine boys and girls winning this award each year from each grade level, the process of choosing the “Teen of the Month” is a selective decision.
“Good grades, good character, being kind, doing what is expected”
and their “overall positive representation” of the school are all traits attributed to those who are selected as “Teen of the Month,” says Community Relations staff Monica Curry.
“Teen of the month” was not always a tradition just at school, but was formerly a part of the Lubbock Avalanche Journal. It has been transformed and adapted to the program it is today.
“Teachers nominate one boy and one girl for each grade. Nominations are cumulative so whoever has the most nominations each month wins.”
Not only do students have to exhibit respectable character, but they have to achieve more nominations than other students practicing good behavior. These accolades are also met with restrictions to maintain the fairness of the program.
Students can only win once from freshman to junior year, but can be chosen again during their senior year.
Although many teachers want to give this award to all of their deserving students, it only goes out to nine boys and girls. But this year, the program has made an alteration by allowing teachers to give a postcard to the students they nominate. This shows them they are seen and appreciated, even though they may not actually win “Teen of the Month.” It is just another way to show students they are doing a good job by highlighting their achievements.
This program has enriched and encouraged the high achievements of students in previous years, and will continue to do this in the years to come. It continues to live up to its reputation as a stellar way to “acknowledge those students that go above and beyond.”
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Monterey Plainsmen Boys Basketball: A Season of Triumphs, Team Spirit, and
Championship Aspirations
. By Cora CliffordThe Monterey Plainsmen boys basketball team has been demonstrating their strong athletic abilities in their recent district games.
The Varsity Boys final record is 9-3 after playing in the playoffs. A bittersweet moment for the senior boys as they say goodbye to high school basketball, as they turn over a new chapter as they head to college. Our JV boys team was unstoppable, with a district record of 12-0.
On Tuesday February 20th, the school felt a great deal of devastation ran through Monterey as they lost to Tascosa by 7 points, the final score was 60-67.
Though the students mourned the season, the students relished in Plainsman Pride as they are proud of the strenuous work the boys have put into this season.
“...practice definitely helps our performance as a team, especially when we show up with lots of energy and we practice the way we should. It ends up translating to the game.” says Carter Bovkoon (#15), who’s a guard and forward on the Varsity team.
Carter is a senior, with an average of 18 points per game, which is the highest average on the Varsity team. Carter is currently debating on whether Abilene Christian University will be his home for the next 4 years, hoping to play college ball and become a real estate agent.
When interviewing some of the boys varsity team they all concluded their success can be traced back to their Head Coach, Josh Davis. He is an idol to the players on the team and he inspires them to strive for greatness. When asked how Coach Davis contributes to the team's success, junior forward Luke Arrington says, “Davis is a good coach because his basketball IQ is able to get us in certain positions to win the game.”
“All the guys on the team feed off his energy.” says Espn Garcia (#12) “Davis pushes his players and never gives up on us.”
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JV Boys winning district
Varsity Basket Ball with the “Bleacher Creatures”
Carter Bovkoon
“I will say that we’ve done pretty good this season, I mean we’ve only had 3 losses, and we’re only 25 games in, so that’s pretty good. And I felt like we’ve grown as a team and as people in general.” says Elijah Smothers, a sophomore and forward on the JV basketball team.
Elijah Smothers has had a good season this year, with an average of 16 points per game. This season he has had 720 point games and on January 30th he broke his season personal record with a 27 point game. Elijah hopes to play college ball in the future.
Our boys Varsity team played Cooper on February 13th. It was a hard fought game where the Plainsmen never gave up control. The final score was 62-50, with the Plainsmen on top. This game was a big one, as it was for the district championship. Because they split games with Lubbock Cooper this season, they are both 4-5A District Champions.
A main part of what makes the basketball atmosphere here at Monterey so fun is the student section's attitude and fun spirit. “We really love to see the student section coming out to show their support” says Luke Arrington. The student section, aka “The Bleacher Creatures”, have been a game changer for the Plainsmen this season. Our home court is a very tough place for our opponents to play because of our students and fans who show up and cheer for the Plainsmen!
