At the Vergara trial, a student identified one of her teachers as undeserving of tenure. She named Christine McLaughlin of Blair Middle School. Ms. McLaughlin had been selected as Pasadena Teacher of the Year. So which is she?
This reader writes:
“Here’s a video of one of the “grossly ineffective teachers” and “2013 Pasadena Teacher of the Year” named in this lawsuit (by her former student and plaintiff Raylene Monterroza):
Mind you, this above video was played during court, and Ms. Monterroza was questioned about how it felt to watch the video of students praising her “grossly ineffective teacher” (starting at 00:49). She replied that watching it was upsetting, and that those students must have been lying as that wasn’t Ms. Monterroza’s experience.
Hmmm…
Watch the “teacher of the year” video again, starting at 00:49, where the students give their opinion of the teachers.
Do these kids sound like they’re lying? Do the kids’ description of their teacher Ms. McLaughlin align with the criteria of the stereotypical “grossly ineffective teacher” that the Vergara legal team claims that Ms. McLaughlin is?
Again, this is a video portrait, as you see, celebrating and profiling Ms. McLaughlin’s award-winning teaching, as the “Rotary’s Pasadena 2013 Teacher of the Year.”
The student plaintiff, Ms. Raylene Monterroza, claimed in her testimony that those students in the video can’t be telling the truth, as it conflicts with her own experience. She said that watching that video prior to her testimony, “upset” her… as it included countless students contradicting her and the entire Vergara team’s claims that Ms. McLaughlin is… again… “a grossly ineffective teacher.”
Again, watch the video portrait of Ms. McLaughlin (who was also won the Pasadena NAACP’s “2008 Star of Education” award, by the way) and ask yourself…
So which is Ms. McLaughlin?
a deserving, multi-award-winning “Teacher of the Year”, praised to the hilt by countless students in the video?
OR
“a grossly ineffective teacher” according to JUST ONE student, and a teacher who taught the (Vergara plaintiff) Ms. Monterroza “nothing,” and thus destroyed Ms. Monterroza’s education?
“Indeed, this whole Vergara trial was like something out of Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” in China during the 1960′s. For those not acquainted with this, here’s primer: zealous students, under party leaders’ directions, would persecute their teachers. Kids would get their jollies as they put their teachers on a stage, put dunce caps on them, then screamed at them while forcing their teachers to bow their heads, kneel down, and confess their “crimes” and on and on…
These kids—appointed and empowered as “Red Guards” by Mao’s henchmen— would parade their former teachers through the streets…
Hey wait… there’s a scene from THE LAST EMPEROR that shows this way better than I could describe it…
Watch from: 01:19 – 04:19
(at which point—04:19—some female Red Guard students start performing an inane Commie “line dance” of sorts… creepy…)
At 02:45, watch “Pu Yi”—the former-Chinese-emperor-now-gardener—as he tries to stand up for his former teacher (for clarification: years ago, while Pu Yi’s was imprisoned, his teacher was referred to as “governor.”)
In response to Pu Yi, a teenage “Red Guard” zealot screams in his face:
“Join us (in the persecution of teachers), Comrade, or f— off!”
Next, the students force Pu Yi’s former teacher to his knees and demand that he “confess his crimes.” Amazingly, he refuses.
Pu Yi then chimes in, shouting:
“But he is a teacher! A good teacher! You cannot do this to him!”
… before Pu Yi is violently subdued by the student fanatics.
Anyway, this scene is all happening AGAIN, and it’s happening HERE in the Vergara case courtroom, and soon will in countless more “Vergara” courtrooms to come. It’s a less intense version, to be sure, but THE overall situation is the same:
we know we have kids—directed by and empowered by evil adults with an evil agenda—enthusiastically persecuting their innocent teachers.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The line dance reminds me of Petrilli’s lame attempt at a dance video mocking
Diane and others, go to :49 “Randi whines and Diane’s become a kook.”‘ and wait for the lame attempt at dancing.
I wonder if they would produce that video now? I am obviously biased but in light of the situation today, Petrilli is the one who looks rather “kookish.” I don’t think his non too subtle putdown would work today.
Thank you Diane. So much of the reformer thinking and action, especially as it manifests itself in the teaching of charter school children is reminiscent of the thinking that characterized the ‘cultural revolution’ in China. We are in the age group that remembers it well. Awful. And it is here.
One does wonder how the court could ignore the video rebuttal.
What really impressed me about Ms. McLaughlin is that both she and her students report very few discipline issues in her class. She explains that this is a result of the relationships she builds with students. Her students say she handles issues quickly and comfortably. Being proactive is a teaching best practice that she seems to have mastered.
It would be interesting to know what kind of a student Raylene Monterozza is. Is she a conscientious student who arrives to class on time, is prepared with her supplies, does her assignments, and treats others with respect? I wonder what her particular grievance is against this teacher. Did the teacher write office referrals on her for tardies, dress code, inappropriate behavior, etc.? Did her teacher give her a lower grade than this student thought that she deserved? There are students who will try to retaliate against a teacher who enforces school rules. Unfortunately, students can bring false claims against a teacher, who then is presumed guilty until proven innocent. Perhaps Ms. Monterozza just wants attention and a boost to her ego.
Shame on Ms. Monterozza if she learned “nothing.” The responsibility to learn is not 100% that of the teacher. At the very least, this girl could have picked up a book and read. For her to sit in class all year and learn “nothing,” tells me that she does not have the motivation to learn.
I also wonder about Ms. Monterozza’s potential prejudice against overweight people. I have learned that people, students and teachers alike, do not treat overweight people with the same care and dignity that they treat normal to slim people. This may seem incredibly off topic, but I have observed this again and again. The onslaught of visual stimulation in this society I believe has increased prejudice against people for their looks and size. Although this has always been in existence, I think it is worse now than ever.
Oh, I think that obesity has everything to do with it. The neo-liberals want perfection. How easy it is to be rich and well fed by Whole Foods and/or whatever upscale restaurants you go to. Meanwhile, overweight teachers who live on miserly food budgets… and don’t go to elite gyms with trainers. This positively makes my blood boil!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Katherine & Laura Campbbell how I wish there was a ‘like’ button: “LIKE!”
What would be even more interesting to know is if, and how much, these sham plaintiffs hunted up by Welch and his lawyers, are being paid…what kind of perks did they get for pursuing this case by being the identified plaintiffs?
They did not just show up at Welch’s golden door, nor at Ted Olson’s. Reports indicate that they were sought and handpicked for the case by Welch and Olson.
Agreed. When the above comments. When I saw the video screen shot and noticed the teacher was overweight, I automatically thought, her weight came into play with how the student/ parents viewed her
That’s the whole problem with the new teacher evaluation system. You are at the mercy of the class you are teaching that year. If you have a good class, you will get good scores. If you have a bad class, you will get bad scores. They take an average of VAM for 3 years . . .but what happens when you have a bad class 3 years in a row? It has happened to all of us. No one in their right mind will go into a profession where you have a threat of being fired every 3 years.
The Vegara trial is just the beginning of the dumbing down of America. We have a foolish President, a foolish head of the U.S. Department of Education . . .so we have foolish court cases like this. It is a horrible war against teachers and ending teaching as a career profession as we know it. They need to be careful what they are wishing for. They just might get it.
I still say that it is a war against the middle class. If they can take away our public schools and make it hard for our middle class kids to get a college education, the middle class will be no more.
The dumbing down began long before Vergara. The case will empower young people to continue making foolish decisions not to invest more of themselves in their own education, and it is based on a false assumption that pervades public education: that all students actually believe their schooling is important.
Tort, Awesome point…You are so right…Sometimes I do not recognize the country we are living in anymore. i am 50…I have no clue how my children will be adults in this world and raise families of their very own. I am so concerned for them. The dumbing down of education did begin a long time ago. I enjoyed your post. (:
Tort and Sad Teacher…Diane Ravitch wrote in her book of 2010, about the Death and Life of the Great American School System. I used this book as a core reading in teaching a university course in 2011 on the Dumbing Down of American Education. I currently teach public policy courses in Lifelong Learning.
Even then, my senior students, many of them lawyers, refused to believe that societal inequality and vast poverty had much to do with failures in public schools. The general misinformation and the shaped linguistic messages by the Charter School group for investment profit, was imbedded in their brains…and of course, that meant that they too thought it was all due to bad, over paid, lazy, ignorant teachers.
This was the eye opener I needed to take a leave of absence from the university to form Joining Forces for Education to fight these robber baron harbingers of the death of public schools.
