Teachers and two state legislators bonded Monday over shared experiences in Klondike Elementary School classrooms.
The daylong experience for the lawmakers was the brainchild of Harrison High School teacher Kathy Nimmer, the 2015-2016 Indiana Teacher of the Year.
Nimmer, who is on sabbatical this year, toured Indiana schools in her appointed role.
“School after school," Nimmer said, "a recurring theme is they felt an absence of legislator knowledge about what schools are really like, what teachers actually do, what students carry into the classroom with them as far as emotional baggage and other factors.
“They felt that when legislators made decisions ... they were doing it without enough actual knowledge of what schools are like.”
In the past year, Nimmer worked with lawmakers, whom she said weren't as they had been portrayed to teachers.
“It’s always easier to have a named enemy to hate, and there isn’t one down there," she said. "They are good people wanting to do good things.
"There is a lack of knowledge," she said.
Then it hit her.
“This is fixable," she said of her eureka moment. "We fix lack of knowledge all the time as teachers. That’s what we do.”