Regular readers of this blog are familiar with the work of Amy Prime. (See here and here.)For the past ten years, she has taught second grade at Berg Elementary School in Newton, Iowa. she has written several articles about the problems and challenges of protecting children from the negative effects of test-centric reforms, some of which have been published in the local newspapers and reposted on this blog.
Last month she was called to a meeting with her principal, a human resources employee and the curriculum director. The meeting lasted about one minute. She was told that, although she is a highly proficient teacher with great grasp of content knowledge, she had not shown proper respect of others’ views. To “solve” this problem, they had decided to transfer her to a different school to teach 5th grade.
Understand that she is an early childhood educator who has taught either 1st or 2nd grade since 1998. Her masters is in Literacy Education and she is a reading specialist. Now she will be a 5th grade social studies teacher.
The official letter of transfer says that she was “chosen” for this position because of her command of the content knowledge and her demonstrated instructional competency. Her unusual strengths prepare her to be a successful fifth grade teacher of social studies.
Some of her colleagues have expressed their regret. They see this as a punitive transfer, intended to rebuke her for speaking out while others remained silent because they were afraid of the consequences.
Amy has been candid. she blogs for the state’s newspaper. She expresses her views at faculty meetings about developmentally inappropriate instruction and assessments. She has defended the freedom of teachers to voice their views and do their jobs professionally. She opted her own children out of state testing. She told her son’s kindergarten teacher that she didn’t want him taking part in weekly spelling tests.
Was she transferred to send a message to other teachers about the danger of speaking out? Was it an effort to silence Amy? Was it harassment intended to encourage her to move to another district?
Amy says she will be the best fifth-grade teacher possible. And while she is obviously not happy with the decision to shift her out of a job she loved and did well, she believes that the administrators are bowing to larger forces. She wrote me, “When districts are forced to comply with unrealistic goals for test scores and other artificial measures of success, it puts pressure on district leaders. They are much less likely to be team players with the teachers in their charge and instead some of them want obedience to methods that they feel will be successful in getting their schools off of government watch lists in danger of serious repercussions.” She fears that no one asked the most important question: “Is this what is best for kids?”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“The official letter of transfer says that she was “chosen” for this position because of her command of the content knowledge and her demonstrated instructional competency. Her unusual strengths prepare her to be a successful fifth grade teacher of social studies.”
She better hold on to that letter. Something tells me she might need it fairly soon.
Banished to social studies! Along with the arts and other humanities subjects, one of the most jeopardized positions on a faculty.
As a social studies teacher, I resemble that remark.
I am one too!! But I’ve seen what reform has done to my beloved discipline.
Does anyone think it is an accident that the arts and the humanities are taking a hit? Codes of behaviors, rules and regulations, and examination of beneficial and destructive behaviors are GONE when schools can pick and choose the things that children read books chosen from a library that is incomplete in its history of human behavior.
Hidden forces move forward with plans that have unforeseen repercussions…like the END of democracy which DEPENDS on shared knowledge!
Click to access hirsch.pdf
Democracy is over with a citizenry ignorant of the truth that guided mankind through its infancy. SOCIETIES were created to benefit the survival of the PEOPLE, not just the strongest and richest. Critical analysis begins with Prior Knowledge…anyone who studied Bloom’s Taxonomy knows this. You cannot compare what you see and hear, if you are uninformed about the past. Look into a future where the people are so ignorant about history and the humanities, not merely science, that everything old is new again… things that we had abolished in this country once upon a time will be back with a vengeance… like guns and vigilante justice.
As I look into my crystal ball I see that she will be TIP’d sometime in October 2014; will have charges of incompetency brought against her soon afterward and be fired or forced to resign in order to keep her teaching license by June 2015. Hopefully she will have the courage to fight because the administrators and their lawyers will make it extremely uncomfortable for her.
I know (and love) Amy. She has the courage to fight! She is one of the most courageous women I know!
From the article: “She was told that, although she is a highly proficient teacher with great grasp of content knowledge, she had not shown proper respect of others’ views. To “solve” this problem, they had decided to transfer her to a different school to teach 5th grade.” Clearly she is being punished for speaking out. Why else would you move a teacher who is doing a great job in her chosen grade, 2nd grade? If there were no tenure, they probably would have fired her.
Something similar has happened to me. Although I wasn’t moved, I have been told that I am not a team player because I vocally question the use of certain “programs” being implemented without sufficient data to show they are good for the students. I have been asked to remove potions of my website that point out errors in using these types of things to drive instruction because although I don’t name where I work it is disrespectful. For three years now I have asked the same questions and requested independent studies to verify what we are asked (required) to do with no answers being given except…stay quiet and just do your job. I have 21 years experience, have an M.Ed. And am becoming jaded enough to walk away because our system cares more about public appearance than truly caring about our children and teachers.
