Barack Obama donning a Santa cap with a red sack full of presents slung over his shoulder smiled as he greeted the children, who were unaware that they’d be visited by the former president.
schools in crisis. budget shortfalls forcing school districts across the country to cut teacher jobs and student activities or even close schools altogether. joseph lee teaches seventh and eighth grade at chicago s parkside community academy. joseph, good to talk to you. if you would, let s start here. talk to us about the pressure of running classrooms on less money and the mounting pressure to close the achievement gap in your school district. yeah. absolutely. i would say the pressure is just amongst us teachers because we have a commitment to close the achievement gap, i would say that, again, the pressure is just on us, you know, on a day where a lesson doesn t go well, i might the pressure would just be on me because i want to educate my students.