When media only presents a singular view, the public gobbles it up and uses Fox News and other misinformers to qualify their ignorant perceptions.
Ellen, thank you for your reply. I, too, read Dr. Ravitch’s book.
As a self-described political conservative, I find myself agreeing with Dr. Ravitch; however, what concerns me is that in trying to save these poor and disadvantaged students, we might be entitling them.
Wasn’t it the case that when immigrants came to America in the ’20’s through the ’30’s, that these children of poor immigrants learned to adopt to the ways of America? That they learned to speak the language? That they learned to put an effort into their schooling in order to break the cycle of poverty?
I find that this is missing and i am constantly being told by experts how I should teach; and their prescription is radically different, and thereby demands a higher cost, from the simplicity that I hearken back to.
The conservative reformers don’t really believe that it’s all about the teacher; they do believe it’s all about the UNION we belong to. For the reformers to believe that great teaching is the key, they would thus need to subscribe to a form of educational elitism, and that would require not mere mortals to teach children, but highly trained cognatively advanced specialists. And, what would such a highly trained cadre of professionals cost the taxpayer to subsidize their salaries?
When we kept it simple, when we made the students do the heavy lifting, we make it possible to hire and keep teachers who are: a) caring about children and b) loving teachingsand subject matter.
I don’t get many responses because I come across as a caveman; but I am a classicist–classical ideas never go out of fashion.
Tort,
RE; “The conservative reformers don’t really believe that it’s all about the teacher; they do believe it’s all about the UNION we belong to.”
Are conservatives aware that MANY of us teach in non union, red states and yet we are being subjected to the same “punishments”, “prescriptions” , “fixes” and other nonsense as the union teachers?
I don’t think it is really about unions.
BTW, Be reminded that the immigrants of the 20′ and 30’s were mostly white, European, Christians. In a generation, they were indistinguishable from other “americans”. Yes, many of them worked hard and earned success, but being caucasian and familiar with the dominant culture, religion does give one a leg up, lets admit it.
Also recall that this generation (and their descendants) would greatly benefit from the economic boom that followed.
Also, I work with current immigrants. On the whole, most of them do learn English and work hard. So so their families.
Thanks, Ang.
A big reason why I am posting here is to get some feedback on my thinking, identify reality, and adjust my attitude where needed.
If this is not about busting unions, then what is it? Please explain.
Are you a teacher?
Have you seen an improvement in the plight of “minorities” vis a vis attaining an education and improving their position in society since, say, the dawn of The Great Society?
I agree that the existence of poverty adversely impacts educational outcomes. Do you feel that in our attempts to accomplish an end to poverty, we may have contributed to an overall decline in public education?
I ask these questions because it seems like we have been fighting the war on poverty for decades now, but the quality of education has declined. Use of the word “declined” is fair since we wouldn’t be having a discussion about education if things were just fine. If Dr. Ravitch reads this post, I am sure she would note the lack of facts that I possess when I ask these questions. Still, they are my questions.
Thank you.
Tort and others,
Of course this is about busting unions. It’s also about getting rid of basic labor rights and collective bargaining. It’s about allowing minors to rule the lives of adults based on speculation, emotion, and who knows whatevber esle these attorneys and their posse bribied these students and their families with.
What this trial was NOT about was trying to answer the age old qeustions:
Why is there so much poverty in the US?
Why is poverty growing?
How does the current system we have in place with taxation affect poverty?
How do domestic and immigration policies affect poverty?
How does our military spending affect social contracts and poverty?
How does poverty impact the family as a social sub-unit and as a social institution?
Those, Tort, were never answered by Justice Treu and the plaintiffs.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx @Tort, re: your 3rd post “Have you seen an improvement in the plight of “minorities” vis a vis attaining an education and improving their position in society since, say, the dawn of The Great Society?… Do you feel that in our attempts to accomplish an end to poverty, we may have contributed to an overall decline in public education?”
You say you’ve read Diane’s book yet you still seem to buy the ‘failing American ed system’ mantra that’s been used to promote today’s tearing down of the public school system.
So a refresher:
this cite summarizes how Sandia Natl Labs’ study, commissioned by gov in ’80’s to find out why American students were failing per ‘A Nation at Risk’ found instead that American students (incl every ethnic group) were succeeding & uncovered the statistical errors that led to the previous report (the gov (delayed release of Sandia study until early ’90’s):
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/the-myth-behind-public-school-failure
this cite reveals statistics behind media reports of ‘ed failure’ which actually show ed success:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept94/vol52/num01/The-Media's-Myth-of-School-Failure.aspx
this cite, from this blog, recaps NAEP ed trends results, showing that large gains were made in all age & ethnic groups between 1971-2008, with scores becoming stagnant between 2008-2012 (read it however you like, but one reading might be that the ‘war on poverty’ succeeded well ed-wise until halted by current ed-reform policy):
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tort, on your third reply you ask “Have you seen an improvement in the plight of “minorities” vis a vis attaining an education and improving their position in society since, say, the dawn of The Great Society? in our attempts to accomplish an end to poverty, we may have contributed to an overall decline in public education?”
Quick refresher course on the purported 50-yr “overall decline in pub ed”:
this cite summarizes how Sandia Natl Labs’ study, commissioned by gov in ’80’s to find out why American students were failing per ‘A Nation at Risk’ found instead that American students (incl every ethnic group) were succeeding & uncovered the statistical errors that led to the previous report (the gov (delayed release of Sandia study until early ’90’s):
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/the-myth-behind-public-school-failure
this cite reveals statistics behind media reports of ‘ed failure’ which actually show ed success:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept94/vol52/num01/The-Media's-Myth-of-School-Failure.aspx
this cite, from this blog, recaps NAEP ed trends results, showing that large gains were made in all age & ethnic groups between 1971-2008, with scores becoming stagnant between 2008-2012 (read it however you like, but one reading might be that the ‘war on poverty’ succeeded well ed-wise until current ed-reform policies were well-ensconced):
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tort, in your 3rd reply down you ask, “Have you seen an improvement in the plight of “minorities” vis a vis attaining an education and improving their position in society since, say, the dawn of The Great Society? …in our attempts to accomplish an end to poverty, we may have contributed to an overall decline in public education?”
Quick refresher course on the supposed 50-yr ‘overall decline in pub ed’:
Yes! Magazine 2/21/14 summarizes how Sandia Natl Labs’ study, commissioned by gov in ’80’s to find out why American students were failing per ‘A Nation at Risk’ found instead that American students (incl every ethnic group) were succeeding & uncovered the statistical errors that led to the previous report (the gov (delayed release of Sandia study until early ’90’s).
ASCD, in its Sep ’94 vol 52 reveals the actual statistics behind then-(as now) widely reported media accounts of ‘ed failure’ which were in fact showing ed success.
Diane’s blog entry on 6/27/13 (the latest NAEP report – don’t believe what you read about it) recaps NAEP ed trends results, showing that large gains were made in all age & ethnic groups between 1971-2008, with scores becoming stagnant between 2008-2012 (read it however you like, but one reading might be that the ‘war on poverty’ succeeded well ed-wise until current ed-reform policies were well-ensconced).
Tort, part of the problem is that we no longer have as many of the stepping stones to advancement. We don’t have the middle class jobs that would sustain the middle class dream. I do believe that immigrants have a better chance to make it because they still believe but too many of their kids buy into the popular culture rather than their parents dreams. Depending on how and where you grow up, there is either a tendency to feel entitled “just because,” or hopeless. This summary is really an oversimplification. I am trying to cram too much in. Bottom line is upward mobility is getting more difficult and it is much too easy to be downwardly mobile.
Tort,
RE: but the quality of education has declined.
Disagree.
No evidence for this, really .
Re read Diane’s books. Look at scores through the lense of poverty. Check out the Sandia report. Learn about the limits of standardized testing.
Good luck on your quest.
I don’t think they are foolish — I think they are evil. They have the capacity to learn what the effects of their policies are yet they willfully ignore the effects in service of maintaining their ideology.
It’s all about money, power, and crushing other human beings under your feet on the way “up” to the top. It disgusts me.
Chris, You are so right. They are evil. I thought for a long time that Obama was the Anti-Christ. I am a Christian, and I honestly felt that way. There is so much evil around us. It is getting worse. Some people are getting meaner and meaner. I try so hard to protect my 2 children, and it is getting harder. I pray every morning for God to place his dome of protection around my 2 children and around all of my students and the children of our world. You are right though…it is downright evil . ..it is Satan’s agenda being carried out before our eyes.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx @ Tort — re: your 3rd post in this set, “Have you seen an improvement in the plight of “minorities” vis a vis attaining an education and improving their position in society since, say, the dawn of The Great Society?.. in our attempts to accomplish an end to poverty, we may have contributed to an overall decline in public education?”
