It Was a Long Road for a Teacher

Margaret couldn't wait for her last year as a public school teacher. She had taught for forty years. Margaret began teaching at the age of 20 in a rural area in Florida. During that time, teachers were respected, parents were held accountable for their child's well-being, and schools were a safe haven. Margaret never expected her last year as being so dramatic in dealing with parents such as, the Marshmallow Queen, the Diva, Stinky-Foot Momma, Crocodile-Tears Momma, and Calling Card Carl's Dad. She was lucky to dig into her bag of teaching skills in dealing with such unruly parents. Besides handling with work-related issues, Margaret is also the mother of three special needs children. She served as their advocate in seeking specific accommodations for each of them. All three graduated from college and are gainfully employed except for one. Ace, has cerebral palsy, and had received nothing but harassment when trying to obtain accommodations as a highly-trained classroom teacher. One thing Margaret learned from being raised in the deep South is that when a door closes find an open window. In other words, never give up. When it comes to Ace, he learned where to find that open window and to persevere despite the odds of being handicapped in a dog-eat-dog world.