Come out and support t Beat em’ red, beat em’ blue, beat em’ beat em’ beat em’ WHOOO!!
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#14 is Elijah Smothers
Freshman boys after winning against Midland High
From Passion to Purpose: How FCCLA Shapes Students and School Values
By Adaleigh RiveraA problem a lot of educators face throughout their career is how to make their students more passionate and engage them in extracurriculars that can aid them in searching for a career path. Many students don’t know what they want to do with their life and where they want to take it. Lubbock has many programs that help with navigating real job training and skills but a particular program here at Monterey really enables these students into experiencing the workforce. This program is called FCCLA and it’s been around since 1945, created to promote personal growth and leadership development through Family and Consumer Sciences education.
Family, Career and Community Leaders (FCCLA) is a national Career and Technical Student Organization (TSO) for students in Family or Consumer Science (FCS) education in public and private schools through grade 12. This organization focuses on allowing students to pursue careers and support families. The group is supported through student membership dues as well as individual, corporations, foundations, and federal grants. But what does Monterey’s FCCLA do and how does it represent the values that this organization stands for?
Monterey’s program, an interview was conducted involving Mrs. Campbell, a family and consumer science teacher, who oversees the students in FCCLA. She shared that part of her tasks involved ensuring that the students had all the logistic things required by the state of Texas and aids the students with ideas involving new projects. She shared that many of their interests lay in food production, creating businesses, acting as interior designers, working with sports nutritionists for student athletes on their campus, and more.
When asked about why she choose to oversee Monterey’s FCCLA she said, “...I chose to begin this position [because] when I was in high school I was involved in FCCLA and I really loved it… [then] decided that I wanted to be an FCS teacher…to give students who really were like me an opportunity to grow and learn leadership skills and be involved in their community [even] when they may not get an option to.”
[and that] a big part of FCCLA is like having a relationship with your family…” Meaning that you truly make some everlasting memories in the activities that you involve yourself in and at the end of the day it’s more than just competition, it's a true passion where the students are able to enjoy themselves by practicing crucial job skills that they value. Now let’s dig into what Monterey’s FCCLA is currently doing to help themselves prepare for competition day. Camydn Boland and Randa Westbrook were able to provide some insight into their current project which is focused on interior designing a animal rescue facility. They shared that they had many requirements to meet involving their design and a bunch of floor planning that they have to pay attention to.
Furthermore, when asked about her children in her organization and how each of them demonstrated the values of FCCLA she states that they “...get opportunities to lead our school community…give back through community service…
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Camdyn Boland and Randa Westbrook’s Interior design project for 2024.
Camdyn Boland and Randa Westbrook won 1st place for level 3 Interior Design.
When asked about what they’ve learned throughout the year, the values of FCCLA really tend to play a key element in their experience, as they mentioned things such as business experience, marketing, and communication skills that they learn that can aid them in their careers or everyday lives. These two wonderful ladies as well as everyone apart of FCCLA have been working unconditionally after class everyday in order to prepare for competition day.
While competitors prepare, FCCLA’s Vice President of Competitive Events Grayson Hastings is also preparing but in a different way. “we've been organizing the less early consultants, the one that leads the specific events and we've been organizing them and getting their schedules to work. And then I've also been getting my scripts ready for the award ceremony. Yeah, so it's just a lot of talking and a lot of talking to lead consultants about like, what their events are and getting them ready for the orientation that we have.” Says Hastings.
It takes a lot of hard work and preparation to be an FCCLA Officer.
FCCLA officers must study the history of their organizations, go through “thought questions” which are critical thinking questions and answers on how to solve them, an interview process and a speech.
As of now Hastings is a Region 1 Vice President of Competitive Events/
If you are interested in or intend to join FCCLA for next year all you are required to do is to have taken or take a Consumer Family Science class in either high school or middle school. Then you can sign up in the fall when sign ups are open in Ms. Campbells room.
Post Regionals
Just last week Monterey’s FCCLA competed in their regional competition and the students did an amazing job representing Monterey.
