Rachel Brotchner is an educator with over twenty years of professional experience. Starting in special education as a para-educator, she earned her Single Subject credential in English Language Arts and Development, then spent the next eighteen years teaching public school. She earned her BA in Cinema and Television Arts from California State University Northridge, and her secondary-level English/ELD teaching credential through Chapman University of Orange.

Public education in America is essential but has become increasingly problematic and untenable, with different ideologies battling through legislation to mold the public school system into one that serves these ideologies, and not the students themselves. In the last fifty years, public education has lost its original noble purpose: a primary and secondary education that prepares students for adult life, whether or not they choose to attend college or university. In a modern world of instant-access media, students are not given the tools to discern the reliability or credibility of what they find online and through social media.

The lack of support for teachers and their students, especially the disabled, and multiple experiences with unsafe situations not attended to at the site or district level have led to Rachel leaving the crowded classroom. A freelance teacher can choose subjects, students, and working conditions, and exert control over their teaching in a way made impossible by modern public schools.