Friend #44 - Jennifer

Five years ago, Jennifer was a music teacher in Indiana who wanted to change her school, but because there were no shortage of music teachers in Indiana, that was a very difficult thing to do.  She had just started dating a guy she really liked when she found out he was being forced to relocate to Arizona for a job.  Spurred on at the notion of losing the guy, Jennifer looked for a job as a music teacher in Arizona and to her surprise, she found one.  The couple continued to date after they both moved to Arizona.  Eventually, they moved in together and got engaged.  And if the story had ended there, I could have said that was the most daring thing Jennifer had ever done, that she had a nice, quiet life.

But these are the times when being a teacher in Arizona has become synonymous with being a revolutionary.  Jennifer has seen firsthand how programs have been cut and how students’ education has suffered at the lack of funding in our Arizona schools.  What started out as murmurs in the hallways has led to red shirts and negations.  Jennifer was never a leader of the movement but she was moved by the spirit of it.  It was a cause she quietly, deeply believed in. 

And then in April, negotiations broke down among teachers and legislators.  Reluctantly, the teachers began calling for a walkout.  Jennifer heard the mutterings of her fellow teachers.  They were nervous.  How would their students feel about them abandoning their classrooms?  How would their families live without the support of their meager paychecks?  Jennifer had no children.  She had a fiancé she split half of the bills with so she felt if anyone could afford to be made a sacrifice, it was her.  She was ready to lose her job for what she believed in.

Of course, she had to talk to her fiancé before making any major decisions.  He nodded sympathetically as she pleaded her case and then told her if she lost her job, he would only give her thirty days to find another one.  Thirty days?!?!  Jennifer couldn’t promise that.  She had no idea how long the walkout would go on and if she was committed, she was committed to the end.  That entire conversation changed the way Jennifer saw her fiancé.  She didn’t want to be married to a man who couldn’t see the vision in what she was trying to do.  She didn’t want to be with someone who was unsupportive when the chips were down.  Jennifer and her fiancé broke up soon afterwards.  It didn’t stop her from walking out when she was called on rather it fueled her footsteps all the way down to the Arizona capital.

Jennifer didn’t lose her job in the walkout but it did ignite a fire within her that she didn’t realize she had.  Her social media page is a monument to the campaigning warrior she has become yet when she sat across from me in the restaurant, she still looks like a shy, Midwestern girl.  There is nothing that says extraordinary about her except the fire in her eyes and the passion in her voice. 

She feels like being a teacher these days makes her part of a sisterhood, a community.  Not long ago, Jennifer was at a gas station and noticed that a woman had a #RedforEd bumper sticker on the back of her vehicle.  Jennifer asked her about it and before either of them knew it, they were locked in conversation about the Red for Ed movement.  The woman was a teacher from another school.  Jennifer asked her about the issues she and fellow teachers were facing.  It was only a brief conversation but a few months ago, these women would have passed each other like ghosts.  Now they have a foundation of commonality.

Jennifer is supporting three pro-education candidates who are running for office.  They are:  Kelli Butler, Christine Marsh and Aaron Lieberman.  In order to get them elected, she has undertaken the challenge of physically knocking on people’s doors and talking to them about the issues.  She told me they go out in pairs with an ap on their phones telling them a little bit about who is in each house.  One of the doors Jennifer had knocked on that day had a man living there who was a Democrat and a woman living there who was a Republican. 

Nervously waiting on the front step, Jennifer prayed the man, who was a Democrat, would answer the door.  She thought the man would be easier to sway but it was the woman who peered out at them.  

Jennifer tried engaging her in conversation but the woman interrupted, “What are these candidate’s stance on education?” she asked. 

Jennifer said, “They are all pro-education.  I’m actually a teacher myself.”

The Republican woman smiled and opened her door wider.  “My children are teachers and I’ve about had it with how they’ve been treated.”

Jennifer smiled reliving the story because she had faced her fear and made a difference. 

After the election, Jennifer isn’t sure what she’s going to do next.  She has some ideas…but tomorrow is more important.  She feels like, at 36, she’s finally come out of her shell and now that she’s been ignited, there’s no turning back.