• Interior Design Level 3 - Randa
Westbrook and Camdyn Boland 1st Place
• Food Innovations Level 2 - Hope
Anderson, Alexandria Najera 1st Place
• Entrepreneurship Level 2 - Amaya Black 3rd Place
• Sports Nutrition Level 3 - Ashtyn Gonzales, Makenzie Cook 4th Place
• Hospitality & Tourism Level 3Isabella Corsbie, Seline Steffe 4th Place
• Toys that Teach Level 3 - Jordan
Flores, Corbin Summerford, and Wyatt Wilkens 5th Place
If you see an FCCLA member be sure you tell them congratulations and wish them good luck as they take on state in April!
Ashtyn Gonzales and Mackie Cook at RegionalsPotatoes at Law
On Wednesday December 20th, 2023 select students from the ATC (Byron Martin Advanced Technology Center) law program took a trip to the food bank as well as the nursing home.
The students met at the ATC around 8:30, checked in with their ATC teachers and waited for the buses to arrive.
When the buses arrived, we would board depending on what teacher you were with for the law classes, and then we all headed to the food bank.
When we arrived at the food bank we got our volunteer vests and went into the room where food is prepared to be sent off. The people running the food bank split us into groups, we got together with friends but also students we’ve never met before.
“You each have a designated bag, and you will scrounge through the potatoes. You will look for ripe potatoes that are brown, and expired potatoes which are the how visible signs such as mold, green parts, sprouts, soft or mushy texture, musty smell.” The Food Bank employee explained.
By Isabelle (Izzy) MedinaWe were also supposed to throw out any clumps of dirt.
“It can get difficult to tell the difference with clumps of dirt, they can hide the fact that it has rotting potatoes.” The employee said.
We were expected to wear plastic gloves, to make sure there are no food violations.
To make the volunteer work more exciting, they made a competition with all the students. They split us into groups. To win your group would have to finish first. This was a huge motivation to many of the students, as competitive nature also made it more fun.
The bags were taller than then the students and the teachers. The whole process took about an hour, developing students teamwork skills as well as having make connections with our peers.
With all that work done we bagged 8 tons of potatoes which is 16,000 pounds.
Our next stop was the nursing home, where our goal was to spread holiday cheer.
A lot of the elderly in the home don’t get to see their families commonly during the holiday season, making them feel abandoned and alone.
When students arrived, they handed Christmas cards they made for them. A lot of the elderly wanted the students to read to them, which built connections to them. The students and elderly would play games and talk with them until around 2:30, which is the time the bus arrived. A sweet goodbye me the students at the door as we parted our ways.
I wrote about this not as a way to gloat, but inspire. I wanted you, the readers, to know how much of an impact you can make. We are not making a difference in the world, but we are making a difference in lives. Bringing joy to the elderly as we spread holiday cheer, or we bring nourishment to the hungry belly of the poor.
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Three foreign exchange students of Monterey: Who are they? How did they come to the USA, and why to Lubbock, Texas? These, and many more questions will be answered in the stories of our new interesting international students!
Moving to another hemisphere from thousands of miles away across the ocean is a very significant change for 16- and 17-yearold teenagers. They encounter a diverse and unfamiliar culture, live with an American family for a year, and study in a local high school.
My name is Zalina Muratova, I am a 17-yearold girl from the capital city of the smallest country in Central Asia: Dushanbe, Tajikistan, which is 7,411 miles away from Lubbock. I became an exchange student in a highly competitive program called Future Leadership Exchange Program (FLEX), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State that provides merit-based scholarships to students from Europe and Eurasia.
Crossing Oceans and Cultures:
Three Lives Intertwined in Exchange Program
By Zalina MutravotoIn my country, Tajikistan only students in their last year of high school are allowed to apply. By the third round of qualifications, from my city alone there were 89 semifinalists, only 11 got selected, and I was one of them. My aspiration to apply was my life-long dream of living and studying abroad. At the end of March, 2023 I got the news that I had passed, but now I had to get hosted by an American family that would voluntarily open their home to a student from another part of the world. In mid-July, I found out that I was finally hosted by a single woman, Renee Lane, who lives in Lubbock, Texas. The happiness and relief I felt was overwhelming.I faced some hardships in the beginning with adjusting to a different time zone, as the difference with my country’s time is 11 hours. I am also not allowed to drive, and am upset that I can’t walk much around the city. the education system here is very different: Even though I have my high school diploma, here I am a junior.