Quick refresher course on “an overall decline in pub ed [since The Gr Soc]:
this cite summarizes how Sandia Natl Labs’ study, commissioned by gov in ’80’s to find out why American students were failing per ‘A Nation at Risk’ found instead that American students (incl every ethnic group) were succeeding & uncovered the statistical errors that led to the previous report (the gov (delayed release of Sandia study until early ’90’s):
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/the-myth-behind-public-school-failure
this cite reveals statistics behind media reports of ‘ed failure’ which actually show ed success:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept94/vol52/num01/The-Media's-Myth-of-School-Failure.aspx
this cite, from this blog, recaps NAEP ed trends results, showing that large gains were made in all age & ethnic groups between 1971-2008, with scores becoming stagnant between 2008-2012 (read it however you like, but one reading might be that the ‘war on poverty’ succeeded well ed-wise until current ed-reform policies were well-ensconced):
To Spanish and French Freelancer, thank you for taking the time to reply to a few of my posts.
You stated that I might be “buying” into the idea that public schools are failing, and then you included some links to studies that say the opposite.
I wouldn’t say I “bought” anything someone else has pushed on me, and I might add that it’s been four or more years since I read Diane’s book on “The Death and Life of…” I enjoyed the book and I consider the author to be a credible spokesperson for students and teachers. I know about “A Nation At Risk”, TIMSS, and the overall tenor of the discussion regarding public education; so I shall read the studies you have provided.
Still, based on my own experience in the classroom, I have seen a DECLINE in students’ math abilities over my career. Worse, I battle against the carefree and casual student attitude (in many, but not all students) that goes like this: “Well, I didn’t know how to do fractions, but I passed to the next grade. I didn’t know how to multiply or divide, but they passed me to the next level. I didn’t understand proportional reasoning, but they passed me to the next level. Why is this guy busting my balls to learn? I won’t do it.” I am not talking about poor minority students as I relate this to you, but middle class students. I am fighting against systemic problems, some being social and some in my profession.
My feelings about excellence could rightly be viewed as critical of the public school system, but it should not be considered condemnatory or insensitive to the plight of the poor or disadvantaged. I make this final comment not in reply to anything you have written, but in response to the general trend I find here as I have tried to relate what I see in the public education culture. I won’t even get started on the subject of administrative leadership.
Having said something about excellence, I find it brutally insulting that a judge, a David Welch, an administrator, or anyone else could possibly think I should be expected to succeed in making better students when the system is so fundamentally flawed.
I agree with you that there is a more casual attitude not just among students but among teachers toward becoming fluent with basic algorithms. I noticed it as more and more students became dependent on calculators to do simple calculations. That lack of fluency really affects their ability to handle more complex tasks. It’s kind of like what has happened with researching and writing papers. When the skills are introduced it is essential not let it turn into a cut and paste exercise. Articles that need to be thoroughly read are mined for details supporting a main idea found in the first paragraph of some other internet source. Learning to chew on ideas takes active engagement. Unfortunately, teachers are more and more tied to a schedule. The urgency of covering material can leave those who would benefit from more time behind.
Administrators often come into the classroom with a preordained mindset. In my district, they are looking for whole class checks, do nows, exit tickets and other assorted nonsense.
Hi NJ Teacher, Ohio teachers are urged to do all that silly stuff too. Get this….our new principal was overheard talking to her assistant principal . . that they were required to give so many of the top rating, so many of the middle rating, and so many of the lowest rating. Isn’t that sad? In other words, they already know who is going to get what rating even before they observe the teacher. The only thing that saves me is my test scores, because the new principals do not like me because I am getting older. I never had this happen until this year. I have always been very well liked and valued by my bosses. All of that can change overnight. The younger teachers do not realize that someday their excellent teaching, advanced degree work, and years of teaching will mean nothing.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx easy for me to chuckle as I don’t have to work with the blasted VAM, but my favorite ‘dumbing down’ aspect is: gifted students who score at the top 3 yrs in a row are ‘not improving’! sorry, your score goes down. >doh<
All of your comments are true Sad Teacher. Isn’t it sad that all of your years of effort have been ruined by the new reforms in education and the shabby treatment of teachers? The fact that the admin has predetermined evals is just plain sick. Why is there so much drama in education these days? What other profession sees such a cavalier treatment of their workers? What manager would treat their own employees with such little regard? I just keep wondering when teachers will finally stand up together as a group and help to put an end to this nonsense. I’m glad you have good test scores. These days that can save your career.
Dee Dee, Thank you so much for your kind response. Hasn’t this all gotten crazy? My good test scores are all I have, but, as we all know, your test scores are so dependent on the type of class you had that year. I had an awesome class this year. Next year I get a more street wise group, so the year will be a challenge. What we teachers go through…
For years we have been told what we will teach, but now we are told HOW we will teach it – or we will score low on that silly Marzano rubric. As you know, groups do not work for every concept we teach. My new evaluator this year demanded that everything be done in groups – everything. As you know, the lower and middle students sometimes makes the two highest kids in the group do everything. I just can’t get my good test scores with everything done in groups. I was severely marked down on my evaluation with being too much “teacher led” even when they were in groups. Finally, after the last silly walkthrough, I shut my classroom door until the last day of school. I moved my desks back into pairs, and my students and I hit Math concepts as hard as we could. Our test results came back in June, and our results were outstanding. However, the other half of my evaluation is low, due to being “too much teacher led”. Isn’t this the craziest thing you’ve ever heard?
I think it’s a very sad day in U.S. education that I have to shut my classroom door to correctly teach my students. They make teachers feel like they are breaking the law to directly instruct their kids. This new socialistic “Race to the Bottom” approach wants the teacher to walk aimlessly around the classroom just commenting and staying in the background, wasting time we teachers just do not have. I never in a million years thought I would see our careers in such a mess. Thanks again, Dee Dee. Diane’s blog helps me to cope in a profession gone bad. The misery index with PARCC next year will go through the roof for all of us, teachers and students alike.
It really is an Evil Agenda. Why was Ms. McLaughlin chosen to be the sacrificial lamb? There is a deliberate process behind this evil and targets are selected. Nothing is left to chance.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >posters, so sorry for all those repeats! something techie went nuts, apologies!<
Sad Teacher & kathyirwin– I have to disagree with assigning "evil" to the agenda or its perpetrators. God helps those who help themselves. Power-mongers & money-grubbers will always rush in when opportunity presents. It is on the citizenry that the checks & balances built into the system in the 1st 3/4 of the 20thc were torn down brick by brick over the last 35yrs. We opened up the doors, vote by vote.
I fully believe that the Vergara student “plaintiffs,” who were in name only, somehow hand-picked and inducted into being the face of this ridiculous lawsuit will, someday, realize the error of their ways. Perhaps when the monie$ their families were paid to entice them into participating have been blown and wasted, they will realize they were bought and sold, and a bit of shame will set in. Their participation solved nothing for them. Are they all now going to private preparatory schools on the dime of the millionaire(s) who funded the lawsuit? Have their parents moved on up to lavish homes or what? What has changed for these kids and their families through their lies?
I find it very difficult to believe these kids did it for nothing more than their belief that ineffective teachers are responsible for their intellectual lots in life.
Who would have thought that the very teacher being indicted by testimony would have been one who was elected teacher of the year, with video of her being praised by the same class of children, students, as the Vergara plaintiffs who lied that she is ineffective, incompetent, etc?
That whole verdict was bought. Trou should also be ashamed of himself. Wherever this suit comes alive again, this video should be bear witness to the lies being told.
I don’t like for kids to be picked on, or labeled, but perhaps these Vergara student plaintiffs are just dumb twits who will never make anything of themselves, and will continue to blame everyone for their lack of initiative and interest in learning anything. Shame on them and their parents that they allowed themselves to commit perjury and witch hunt, by other accounts, a very good teacher.
Donna…remember the California McMartin Preschool case where small children were brain washed for years into saying they participated in sexual Satanic rituals in their pre school. These plaintiffs destroyed the lives of the ruled innocent defendants.
Much the same is happening in Vergara. This case was planned years ago when these children were far younger, and the drumbeat had been inculcated into them for years. Their parents are to blame more than the young plaintiffs. MONEY and publicity reign. And the ignorant public eats it up…wanting to believe Hannity and Coulter rather than the award winning, proven capable, teachers.