Join the club sdipple. Last year I was moved to a non-tested grade level because of test score concerns. The fact that I taught the most challenging students for the last three years didn’t seem to make a difference. Another teacher and I were replaced by two rookies. Result, we are now the lowest scoring school in the district. I’m actually more happy where I am.
I was told that I cannot put anything anti-Common Core or about opting out of tests on my own, personal Facebook page, and that my own sons should not tell their friends about opting out, or I could be fired and lose my license. That was the UNION that told me that. Lovely support, huh?
I was told that I am not a good fit because I do not build community. I am officially in the pool.
The current structure of most traditional school districts offers caring, dedicated teachers a raw deal. This kind of thing happens way too often.
That’s why some folks have developed and are carrying out the idea of teacher-directed public schools. Professionals in many areas do this – via farmer coops, medical practices, law firms, etc. It’s long past time for teachers who want the option to be in charge of a public school, and hire folks they want to carry out the business functions. There are examples all over the country. More info here:
http://www.educationevolving.org/tags/teacher-leadership
Do you hear yourself, Joe?
The manager can then fire anyone they want. Do you know what “at will employment” in the private sector means and why that might be a problem with public funds and a vulnerable population like children!
It’s the board, the majority of which are teachers in the school that makes these decisions – not the manager.
This Iowa case is a classic example of decisions NOT being made teachers.
It’s interesting that you can’t even conceive of a teacher as being the manager. Teachers need to do a “paradigm shift” to see themselves in control. In a teacher-run school, the head teacher would serve at the pleasure of the faculty. Decisions would be made by a teacher-dominated Board or by the faculty as a whole. With teachers in control, we’d see the end of the “ineffective teacher” because I’m convinced teachers would not vote to give these people job permanence.
Many state laws already allow for teachers to open their own schools. We’re just waiting for teachers to do it.
I agree with the other posters. For someone to champion charters like Joe does and then to say that teachers need more protections when they speak out is disingenuous at best.
My husband was teaching at a charter school in a right to work state when he discovered a student looking up pornography on the school computer. As he further investigated, he learned that the student had been looking up porn for six months. The student had been in my husband’s class for three weeks. When my husband reported the student, my husband was fired within two days. The excuse? Lack of supervision of the student. No discipline was given to the student or to the teacher who had the student when the online porn access began. That’s what happens in charter schools, who can fire anyone at any time, with no due process.
So, what do you say to that, Joe?
As repeatedly noted, our organization strongly supports excellent public schools whether district or charter. The situation as you describe should not have happened.
There are way too many ineffective school leaders. This is one of the reasons I wrote a book many years ago called “Free to Teach”.
As you may have noted, previous messages have cited examples of teachers in both district & charters who have come together to run schools.
It was not the “School leaders” that decided to fire my husband, Joe. It was the CHARTER MANAGEMENT COMPANY!
Those are the leaders in that school. Wouldn’t it be better to have teachers in the school in charge?
Yes, if you can have a food co-op, any business can be run by different and more progressive models.
I agree with you on this one, Joe. Sooner or later, it will occur to teachers that they can open their own schools, choose their own head teacher, and make all decisions regarding hiring, evaluation of peers, and firing, curriculum and instruction. As someone pointed out to me, this might be too much of a leap for mid-career teachers but it’s a great opportunity for teachers close to retirement and new teachers. Also, I know from experience that some teachers are wealthy because of inheritance, investments, marriage etc. so these teachers can take a chance also.
Once teachers have full control over their own schools, their unions will morph into professional organizations similar to what doctors and lawyers have. The students will be the winners because teachers will be free to make their best professional judgments.
I hope I live long enough to see schools run by teachers. I think this is the future.
Yes, and hopefully teachers would guide new teachers to be their best instead of having them follow an insane rubric.
I may have goofed, it appears that there might not be teacher tenure in Iowa? Any Iowans have the facts?
There is no “tenure” per se. We are on one year contracts, but in most cases the administrator has to have a legitimate reason to “not renew”. And I believe the final decision, unless it is lawbreaking, lies with the school board.
Well. This is very “empowering”
So glad we’re elevating the teaching profession.
Wait until you’re all “at will” employees. You can then be fired “for any reason or no reason at all” unless they violate the law which isn’t enforced anyway.
In a farmer coop – or in a professional group of attorneys, the professionals are in charge.
In charge of what Joe? You’re going to make teachers owners of a public school?
Partners own the practice as do farmers. They didn’t appoint themselves owners of a public entity.
