Transcript with Seminole Elementary Teacher Donna Blackburn

Transcript from the Interview with Donna Blackburn

ALEXIS: Hi, I’m reporter Alexis Morgado reporting live from Seminole Elementary. Today I will be speaking with 4^th grade teacher Donna Blackburn asking her opinion on Senate Bill 6.

Donna, as you recently know Senate Bill 6 was just vetoed; share with me your original reactions when the bill was first introduced.

DONNA: Well my first reaction was anger. Being a teacher for 25 years and knowing how the system has been and being close to retirement, there were a lot of things in the bill that really upset me quite a bit because a lot of the testing, that goes on with the children, is depending on what the “baggage” that is in their home life. We can’t rely on just one test to base on how well our students are doing. So I would say that my very first reaction was anger.

ALEXIS: Now, share with me your feelings when you heard that the bill was vetoed recently by Governor Crist.

DONNA: When it was vetoed, I was overjoyed. Several of us teachers were screaming when we heard the news. Our Assistant Principal came around and peaked his head in the door and said “Its been vetoed, Its been vetoed!” There were screams throughout the campus because it made us feel like: yes we are professionals and he did listen to us as professionals and he does understand education as a whole.

ALEXIS: I’m sure as you know, a lot of teachers participated in protests around the state. What did you do to voice your opinion?

DONNA: From my family background, I know a lot of the Senators and so what I did was is the people that are in…..the Congress, I wrote letter to them, emailed them; to the ones that I knew personally. I told and reminded them of who I was a teacher for 25 years and how my personal feelings were and how it was affecting me.

ALEXIS: And if Senate Bill 6 would have been passed, how would that have affected your retirement plan and your salary?

DONNA: It would have affected me greatly because it would go back that it would not be based on my best years. Because right now, what happens is that you have your highest years. Well if they would have gone into the retirement system, that I understood it, they would go back to my very first years of teaching when I was working with the [school] system and only making $3,000. And they would have considered that it and that’s just not fair.

ALEXIS: I’m Alexis Morgado reporting from Seminole Elementary.