As I have written many times, this case seemingly focuses on tenure, but that is tangential, and the real focus of the billionaires who are footing the huge bill, is on killing off teacher’s unions. And from there, all American unions. This is just a first step in their overall goal. That is why similar filings based on the precedent of this case, are being put forth in many other states.
Never forget, it is must easier to fool people than to get them to admit that they have been fooled. It’s nice to think that they’ll wake up all penitent and remorseful someday, but it isn’t very realistic.
“Never forget, it is much(sp?) easier to fool people than to get them to admit that they have been fooled.” Can I quote this?! It’s excellent!
Maybe they will see what they did wrong when they are adults, work, and try to survive in the world. It is disgusting to put hard-working people on trial like this. What is a “grossly ineffective ” teacher anyway? I picture a person who is out of it, the classroom is out of control, and she doesn’t grade or follow through with assignments. It is just disgusting to dirty someone’s reputation for your own twisted political gain. Ms McLaughlin, this must have been hell for you. I hope you have found peace and support in your life. Human beings deserve much more than this. I saw someone of t.v. say, “America has lost its conscience.” This case is just one example.
Hi Diane…I did not know any other way to contact you. I wanted to share the following with you…if you have any questions I would be happy to answer them…I guess one of the biggest disappointments is that NEA Management refuses to add a bullying policy to the bargaining agreement and we have grievances filed against several managers regarding this issue. They have also threatened to take away payroll deduction and other Union rights. We assist members everyday in the field with some of these issues and now we have to deal with NEA Management demonstrating behavior similar to confrontational Superintendents and School Boards. Thanking you in advance for whatever support you might be able to provide. Liz Picone Proud Member of AFSE! To all my NEA Delegate Friends… As educators gather in Denver for the NEA Representative Assembly they should be aware that the contract between NEA and their field staff expired on May 31st. On June 19, AFSE (the NEA Field staff union) was informed that with the expiration of the contract NEA will no longer honor those parts of the contract that don’t relate to the terms and conditions of employment. NEA doesn’t plan on being available to bargain until July 15 and 16, since they will be at the NEA RA in Denver. The bargaining climate at the table is much like the key issue AFSE members are dealing with at NEA Headquarters—a hostile working environment and bullying behaviors of some top level managers. A statement by the AFSE bargaining team describes the crisis: “It’s clear that management’s bargaining team no longer upholds union values or cares about worker rights and benefits. At the roots, it’s about respect, integrity, and the skills and professional judgment staff brings to the work.” Management’s anti-union proposals include many rollbacks such as an increase in health care prescription costs, passing costs of the Affordable Care on to employees, and the elimination of health care for retirees. Delegates to the RA should be concerned about this issue and they should make sure NEA management hears their concern.
I am hoping that your post will catch the eye of some of the more militant delegates to the convention. Rank and file should be made aware of how leadership is treating fellow union members.
FYI, The case of Christine McLaughlin has also been used by the plaintiffs to argue against the seniority system. In testimony as a defense witness, McLaughlin said she was pink-slipped four times in spite of being teacher of the year.
http://studentsmatter.org/ai1ec_event/vergara-trial-day-19/
When you get rid of seniority the staff turns on itself. The teachers turn against each other as a survival tactic. This is particularly true in schools that are struggling financially. It is counterintuitive to what one would want of any staff and school. It creates a toxic, cynical environment.
Dee Dee, You are totally right on this. My school system still has seniority, but with the new teacher evaluation system – I am already seeing teachers not sharing as much and
having just this cool, aloof attitude around one another. It is upsetting, because I always openly share all of my materials and offer anything I have. I worked with a brand new teacher this year, and she could not believe how giving I was to her. I gave her every single paper and activity from my curriculum. I always help others, because God has always sent me people to help me.
It is so hard to see how the “evil ones” have ruined our profession. I love my students, and I dearly love to teach them, but I cannot wait to get out of my profession in two years. I just can’t do the stress anymore. I am home for summer now, and I am beginning to feel so much better. I give this profession everything I have, and it’s not enough. The level of disrespect is alarming, and my paycheck never is bigger, even with all of the overtime we invest. My family is always so happy to get me back in the summer. We walk, we ride bikes, we watch movies, we cook, we play with the dog, we go shopping . . .It gets to the point that you just do not want to go back to all of that pain. Sometimes I think, just let them have it all. The art of teaching will be destroyed,…just like they’ve destroyed our world.
It’s the Big Lie. They had to target an effective, award-winning teacher or the story wouldn’t come off. You have to go big with a lie. Hitler knew this. As did every fascist/communist propaganda machine since.
My wife wrote about the Cultural Revolution in “Red Azalea”, and she has said that what is happening in America right now is no different—exactly as you say. She has also said that Americans will have to suffer horribly just like the Chinese did during Mao’s Cultural Revolution before they stop the madness and execute those who caused the suffering.
Lloyd, I want you to know that I love your posts. Your posts are so informative and interesting. Your insights on why our profession is experiencing so much suffering are very comforting to me. I am thankful that I found Diane’s blog. It has already helped my frustration so much. I now know that others are experiencing the very same issues that I am. I guess misery loves company. ha..ha..I might be able to change my name from Sad Teacher to Coping Teacher next school year. ha..ha..
I think the internet has helped prove the old saying that says, “no man is an island”. Once we share our thoughts and experiences, we become aware that we aren’t alone, and what is happening to us is happening to others.
Sad Teacher,
The reason I work so hard to provide the blog is because so many teachers have told me that they are happy to know they are not alone.
Please resist the urge to malign these kids. Teachers taking jabs at kids is a dead loser for us. We’ll get nowhere doing that. Pound away at the criminal cabal waging total war on public servants, but leave kids and parents alone. In fact, if teachers want the ghost of a chance in this fight, we have to align ourselves with parents every chance we get.
Andrew, you are right about taking jabs at children, but please tell me something–do you ever notice that students don’t sense any urgency about learning?
I do. Perhaps this sets in by high school, where I teach.
We cannot always entice the students to learn; they too must invest a sustained effort. It’s kind of like offering your child hamburger, but he says “Take it back; I want steak.” Old timers like me understand how spoiling the child and allowing him to be the boss ultimately leads to destruction of the social order.
What was wrong with the old model that said, go to class and learn–without demanding that the teacher placate your tastes. It’s as if we’ve come to conclude that children can’t measure up, so we give in to them. I refuse to believe this. E.D. Hirsch didn’t believe it either when he said that poor children would do better with conventional ways of teaching them: sometimes they just need to be quiet in class and work on acquiring knowledge first.
When I challenge students to a higher standard, they shrug and say, “Why?” And, they admit that being apathetic is okay because at no time in this debate will anyone ever focus on them. Students, if you ask them, admit complicity in the belief that “If we all don’t try, if we all fail, the teacher will get the blame.”
I’ve seen many a good teacher leave the profession because they cannot defeat this institutionalized attitude.
I truly feel sorry for these blessed little ones as forces beyond my control have played the “You-must-be-an-inspiring-teacher-where-students-will-eagerly-become-creative-critical-thinkers” tune. Of course, we know why reformers have capitalized on this tune, and why THEY also keep students and parents out of the debate: it makes the teacher vulnerable.
I think if the judge in the Vergara case knew more about this–if he saw through the hypocrisy of conservative reformers as people who profess to live by an individualist mentality of self-sufficiency and how their support of the Vergara plaintiffs so woefully contradicts that belief–he might have reconsidered his decision and nobody today would talking about Mrs. McLaughlin. Anyone who started teaching before 1980, and who wished to make it a career that would support their dreams, must be shaking their heads knowing that for teachers today, their dreams can be gone in a millisecond at the hands of an immature child.
We have no need to malign the children. We need to malign and expose the ruthlessly evil adults that use them as shields in service of their political ideologies and their greed. The adults are offensive and noxious and deserve to be ridiculed and publicly shamed. Kids are innocent. Period.
I agree: do not malign the children, but make student and parent accountability part of the discussion, especially before rash judicial or legislative policy enactment.
For the record, if you subscribe to Jean Jacques Rousseau’s romantic idealism, children are innocent.
If you subscribe to factual truth, all people are inclined to do wrong. Children might be naturally inquisitive, but they are not naturally inclined to go outside their comfort zone, preferring to take the easiest path to success rather than the only one that we must travel, and that is the difficult road.
Tor, I am a Roman Catholic and my faith informs my beliefs.I am no romantic.
I am also an experienced teacher who has devoted over 20 years of my teaching life to the children of the poor, primarily children of color and children who speak English as a second language. I have taught inner city children in NYC and suburban and rural poor children here in the South.