Teachers around the country are deciding that they don’t like the current structure. They are successfully creating schools, sometimes in districts, sometimes as charters, where the critical decisions about budget, salary, curriculum are made by the teachers.
When asked, the vast majority of teachers in a national poll said they thought this is a viable option.
Why was Amy Prime reassigned? Because she could be. But probably, she couldn’t be fired. At least not yet.
This is happening everyhwhere. I know for a fact it recently happened to a teacher In Western NY who FBed her displeasure at the superintendent’s enforcement of Sit and stare policies. And I am guessing there is a rat or mole trolling pages. So just to show the teacher who is the boss and send a message, this highly effective teacher was moved to ensure “continued success” down to second grade from a middle school position, union steward stting right next to the teacher. Silencing teachers is quite possibly the most heinous thing that can happen and I wonder if our lack of civics history is why the admin’s do not even see what this is repeating. And frankly, in most places, the union sits silently and allows this to happen so I am not sure who is getting protected, but it’s not teachers and it’s not free speech and it’s certainly not the children. What needs to happen is ALL teachers need to find their voices (and spines) and stand up because firing entire staffs will showcase exactly what is happening. THe reform express is running right over us and thinking being quiet will protect your job is really short sighted. They are coming for everyone.
The same thing happened to me. I was in my finishing my 24th year as a highly proficient, master AP US History teacher and social studies department chair in a high school. I was reassigned to teach 6th graders at the middle school. Of course, that what’s best for kids.
Mark, what was your “crime”? Did you dare to voice skepticism about the Common Core standards?
I am sorry Amy is having to go through this. I hope this is not the beginning of the end for her. Amy, please fight as hard as you are able. Document everything and if you can tape meetings, etc., do so. In AZ, only one person (you) has to know you are taping. If you have a strong Union, I would speak to them. If not, I might even speak to a lawyer. I did hire a lawyer, and he sent a letter of concern about a former principal’s actions. It didn’t end up helping me. Eleven others sent letters of concern about him, and he eventually moved on to another District. But, he did his damage, first. My heart goes out to you. I’m sure you will do a good job as a 5th grade teacher, but I’m sure it is not what you truly want.
Of course tenure is availble in Iowa. It plays no role here. In fact, teachers are allowed to make more decisions in Iowa than anywhere else, but it is still disgustingly few decisions. Teachers do not make up the school board.
My fall grad seminar is on ‘speaking truth to power.’ Is there ‘freedom of speech’ or First Amendments rights in our society? Who speaks most and loudest with the greatest circulation of their words and images? Whose words circulate the least? Who is punished for words that question authority? Diane’s posts about Grand Valley firing the charter board(disgraceful)and about the brilliant Iowa 2nd grade literacy teacher suddenly reassigned to teach 5th grade social studies(setting her up for failure and firing)are examples I’ll offer the seminar among many others I collect in a file. Full disclosure: My entire doctoral committee was fired for their speech 40 years ago, none of them had ever been arrested, all were visible activists in the movements of that time.
You have First Amendment rights as an at-will employee.
What you don’t have are First Amendment rights as against a private sector employer.
It’s one of the reasons public sector employees have job protections. A private sector approach leads to corruption.
We already know this. We tried the ed reform approach, from about 1850 to 1920.
It’s still a public sector employment situation. Many teachers are interested. Clearly you aren’t.
For those interested, here are results of a national poll:
Click to access ee-opinion-research.pdf
Very sorry for this particular teacher.
I don’t know exactly how you did it, Joe, but you managed to blame teachers for this teacher’s predicament. You are sick. HOW on earth do you expect to teachers to run schools? With the huge charter networks out there with their superior money, there is NO WAY teachers can do their own schools. They’ll be run over by the huge charter networks, who have all of the rights and none of the responsibilities. Have you even READ the Detroit Free Press’ articles about charter laws in that state? It’s par for the course in a lot of other states, too.
Actually, teacher ARE doing this all over the country. http://www.teacherpowered.org/
Will never happen in a right to work state. Particularly where teachers are blamed for all of the ills of the world, as it is in my state, Utah. Only big charter chains (Academica, Gulen, etc.) make it here. Several state legislators work for or have family working for these charter chains.
Amy, from one Social Studies teacher (7th grade) to another, it seems that your supervisors have determined that one of Newton’s finest examples of community activism and citizenship needs to be teaching those values to its 5th graders. At least that is what I would like to believe. Sorry for your transfer, but what a role model you will be for those 5th graders! It’s all about Civics! Best of luck to you going forward and thank you for speaking out against the corporate deformers.
Of course, this is an administrative technique to get rid of people. The hope was that Amy would resign rather than teach 5th grade social studies. First grade is such an important year, and an administrator would be crazy to lose a good teacher at that grade level. Early Childhood certs are required in my state for this position, and good teachers with that cert are hard to find.
