Abby Breaux, a 25-year veteran teacher in Louisiana, wrote an open letter to the state board of education to explain why she was quitting.
It is a powerful letter that demonstrates the complete disconnect between the people on the state board who make the rules and the teachers in the classroom who must live with them.
Is Louisiana determined to get rid of experienced teachers? Who will take their places?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
That is exactly what Louisiana wants. Why pay for experienced teachers when you can make their lives so miserable that they drive them out and replace them with TFA members on the cheap.
Why would the Louisiana State Government give a crud if this veteran teacher quits? That means they can hire 3 new, cheap teachers for the same price and then fire them after a few years of low-cost labor.
I am sorry this is happening to her. But let me assure you, it is happening in Florida too. And instead of just letting us retire, they are creating trumped up charges to create “a file” on people. I worked with a man who taught for 28 years without so much as a hiccup and suddenly, the last three years, he spent nearly every month being investigated or charged with allegations ranging from insensitivity to bullying students. He finally walked away and was lucky enough to receive his full pension. Those of us with 20 years in or more are quite worried and quite intimidated. I am searching for an alternative to teaching, but you can’t imagine how sad it makes me feel.
It is happening everywhere. Google “Initiative Fatigue” and see what happens…
I added my story and my support for Abby to the comment thread following the story in the Post (you must register to comment, but it is free). I would encourage anyone reading this thread to go and do likewise.
I don’t really have to bust out Pastor Niemöller here, do I? 😉
Sorry, would you re-post link? It did not work for me. Thank you.
Joe–
Try this one (it just worked for me): http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/03/10/i-have-had-enough-veteran-teacher-tells-school-board/
The good thing is, Abby and friends have become activists now and have a Facebook Page called Teachers Standing for Solutions. Everybody LIKE her page and I will tell her about Diane’s new Network for Public Education and Save Our Schools. power in numbers!
President Obama and Mr. Duncan, are you listening?????? Good, very good, in fact outstanding teachers are quitting all over America. All under your watch.
The post here asks, “Who will take their place?”.
There’s an easy answer and a complex but not impossible andidote to the move to replace teachers.
Reformers want to replace teachers with TFA, alternatively certified teachers, conventionally certified but typically younger cheaper teachers, teachers who, of more recent generations, have technology in their blood and will teach knowledge pretty much the way they have absorbed and digested it: at the speed of light, in small sound bites, and almost nothing in too much depth or laden with critical thought.
These newer teachers will also be lacking a memory of unions, collectivist thinking, the civil right to a dignified healthcare and pension system that they contribute to, collective bargaining, imagination, and creativity. Such novices stand to be obedient, non-questioning workers who will have the opportunity of some viable but not-too-long-term employment, which is a lot more than most people can hope for, given our economy and massive shifts in wealth and power accumulating in the last 20 years.
This is just bad for children because it will change not only how we teach, but who our children become, which in turn changes the very fabric and landscape of our society.
The antidote: fight back, fight back hard, fight back intelligently, and join The Network for Public Education.
My only other comment on this topic about teacher sustainability can be found at:
http://thetruthoneducationreform.blogspot.com/2013/03/under-knife.html?view=snapshot
This is tragic. And it is happening everywhere. Once upon a time I thought I would teach forever. That was then. I witnessed a colleague succumb to stress related illnesses. He left in the middle of the year and did not survive four more seasons.
It’s not worth it. It’s just not worth it.
You will never read a piece of horror fiction in your life that will scare you as much as reading up on the long-term physical effects of prolonged exposure to stress on the human body. Many of these effects are permanent and irreversible.
Back when I was young and stupid, I loved teaching so much that I figured I would just keep at it till I dropped dead in the middle of class one day. 29+ years later, the notion had lost its romantic appeal, and I finally decided to listen to my body before my youthful prediction became all too real. It has been five months since my last day in the classroom, and the damage is still with me every day…
I send wishes for healing to you… that whatever can be reversed will be reversed & that peace and wellness should replace the pain. All my friends who’ve retired have no regrets. That pretty much sums it up.
After 30 years I still look forward to each day in my classroom & dread the next staff development where the unfunded mandates get delivered.
Take care.
When I read Abby’s letter, it took me back to April 2011 as I was sitting in a room full of English teachers trying to understand and grasp what was being forced on me to do to be able to continue teaching. I was thinking the exact thoughts and the same feelings except I didn’t write a letter. I made my mind up that day I was leaving at the end of the year with over 35 yrs. experience. I didn’t tell anyone until I turned in my one sentence resignation letter. The shocked looks on the people at the school board was priceless. I guess no one cared at my school because I haven’t heard from any of them. By the time Jindal leaves office, the citizens of Louisana will not recognize what happened to public education, and by then, it will be too late.
Teachers…..I mean TESTERS…have been thrown under a bus and it is quite evident that the “Money Mongrels” want veteran teachers to be the first to go.
You will see from these unfair evaluation practices and this scattered ,incoherent, useless, disorganized curriculum and the inequitable distribution of TEST-TAKERS…thousands of lawsuits..
Teachers…I mean TESTERS…WARNING..Be sure to document starting today..
Lawyers..get prepared..
Teacher to the Principal..There is no way I can complete the curriculum.
There is entirely too much content for the students to learn…
Principal to the Teacher..You had better complete the curriculum. You had better COVER all of the material.
YEP….COVER..Not teach..COVER…
TESTERS must COVER……COVER…COVER…
We’re in a no-win situation: if you try to cover the curriculum, you get criticised when the students do not demonstrate mastery. Yet, if you teach so that the students understand the material, you do not get through the curriculum, and then there’s hell to pay.
I could not agree more.
I love the comment about taking morals and responsibilities out of the public schools and then allowing vouchers and charters for students to go to schools that teach with morals and responsibilities.
Maybe we should all quit and start our own schools. Just the joy of learning! What would that look like:) No data, no standardized tests, no Gates,Rheeee, Duncan, Walton……the list goes on.