Some of your comments here border on racism and classism and that makes me extremely uncomfortable.
No child should be held accountable for the circumstances of his or her birth nor can any empathetic human being seek to punish or make a child suffer for being born poor, a speaker of another language, or to parents who have problems that the child cannot surmount.
Yet these positions are commonly accepted by conservatives today. Children are denied food because of their parents’ actions. Children are denied health care because of their place and circumstances of birth. Children are punished and ridiculed because they were born to the “wrong” families with the wrong amount of income.
I have spent and will continue spending what is left of my life fighting these injustice through my church and through my teaching career.
I do not subscribe to the mythical bootstraps philosophy that you seem to be advocating either. The poor of the past lived in a far different world than we do today. And many of them were light skinned. Racism is very real and I deal with the effects every day here in the deep south.
Generational poverty is very real and has long term effects on brain development and learning ability as is being discovered and verified by science every day.
There are things you say that I agree with. I am not opposed to accountability and responsibility. Just ask any of my former students and they will tell you how high I maintain my expectations.
But I do not believe that they should or could be expected to race against their white, wealthy counterparts who were birthed on home plate when they are not yet even allowed on the playing field due to their race, their poverty, their parents, and their limited life experiences.
You can’t cure generational poverty and its effects through cruelty or ignorance or by fiat, however inexpensive and appealing that might be to some people. It is a philosophy that certainly informs most of the current “reform” movement.
Chris, Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, I’ve come across some Roman Catholics who no longer believe in Original Sin.
As a practicing Roman Catholic, my heart and actions aspire to the Church’s social teachings. Just as the Church breathes with both lungs–mercy and justice–so too must I balance accountability and compassion when I teach and evaluate students. As for my comments “bordering on racism and classism,” I have not figured out how to bring disadvantaged students up from a Second Grade math level to a Grade Nine level, but I plod through the course with them and mete our mercy if necessary; and typically, many of these students are grateful that I wound up being their teacher. My reputation, especially with the downtrodden, speaks for itself.
Regarding how you feel about race and the “bootstrap philosophy,” I would recommend reading Thomas Sowell if you haven’t already. I hope he won’t get branded as a “conservative,” and therefore disregarded. Still, I don’t think my way of thinking magically cures the problems that you face; it just says that those who CAN learn need to pick it up so we can focus more on those who are disadvantaged. This might not be a part of your day to day experience, but it is what I have seen over 33 years. Truly, in my world, the CAN DO kids drain much too much energy from me, diverting my time and energy from the populations in my class that are woefully behind.
I admire you for working with children who are at a huge disadvantage. If I worked where you do, I hope I would operate the same way.
Tort, thank you for your thoughtful reply. I have read Thomas Sowell and I find him to be a crackpot libertarian who had no problem taking advantage of certain racial hands ups but begrudges them to anyone else. He recently wrote an insane article decrying the attempt to curb rape on college campuses as “lynchmob mentality” and it was little more than an excuse to call the president anything but human. He holds no water with me.
The parents of nearly all the children I have taught over the last 20+ years have loved their children. Almost all wanted a better life for their child. The few who weren’t able to care for their children were sad cases of failed humanity. Too many ailing grandparents are caring for grandchildren because parents are in jail or dead.
I talked with a woman last week who was undergoing chemotherapy and had lost nearly all of her hair. She cares for her 4-year old grandson, an adorable child with more energy than she can possibly handle yet she keeps on going, day after day, and will until the day she dies. How is she supposed to pull up the mythical bootstraps?
I have parents who face horrific choices on a daily basis. If they stay home with their sick child they lose pay and could be fired. If they risk leaving the child at home alone they will lost custody and face arrest. If they leave the child with a neighbor they risk the safety of the child being left with near strangers who may be doing illegal and immoral things when other adults aren’t around.
I’ve seen families go hungry for days at a time because one child has an asthma attack and the emergency room visit, medication, and loss of work hours has devastated the family budget.
My children may not know how to study or do school work so I teach them how to do these things. I understand your frustration with students who are far behind their peers; I face a similar quandary every year when half (more, most likely) of my students enter my room not being able to write their own name, not being able to count to 10, and not knowing the alphabet. I am expected to have them working at what for decade upon decade was once considered mid- to late-second grade levels but now, under CCSS, are called “rigorous” college- and career-ready standards.
The bootstraps/Horatio Alger myth has been exploded over and over again. Here is just one thoughtful article that does so:
“. . . according to the recent Pew Study on the American Dream, social mobility between the lowest levels of American society and the middle class is increasingly difficult, if not impossible. Specifically, the study found that while a large number of Americans (84 percent) have a higher family income than did their parents, those born at both the top and the bottom of the “income ladder” stay where they are from one generation to the next. What that means is that those who begin life wealthy pass that wealth, but those born at the bottom—in other words those who would typically be candidates for bootstrapping—are now more likely to stay there. This is particularly true for African Americans who are stuck at the bottom more than any other group and may even to fall farther behind from one generation to the next.”
My first year of teaching in the South Bronx I had a very bright student who came to school every day in a clean uniform with nicely styled hair and ready to learn. Yet she did not do the homework I assigned each day. When confronted with that fact she hung her head and remained silent.
I decided to accompany her and her brother to their apartment after school to talk to her mother. She agreed to take me with her. They lived in a studio apartment with no electricity, no furniture, and frequent gunshots from gang battles in the yard out front. They slept on piles of clothing in the floor. Her mother honestly admitted that she was a recovering crack addict and that she was required, by the city and federal government, to work in Manhattan, taking 3 trains and 2 busses each day, each way, to earn her food stamps and help with the rent, so she didn’t get home before dark each day.
With no electricity the girl could not see to do her homework because she had to take care of her little brother until her mother came home and she was afraid to go somewhere with light due to the gunfire. I have never forgotten the lesson I learned that day. The girl went on to win the end of year math award and a district math competition. I pray for her family still.
I reject my judgmental tendencies in myself. remembering that I don’t always know or understand what others go through in their quest to live meaningful lives.
It is sad, but we have it on good authority that the poor would always be with us. Your commitment to the poor makes you a faithful servant. Some of us haven’t seen this to a comparable degree throughout our teaching careers. Belief in “bootstraps” does not equate to racism; but I have seen the use of the word “racist” carelessly leveled at anyone who would like to try empowerment. So, racist, no; slightly naive, perhaps.
As I tried to communicate before, it would be nice if there were a true culture of academic excellence, at least where I work. This is non existent because there are too many things competing with academic excellence…too many smokescreens, and a genuine downward leveraging in academia compounded by mandates, not suggestions, that we teach in ways that are arguably beneficial for our students. That being said, too much energy is expended getting the masses who can achieve to actually do it; and that makes it almost impossible to tend to the truly needy. As others have been telling me lately, and as I now really am beginning to understand, I am powerless to control what is happening. For someone like me, that can be frustrating.
But, we didn’t opine on this blog to discuss teaching, but to discuss the forces manipulating us and the system.
Thank you for sharing your views and your story.
Chris, You are so right. Your posts touch my heart. People would be very surprised to know that there are middle class families (that you would NEVER suspect) that are having trouble putting meals on the table. Like Diane has said over and over again, this is all about poverty, nothing else. Everyone is doing the best they can in a world where gas and a gallon of gas is pushing $4 a gallon. Thank you so much for all of your posts. I really enjoy reading them. (:
I meant where a gallon of milk and a gallon of gas are both pushing $4! My husband said that we would all get a raise if we could get our gas cheaper. But, of course, Obama will not sign legislation which would help our suffering.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tort, teachers like you (& they are many) should not have their freedom to establish a classroom environment of high academic expectations hampered and micromanaged by politicians mandating the meaning/ curriculum/ associated pedagogy for attaining academic excellence. Judges should not be countermanding the local district’s determination that an individual is not in fact excellent under any circumstances, let alone in some suit regarding the political merits of tenure.
Chris in Fla and Tort,
Original sin = utter and sheer nonsense.
And no I don’t subscribe to the theory that just because it’s a tenet of someone’s religion (in this case Catholic of which I know plenty having been brought up in Catholic schools K-12) that we have to tread lightly on falsehoods that are religious beliefs. And original sin is one of those “original” falsehoods.
If I may suggest a book, Andre Comte-Sponville’s “A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues” (which I believe all educators should read and understand and put into practice with the last part being the hardest).
Tort,
“. . . but we have it on good authority that the poor would always be with us.”
And that particular religious belief is quite appalling as it serves to excuse the very human actions that cause poverty. “Oh, that’s just the way it is because Jesus said so”. Hogwash, and that’s being nice.