It seems Amy’s a keeper though, and I bet she’ll do a great job, wherever she’s placed.
I agree that Amy will most likely do a great job teaching fifth grade, a grade level that I taught, enjoyed and recently retired from. Because she is a conscientious teacher, she will most likely be torn between continuing to blog about issues related to reform and preparing new and stimulating lessons for her students. And… if she has a family that must also be considered.
One question I have is where the term “You are not a team player” began being used by administrators. Several years ago I was called in to talk with our superintendent and those were the exact words he used when i questioned some of the initiatives being proposed.
Teachers are being reduced to simply employees as opposed to to professional educators. As the tenure debate continues to spread we will see more of this and districts will become “work to will” institutions. My district is incredible successful ( 98% graduation rate) but just repositioned teachers in the name of “cross-training”. Many of these teacher have incredibly successful outcomes year after year. If you can put fear in people’s hearts you can control them.
A very close family member of mine recently retired from teaching in a public elementary school in California for over 30 years. During the 1980’s, her very successful district decided to begin the whole language approach. My family member, who had been teaching 1st and 2nd grades and had won an award for her students’ consistently high reading and math scores, though her district and her classrooms had very high numbers of ESL children (it helped that she was bilingual,) asserted that the whole language approach would hold children back. She was emphatic, outspoken, clear, and unambiguous in her objections. She and other teachers at her school who spoke out likewise were marginalized by being moved to 4th grade and higher.
My family member loved the new 4th grade environment, but after a few years, children from the whole language program began showing up unable read. She and others in her position began teaching phonics to these students in addition to the 4th grade curriculum. The district had already begun to see the problem very clearly in the early grades and decided to stop the whole language approach, with some compromises that teachers continued to struggle with over the next decades.
I relate this in order to say that districts have been enforcing curriculum changes and pressuring experienced, successful teachers to comply throughout the history of public schools in this country. My family member was indeed tenured at the time she was removed from her primary position.
I highly recommend Diane Ravitch’s book, LEFT BACK, as a history of the control of public education policy in this country, covering more than a century. This problem not new.
Silencing the educators. It makes me sad. It makes me mad. When I became a victim of the silencing efforts in 2009 I was reminded of the Martin Niemoller quote I so often used in my social studies classes. I was reassigned from my high school after 24 years. I was then the AP US History teacher and department chair, and considered a master teacher. I experienced first hand the chilling, nightmarish attempts to silence the critics:
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak out for me.
It may not be a Holocaust but the actions of education reformers are having terrible effects on public education for both students and teachers. In many ways it has the similar characteristic of an authoritarian state: if you think and say differently you will be taken away. There is no room for debate, critical thinking, or divergent thinking. Common core doesn’t encourage it. Teachers can’t model or show it either.
Its a tragedy for a free country that was founded on the ideals of free speech and free thought, discussion and dissent, that public education, the very essence of this republic, is no longer allowed to teach and encourage students to look deep into issues and form opinions on their own. Instead, students are relegated to master facts and take tests that do not encourage critical thinking.
Eloquently stated! I often think of the parallels between what’s going on now with what I’ve read about authoritarian states. Don’t you think that the passivity of so many teachers points to flaws in their own educations? Our schools and universities failed to vaccinate them against tyranny. Is such a vaccine possible? How are they doing it in post-Nazi Germany? It seems to me that all Americans need a robust anti-authoritarianism, pro-democracy curriculum forced upon them, paradoxical as that may sound.
Ponderosa,
I hope that what you say here will be the basis of a discussion here very soon.
Did you read my essay response about Duncan. I will paste it below, again… THERE IS A PROCESS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. 15,880 districts in 52 states threw out the veterans. The union looks the other way, and there dis no accountability. How can they do this? How can a representative government exist when the legislators do not pass a single bill that the common man needs, They have gutted our Constittution, and the Supreme Court gave the final blow with Citizens United… corporations as PEOPLE? Well, in that case close the loopholes and make i impossible for them to send their profits to tax havens. People pay taxes so the institutions can run..like health and education.
We have an oligarchy now, and these powerful barons and kings fund the shoe.
Her wis what i wrote about Duncan, but it deals with exactly what is going on in America today.
POSTED AT OPED.
Submitted on Thursday, Jun 26, 2014 at 12:34:29 PMMY COMMENT,taken from the post I wrote here:
There are real, and powerful forces disrupting the 15,880 school systems, and working in the legislatures of 52 states to end NOT just tenure, BUT public education! They NEED TO END PUBLIC EDUCATION FOR THE MASSES OF THIS COUNTRY; it would be preaching to the choir if I had to describe how CRUCIAL education is to OPPORTUNITY!
