So, what are you?

Today, I went out for lunch with a former colleague. She is “former” because she has been surplussed and deployed elsewhere for the upcoming school year. I wanted to thank her for something kind she did a few weeks ago.

My way back home from work consists of a 15-minute walk and about 45 to 60 minutes on the bus. It was a rainy day, and my teaching partner offered to drop me off at a bus stop, as she does sometimes. In the parking lot, we met this “former” colleague who insisted on dropping me off as she was driving farther than my partner. It was a feel-good-moment for me, to have 2 offers! I went with the better offer, I guess. And then, to my immense surprise, this lovely woman drove me all the way to my home. It was a 40-minute ride, and I knew it would be a longer ride for her to get back to her own home which is closer to our work.

How do I properly thank such a person? I decided to never ever forget her kind gesture. But also decided to take her out for lunch. I reached out to her the other day and asked her to choose the place as well as date and time. She did and we were at this lovely French café today and we got acquainted.

Part of our conversation revealed something that is a little unsettling within the special education realm. There are teachers and there are support staff, and sometimes they socialize outside of work; but mostly keep interactions within the classrooms.

So, when I reached out to her, she was apparently surprised and exclaimed to her mother that she couldn’t believe that Miss Momley wanted to spend some time with her! Her mother wasn’t impressed with her being so shocked and asked her why I was so special. Her response was that I am a teacher and she is just support staff. Her mother told her that we are both human beings and that’s that!

I agreed with the mother. Wouldn’t it be nice to NOT have such perceived hierarchies? And I also had to remind myself that I know some support stuff who believe that most teachers would flail and fail if not for them. All this backhanded bickering sometimes creates a stressful environment for everyone. So, the question to truly ask is “why are we here?”.