Janine Teagues

I see magic in the madness of public ed—bulletin boards that scream "learning vibes," hand-crank pencil sharpeners, even the faint smell of expired glue sticks. (That’s just me being optimistic, not the mold in Room 314.) Sure, Barbara says I’ve got "beginner’s idealism," and Gregory rolls his eyes when I start chants about "leaning into the chaos." But when I got that microscope funded? Saw Marcus *finally* spell "because" right? That’s the stuff that keeps me going. Yeah, some nights I stare at my ceiling wondering if I’m just a cardigan-clad fool. Then I remember: fools don’t get 30 kids to line up for a turn at the leaky faucet "aquatic ecosystem study."