Yes, I think the Gates Foundation was on to something with that whole “tripod” concept. Learning is a shared responsibility between the teachers, the parents, and the students. If the Vergara plaintiffs had a bad year, it is only fair to examine all three legs of the tripod.
“Yes, I think the Gates Foundation was on to something with that whole “tripod” concept. Learning is a shared responsibility between the teachers, the parents, and the students.”
Really? The Gates Foundation JUST DISCOVERED that “llearning is a shared responsibility between the teachers, the parents, and the students.
Some other news JUST DISCOVERED by the “Gates Foundation”…
— Amelia Earhart is missing
— professional wrestling is all fixed and staged
— water is wet
— sugar is sweet…
… and on and on…
It’s morally wrong and politically stupid to go after kids. Period.
I would like to know how this student and her family, along with the other students and their families, decided to become plaintiffs in this suit. Were they promised some kind of tangible benefit for doing so?
Did anyone counsel the familes and students that acting out of personal disappointment at a lower grade or a perceived slight by a teacher could have grave consequences for the teacher? Those are reasonable questions.
I agree with reasonable questions to get at the reason for these kids being witnesses for billionaires who want to destroy the public schools, teachers and teacher unions.
I also think that reasonable adults will understand if teachers want to know all the details behind what’s going on with these kids and their parents.
Of course, there will be some belligerent parents who hate teachers and public schools that will be critical even if teachers do nothing. If teachers stay silent and don’t investigate every fact that possibly can be discovered about these witnesses and parents and their invisible links to the billionaires, the criticism will be that our silence is proof that we are all incompetent.
I suspect, that the least these kids were offered, was a full-ride college scholarship that will be paid for through a nonprofit somehow connected to the billionaires. A really good investigative journalist will eventually discover the bribe and that person may be a teacher who is retired or still teaching. You can bet that the someone working for the billionaires will have orders to make it difficult to trace the money directly to the money man.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx There will always be pols & their hired shysters who gin up a suit in an attempt to impose some scurrilous agenda, paying off witnesses to mount the suit. That they can win such a suit– as opposed to having it thrown out as frivolous, please reimburse others’ legal expenses– reveals something rotten in the legal system. Either the state laws which pertained were lousy but tied the judge’s hands, or the judge is crooked too.
Don’t jab the parents? Are you kidding? They should be ashamed.
So let me get this straight…
When we watch the promotional videos for charter schools and so many times the students are giving what to all appearances are scripted responses with flat expressions on their faces and little or no emotion in their voices, or we see frenetic don’t-mess-with-me Teaching-Like-A-Champion acolytes doing their Edu-Calisthenics on a bunch of little tykes, or way too often simply lukewarm so-so teaching that masquerades as the greatest thing since sliced bread and the invention of fire—
That’s cage busting achievement gap crushing 21st innovation a la self-styled “education reform”?
😱
And “obviously” something about a public school and a public school teacher and public school students that shows heart and soul and genuine caring and learning… Who in their right mind could Rheeally believe that?!?!?!?
I mean, only haters—Haters I tell you!—could possibly disagree with the Chairman, er, with the BBBBC [= BusyBody Billionaires Boys Club] and their educrat enablers and edubully enforcers that the above video is self-serving propaganda because it is not NCTQ approved!
😏
But then, faced with such a glaring contradiction between their videos and others, Bill Gates and Arne Duncan and Michelle Rhee and Wendy Kopp and the rest of the education status quo will stand firm on their Marxist principles:
“Who are you gonna believe, me or you own eyes?”
Obviously Groucho, the famous one.
¿? Oh darn, another edufraud at work. That was Chico, dressed up as Groucho. But then, when it comes to $tudent $ucce$$, two wrongs make a right, right?
😎
So then the CTA lawyers need to make this the centerpiece of the appeals process. If a teacher of the year can be accused of being a “bad teacher” then it is quite obvious wee need protections.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Looks to me like a power struggle between municipality & state. Municipality says, here’s one of our best teachers; state says what you say doesn’t count in fact we’ll use your ‘best teacher’ to show the power is with us, not you.
We always wonder, when taught it class, how the people of Salem could have fallen for the accusations of a middle school girl. Hmmmm I wonder? This is what history in the making looks like, and I don’t mean good history. This is the kind we cringe over later…ahhhh how could we have been so gullible and dumb?
Everyone is not gullible and dumb. Just enough to cause trouble and suffering for others.
Abraham Lincoln said it best: “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
Eventually, there will be fewer fools and rational people will represent the majority but some fools must learn to be rational first.
“Eventually, there will be fewer fools and rational people will represent the majority but some fools must learn to be rational first.”
And the first step in that process is to get rid of all the tax subsidies, abatements, tax-free status of all religious organizations so that they too can attempt to survive in that vaunted free market place of intellectual ideas.
Good ideas but the lobbyists are out in force to make sure such ideas never bloom. Lobbyists are the Agent Orange of America. They are toxic. The cause cancer, etc.
Exactly. I would not discount the girl’s testimony or not hold her accountable for lies and distortions simply because she’s a student.
From the philosoper Agent K,
“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.”
Men in Black was real, right?
This stuff happens in schools all across America.
More reminiscent of the witch hunt in “The Crucible.”
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx It’s not only about gullibility & failure to exercise intelligence, it’s about power. When $ is tight & jobs scarce, people get scared & angry & hunting for quick solutions. Add a void of power at the top: that would be a gridlocked congress & a pres who talks jobs but acts in concert with corporate forces outsourcing jobs & not paying into the public goods purse. The void of power is grabbed at the state level. Quick fixes are advertised whose agenda is to remove local power. That’s your Vergara case.
How we assess teachers has no bearing on how good a teacher they are. Often kids progress, or lack thereof, is based on their not being in the class for the total year, or based on whther or not they jumped 4 or 5 grade levels and were not yet proficient.
Details of this problem and how to base assessment on an even playing field is in my upcoming book, Brainstorming common Core ( emphasis on storming). So many issues from the past are debunked and replaced with real reform.
Go to http://www.wholechildreform.com to watch for release date
ooops Cap Lee
Administrators have been doing this to teachers for years and getting away with it. In many school districts around the country, these administrators–supervisors and managers–have bargaining units or unions. This needs to be made illegal because they are management. They already have enough power as it is by virtue of being managers and are not supervised closely without having another layer of protection making it all but impossible to fire them.
Teachers are easily disposed of–principals are not. That is fact.
Some definitions to explain the post:
“Ineffective teacher”–1) one who costs too much money 2) is over 50 years old 3) makes his or her students do their work 4) advocates for students 5) refuses to follow illegal directives 6) refuses to sleep with principals or other supervisors
“Teacher of the Year”–kiss of death for teachers’ careers
Here’s the trial transcript that includes McLaughlin’s testimony. Probably easiest to find the relevant sections by searching on “McLaughlin” and “Monterroza”.
Another question to consider is what do these teacher of the year awards from places like Rotary Club and the Masons or even within one’s own district mean? Most of the time they are popularity contests and have nothing to do with teaching. Looking back, some of my most strict teachers who never let up on me were my best teachers and never received any awards. As a principal, I had to watch new superintendents swoop in and give awards to horrible teachers for their own popularity and to get favor from the union. There are so many complicated issues here and to jump to a comparison with China is just not, in my opinion, fair.
The point, perhaps, is there are children in the class, enthusiastically participating, and giving their opinions that they enjoy that class, that teacher, and their opinion of her is positive. Now, one could say “they’re on film; their not telling the truth” but that is belied by their actions during the class. They are engaged and participating.
The girl who testified she was ineffective was stunned that her lies were disproven on film – no other reason. She may not have know that such a film existed, and she was embarrassed more than anything. A class full of students were engaged and learning with this teacher, yet she said this teacher was what…awful? Terrible? Horrible? Ineffective. She learned nothing in her class. THAT was the smoking gun for her – a film with other students contradicting her testimony. Shame on her.
“they’re” not “their”….telling the truth
Public shaming of teachers. Wow. That’s something to model for kids.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Agree wholeheartedly, Ludwig. That the state used such tactics is just another among many evidences that this is not about ed or helping kids. If someone didn’t already get that.
Everything now is about blaming the teacher. Students now have this as an excuse. It is pathetic.
wdf1: thank you for the link.
*Note: where did you find this link? Is there a website that lists and provides links to all the Vergara testimony?*
The PDF file is 106 pages. I used the find feature to locate “McLaughlin” and “Monterroza” as suggested. “McLaughlin” came up 25 times, first time on p. 68, and “Monterroza” came up 8 times, first time on p. 76.
