Winner of the presidential election Joe Biden is soon to be in the White House. His wife Jill Biden will be serving as First Lady. Jill Biden has been an educator for many years, teaching at a public high school, a psychiatric hospital for adolescents, and a community college in Delaware. Recently, she has made history. Jill Biden plans to continue teaching, and she will become the only First Lady in U.S. history to hold a full-time job while being in the White House. NDB teachers Martha Anne Kuntz and Wendy Connolly shared their thoughts on the matter.

The Catalyst (TC): What are your thoughts on having an educator in the White House?

Martha Anne Kuntz (MK): It’s about time we had someone with the brain of an educator in the White House. I truly believe that until a person has walked, or taught, in the shoes of an educator, they can never know what this job of teaching is like. I’m not talking about the demands – all jobs have them – I’m talking about the ability to see the bigger picture and act or react on the turn of a dime. That is the ability educators have and I believe Jill Biden knows that and sees it in what she will be able to bring to the White House as First Lady and educator.
TC: What do you think of Jill Biden’s decision to continue teaching while serving as the First Lady?MK: I applaud, commend, and thank her. Teaching is not something that someone easily gives up. It becomes a part of who you are, showing those you teach who they can be. Having First Lady Jill Biden continue teaching shows the world just how important this job of teaching really and truly is.

TC: What do you think of Joe Biden’s quote from his victory speech, “For America’s educators, this is a great day. You’re going to have one of your own in the White House”? What does this mean for teachers?

MK: I would have to repeat my comments above. It was, is, and will be great days. I have to add one more thought – when I’m asked what I do for a living I always answer, “I am a teacher.” The comment I hear back most often is something like, “I could never do that job – you have the hardest job in the world – you don’t get paid enough for what you do.” Or worse yet, “I wish I could have the summer off – that must be great!” Jill Biden might be one of the few women who not only knows what we do and respects us for it, but is one of the few people who would never ask the question or respond in any of those ways. She’ll just keep on educating.

The Catalyst (TC): What are your thoughts on having an educator in the White House?

Wendy Connolly (WC): I think it’s amazing. Jill Biden is just so amazing in so many ways, and I’ve heard her speak.
TC: What do you think of Jill Biden’s decision to continue teaching while serving as the First Lady?
WC: She’ll be the first First Lady to work, and she’s not going to give up her job because she feels that education is so important. I value and respect that. I’ll be interested to see what impact she can have in the educational world. I’m excited. Every First Lady has her thing that she does. My assumption is that Mrs. Biden will be about education. She has real-world experience. She knows the challenges that educators face. I’m interested to see what those policies are going to look like around her agenda.
TC: What do you think of Joe Biden’s quote from his victory speech, “For America’s educators, this is a great day. You’re going to have one of your own in the White House”? What does this mean for teachers?
WC: She is one of us. There are challenges and successes that educators face. One of the biggest is the economics of it all. How do you expect teachers to do the vast amount of work needed to educate the future, but you’re not funding it. At least in public school. Having been a public school teacher, there’s so much that is expected of them, and there’s just nothing to back it up with. Teachers are using their own money, just for colored pencils and things like that. She’ll [Jill Biden] know that, and she’ll understand that, and that’s exciting. We have had someone currently as a Secretary of Education who does not understand that and has created some problems. I think he [Joe Biden] was alluding a bit to that, or at least I picked up on that. Having “one of our own”; was that a dig? I took it as a dig a little bit, but maybe that’s because I wanted it to be a dig. In addition to having her [Jill Biden] in the White House, I’m really interested to see who’s going to be the Secretary of Education. There are lots of layers to it, but we start with Jill.