My mom lived in the neighborhood where she taught school for 20 years. My buddies were often in her fourth grade class at Fremont Elementary, so by default they called her “Mrs. Sanders,” even if they were playing Barbies in my bedroom. They channeled their inner Eddie Haskel, polite to her face only to wreak havoc when her back was turned. Our house was especially rockin’ at Halloween because kids wanted to trick-or-treat at Mrs. Sanders’ house as if it made the candy even better. Thankfully, my mom was an excellent, fair teacher so the kids were never vindictive, just excited. On more than one occasion, I would answer the door to find a group of kids asking, “Is this Mrs. Sanders’ house?” I would call for Mom, announcing her students stopped by, and she would always come to the door and be pleasant. Teachers were part of the community. They were a trusted source, a neighbor, someone who was relatable.

The times they are a-changin’. Now teachers are in the crosshairs of a culture war being waged not only by lawmakers but also our neighbors, who must display their political beliefs on the lawn, car, hat, tattoo, even the shirt their kid wears to school. Teachers are questioned whether their own beliefs have seeped into the way they introduce curriculum, as if reading, writing and arithmetic comes with subliminal messaging. My children’s tinfoil-wrapped sandwiches double as protective headgear. Where it used to be a teacher was an adult kids could lean on, now it’s a question if teacher will be the authoritarian enforcing laws constructed by our legislature.

When I restarted this column after my hiatus, I didn’t want to get political. I didn’t want to rant and rave over the absurd decisions of elected officials, but darn it if these 45 days don’t get me riled up. More often than not, the 900-plus bills put up by lawmakers get passed without batting an eye. As a public working full-time jobs, caring for full-time families while running on empty tanks, we don’t know or care what gets passed. We trust our representatives to do what they think is best.

At least 80 bills up at Capitol Hill are focused on education. From diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs to teachers being charged with misdemeanors for having “banned” books in their classroom, education is a hot topic among lawmakers who’ve never spent a day managing a class. The fascinating thing to me is the fact we send our kids to school for six hours a day, 180 days a year, yet we have no idea who’s making policy or what those policies say. By the end of the 2024 session, those policies may say educators can start packing heat, so we can drop off our kids to a place with armed teachers. Did anyone ask the educators if they thought this was a good idea?

We’ve gone over the horrendous bathroom bill passed by lawmakers that makes Utah a focal point of international news. That’s not the only bill focused on bathrooms. Another would require children to be potty trained before they start kindergarten. This bill stipulates that should a child not be potty trained, a counselor would step in to help. A bill that makes sense with a solid solution! For those scarred by their years of gym class due to the locker room, Senate Bill 105 would bar schools from requiring students to undress or be partially nude. With phones, gender fluidity and #MeToo movements, this bill answers the question about how times change. What was OK for us 20 years ago doesn’t work now. Another good bill!

With the good comes the bad, the bills that put teachers needlessly in the middle of a culture war. House Bill 269 would mandate that all public schools display a poster of the Ten Commandments. If it included Charlton Heston when he was an absolute beefcake, I could get behind it. Looking through the language of the bill, it doesn’t. In the name of protecting the children, H.B. 417 would target teachers who have so-called banned books in their classroom. If public educators are found with this “sensitive material” in their classroom, they could be held criminally liable. It’s a good thing the Bible isn’t on that list anymore, because if H.B. 269 passes, things could get really confusing with the whole Ten Commandments poster. This is a bad bill that, yet again, punishes educators for the very thing they were hired to do: educate.

Unlike the Herculean lobbyists for Big Oil, tech giants, the NRA and Big Tobacco, there is no Big Education operating at the Hill — or if there is, it seems like Big Education is “advocating” on behalf of these teachers for things like continued low wages, difficult working conditions and a constant barrage of unhappy parents, students and lawmakers. Really, there aren’t many fighting on behalf of teachers during the session, just bill after bill putting teachers front and center while they stand front and center of our children’s classrooms waiting for the litany of new laws that may allow them to bring a gun to school.

Just think, Mrs. Sanders could have been a pistol-packing mama managing her fourth grade classroom. When kids came by knocking, it would have been on a dare since their teacher could have been armed. Being a teacher is unlike any job out there, being pushed and pulled in so many directions, with so many groups asking things of you. I was surrounded by teachers most of my life, skulking around the school as my mom corrected papers or prepared for the week. I saw these people give their time and money to make the most of those 180 days. Teachers aren’t just there for the paycheck, and it certainly isn’t a church calling. Teachers are working for the students, often their own kids. They do have the students’ best interests at heart. They are in the trenches, so they deserve a seat at the table.

Meg Sanders worked in broadcast journalism for over a decade but has since turned her life around to stay closer to home in Ogden. Her three children keep her indentured as a taxi driver, stylist and sanitation worker. In her free time, she likes to read, write, lift weights and go to concerts with her husband of 18 years.

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