As a service to those in favor of a “better education for all” I will transcribe a little of the testimony.
On p. 68, in response to the question “Why did you get into teaching?” Ms. McLaughlin responds:
“Well, it’s a long story, but basically I always wanted to be a teacher. It always seemed appealing to me. Unfortunately, the lure of a job right out high school caught me up, and then I began to work for these nonprofit organizations. And as I moved up, I took on more and more responsibility, and one of those was training. And I began to realize that I really did love teaching and training and had gifts for that, and so eventually went back to pursue that original dream.
Q And why was that an original dream?
A There is just something exciting to me about helping a child or even an adult learn something new. There is just an exciting process for me to be involved in that.
Q And was there something about your own experience that caused you to fell that way?
A Yeah. When – – or yes. Excuse me. When I was a sophomore in high school, I had an English teacher who, even though my grades didn’t show it, believed that I and great potential, and she recommended me for the (p. 69) A.P. courses.”
On p. 73, in response to the question “Why did you begin your career in Pasadena?” she responds:
“I have a strong belief that people should give back to their communities and I grew up in Pasadena. I attended Pasadena schools. And I believe that gives me deep insight into our kids. I grew up in a single-family home, struggled with the same issues that the kids in Pasadena struggle with, and it helps me to relate to that.”
P. 74, in response to a question about getting pink slips re RIF statutes:
“Q And when was the first time you got a pink slip?
A My first year.
Q How many have you gotten since you’ve been working in Pasadena?
A Four.
Q Did you ever actually suffer a loss of employment after having gotten a pink slip in Pasadena Unified?
A No.” [see following pages re job security and mortgage and the like]
In the middle of the ‘course syllabus’ kerfuffle is the following on pp. 78-79:
“”Mr. Mongas: I’m sorry. Mr. Rothner’s argument, counsel’s argument, that Raylene identified Miss McLaughlin as a bad teacher, ineffective teacher, she actually said that she didn’t say that. She never identified Miss McLaughlin as a grossly ineffective teacher. She said she wasn’t as good as other teachers she had, not the best exactly was her line. So this line of inquiry into rehabilitating Miss McLaughlin’s character seems to be completely (p. 79) irrelevant and a waste of the court’s time under 352.”
On pp. 90-91 [brackets mine]:
“Q By Mr. Rothner: Did Raylene Monterroza complete all of the must-do homework assignments in your eight-grade [sic] English class?
A No. (p. 91)
Q Based upon your observation of Raylene Monterroza’s performance in your class, do you believe that she put forth her best efforts in that eighth-grade English class in school year 2010/2011?
Mr. Monagas: Objection, your honor. It calls for speculation. It’s also a leading question.
The Court: Leading. Sustained.
Q By Mr. Rothner: Would you — do you have an opinion about Raylene Monterroza’s performance in your eighth-grade English class that year?
A Yes.
Q And what’s your opinion.
Mr. Monagas: Objection, your honor. Relevance.
The Court: Overruled.
Mr. Monagas: It’s vague and ambiguous.
The Court: Overruled. Go ahead.
The Witness: It was – – it was less than her best.”
Many other points, but the transcript itself is not difficult to read.
😎
It looks like there are a lot of transcripts that haven’t been posted on that site, but here’s a site-specific search that likely turns up all the ones that have been posted there:
http://tinyurl.com/neq9pkt
We teachers are dangerous folk. We are often targeted by those in power. There are two films I often showed my students in my Spanish classes which demonstrated this dynamic well.
One is called “Veronico” and it takes place in a remote impoverished Argentine village high in the Andes at the beginning of the 70’s in the period called “The Dirty War”. The school has been closed for some time before “el maestro” arrives. (He has no other name, just his title.) One of his students is Veronico, whose mother had died giving birth to him and who has been raised by his grandmother. Although initially suspicious of this outsider, the grandmother allows Vero to attend school, where he flourishes and his teacher nourishes in him an unlikely love for the sea. When the grandmother dies, el maestro sets off to find out what has happened to Vero’s father, a union organizer. This sets him afoul of the junta, even in this remote province.
The second is called in Spanish “La lengua de la mariposa” (The Tongue of the Butterfly – titled just “Butterfly” in English. It is set in a small town in Galicia, Spain at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. A sickly young boy begins school with an elderly teacher and finds the natural world opened to him. As the military moves to consolidate its power, the old gentleman is targeted as a Communist, and his student is forced to choose between his family and his dear friend.
Both films are lyrical demonstrations of the love that can blossom between student and teacher. Both show the magic that can occur in a classroom when there is mutual respect and a shared passion to teach and to learn. Ms. McLaughlin would recognize herself in both these teachers.
Arne Duncan wouldn’t have a clue.
I have added both films to my list of ones that I must see. Thank you for the recommendations!
The titles:
Verónico Cruz: La deuda interna
La lengua de las mariposas
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx thanks. added these to my ‘movies for older kids’ file
The whole trial was based on made up statistics, made up problem teachers and made up testimony by students. It is smoke and mirrors, and the cherry on the top of it all was the judge’s made up decision. He isn’t able to see through the smoke and mirrors? I think not. He’s to savvy for that. He’s seen to much and had to determine truth from falsehood too many times. So I have to wonder, why he did it? Why he based It on testimony from two professors with admittedly made up statistics. Did he have another agenda, another reason to go that way, another influence?
I was so surprised to hear of this post regarding the case and my involvement. I want to point out two important facts that might add additional insight into this case.
1. The case was a lawsuit against the State and lawmakers, not individual teachers. The teachers listed in the student’s testimony were pawns in this process. I was sadly one of those pawns.
2. Miss Monterroza stated that every teacher she had in PUSD from 5th through 9th grade were “bad” teachers. Except one! The one that recruited her to join this lawsuit. He had his agenda because he was RIFed and he did not like the system. I was moved into his position ( I was RIFed that year too).
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx So good to hear from the subject herself! Welcome. But your post poses more questions (admit I haven’t read the transcript): a witness claiming that she had all bad (except one) teacher in 5 yrs– the testimony strains credulity. One might think that on the strength of your award-winning career alone, the testimony would be easily discredited. Was the testimony discredited, and the suit won anyway for other factors?
One must take this type of anecdotal evidence with a grain of salt, as some students have difficulty accepting responsibility for their own successes and failures, and this can lead to acts of petty vindictiveness against their teachers.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Obviously. So why wasn’t it? In a court of law, no less. I would like to know whether the case was won on the strength of such [dubious & easily countered] testimony, or whether perhaps it was won on other grounds. I’m wondering whether the CA state laws on the books perhaps are so poorly written or even slanted against teachers & their unions that the judge “had to” rule with plaintiffs.
FLERP!: thank you for the 10 links to Vergara testimony.
Below I provide them, with extremely brief [and surely, in some cases] incomplete info re what witnesses are on them; I apologize in advance for any outright errors.
***CAVEAT: each is marked “uncertified rough-draft transcript.”***
http://www.vergaratrial.com/storage/documents/2014.01.29._Rough_am_session.txt [John Deasy]
http://www.vergaratrial.com/storage/documents/Vergara_Transcript_3_5_14_.pdf [Christine McLaughlin & others]
http://www.vergaratrial.com/storage/documents/2014.02.10_Rough_am_session_1.txt [Dr. Daniel Kappenhagen & Maggie Pulley (& others?)]
http://www.vergaratrial.com/storage/documents/2014.01.31_Rough_am_session.txt [Troy Christmas (and others?)]
http://www.vergaratrial.com/storage/documents/2014.01.28_Rough_am_session.txt [John Deasy#2]
http://www.vergaratrial.com/storage/documents/2014.01.30_Rough_am_session.txt [Raj Chetty—the one I already have via another URL]
http://www.vergaratrial.com/storage/documents/2014.02.10_Rough_pm_session.txt [Joe/Jose Macias and Branden DeBose]
http://www.vergaratrial.com/storage/documents/2014.01.29._Rough_pm_session.txt [JohnDeasy#3]
http://www.vergaratrial.com/storage/documents/2014.01.28_Rough_pm_session.txt [JohnDeasy#4]
http://www.vergaratrial.com/storage/documents/2014.02.13_Rough_am_session.txt [Goldhaber and Arun Ramanathan]
You will notice that four of them concern largely, or completely, John Deasy, LAUSD Superintendent. Christine McLaughlin is the subject of this posting. Dr. Raj Chetty—the transcript is clearer than the one I have used in previous comments. Joe/Jose Macias is the father of a Vergara plaintiff; Brandon DeBose is a student and plaintiff. Troy Chistmas is the Oakland Unified School District Director of Labor Strategy. Bill Kappenhagen is the principal of the Phillip and Sala Burton Academic High School in San Francisco; he began his career in education as a 1996 TFA corps member. Maggie Pulley is a teacher at California Virtual Academies. Dr. Daniel Goldhaber is the Director of the Center for Education Data & Research, and a Professor in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, Bothell. Dr. Arun Ramanathan is the Executive Director of Education Trust—West.
