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I'm a public school teacher, and right now I feel like I'm in the bizarro episode of "Seinfeld." The difference is, in this new "opposite world," what used to feel like a job most of society respected and honored is now met with cynicism, mistrust and belittling. It's kind of been trending that way for a while, especially on social media, but the actual Department of Education is now trolling public school workers online. While home schools and private schools are being praised, public school is being threatened with massive funding cuts. Lately, whenever this current administration mentions public educators, I don't hear "good luck on state testing" or "thanks for buying your classroom 12 boxes of Kleenex on your own dime," I hear about how we are indoctrinators who are convincing kids to change their gender.

Look, if I can't persuade a kid to put away their cellphone during class or turn in homework on time, I certainly don't have the power to convince somebody that they were born into the wrong body. At the heart of it, every single person that works in public education has two simple goals: Educate every student to the best of their ability, no matter how they are identified, and help keep your kid safe while in our care. And to have the current administration completely dismiss our work while endorsing systems that actively pull more funds from education is pretty demoralizing.

I understand that for some kids a different kind of education is necessary. But if these alternatives are used to empty public school funding, it is the community as a whole that will lose out. At the end of the day, public schools bring communities together.

I live pretty close to where I teach and across the street from where my students play hockey, have swim meets and skateboard. I can tell you is that every time I drive by the parking lots of these spaces, both weekday and weekend, these parking lots are full. Whether it's a band concert, sporting event, high school musical or even a tour of the school for the class of 1985, our public school district buildings function as the heart of our communities. When we attack this institution to the point where it's dismantled, there will not be anything left to take its place. Destroying public education is a dismantling of the very fabric of our community that forces us to come together, despite our differences and shared space.

This past Saturday I was a supervisor for a high school girls' hockey game. Rather than hanging at home with my wife and three kids, I worked a high school hockey game. Why? Because that's what people who work in public schools do. At one point in the game, a kid on the other team took a pretty big hit and was on the floor for a pretty long time. However, she gathered her strength, shook it off and stood up to skate back to her bench. When she got up, there was a thunder of applause from both the home and visitor sides. That moment when the crowd rallied behind the injured kid was awesome and I realized how relatable this moment was to people working in public education.

Public school employees have been kicked down over the last few years, and we need both sides of the arena to cheer us on as we get back up.

As a parent of kids in public education and a worker, this is what I am asking: No matter who you voted for in the last election or who you support, try to be kind to those of us working in public schools. We don't need thunderous applause to combat the mean tweets sent our way or threats of defunding. But we would take a kind nod, an email of thanks, or even a cup of coffee. And most of all, think about how important these places are to our community. Let your representatives know that anything that has the potential to dismantle public education should be off the table. Our community depends on it.

Bill Skar, of Inver Grove Heights, is a teacher.