In a post today, a comment by a charter school teacher explains the high turnover in charter schools.
“Sadly, JUST like the teachers in KIPP, I got a job in a charter school WELL before realizing what this whole “school reform” movement was all about… didn’t know the difference between charter/public/private… and it’s only been over the course of several years, total exhaustion, and in the last few months of being enlightened about the “school reform” movement that I now understand what type of system I’m working in. Although I work with some wonderful people, I’ve seen the toxic result of the reform movement creeping in … always expecting more, doing more, giving more… . If you find ANY work/life balance, you “appear” lazy and you earn a reputation for “not doing your job” (because some of the expectations are through the roof. I’m sticking it out this year, but looking for either a public school position in a high SES neighborhood (where parents work with their kids and it doesn’t fall all on the teacher)… or a parochial school (where if I have to push kids so hard, at least I can pray with them too!) “
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I understand the attractions of working in a high SES school but have found more personal reward working with my urban students in Hartford, CT. They come from a very low SES background (I have several homeless students who live in cars!), and they work harder for me than my high SES students did before I transferred here. I KNOW the difference I am making in their lives; one of my ELL students earned straight “A’s” in her first year at the University of Connecticut in her first semester because of my teaching my students writing to APA standards. Please don’t rule out teaching in this environment. I love it!
Nice to hear from another person who enjoys working with urban students and feels he is making a difference. Thanks Mr. Morrison.
My pleasure! There is a huge myth that urban students are all gang members, are all involved with drugs, are all criminals, and violent. The myth holds that their parents are not involved with their kids. While partially true, it is very far from true. My students appreciate that they are in an underprivileged environment in which education is one of the primary ways out. I am pleased to be here for them.
The Great Reformer Adamowski has plundered their school system here in Hartford. We have no music or art program. I teach these after school.
The Great Reformer Adamowski , by redesigning their schools into small academies, has provided half an education. I am bringing the University of Connecticut Early College Experience program to them to help fill the gaps in their learning.
The Great Reformer Adamowski plundered the resources here, giving resources to the magnet schools by taking from the other schools. I am reversing the steal from the poor to provide for the rich trend here by getting the local bookstores to contribute books to our school.
My students appreciate everything I am doing for them.
I’m the teacher that Diane quoted. I’ve been working in this environment for 5 years. Prior to that, I taught special ed. in a low-mid. class environment for 5 years. After 10 years (and I might add, the same 10 years of watching education go into the toilet thank you to NCLB) of high-risk, educationally needy students coupled with the higher, higher, overly demanding, and now becoming unrealistic expectations, I’m getting to the point of burn-out. I have been un-able to “fill” my cup fast enough to prevent it from being “emptied” and then drying out. I notice my own short-temperedness… I notice that I feel demoralized… I’m aware of “distancing” from the children. I’m leaving the environment before I start doing more damage than good. If it were JUST the high-risk kids, I’d be able to do this…. BUT, it’s NOT just the kids… it’s the ridiculous expectations. I tried living up to all the expectations… when I do, there’s NO life/work balance. We’re supposed to reach out to the parents… but I pour all I have into the kids… I don’t have enough left over for the “needy adults” as well. When it comes to accountability… it all falls on the teacher… and I’m tired of it always being “me” who’s not doing enough. I’ve done this long enough. I need to think of what I will be able to do until I retire… and that’s a LONG, LONG way off. GOD BLESS to those of you who continue. I’m glad that your kids have you. I’m glad that I’ve been able to give as much as I have for as long as I have… but it has taken a toll on my health. No one is taking care of me, so I will take care of me now. I make absolutely no apologies for my decision.
“I make absolutely no apologies for my decision.”
Nor should you, Hannah, nor should you.
Nor should you make apologies. We all do what we have to do. I am fortunate enough that teaching is my second career; I am 60 years old and have been teaching for 16 years. My point of view might be different if I had been doing this for over 30. But, I fought in two wars as a hospital corpsman with the Marines and spent the remainder of my 24 years of military service at sea. Teaching to me is not that stressful after that. Almost, but not quite.