Note: I went to StudentsMatter for almost all the above info. Go to the link below for more complete descriptions—
Link: http://studentsmatter.org/evidence/
Why do I provide all this?
“Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.” [Frederick Douglass]
😎
Can’t believe I wrote this 4 year ago: http://accomplishedcaliforniateachers.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/the-american-version-of-the-cultural-revolution/
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Very interesting. So it appears that perhaps there was an era– lying somewhere between my primary/jr high ed in the ’50’s & ’60’s & the present– when Afro-American history & culture was actually taught in public school? That was one of the things we hippie adolescents were demonstrating for in the late ’60’s– it actually happened?
Apparently per your blog it was killed by 2010, at least in California. You’ve given me another piece of evidence for my conviction that the politics/culture of today (& past decade+) is one big backlash against the ’60’s.
This is a test case – certainly not the end and this has everything to do with charter schools, curriculum, and union busting. Ms. McLaughlin and the other defendants are very courageous people and I only hope more pressure will be brought to bear on politicians to protect government employees and whistleblowers from dishonest retaliation.
Ms. Monterozza was most probably handsomely paid by Mr. Welch’s organization, as were tha other plaintiffs.
Thank you for identifying the contradictions in how Christine McLaughlin was portrayed in the Vergara trial. I know Christine, and I was shocked to learn that she was named in the lawsuit. Her Teacher-of-the-Year award is well-deserved. An additional observation should be made about the pink slips she received. For the past many years since Christine began teaching, the Pasadena Unified School District — along with the majority of California districts — has been in financial crisis. Pink slips were routinely handed out each Spring in a desperate attempt to balance projected budgets in the face of shrinking resources and declining enrollments. Good teachers, like Christine, who could wait out the summer of uncertainty were usually re-hired — because they were recognized as good teachers. During this same period, however, there were also a number of situations where unhappy students and parents successfully targeted teachers and administrators they didn’t like — much as they did to Christine. And for many reasons, they have not been effectively challenged.
Obviously contradictions exist in how teachers and schools in the district are perceived by parents. In fact one of the most innovative recent film projects supportive of public education was produced by PUSD parents who documented the lives of 50 subjects in 28 schools over the course of a a single school day. “Go Public: A Day in the Life of an American School District” is currently being shown on PBS stations around the country. Short video profiles of district teachers, students, parents, staff and administrators which were woven into the feature length documentary are posted online at http://www.gopublicproject.org. This represents another, positive side to the story that the Vergara trial didn’t or wouldn’t consider.
My question is … Which year was the plaintiff in that teacher’s classroom? Teachers have bad years, was she in her class as a new teacher? Was she in her class these years the teacher won awards? I think it make a difference if she were in her class prior to the teacher winning acalades.
“Accolades” – Usually a teacher doesn’t win “Teacher of the Year” for best test scores that year like a rookie of the year wins for most goals or points in sports. It’s because that teacher has a body of work that spans several years. This plaintiff states her age as 16 (sophomore or junior), and says she had Ms. McLaughlin in 8th grade. Being the fact that Ms. McLaughlin was awarded “Teacher of the Year” in 2013, that would assume at the least it was awarded for school year 2012-13. It’s 2014 now, which would put plaintiff a year prior or actually the year Ms. McLaughlin scored her awesome test scores to win the Teacher of the Year award.
The girl was a pawn for people who want to vilify teachers.
I know this teacher…I’ve met her at multiple teacher trainings as she and others like myself strive to better ourselves in our profession to impact our students in positive ways. This saddens my heart immensely.
http://www.frequency.com/video/testimony-of-raylene-monterroza-vergara/149898990/-/5-460 If you would like to watch the video of Raylene’s testimony in which she talks about her teachers and Ms. McLaughlin check it out on the link above.
Sad that it all comes down to money and persecution of those who stand against corruption.
Sad that it is all about money and those that stand against corruption are persecuted.
Ms.Monterroza is the reason all teachers NEED tenure protections. The other students are lying about how great the teacher is… Not her. She has no axe to grind here. Everyone is supposed to just take the word of that one student and disregard all the other evidence. This happens daily when a teacher is in a classroom 45 minutes at a time with students that may not get their own way and then accuse the teacher of being ineffective. Without tenure how many teachers do you plan to throw away before every student gets the one they want?
Ms. McLaughlin is an amazing teacher. She taught me my 5th grade year at Webster Elementary. It was her first year teaching. She did an amazing job with us. She’s the teacher that helped me with my writing skills when I knew I lacked them. Anyone saying she is “grossly ineffective” is very incorrect. She’s a dedicated and hard working teacher that would do anything for her students. I love her❤️
Ms. McLaughlin? Whoever is that student she doesn’t have the ability of Education. Ms. McLaughlin was my Daughter’s Teacher at Daniel Webster Elementary School in Pasadena (5th Grade) she deserves to be Teacher of the Year, everything is a lie, I believe my eyes and my ears and the experience that I had with this lovely Teacher who has dedicated her life to educate young boys and girls and give them all the best, we are with you Ms. McLaughlin to the end, and thank you for teaching my daughter and many other students.
Miss. Monterozza was a former student of Ms. Mcalaughlin’s 4 years ago, when we were in 8th grade. Miss. McLaughlin was also my teacher that year and I definitely would describe her as “grossly ineffective”. Strict, sure, but Arlene was one of those students that couldn’t care less about their education at that time in our lives.
My mistake, I WOULDN’T describe her as grossly ineffective.
This is very obviously a cooked up case being driven by parental agenda with strong business ties http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/teacher-tenure-case-now-turns-defense
The video clip is terrifying but not far from the reality so many of us face everyday. Teachers have parents and students who accuse us of all sorts of stuff and vilify us.
The child comes to class and, as children will, wants to make Mom or Dad happy by painting a picture of a horrible teacher to the parents. Kids try to deflect the blame for their lack of effort to the teacher.
How many teens recognize “great” teaching? How many parents understand what goes on in a classroom of 33 teenagers and one teacher? It just blows my mind that the most complaints come from the more affluent families who, due to their higher social position and the sucking up by the community, actually think they and their kids are as wonderful as everyone says they are. Not to mention prior teachers who gave out great grades so the parents wouldn’t go after them.
Depending on who your administrators are, a teacher can either be left to mercy of a whisper campaign, with no one to defend them or the accusations are “investigated” and even though are found false-no one trumpets that around the community!
I remember the accusations against a family, the McMartins, who ran a preschool years ago who were accused of satanic rituals, sexual abuse and other horrific things by children pushed by parents and community members. It was studied and analyzed in psychology and sociology courses for years to come, no evidence was found for any of the accusations after years of trials.
I shudder to think about what will happen if the current national hate mongering and hysterical accusations against public school educators continues. I have had teens angry about low grades blame me when they know in their heart they did not do enough work to earn a higher grade.
Parents accused another teacher who was wonderful, had won awards, and had prior students who would come back and visit and thank him for being such a terrific influence in their lives. They said he was a horrible teacher, made public accusations in church and at family gatherings and it spread. Facebook was used to “document” his “bad” teaching and the public comments made him so depressed. None of it was true but he was told there was nothing he could do and the school couldn’t do anything because of “free speech”, he was told “It will blow over, these parents pick one teacher to go after every year.” They were able to do so much damage. He is now treated like an untouchable since everyone heard the rumors of his being horrible but no one in admin said anything in his defense. Other teachers shun him, fear of association, and others suffer similar situations. His goal is to retire as soon as he can then get a job working at Home Depot for his”Golden Years”!
This is just an example of how you can “prove” anything with cherry picking taken to a ridiculous extreme.
Such “evidence’ should have been laughed right out of court by the judge.
The Chetty et al claims were also effectively based on cherry picking. That and the very elementary misconception that “correlation = causation”
In a rational world, what people would be focusing on here is the fact that the economics department at one of our nation’s “top” universities (Harvard) is awarding tenure to folks with no clue about basic statistics — and no clue how to actually think.
And this is hardly an anomaly — hardly the first time the Harvard economics department has produced flawed analysis (aka garbage)
Maybe it’s actually a requirement for getting tenure…