Also, the school itself is so much larger than in my country that I used to get lost in it all of the time during the first weeks. But everything is overcomeable, and now I am enjoying my time here. Thanks to this program, I have met so many amazing people, made lots of new friends from all over the world, and now have people whom I can call my second family. I haven’t stopped acquiring new knowledge about the USA and am learning my fifth language - Spanish. I have applied to a variety of universities in the USA in the field of computer science and hope to be able to continue my studies in the USA next year. I would advise everyone to never be afraid of major changes and pursue your dreams, no matter how hard, unreachable or scary they might seem at first. During my time here, I’ve met two other amazing exchange students. One of them is Zoa De los Santos, a 16year-old girl from Santander Cantabria, Spain.
For Zoa, being an exchange student is not a new experience. She had an exchange year for the first time in 2020 in Ireland and really liked the experience she had there, so she decided to do it again. This time, she chose to come to the US because of how all the movies she watched growing up would show her America. Moreover, her parents used to live here and told her what a great experience they had. For these reasons Zoa went to a paid organization in her country that sends students abroad for an exchange year and applied to come to the US.
Her goals were to make friends in the US - which she is doing a pretty good job at - and to get a different experience, have a different view of American people and their culture. She reports that the friends she has here are really good friends and they help her a lot.So is her host family that pushes her to do new things. She also became a part of Monterey’s basketball team, which she enjoys a lot, because even though it is hard, it pushes her out of her comfort zone to work harder and become a better version of herself.
(Zoa and her Monterey friends)Zoa didn’t face many hardships as she came to the US, though during the first week at Monterey, she did struggle with making friends in her regular classes. But as she switched those classes to AP classes she was able to befriend many people. She also missed her family and friends from Spain a lot in the beginning, however, as she got her life here set, it became way better. Now she is not homesick, because she saw her family in October, and also her American family has truly become like a second family for her and she is really glad to have them. Her first impression of Monterey and Lubbock wasn’t the best. But after a couple of months she got to know people here and saw that some people were going to be nice to her, and some would be mean. She realized that she just had to stay with the nice people and not pay attention to those who weren’t. Zoa considers this a really good life experience. As for her future plans, Zoa is thinking about either staying in the US, but in another city, or going back to Spain to do her senior year at school, and maybe then come back to the US. Zoa’s advice is to never be scared of making changes. Everything might not be like it is in the movies, or how you expect it to be, but it gives you new skills and a new experience that could turn out really good, you never know, so you don’t lose anything.
Another student that I’ve met here is our 17-years-old exchange student from Mannheim, Germany - Felix Liebig. In 2022 he sent an application for an exchange year in the US, the country he has always been interested in. It was a lot of work and a long way to go, but eventually he was able to start his exchange year in 2023.
Felix was always impressed by the big economy and political power of the US, so he wanted to learn about it, as economy is his field of interest. It was also a great opportunity for him to improve his skills in English, which was very important to him. (Picture
So far, he had a great time here. He has traveled to New York, LA, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, and has taken a cruise to Mexico. He loved visiting so many places, especially New York. Apart from that, just coming here, changing everything, even the language he had to speak, and hanging out with his friends is what he really enjoys here.
One of the biggest struggles Felix had was missing his friends and family, and his country, along with having to settle here, find new friends, and get close with his host family.
He worried if he was good enough, if he could do it. But, at the end, he is positive that those fears were wrong, they are a part of the adjustment process.
As for his life with his host family, at first Felix felt a little bit off living with people he didn’t know. With time though, he got used to it. Now he is very comfortable with them and feels like home there.