Duncan sweet-talked this nation about ‘reform’ when nothing was broken. The system needed an upgrade not a reformation; it needed an infusion of money for smaller classes and more schools, for example — because ‘class size matters’ — as Leonie made it crystal clear- and it was PROVEN! REAL EVIDENCE. I love Daniel Willingham’s description of the education products that snake-oil salesmen sell… “magic elixirs where NO EVIDENCE IS REQUIRED”. The media did it — sold Duncan’s rhetoric and opinion without evidence to back it up. The media today is a propaganda tool predicted by Marshall McLuhan and Vance Packard, way back when tv was new, and I was studying communication at Brooklyn College.
In the end, if Duncan and company win the day, ignorance of the past, of the values and we once held sacred –like integrity and honesty– will be the rule, the reason for three independent governmental offices will be forgotten, and then the war-mongers,the death merchants and the oil barons will put people on the throne in America who never could have reached such a place if the citizens had not been bamboozled by the snake oil salesman.
Insidious slanders and malicious ads inundate a population that is ignorant, and growing more so as the INSTITUTION OF EDUCTION is being dismantled.
INSTITUTION! Not schools! Word choice makes all the difference” the ‘madmen’ know that and they work for the politicians.
An institution is at the root of a society!
“School” is Duncan jargon, just as ‘teaching’ is the word he uses to replace the crucial ingredient” LEARNING! We cannot let our Secretary of Education twist the language and substitute “slogans” that sell magic elixirs” CHARTER SCHOOLS disguised as CHOICE. Orwell’s double-speak!
The art of subtle manipulation has been mastered by the madmen, and moved into the political arena.The legislature is packed with liars, beholden to the kings and barons who own EVERYTHING, and are making their global move AT THIS MOMENT IN HISTORY. They are selling us their version of THE INSTITUTION which is CRUCIAL to our democracy.
Make no mistake about this, there are insidious forces in motion, visible to anyone who is looking. But this nation is sleepwalking, ignorant beyond belief, and exhausted from the stress inflicted on them by unnecessary austerity. The media became the message as McLuhan predicted, and Fox news and its clones gave the pulpit to Duncan! We saw how PBS secretly gave the pulpit to Gates! Eli Broad and The Waltons and the Kochs pay for Rhee and clones to do the rest.
Duncan was the purveyor of THEIR Narrative. He had at his disposal, the greatest propaganda machine in history, the tv networks and the media of the country, AND he delivered a narrative about bad teachers and failing schools, and tests and technology that must replace the veteran professionals. Experience counts in our profession, yet the very opposite is the objective of the man who speaks for this nation about EDUCATION!
Duncan and company sang a song of testing and evaluation; and for the chorus, they sold charter schools, online education and iPads.
Susan, what kind of curriculum can cure the dangerous ignorance you describe? It seems to me we’ve followed vague dicta like “teach critical thinking” and history standards that touch on 20th C. European history. I’d guess 30% of Americans have read 1984 and/or Animal Farm. This formula doesn’t seem to be working. I fear that progressives and ed school professors have not been truly serious about this question.
That is a good question, and I could never answer it hear but it would have to be able to compensate for the loss of values once imbued by an entire society. With television replacing civility at home and on the streets, and the media and iPad replacing the time once spent with family and neighbors, and with the decline of religious leaders in our daily life, the values of the past that made society possible, (like compromise and compassion) are gone. There is a need for a return to civics lessons because The Common Core ‘lessons’ ignore the plight of the common man as seen through the eyes of characters, and in stories which teachers used to choose and use to enable (not teach) learning what rewards civil behavior offer to people and to societies.
What we, the teacher-practitioenrs once did in that practice, over the 12 years, was introduce the behavioral component of history and literature,. Common Core mandates for what a teacher uses and replaces content in the classroom and l deprives emerging minds from examining the behaviors of human society through time.
We who taught humanities knows that it is not hard to introduce kids to the big ideas and important behaviors that shaped the human experience… but not with our hands tied to our feet and a gag in our mouths, so that some principal can come in and say, “hey you…teach this, you can;t use that it is not in the common core poop list.
Susan I wish you worked at my school –it would be fun to talk to you. Yes, I too really worry about how Common Core says nothing about the venerable old project of humanities education. They’re radically redefining education to be about career and “college readiness”. But for most, college is about career too. So really Common Core is about career preparation — vocational ed for the information age –making economic cogs, not good, reflective, mentally rich human beings and citizens. This is a RADICAL departure from the old ideals, and yet most of us are, “ho hum, the standards sound good to me.”
If you wish to talk with me, you can message me at my Oped author’s page. If you give me an email address in that message, I will email you back and we can ‘talk’!