Ah yes, Mr. Morrison. Hats off to you sir! I have deep respect for those who serve. Perhaps if I had engaged in battle, I wouldn’t be feeling so “battle fatigued” about teaching in an urban setting. Just to clarify; I’m not burned out on teaching… I’m burned out on all the OTHER insane expectations (reaching out to parents – even the hostile ones, documenting documenting and more documenting… meetings that would be better spent prepping for lessons… and of course the ever increasing expectations that have to be pushed onto very young children who I know are NOT developmentally ready to absorb everything I’m supposed to teach them… thank you Common Core)… all in addition to the neediness of the children.
Hannah,
And my hat’s off to you, ma’am. Thank you for your years of service to the children in your community! God bless you in whatever you decide is best for your health and your future.
Bill
Exhausted Hannah: an abrazón [big hug] for giving so much of yourself to so many others.
Don’t think your efforts—and those of so many many other teachers—go unnoticed and unfelt even in a culture where world-wide celebrity and prodigious wealth and unchecked power are officially worshipped above all else.
I was immediately reminded of several teachers I personally worked with the first time I read this heartfelt comment by Mother Teresa:
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
May you find the rest and peace you have amply earned.
🙂
Nice comment.
Thank you 🙂
This may be relevant: One of the wisest things I’ve every read, regardless of your attitude/beliefs about religion:
Ecclesiastes 3
King James Version (KJV)
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+3&version=KJV
Thank you for recognizing what this time needs to be for you and for the young people you care about.
Thank you for your supportive comments! I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention another factor in my decision to leave… the fact that our school is now considered a “failing” school… due to the fact that, unlike some charter schools, we take EVERYONE. 20% of our population has documented special needs. Most of our kids come from typical urban family situations… poverty, abuse, broken and dysfunctional homes… and our school has become MUCH like any urban public school in that, we serve the neediest kids, but the threat of closure always looms. We’re one of the so-called “zombie schools” that is threatened with closure when our charter is no longer renewed (so, find someone else to renew the charter)… victim of NCLB & RttT just like any public school… but in the charter, it’s about raising the test scores… and so true to low ses situations, the scores tend toward the bottom. What this means for ME (on my quest for taking care of my own needs), is that as I get older, I’m less “hire-able” because of my years of experience and high level of education… therefore, I’m “expensive.” I’m looking for stability… and if there’s a threat of closure every few years (every time they decide if they will or will not renew the charter), I get closer and closer to being less and less hire-able. I’m a career teacher… with no family support… I need to know I’ll have a job until I can retire.
I didn’t realize until I was “not rehired” that my health, mental and physical, was really suffering. I would have liked to serve kids in a high needs area again, but, as my pen name indicates, I do not fit the requisite teacher profile. Get out while you can and find another teaching job that will allow you to take care of yourself.
I work at a cyber charter. It is ironic that the administrators at these charters make us work twelve hours a day doing inane busy work, and yet the quality of education is much worse that public schools. I just got home from doing state testing. At one point during the day one of the third graders raised his hand to get my attention, he had just finished the multiple choice section and was stuck on the first open-ended question. He asked me what he was supposed to do. I just told him to answer the question, we are not allowed to do much more. After he stared at the page for fifteen minutes one of the other teachers went over to give him some encouragement and get him working. He still just stared at the page. After about an hour of this we realized that he couldn’t read or write. The other teacher told him to skip the open-ended questions and move on to the next section. In the next thirty minutes, before we noticed, he completed the next three sections. That should have taken him 3 to 4 hours. He was just acting like he was reading the questions then filling in random bubbles. This is the only face time we will get with them all year. Not enough time to do much of anything. I wonder what will happen to this kid.
William – I would love a job teaching in the city. I have tried for the past three years to get a job in an inner city public school, but they are too busy firing teachers and closing buildings. They are not hiring anyone because they are losing too much money to the charters.