What Felix experienced in Monterey and Lubbock in general was definitely not what he thought it would be. He didn’t expect that there would be so many Spanish-speaking people, nor that the weather would be this cold. But what shocked him the most is the level of difficulty of the education system. Here it is easier than in his country, but he enjoys it a lot. He is also not very fond of Lubbock, as there aren’t many places here where he could go and do something fun, but he still cherishes every moment he spends here.
As for the future, Felix has to go back to his home country at the end of May, and study for two and a half more years at school. After graduating from school he plans to study business and economics alongside with law.
He will most likely continue his education in Germany, but he does consider studying abroad, at least for a semester. And to everyone who wants to study abroad he can only say one thing:”Just do it.” He was also afraid in the beginning, but now he understands how wrong those worries were and he is already sad about leaving in 4 months.
caption: Felix and his host family)
Small Businesses aren’t Standing on Business
Small businesses, wherever you look, are struggling in the landscape while other enterprises are able to keep afloat. Within the past year, Lubbock has lost 45 small businesses. What kept these small businesses from flourishing?
In 2020 the Bureau of Labor Statistics release showed that during the pandemic, “56 percent of establishments (businesses in general) (4.7 million) experienced a decrease in demand for their products or services and 19 percent of establishments (1.6 million) experienced a government-mandated closure. Almost 72 million workers were employed at an establishment that experienced a decrease in demand, and 26 million were employed at an establishment that experienced a government-mandated closure.”
With these mandated closures, cash flows had stopped for many small businesses, keeping them from being able to keep employees and bills paid. Now, 4 years later, the struggle to get these small businesses back to functioning is strenuous.
Most small business owners in Texas are being taxed out of their jobs and homes due to the rises of personal property taxes. They have to keep up with “Inventory Tax” also known as “Business Tangible Personal Property Tax”
By Braxton Castles
which includes items such as machinery, office equipment, and furniture. This can vary depending on the business, like a construction company’s “Inventory Tax” will be a greater cost than that of a bakery.
All small local businesses and even large corporations must file their Franchise Tax Bill, which gives the businesses the “privilege” to operate in the states and the right to use the legal system and their resources. This can vary state to state, some states like Texas will have a franchise tax, which is a burden to these small businesses, and does not vary to businesses that did not make a profit.
While some businesses do make enough profit, it's finding enough qualified workers to fill the businesses’ open positions. The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) says “ 21% of small businesses' operating problem is labor quality.”
The Chief Economist William Dunkelber says “The level of job openings suggests a solid labor market will continue on Main Street for 2024, as owners raise compensation to attract qualified workers and consumer spending.”
In the hiring process, 89% of the applicants had either little or no experience in the positions they were trying to fill.
“Thirty percent have openings for skilled workers (down three points) and 15% have openings for unskilled labor (up one point).” says the NFIB Businesses also have to follow local ordinances, which controls a lot of what owners can do. These ordinances cover a wide range of topics including zoning and land use, building codes, noise regulations, business licensing, public safety, etc.
“These local ordinances create a patchwork of laws which makes compliance almost impossible for the small business owner.” NFIB has found.
These ordinances are enforced by the Texas Labor Code, and creates a straining relationship between small business owners and their state/local governments.
Small business owners who fail to comply with the practices “that are set by the state” are fined between $5,000 and $70,000; which costs them 36% more than a larger business according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Health insurance is the number one problem small businesses face, and is also the number one priority to those who are looking for jobs in the work field. “Health insurance has been a continuous challenge for small business owners,” said Holly Wade, Executive Director of NFIB’s Research Center.
“The cost of health insurance is by far the biggest challenge for employers who offer health insurance and for those who do not offer it. Small employers compete for talent in filling open positions and are aware that health insurance is an important benefit for many employees and job seekers.”
Only 56% of small businesses offer health insurance to their employees; while 89% of larger businesses offer insurance to their employees.
“The most commonlycited reason small employers do not offer health insurance is that it is too expensive (65%). Independent businesses with 30 or more employees overwhelmingly (88%) reported this as the most important reason they do not offer health insurance, compared to firms with 1-9 employees (63%) and 10-29 employees (70%).” says Kelly Moore, who testified before the U.S. House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Health Insurance.