“Was she transferred to send a message to other teachers about the danger of speaking out? Was it an effort to silence Amy? Was it harassment intended to encourage her to move to another district?”
The answer is: all of the above. And social studies? Oh yeah, they are definitely shunting Amy off to no-man’s land. Amy, I apologize on their behalf.
I add my voice to the chorus that thinks Amy should not have to be martyred, because her first concern is, what is best for students, and because, she speaks truth to power.
With federal standards, we sacrifice educational worth for student convenience in transferring schools. That is a sure sign of a civilization in sharp decline. Where our education goes we will follow. Federal education is one bad idea that the human race keeps repeating.
This is my biggest fear about the Vergara decision. Teachers will no longer be able to advocate for their students.
Those of us in Right to Work states have dealt with this for a while now.
It’s not a good sign when you are assigned out of license. And it doesn’t speak well of the district and their love for their students to put a teacher in an area that’s not her expertise although I am sure she will do a wonderful job. And, I hope she keeps blogging.
Does her district have due process rights, because this is an excellent example of why these rights are important.
Speaking of due process…..I am sure you know that a suit was filed in NYS against tenure. http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/215489/group-previews-lawsuit-over-teacher-tenure-discipline/
And then she’ll get laid off in a year or so because she’s teaching out of license.
Exactly… it worked in NYC, emptied the schools.
Have you seen this… the PROCESS began here, where it took out the largest school system in the nation.
WATCH THIS FILM if you have not… it is how they did it in NYC. Now, teachers are sent into substitute pools at the whim of the principals.
In Iowa, the license is usually K-6, so she’s not out of license. I believe you have to have a certification in reading if you are teaching reading, but otherwise, there is no specialization except for special ed.
If the “suits” really want to punish or get rid of her, she should be assigned to teach language arts in an impoverished or high-turnover school; then they can condemn her for being a poor-performing teacher. That seems to be a successful game plan for silencing evil, big-mouth teachers.
This was published in the Savannah Morning News and picked up by the AAUP
http://newsle.com/article/0/161493092/
Hi Michael, I appreciate what you are saying there… But I want to say something in defense of “Betty Nelson.” How did she become the worst teacher in your school. Was she really the worst teacher in your school, or did she just fail to get along with the principal? Maybe the principal approved clique didn’t like her? Maybe she had an argument with that one parent that believes herself to be the pseudo principal?
There are a plethora of ways that teachers can be undermined? You can have lesson plans written by Jesus Christ himself, and if they are determined, principals can find a problem. I have seen a number of good teachers earn a poor reputation, and be abandoned by their colleagues simply because a principal didn’t care for them…
I met a new teacher and who shared that when meeting her vice principal for the first time she was told that the teacher she would be sharing a classroom with had “many problems,” and was a “questionable teacher.” Regardless of the professional (if not legal) implication of this VP’s comments, I have seen this to be anything but unusual. This first year teacher, of course, found everything that VP said was true, but how much of that was just installed projection.
So, you’ll forgive me, but whenever somebody starts talking about “that teacher,” I ask myself who would that teacher be in another school? Furthermore, how did she become the scapegoat (so to speak) for the school- If that is indeed her roll?
I also have to ask, “Is this teacher me?” “Is this teacher you?” “Who is she exactly, and how did you, and your staff come to have such disregard for her?” Is this about her, or is this about a staff of teachers offering a defacto “sacrifice” to the corporate reform mindset that has well infiltrated most schools in the U.S.?
You should write to The NY Times, which published an opinion by The Ethicist, when a teacher wrote to tell how she was fired without the opportunity to know what the children had told the parents who complained about her. He replied with a first sentence that said he felt there must be more to that story then she was telling.
The public is clueless as to how our schools are made to fail by administration’s lawless tactics.
Right on Sandra Forrest. IN NYC the process begins with shifting teachers around. This separates them from the reputation for success at the site where they PRACTIVED PEDAGOGY (i.e taught). Then, when they stumble, the administration claims that ‘this is now, and that was then’ and POOF, they are made substitutes and shifted hither and yon.
She is lucky. IN NYC they level charges of a crime to remove the teacher immediately. Corporal punishment (based ILLEGALLY on alleged verbal abuse is the favorite… and it takes years before a hearing… so evidence to the contrary disappears as students and faculty move on.
First amendment rights to ‘free speech’ are nullified wherever authorities or bureaucracies have the power to engineer failure, isolate and exclude, or dismiss at will. ‘Free speech’ is not an amendment written sacredly on an historic document; it is a local practice or it is nothing; if you can’t speak up, speak out, and speak against authority at the local level where you work or live or play, there is no ‘free speech’ in the life that matters most, everyday life.
