“Policymakers don't recognize the fact that art teachers open doors to other content areas for students who think differently, who are differently abled, who approach things in different ways.”
– Art Teacher, Tennessee

“One day, it was the second-grade class and there was a sweet little kid who lost a pencil that had the name of his old elementary school on it, and he just started sobbing. Just absolutely sobbing. I asked him ‘Are you okay?’ and he said ‘No, I lost my favorite pencil from my old elementary school.’ And I thought, “Oh. This is what they mean. This is what they mean when they say that [these closures] can actually be really hard on [the students].”
– Art Teacher, Virginia

“I hear a lot of art teachers say, ‘Oh yeah, my administrator super appreciates me’ and then you say, ‘Well, how do they show that?’ And they say, ‘Oh, well, they don't make us sit through the data meetings. They let us go to the work room and put together bookshelves.’ And I'm going, ‘See, I don't think that's appreciation. I don't think that's what you think it is.’”
– Art Teacher, Texas

“I would say that professional art educator associations have played a big role for me personally in finding a sense of value and to feel valued for what I know and what I can do. Those communities have been a great place to learn and grow and to feel like a like a real teacher and a real artist”
– Art Teacher, Tennessee

“These kids were pretty distraught that their prior elementary school had been closed down and they had to go to a new school. Those were some of the changes I was dealing with. I was adjusting to teaching elementary again on top of what felt partially almost like grief counseling.”
– Art Teacher, Virginia

“I used to joke that [people at the school] only noticed me when I wasn’t there. If I didn't have a substitute teacher come in, they would be like, “Oh, so-and-so is out today. What are we going to do? We won't get our planning done.”
– Art Teacher, Texas