Teacher Appreciation Week (May 4-8) has quietly come and gone, and this year in the Spokane area, that week was replete with ironies. Many teachers were in the midst of the most oppressive standardized testing we’ve ever witnessed, along with the huge losses in instructional time that came with those tests; our state Legislature was in the process of voting itself an 11.2 percent cost-of-living raise while granting teachers only a 2.4 percent increase; and teachers across our district, the second largest in the state, were beginning the discussions of voting for a one-day walkout.

And, of course, the anonymous trolls on the Internet had already begun their inflammatory, uninformed rhetoric about the proposed walkout because of their skewed perceptions concerning both the state of Spokane Public Schools and the ingratitude of its teachers.

So much for teacher appreciation.

So when I was called down to the teachers’ lounge the other day before the contracted school day began, I found myself at a professional crossroads in my 19-year career: Do I or do I not vote for, support, and participate in a walkout that was being organized by my union?

On the one hand, I need my unenlightened legislators to remember some dishearteningly unacceptable facts: (1) the state of Washington ranks 42nd in the nation with regard to public school teacher pay; (2) the cumulative rate of inflation since 2008 is 9.7 percent, whereas the cumulative COLA (cost-of-living adjustments) for public school teachers in our state over that same time period is literally 0 percent; and (3) because of that lack of a COLA, my net paycheck (not just my purchasing power) has now officially started to decrease, and I’m only 44 years old!

For those of you who are unaware, there are no more scheduled step increases in a Washington public school teacher’s salary once s/he has achieved 16 years of experience and has received his/her master’s degree, plus 90 semester hours of instruction. I have, as is the case with so many of my colleagues. Combine that fact with the ever-increasing rates of health care premiums, and the reality becomes, without a yearly COLA, many teachers’ take-home pay will start to decrease significantly every year with more than 20 years till retirement age!

And part of me believes that a one-day walkout is the only way to get my legislators’ attention.

On the other hand, I don’t want to come across to my generous community as ungrateful and self-serving, because I’m not. However, I do realize a walkout would disrupt many lives across the Inland Northwest by making parents stay home in order to watch their kids. A walkout would financially hurt many local businesses when those parents have to call in, thereby disrupting productivity and local commerce. A walkout would be (incorrectly) perceived by some as a strike against the students, as if we teachers care more for ourselves than we do the kids or, even worse, we don’t care about the kids at all.

Moreover, I’m not really sure how I feel about many of my union’s directives because, quite simply, I’m not a “union guy.” I philosophically do not agree with many of my union’s public stances; for example, more pay for teachers without any concession for stricter teacher accountability (i.e., the ability to fire incompetent teachers more efficiently); no vocal fight against the Common Core (especially the elementary-school math curriculum) and its surplus of standardized testing; and the locally bargained language that allows only a single criterion, seniority, to be considered during layoffs in the district.

Each of these issues enrages me, for all of them directly damage the academic lives of our children. For these stances and others like them, my union should be ashamed.

But that morning in the teachers’ lounge, that same union was calling for a one-day walkout. So I took all of these swirling, conflicting, dichotomous thoughts with me. And as my school’s union representatives looked on, I struggled. Mightily.

And I voted.

I simply wanted my community to appreciate the fact that it was not an easy decision.

At least not for any of us who sincerely revere the quality of instruction that our students should receive.