Hello Mr. Richards - my heart is with you. I wish I had the means to fix this. The children, you, and all the dedicated teachers and staff deserve so much better. A lot of us went into teaching because we wanted to support children and youth and help them grow and develop. I remember sitting at my desk at Beyond Shelter in downtown Los Angeles one day, and the phone ringing - it was a teacher from a nearby elementary school who begged me, as a fundraiser, to help the school raise funds for a playground. Yes, in the heart of Los Angeles, the elementary school literally without a playground. It was just a concrete pad, broken and filled with weeds and as you describe - rat feces. They had just spent hundreds of millions on showplace high schools, including one on the former grounds of the Roosevelt Hotel (where Bobby Kennedy was shot) that had "singing benches." I would drive down Wilshire Blvd. and hear the "singing benches" on which no one sat. I'm not even sure if that high school even filled with students. So, the upshot of that was, though I tried, there was no funding for the school without a playground: a wealthy donor did agree to support it - the famous actor Leonard Nimoy and his wife Susan, who built many, many playgrounds. But the district wouldn't allow it for whatever their reasons were (I can't remember - they let them build other ones elsewhere). This was a decade ago. Now of course, it's the way you describe - 1,000,000x worse. As to me? I was teacher of the year at the community college where I taught 20+ years in 2018. In 2019, I received my last class assignments - my superiors had to maximize their hours taught to increase their retirement funds. And, I was forced to move from my home state by a variety of adverse conditions and state laws making it impossible for me to earn enough money to pay the ever-increasing rents. So theoretically I am still a member of CTA and AFT but ... lol who gives a rat's feces? My life is good now, Mr. Richards. Instead of grieving and struggling, we live in a very nice house in a gated community. I have a good writing practice and business practice. My husband and I now have everything we ever wanted (we're not greedy or sociopaths). So - this is it. I'm writing this because you are YOUNG and obviously gifted and caring. Decide for your SELF what you want to do. Envision in your mind the world you want for your SELF. Things will change for you - and for those all around you. This can and should be true for the students, families, and others as your school also. The situation you describe is not only true, it is unsustainable for anyone and everyone. Changing these things isn't easy but it requires a 180-degree change in everyone. You cannot control the "powers that be" but the answer does lie in you and all the others. One of the first, most painful realizations I had before we moved out of CA to FL was "You have spent 20 years working for, faithfully showing up, making every possible effort, to do a job to teach students (who do care/did care) working for people who could not care less whether not only you, but every single one of the hundreds of students you taught, lived or died." Once I gave up the idea that I should be loyal or faithful to that, then I was able to take steps to move forward personally. And - we all have circles. We can influence our selves and them. The more circles that move forward and get stronger, the less these horrific abuses will be. And that's what it is. What you describe at your school is absolutely shameful and here it is featured by AFT with no irony whatsoever.