WCHS Teacher Featured in TIME
An interview with Mrs. Brown about her TIME magazine article and cover
September 26, 2018
On September 13th, a very special edition of the Time was published. This issue featured one of Woodford County High School’s own, Mrs. Hope Brown. Not only was she featured in an article, but Mrs. Brown was on the front cover. To put into perspective how big of a deal this is, the most recent person on a Time magazine cover was Donald Trump, and before him, Serena Williams. In 2017, the total circulation of the magazine was 3,028,013. The September 13th magazine tackles a pressing issue: the decline in educational funding and the salaries of educators. According to her quote on the front page, Mrs. Brown has her master’s degree, 16 years of experience, and yet in order to pay the bills, she has to work to extra jobs and donate blood plasma. This quotation illustrates just how desperate the situation is, even here, in our hometown of Versailles. I interviewed Mrs. Brown on how this incredible opportunity came about and the impact it has had on her life since the article’s publication.
After Kentucky’s pension crisis, Mrs. Brown took to social media to talk about some of the issues teachers faced. One tweet, in particular, gained the attention of Katie Reilly, the reporter who wrote the article. The tweet was about how teachers should not use the word “side hustle” to describe their second jobs because the term makes it sound like teachers are working extra for fun or for “mad money,” when in reality they are working a second job due to income inequality and wage stagnation. After seeing this tweet, the reporter reached out to Mrs. Brown via email. The reporter told her that she was writing an article about teaching in America.
After obtaining permission from the district, Mrs. Brown agreed to take part in the article. Mrs. Brown and the author spoke over the phone several times. After a while, Mrs. Brown hadn’t heard back and she assumed that the article would not run. Eventually, however, she did hear back and she found out that the article would indeed run, and that there was a chance that she could be on the cover.
“A hundred teachers sell plasma to the same facility that I do.” — Mrs. Brown
Reilly told her that if she was on the cover, to expect a lot of attention and feedback, both positive and negative. Mrs. Brown thought that it would be highly unlikely that she would make it on the cover, but much to her surprise, she did. According to Mrs. Brown, the reporter was right. Bernie Sanders retweeted the article. Amy Mcgrath, who is the Democratic nominee in Kentucky’s sixth district for Congress, reached out to Mrs. Brown, wanting to meet with her and talk about some of the current issues in education. The producer of The Ellen Show called Mrs. Brown and said that “Ellen wanted the teachers in the article to know that she loves teachers and supports them” and that the Ellen show may be contacting her and the other teachers sometime in the future for a possible booking on the show. She has done an interview with WKYT, The Woodford Sun, and she has an upcoming interview with Spectrum TV.
Mrs. Brown says she wants people to be aware of the issue. She believes that many people think that teachers are middle class, but in reality, that’s not the case because the cost of living has increased, but teacher’s salaries have not. Many teachers have part-time jobs. Nurses, doctors, or attorneys, have a “commiserate” education with teachers, as Mrs. Brown said, but they don’t have to take on part-time jobs or sell plasma. Her quote “I work 3 jobs and donate blood plasma to pay the bills” shocked many, but what is even more shocking is that this is a very common thing for teachers to do.
In our interview, Mrs. Brown said: “A hundred teachers sell plasma to the same facility that I do.” This just goes to show the struggles teachers face. According to Mrs. Brown, teachers are the backbone of this country. If people can’t afford to teach, then our country will be in a bind.
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