CANTON, Ohio — School districts across the country, including Ohio, are slashing their budgets to stay afloat, and the impact is being felt across the board.
What You Need To Know
- Mandy Wagner’s been laid off twice in the last 10 years
- Finding a new job proves to challenging as districts across the state continue make budget cuts because of the pandemic
- Wagner is encouraging teachers in the same boat to hang in there and to take care of themselves
Mandy Wagner, a single mom with three kids, is one of many impacted by cuts.
Ever since middle school, she knew she wanted to be a teacher. She’s had the opportunity to be just that for the last 19 years; that is until this past school year when the pandemic forced her school district to make cuts.
Kids are Mandy Wagner’s pride and joy…not just her kids, but any kid she’s ever taught for the last 19 years.
“It gets really sad to think about not working with, with kids and helping them realize just their amazing potential,” she said.
Until last year, Mandy was working as an English teacher in the Canton City School District; but then as expected, budget cuts came.
“I actually did not think that I would be one of the teachers who felt the cuts,” she said.
She’d been there some time and was heavily involved, but May 8, she got the dreaded phone call.
“I answered the phone,” she said. “Sorry, but I get teary eyed, and I’m just like, ‘Hello,’ and he’s like, ‘Hey, Miss Wagner,’ and I just said, ‘No, no, no, no, this is not happening.’ I just kept saying no no over and over again. And he’s like, ‘I’m so sorry.’ He didn’t even have to say why he was calling I already knew.”
Already knew that she was one of 29 teachers who’d have to find work elsewhere. It was the second time in a decade, she’d been laid off.
Searching for jobs…Mandy says it’s been tough.
“What’s terrifying is that there aren’t any openings, there’s sub positions that are available but that’s just not going to make ends meet for me,” she said.
Holding out she’s hoping a teaching job comes through soon. But with years of teaching under her belt and a master’s degree, it presents another problem.
“It’s unlike any other profession where as your years of experience and seniority is actually a detriment to you after a certain amount of time because you become too expensive for school districts,” Mandy said.
Recently, Mandy was being considered for a job, but was let down again.
“They looked at my years of experience, they said, ‘She’s too expensive,’ and so they got some candidates who came in, they were willing to come in at the very bottom of the pay scale and I just can’t compete with that,” she said.
While questions of where she’ll go or what she’ll do next occupy her mind, Mandy hasn’t given up yet.
“So, I just try to keep the faith every day that something’s going to work out in some capacity, I don’t know what that is, but that I’ll be able to keep doing this work,” she said.
A work that allows her to continue helping kids reach their potential. Mandy got a call and recently had a job interview. She said she hopes that it will work out, and said she can’t imagine doing anything else with her life.
For now, she wants other teachers facing the same dilemma to know that it’s only temporary and to hang in there, but while they’re waiting to find their next teaching job, she’s encouraging teachers to take care of themselves and to look for ways to stay connected.
