Mayor Bloomberg Wants My Help

Over the last two days I've been besieged with calls to go in and assist NYC shelters. It's certainly a worthy cause. Still, it's hard to forget that the mayor unilaterally decided not to give teachers the raise all other city employees got. It's hard to forget the constant vilification and insults we've gotten from Tweed over the last few years.

Despite this, a lot of teachers will volunteer. Will Bloomberg acknowledge us? Will he thank us? Will he credit us for being role models? I doubt it. All he cares about is test scores, and in his view, only teachers are responsible for test scores. He can't wait to fire him some teachers because the test scores aren't high enough.

Personally, I live very near the water, and if Stormagedden comes tomorrow my concern will be moving my little family the hell out of here. So I can't help the mayor this weekend. But I have to say this--city teachers serve New York every single day of their lives. It's our job to help kids, not only with tests, but with everything and anything we can. That, in fact, is what we do, and that's why a lot of teachers will help, despite the abuse the city heaps on us. Were conditions different, I'd volunteer as well.

It's very sad how little this mayor appreciates us, not only this weekend, but every day of the year.