A resident of McKinney and principal of Strategix Management recently became a substitute teacher due to the government shutdown. The teacher, Tracy Robinson, subbed recently at the high school.

Strategix Management is a government subcontractor that operates many schools that teach “at risk” students ages 16 to 24 across America. They offer diverse education programs, including career technical training, counseling, and job placement to help children work towards earning their diploma. As Vice President, Tracy Robinson serves as principal over all of the schools, to make sure they are in compliance with the government and how it operates.

And ever since the first government shutdown, Robinson said she has had a diminishing payment.

“I still get paid, but at a much more reduced rate,” Robinson said, “so I went to subbing, and it’s probably been about a month,”

Ever since the first government shutdown occurred this year, contractors, business owners, and government departments have been in delay. Because of this, many government workers across America are out of work and are lacking payment right now, including some of Robinson’s employees. According to the Washington Post, out of the estimated 800,000 employees whose funding has lapsed, 420,000 are still working without payment, and the remaining are not working at all.

Also, contractors don’t receive the same luxury as direct employees of the government. According to Robinson, contractors do not get any money back when the government reopens, so all of the money needed to operate the schools comes out of pocket.

“They haven’t been reimbursing us, and we’ve been taking hundreds of thousands of dollars every month out of our pocket,” Robinson said.

Since the chaos started, they have still been running the schools and continued to provide services for the students as usual at Strategix Management. They have kept services provided to the students separate from government operations to prevent tension.

“Most of the students are at risk and can’t be put in public schools, and we don’t want to disrupt their learning,” Robinson said.

 Robinson believes that the government shutdown was not a fair decision and that citizens should not be held accountable for a political crisis.

“We have elected officials that we elected that are supposed to work together to get things resolved,” Robinson said, “they need to do that job.”