The teacher's first day back after winter break

Yesterday I was looking forward to going back to work and finishing out the last half of the school year. After actually going back and sitting through meetings that really have nothing to do with special education I realized that I was ready for another vacation.... How sad is that?!?!?!?! In past I have received many e-mails hailing the work that we teachers do on a daily basis but those e-mails are meaningless until our governments and the rest of the population realize what a valuable service we do provide. Being in the state of South Carolina I live in a "right to work" state. In short this means that if you want to work you can but there is no union to protect you from being taken advantage of by the system. I'm not one who would encourage a protest or strike but sometimes it would be nice to feel as if wrongs could be righted. My state and federal government has passed new laws which have added days to my work but yet have failed to increase my salary. They have further made requirements for me to be highly qualified to do my job because obviously my training at university and master's degree is not sufficient. I understand the need to be highly qualified due to the fact that we are grooming young people to become the future leaders of our country. The rights of students are protected and the rights of parents are protected but yet when and how are my rights protected????? To make matters worse I teach special education which means all of the red tape and falling upon the radar of Mr. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" I realize that the rights of students with special needs have to be protected and preserved. Honestly though my students have severe disabilities and for our government to state that my students will eventually graduate and receive a diploma is not realistic. I would welcome the prescence of any government official in my classroom to realize that I work on basic life skills. These life skills ranging from being able to express sickness, self-toileting, etc. Reading, writing, and math have to take a backseat in order for me to address basic communication skills especially for my non-verbal students. I realize that life is not fair and that there will always be inequitites but jeeezzzz compensate me a bit more for my time and effort. It has been rumored that eventually teachers will be paid for the quality of work they do...How may I ask can that be done?????? I work with a group of people that come in early, stay late, and then additionally come in on their days off just to ensure that our students, din an area where poverty is the norm, get the best damn education they can possibly have. I taught in a bigger district that had more money before being where I am at now and I there is a remarkable difference between the way students are treated.....In the poorer district students are valued and the teachers one and all go the extra mile to make sure that they learn and not just for the sake of getting better PACT scores.....

Ok OK I'll hop down from my soap box...I just needed to vent....I love my job and my children but work has gotten so stressful that I have had to seek counsel from a psychiatrist just to have a grasp on my sanity and be the best I can be on my job!!!!!