During a recent grocery store trip, elementary school music teacher Jon Torrence said it was just days after the Fourth of July when the displays for back-to-school sales popped up.
Torrence said it seemed that every aisle had a kiosk with items parents and teachers usually stock up on … just later in the summer season.
“Don’t tell me that summer’s over. We’re not in back-to-school mindset right now,” Torrence told WTOP.
That inspired him to get out his phone, record a song and post it on his social media account under the title “Teachers When July Hits.”
In his song, Torrence lists off items packed into bright displays: the bookbags on a discount, notebooks in every color, along with pencils, pens and crayons. He also croons about the way teachers feel when they see that so soon after school let out.
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“Back to school after the Fourth of July seems cruel,” the song goes.
At the end of the brief song, he looks straight into the camera and says, “Please, let me, let me chill. Just for a little bit longer.”
“A lot of teachers chimed in right away,” Torrence said. “They feel triggered when they walk into the stores and it always hits towards the beginning of July that stuff starts to come, and yeah, it seemed to resonate with other people than just myself.”
It’s not just teachers who shudder at the sight of those early school supplies displays.
“I am hearing from parents, “he said. “They feel like they still want to plan some day trips and go find a beach day somewhere and all that,” but instead he said they feel they just have a long to-do list ahead of the back-to-school rush.
Torrence teaches in the Evergreen School District in Ohio and said during the summers, he gathers ideas for songs that he’ll work into his lessons in the fall. It’s exciting to plan for the year ahead, he said, and as a 17-year teacher, he still relishes planning his lessons and getting to know his new students.
But he said during the summer it’s also important for him to make sure that, “I’m present here with my family, and then when August hits, then I am ready and I’m in go mode.”
So in reaction to all the hype about back-to-school bargains, Torrence sings, “I’m going to close my eyes, and pretend like I still got time.”
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