Class Sizes: Is it a Growing Problem?
By John DoeHave you noticed more kids joining your classroom recently? In 2015, a high school classroom would on average have 22.7 students per room. In recent years, the student teacher ratio seems to have increased exponentially, causing more students to flood the classrooms. When it is understood that these students were already in attendance, this becomes less of a positive. They have attended school every year the only difference being there was a different teachers educating them.
In a survey conducted by the Charles Butt foundation, it was found that in the year 2022, 77% of teachers in Texas have considered leaving the profession. This is a 19% increase from the year 2020, which was 58%. The list of grievances is incalculably long but to name a few big points, 86% cited “too many non instructable tasks and responsibilities”, 82% cited “limited planning time”, 74% cited “too large class size” and 60% cites a “lack of school supplies”. 81% cited “pressure to achieve well on standardized test The expecting levels becoming unachievable because of the drawbacks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic causing students unable to perform at levels expected of them and caught in a cycle of failing grades, progressing on just to fail through their next grade until graduation.
Teachers have felt significant pressures both inside and outside of their school building. The community surrounding teachers is overwhelmingly negative. Support in the past three years has declined exponentially and from the perspective of a teacher not only are you left thankless, but you are left hated.
According to another question on the survey taken by the Charles Butt foundation, 93% of teachers have considered leaving. These steps include applying for another job, taking classes in school, changing their resume, attempting to network with new job opportunities, and more.
“Among Texas public school teachers overall, 63 percent say they expect to stay in their current position for fewer than five years, including 42 percent fewer than three years and 15 percent less than a year. Even looking just at teachers younger than 60, so further from retirement, 61 percent expect to be gone in fewer than five years. More than half of teachers who have considered leaving, 53 percent, say they would prefer to switch to a job in a field not related to education.”
These are not lazy people, only 2% wanted to stop work altogether meaning the other 98% are willing to continue working but they cannot see themselves able to do so under these conditions.
As more students “join new classrooms” more and more teachers vacate the profession leaving students out to dry. Classrooms get bigger, the workload for teachers who stay gets larger and stretches them too thin, not letting them educate their students properly. In an interview with CBS news, six Texas teachers reported “feeling choked” by the pressures of teaching. One even said her prescription for antidepressants had to be raised because of the stress she had undergone in the classrooms.
To summarize, a silent ultimatum has been announced by our teaching population. Unless some conditions are improved then Texas will be without enough teachers to hold classes for their students. Education will decline at an unseen level and the future workforce of Texas will be undereducated and unwilling to progress themselves in any way much less the economy.
Without a teacher workforce there is no future and the future seems worth quite more than an average pay of 64 thousand, the disrespect of legislators and the community alike. It seems worth it to invest in a more adjusted system of education where schools are able to educate students the way they need to be educated while following the TEKS put in place to hold them accountable.
It seems worth it to plug every hole in this sinking ship before the boat finds itself submerged without any emergence in the future.
Finally, how does this apply to Monterey? Well, look around. At least two teachers have resigned midway through the year because of an inability to teach and the challenges listed above. Multiple teachers interviewed for this article have cited contemplating leaving even taking the steps to do so. What is there to do? Step up. The administration which the teachers of our school work for are torn between trying their best and their unwillingness to improve their employee’s situation. The next person up to the plate is the student. The fellow teacher. The parent. We all are in need of some help and only together can we fix this ship. Our Student organized clubs can create care packages for teachers. Or perhaps our student government can perform their elected duty and benefit our school environment. The speeches that were made should not be empty promises to our student body. That sets a precedent following our students long after school that their government both doesn’t care about them and has their own agendas.
Our sports teams could organize potlucks. Funds could be established for school supplies as teachers spend upwards of $500 per year on necessities for their classroom and so our students can learn.
Our National Honor society could organize drives. There are a million different things our student body could do to help our teachers because there are thousands of us. A choice needs to be made soon, so let's educate our teachers on our appreciation or teach them how to leave.