Well-said, Ira!
My condolences… I was not brave enough, or perhaps I was too prideful. They tried to move me from middle school to 4th grade. I quit.
I think this is yet another way of getting rid of teacher that don’t serve the machine. Slower, but disguised by policies, and more shameful to the teacher… “See, we said you’re incompetent, and by completely undermining the skill base that you have spent the last 15 developing we have proved it.”
In my case, it was clearly a set up for failure, with the intention to evaluate me right of the profession.
I had been very critical of the K-8 I was a part of, in that they were undermining the emotional social development of the 6th through 8th graders. So much so we earned the nick name “Arrested K-8” from some of the teachers in the high school that we fed into. Arrested of course being short for “Arrested development.”
I am now a substitute in a different district. To say the least, it has been humbling, but I think/hope I made the correct decision. Time will tell (insert prayers here).
If she did not have due process rights (some people mistakenly refer to this as tenure, but tenure is only given for university professors who meet certains conditions.) then she would have been fired without cause and more than likely her career as a teacher would end. I am certain Iowa will have their own lawsuit to take away a teacher’s right to due process.
The last school I taught at was one of three selective admission academic schools in the city. Admittance was determined based on a standardized test and our students, being mostly very low SES and about 2/3 non-native English speakers, were those with the “lowest” test scores. It was a wonderful place to teach if you loved being with a diverse group of enthusiastic learners, but we were vastly under-resourced compared with the other two more “prestigious” (read wealthier and whiter) schools.
Fred, a colleague of mine, was a computer teacher new to the building, but with 25 years in the school district. He discovered that his computer lab, in which he was to teach Web Design, had motherboards which were 10 years old. He knew this was something which had to change and set about nagging everybody and anybody in order to provide an appropriate learning experience for the students. About a year into this effort, a new headmaster came on the scene. Fred enlisted him in the effort.
The headmaster wanted Fred to create a public webpage for the school, sort of, but not exactly, as a quid pro quo. Fred demurred, because a website like that has to be updated continuously and is a lot of work. He offered instead to have his students create a school intranet, where teachers could post information, videos of student work, team sports results, guidance information, etc. Permissions would not be necessary for kids to appear because it could only be accessed from within the school building and security could be built in. Fred’s kids would build, run and modify the intranet and it would provide hands-on learning in a portfolio kind of way. The headmaster wasn’t interested; he wanted a website for the world to see.
Then, he offered to pay Fred a stipend. Fred didn’t want money and didn’t have time, and anyway his goal was to have the kids get experience. Next the headmaster tried to compel Fred to create the website as an administrative assignment (more usually lunch duty or a study period). Fred appealed to the union and was upheld. The headmaster was not pleased.
In January, juniors held a protest on a Friday afternoon over some of the headmaster’s new policies, organizing on Facebook. On Monday morning, Fred was called to the headmaster’s office and charged with undermining “good order” by inciting the kids on Facebook and was threatened with arrest by school police if he did not leave the building. Fred called the union, whose vice president came to the school immediately for a hearing. The union asked for evidence. There was none.
In February, during winter break, Fred’s long bureaucratic slog came to fruition and his new computer lab was installed over vacation. Three weeks later, the headmaster came to Fred’s classroom in the middle of a period and told Fred he had been excessed from the school, as computer instructors were being cut from 3 to 1 as a cost cutting measure. (The school had 1200 kids and now only 150 could take a computer class per semester – the school was designated as a STEM school.)
Fred ended up teaching at an elementary school the following fall, as a “specials” instructor. He saw every kid in the building once a week for a computer skills class. This included K-1 (4 year-olds) to whom he was supposed to teach keyboarding skills on desktops. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the headmaster had on paper assigned a provisional math teacher to teach web design classes, actually bringing in a professor from a nearby university to run the classes. A grievance was filed with the union for outsourcing bargaining unit work. At arbitration, the school department conceded and Fred got back his job for the following school year.
It was a Pyrrhic victory at best. Fred’s lab had been dismantled and mysteriously placed in storage somewhere inaccessible. He was rendered homeless, assigned to rotate through two labs used by other teachers and to teach a section of yes! Social Studies. Fred was tough though. He knew he could retire at his birthday and walked out in November without a backward glance.
The headmaster? He ditched to a suburban school system before Fred’s return.
The losers? The kids.
I don’t understand why education has become one big drama. Your story proves how stupid education has become. So much drama and wastefulness. So much energy put into absolute stupidity.
So sorry, Amy Prime, but thanks for taking a stand. I love your piece about Common Core killing the dinosaurs–again as well as the one in which you used corn to help explain the many differences among students’ needs. Good luck! Please keep blogging!
