In the Presidential contest last year, one candidate railed against the ubiquitous regulations that cripple the ability of Americans to succeed in starting and maintaining businesses. That claim resonated with many of the electorate, and Donald Trump won and began, on his first day in office, to unravel the many strings of rules passed by the previous administrations.
But there were many in the heartland just who heard and identified with the problem, but had never been confronted by such rules. We just knew they existed and needed to be eradicated. So we cheered from the sidelines as President Trump, using his executive pen, demolished regulations concerning the energy industry, the EPA, federal land use and other stifling bureaucratic nonsense.
Jane and I, having spent our careers in public education, had seen the encroaching reach of regulations slowly taking over the schoolhouse. But most of the time, we just taught and weren’t personally affected by all the laws and rules passed by legislatures and state education officials.
Until now, that is. We both finished up regular teaching gigs last year, after forty years (for me) and forty-five years (Jane) in the classrooms. We decided to take some time off, not even to substitute for that first year we were totally retired. Some medical needs had to be addressed, minor operations and a knee replacement, a couple of trips taken and a death in the family to get through.
We have known that in our small town and school districts, subs for the schools were in short supply. So this year, after much thought, we decided to put our names on the sub list at the local educational facilities, and partially alleviate the problem. After all, wouldn’t any principal leap at the opportunity to place experienced and trained teachers in the classrooms of those teachers who were gone for a day?
So began our journey through the labyrinth of regulations seemingly designed to make it hard to just get on a sub list. First was the call to the Regional Office of Education, ROE Region 11 in Charleston. Over the phone, we were told of several hoops we had to jump through before our quest could be successful. Mulling over this information, we decided to travel the thirty miles or so to confront these bureaucrats in person. Armed with unassailable logic and appropriate documentation, we were going to slay the regulations and regulators in their den.
We stop to interject here our bona fides. Jane and I are not some itinerant yokels looking for an easy day job. I have degrees in education and a master’s in history and taught for those forty years in junior high school, high school and college. Jane has three degrees in English and French and taught those forty-five years in high school and college. Many times former students have expressed their appreciation for our work in their education. With that in mind, here is what we experienced.
Arriving at the ROE 11 office, we quickly managed an audience with the Regional Superintendent, Bobbi, whom we have known for over thirty years. First, we were told we had to be considered “new hires” at the schools, since for one school year we did not teach. We had to start from scratch, as any yahoo off the street would. This meant we must undergo criminal a background search to find any past indiscretions that would disqualify us from the classroom.
Our first response to this was quickly shot down, by the “regulations” in place. We argued that we had applied for and received what is known as Global Entry, allowing us to return to the U. S. from overseas by entering a “special” line with no delays through Customs Control. This entailed the federal government doing a background check through the TSA. Not good enough, the state has to do their own! In addition, rules prohibit sharing this information between agencies, even though the same person is being checked, probably using the same law enforcement entities.
Next in line was the requirement for being fingerprinted. We again argued that the Global Entry also had us printed. This was just another duplication that could be easily dispensed with since our prints were already in the federal system, as well as in Interpol’s (International Police Agency). Nope. Can’t do that either. The rules deny any kind of cooperation between state and federal authorities in this matter.
But we were not done yet. One more hurdle had to be conquered. Our doctor must attest we are in good enough health to reenter the classroom. This would mean each of us had to schedule an examination and make the trip to Terre Haute for that. Perhaps it was serendipity, but I did have an appointment today, which meant that, if we were lucky, the good doc could sign off on that without an extensive check-up.
We were than informed that our application, if approved, would not be good for any school in the state. Only in the five county ROE could we substitute teach. If we decided, for some demented reason, to move to Southern Illinois, we would be required to go through all this again.
Even with the sub shortage reaching an acute stage in some parts of the state, just doing all this was not enough. We had to pay for the background check, the fingerprinting, the doctor’s visit and the gas to get to all the places we needed to be. Did I mention we must return Friday to ROE 11 for the fingerprinting? As a footnote, the firm that prints us is out of Effingham, and is a private business.
We are now home, having lost valuable time, considerable patience, and $120. If something so simple as our request takes up this much time, effort and expense, I shudder to contemplate what happens our nation over. Now I completely agree with the charge that we are overregulating our potentially vibrant economy.