MUNCIE — With a critical deadline looming, it seems almost no one is against changes at Muncie Community Schools — not families or teachers or school leaders or city officials. No one believes the current dire financial situation is acceptable or sustainable.
But extensive conversations between The Star Press and teachers from around the district within the last couple of weeks have revealed one thing to be very clear: The uncertainty of it all is keeping Muncie’s educators awake at night and causing them, parents and students alike to rally on a street corner on a busy Friday afternoon.
While everyone expresses a desire for solutions, no one seems to know how much individual teachers will need to sacrifice to stabilize MCS, how long it will take, or what the district will look like afterward.
A group of 12 teachers — from East Washington Academy, Sutton and Grissom elementary schools and Northside and Southside middle schools — recently sat down with The Star Press to discuss their emotions, their concerns and both the climate and morale of their respective buildings.
They tell stories of school teachers flooding into each other’s classrooms after school to ask about a new rumor, to compare conflicting information teachers at other schools were given or to vent about daily fears. All of them requested to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, losing their job or ruining their chances of being hired elsewhere.
Until January, many MCS employees understood the district's financial position was dire and generally accepted change will come, but accepting that change will likely affect everyone is a more recent recognition.
As one teacher put it, “Some people are just realizing how deep it is, and how far gone we are.”