I’m with Joe Nathan on this one. Amy Prime was “re-assigned” because she spoke her mind, and offered opinions that contradicted the administrators. Her problem was not that she “couldn’t get along with others.” In fact, I’ll bet that every time she spoke her mind at a faculty meeting, there were dozens of colleagues too afraid to speak up but quietly whispering “Thank-you for saying exactly what I was thinking!” Her problem was what many of us who stay in the classroom for decades out of love for what we do and don’t jump into “administration” are suddenly silenced, many times by former colleagues who, I guess, considered they’ve “moved up the ladder,” who left the classroom. Joe Nathan presents what I consider to be a very viable and appealing possibility…schools where the most significant decisions concerning classroom matters are run by teachers. I think he’s asking some really serious questions…what should the function of a Principal be? And for that matter, a Superintendent? When did LEAVING the classroom after a couple of years and taking some courses make someone an Educational Expert? I’ve seen the opposite happen. Teachers can have heated, and healthy, discussions about how school resources should be allocated, how evaluations should be done (PLEASE! NOT by Administrators!) and what our vision for the best interest of our particular schools should be. And we could work together, with Administrators, as PEERS, on both the nuts and bolts of the daily building functioning (Their jobs), School Disciple (Their jobs), and knowledge of both the legal and “Stupid Reform Initiatives” aspect of our current data driven culture (Again..THEIR jobs, although I think most of us are pretty on top of the particulars). Our backs are against the wall right now, and I am saddened to see and hear about so many amazing teachers who understand their jobs and do them well being afraid in their own workplaces. Why then, is it so radical to suggest that we do some major re-thinking about how power and decision making is allocated in our own schools? Amy’s getting screwed by an Administrator who forgot about the central, MOST IMPORTANT “Mission,” of schools, which is to educate our kids to the best of our ability, and to keep THEIR best interests in mind. We’ve become so scared its sad, but as someone who feel a right to my opinion, based on my many years in the classroom, I’m not willing to be quiet. MY head’s probably next on the chopping block, but I don’t care. I’m tired of being silenced.
I’ve considered myself so lucky for so many years because I KNEW I had the best job in the world…Never a boring day, working with amazing, incredibly smart, and dedicated colleagues..at this point a few thousand, now the children of my earliest, students, most of whom (Never ALL…I’ve had my share of bumps in the road, as we all have) I was able to engage, challenge intellectually, and yes (sorry reformers), even laugh with. It’s amazing what happens when you treat kids with respect and empathy. And during most of my career, I was TRUSTED with that enormous responsibility. The last three years or so have been very different though. I feel like I’m walking in a minefield in my own school. My colleagues are so disheartened and scared,..and angry… it’s like the life has been sucked out of our profession and my school. It’s just so toxic that I’m like so many who post here who needs to leave. I still love teaching, which saddens me most. But as they chase us “Dedicated Dinosaurs” away, I wonder how many “hugs” Michelle Rhee gets from former students when she’s grocery shopping, how many wonderful notes she gets from former students and their parents, how many “Friend” requests from people she’s taught who are doing amazing things all over the world, she’s received on Facebook, or if her own children are fed up with being with their mother and encountering strangers who tell them how awesome she is (maybe she has, but certainly NOT from former students)? I’m no star, but I’ve done the best job I can educating kids. But so much for community and caring teachers…this fight is a tad too much for me. Amy will be driven out of her “new assignment.” That’s pretty clear. But please keep blogging Amy…and I hope you have the stamina to endure the Brave New World of Corporate Education. I don’t.
See the book titled, “White Chalk Crime: The Real Reason Schools
Fail.” It is 620 pages of abuses that teachers have endured, fought, and mainly lost. It was written in 2008. Today, she could add another 600+ pages of abuse that’s still happening today. See her site, “End TeacherAbuse.org”
Back then she writes, “My advice to Eli Broad and Bill Gates (who plan to donate $60 million to put education on the agenda of presidential candidates) is the following: you can save $59’999’820. Read this book, get it in the hands of the presidential candidates, stop listening to white chalk criminals, and start listening to those who genuinely care about education! The NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND reform act missed the point!”
Teaching is one of those professions where it is very, very important that there be vigorous, continual, ongoing discussion and debate about pedagogy and curricula. It’s sad to hear these many stories of people being punished for voicing their opinions. Administrators who do that do themselves and their educational communities a great disservice, obviously.
It’s important to trust the idea that when there is vigorous discussion and debate, the truth will out.
Strongly agree, Bob.
Thank you, Joe, and I strongly agree with the position you have taken with regard to teacher-run schools. Democracy is messy, but it’s extraordinarily innovative and productive. Warm regards to you!