Building/staff stressTammy and Josie talked about the high level of stress they felt in their buildings. They said that the stress level of the teaching staff is at an all-time high. Tammy saidthe stress level rose when staff found out they were a“focus school”:Well they told us what [focus school] means. And we’re making it sound really serious. … There has been a lot more stress in the building in general. … There’s been more testing of the kids going on this year. Which is a whole other story, but that’s ridiculous. But just the level of tension in the building in general has been a lothigher.I asked Tammy how she saw that “building-levelstress” manifested. She said: A little bit of everything. The [teachers] that always geton everyone’s nerves anyway because that’s just the waythey are, they pick fights, it’s been way worse for themthis year. But just in talking to other staff members,pretty much everyone’s in the boat, like “This is thehardest year I’ve ever taught.” That’s pretty much unanimousacross the board.Likewise, Josie said the “priority school” label hadcontributed to a level of stress while at the same timeincreasing resources to the building:It’s an interesting mix because there is a lot of stress,because a lot more is being expected of all teachers. Onthe other hand there’s a lot more money there too, so it’skind of an exciting place to work. I feel like it’s the placethat gets the most resources and the most support.Josie also discussed a stressful situation that hadarisen between her and a colleague when a friendly conversationturned toward the contentious topics of recent“right to work” legislation and the teachers’ union:He got so angry with me, it was actually in class, and hisstudents were—he’s an English teacher—and his studentswere just working on a project. And he said, “Ifthere’s ever a person in our unit who chooses to notbecome part of this union, I’m telling you right now I’mgoing to do everything in my power to make myself lookbetter than that person does so that they can be let go.” Igo, “Whoa! You need to take a deep breath.”The high levels of building stress caused both Tammyand Josie to isolate themselves from other staff members.Tammy avoided the teachers’ lounge at lunchtime andinstead ate with her choir teacher colleague who she citedas a supportive outlet for complaining and venting.Finally, Tammy and Josie said that the teachers intheir school were stressed by the negative public perceptionof teachers. Tammy explained: “You know, we’renot immune to what’s going on in the news. When yousee everyone blaming teachers for everything, there’sgoing to be a low level stress that goes with that, even ifyou know ‘Well, that’s not me.’ It’s still out there in thepublic perception.”