As school year ends, metro Atlanta teachers deserve a respite and respect

For many teachers who have remained in the classroom, it can be challenging to reconcile the current environment in which they teach with the career that many of them felt a passionate calling to pursue.

I recently met a teacher with a heartbreaking story who, despite the unusual circumstances that have dotted her journey this year, remains committed to developing personal connections with her students and ushering them through some of the most difficult educational terrain she has witnessed in her 20-year career.

Taurika Boateng Chennault is a fourth-grade teacher in Atlanta. We talked the day before graduation at her school in southwest Atlanta, and part of those preparations included a memorial for two of Chennault’s students.

In early May, one of her students, a 10-year-old girl, died when a tree fell through the roof of her family home in Mozley Park. Weeks later, another student from her class, an 11-year-old boy, remained in critical condition before succumbing to a gunshot wound to the head.

“This is an experience that I have never had,” Chennault said. “What really hits me and makes me feel helpless is some of the circumstances that my students go home to. It makes me want to do more community-wise. What can I do outside of school that can be a safety zone?”

This week, as the class was lining up for graduation practice, Chennault found herself looking for the male student. He was tall, and she half-expected to see his head rising above his peers. “It is very heavy,” she said. “I am not sure I have really processed it all.”

Chennault began teaching in 2006 when she moved to Atlanta with her husband. Armed with an undergraduate degree in psychology and a paralegal certificate, she decided that she preferred the life of an educator. When she was pregnant with her first child, she began working at Dunwoody Prep as a preschool teacher.

She was there in 2010 when Hemy Neuman, an executive at General Electric, fatally shot Rusty Sneiderman as Sneiderman dropped his son at preschool. The bizarre case would result in a life sentence for Neuman. Chennault said long after the trial ended, she felt the effects of that day.

Still, she continued on her journey as an educator, eventually earning a Master of Arts in teaching. She also has a master’s degree in public policy. “I feel like now everything is coming together,” she said.

But she wasn’t prepared for the emotional twists and turns that took place this school year. Today’s fourth graders were in kindergarten during the pandemic, and the challenges many of her students face are overwhelming.

“A lot of people don’t understand how bad (the pandemic) threw foundations off — basic skills, adding and subtracting, vowel sounds — all of that would not have been affected had they been in school regularly,” Chennault said.

As the mother of a rising seventh grader and a rising third grader, she said she spent time during the pandemic supplementing her own children’s virtual lessons with different activities so they wouldn’t fall behind. She knew then that once some windows for learning are shut, they are hard to reopen.

This generation of students faces challenges like no other, and that requires teachers who can adapt and are resilient. Chennault has watched friends leave the profession, too worn out to continue filling the minds of students when they are running on empty.

“You have to be very grounded in why you do this every day,” she said. “It has gotten more challenging, but I have not yet given up on the challenge. I still want to keep doing it.”

During the school year, Chennault got real with her students. She explained to them what boundaries are and why they are important. She practiced setting better boundaries for herself.

She stopped grading papers on Sunday. She took time to rest when she felt sick. She tried to focus more on planning and time management so she didn’t get too overburdened in the classroom.

And she learned to find joy in the small things: the students who came to her room every morning asking for hugs and those who may have experienced trauma at home but gravitated to her at school.

“I don’t know what piece of the journey I am on for them, but I am happy I was placed in their journey,” she said.

With summer on the horizon, there is time to rest and reflect.

And teachers like Chennault, who vow to come back year after challenging year, committed to doing their best regardless of the circumstances, deserve our most fervent gratitude and respect.

Read more on the Real Life blog (www.ajc.com/opinion/real-life-blog/) and find Nedra on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AJCRealLifeColumn) and X (@nrhoneajc) or email her at nedra.rhone@ajc.com.