A teacher in Cheatham County, Tennessee, sent me this article about the unusual exodus of teachers from the county’s schools. Twenty-five percent of the staff have resigned in the past year, including the football coach and the basketball coach (whose teams had good seasons).
There is a local school board meeting tonight to hear all sides. Parents and citizens should show up and get involved. Learn what is happening in your local schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I think the school board meeting happened last night (Monday). Based on an interview with one of the resigned teachers on their local news, it seems that teachers were being targeted for speaking out about things like not having textbooks until three months after school started.
It is this kind of standing up for kids that teachers ought to be supported for.
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Cindy, I received the request just an hour ago. Sorry that it was posted too late to help.
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This rate of teachers resigning is typical at most charter schools.
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Yes, the story reminds me of working in a charter school. Bullying and ignoring staff is common. Not having the correct supplies for students is also a problem. The school district should mirror our democracy. Now it seems to be an example of authoritarianism.
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Oh, so these teachers really were for the kids?
Michelle Rhee would probably think not.
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A similar exodus is happening in East TN. Teachers who advocate for their students and schools or question their evaluations are fired. Some have received do not hire in TN notices in their personnel files.
I think the corporate reformers are perfectly satisfied that experienced educators are leaving in droves. The goal is to culturally cleanse schools of educators who had autonomy over curriculum and were tenure protected when they protested poor teaching conditions. All authoritarian regimes systematically work to erase institutional memory- it’s creative destruction of our minds.
They can replace the ‘haters’ with young, compliant teachers who will never experience what it’s like to advocate for students who have no books, or whose bathrooms overflow, or whose roofs leak or who play on asphalt. Mass retirement opens the market for TfA, short-termers that fits nicely with Huffman’s plan to cut teacher salaries and raises for advanced degrees. What corporate reformer wants to keep incentives for teacher longevity if the ultimate goal is teacher churn?
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I think the young ones will burn out quickly. This type of environment is awful. I think this will actually help to wake people up. I think a counter-movement will build. I hope it happens soon. Anyone who thinks this will help education is really fooling themselves. Isn’t it funny how the Duncan doesn’t even give a hoot about the professionals. You’d think the Ed. Sec. would view this with alarm. Disgusting.
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DeeDee, I wish you were right, but many people in the state don’t even know about it and if they do they do not have any hard evidence of why the teachers left. I and my Organization are looking for any of the teachers who were on the leaving list to come to our meeting and work with us to educate the population and the Legislators. We had a Common Core hearing in Nashville at Capital Hill and we had no teachers/resigned teachers who would stand up and give their testimony! We really needed it in order to get CC out of our state. We are still working, but really need some help from the teachers. People will listen to the teachers. I personally am looking for a teacher/retired/resigned to come into my home and home-school my 3 children maybe later this school year 4 children. Contact me on FB if you can help or know someone who would like to.
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How can one find out if a “do not hire in TN” notice is in my file?
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The school director, in my opinion, is obviously the man at the top of the totem pole and from his comment, it appears as if he does not treat teachers with respect..
1. Where did he get his PHD.??????..does not sound like they taught him how
to work AS A TEAM MEMBER WITH TEACHERS
2. I am not from your state and would definitely not want to work for anyone l with an attitude such as this person reaps…..but..I can say..I know of teachers that have worked for someone like him ………and he had a fake PHD from a diploma mill…and he harassed his teachers …and they caught him stealing money by turning in a fictitious moving company.
3. Karma is a b*tch…
4. These so-called leaders of education that treat there teachers inhumane will eventually be ousted out.
5. .Teachers vent…will continue to vent when things are not right..Sort of like those whistle blowers…They will vent..They have a right to vent…If my child had to wait 3 months to get a book, I would be at your doorstep…
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oooops their teachers
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So given abuses that sometimes occur in school districts, perhaps there should be options about how to organize public school governance…oh yes there are! There are examples of both district & chartered public schools where the people running the schools are teachers.
http://hometownsource.com/2013/03/06/a-book-about-trusting-teachers-draws-praise-from-educators-and-activists/
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It’s called the federal take over of education. Common Core. Teachers will be phased out as part of the agenda. They want robots to create the new wave of obedient slaves to global citizenship.
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Many teachers are leaving because of the new evaluations and the inability to obtain tenure. Test scores are the primary focus and this is state mandated not administration pressure. Small counties are now being forced to get past the “good old boy” method of running the school system and meet state required standards. There is no room in education for coaches to focus on sports. Sports are not the focus anymore. I worked for Stan Curtis for several years and he is concerned with doing what is required by the State Department to see that the schools system is meeting the requirements for success. He is for the students and was never a micromanager of his teachers. If however the teachers did not do their jobs, he would remove them. I have nothing to gain by this post and am no long in contact with him. Education is about academics and not sports or popularity.
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I am a parent of two Cheatham High School students and one Cheatham Middle School. I attended the Board meeting on Monday night in hope that both sides would be heard. This was not the case at all. Anyone wanting to address the board was required to submit permission in writing prior to the meeting night, no one else would be permitted to speak. Those who did speak did so & sat down & the board never addressed any of the issues brought to their attention. Basically they heard them out & when the speakers were through they looked at each other and said lets move on with our agenda. One gentleman politely raised his hand and asked if he could say something and the chairwoman yelled no. This meeting had nothing to do with explaining things to parents or listening to concerns, they simply do not care. My daughter broke down in tears because her English teacher left, best teacher she ever had and they ran him off. Ifs a crime what this board has done.
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Well, I’m a parent of a student in the Cheatham County School district and I would like to say something about the mess that has always been in this county. The CCBOE is runs on the “Good ol’ Boys system”. Their way or no way and they stay on the line of the laws and get away with it. The teachers are treated like crap and the board members are straight FUNKY to the parents. I keep seeing and hearing people taking up for the board because they feel sports are unimportant. A lot of these kids depend on scholarships from these so called “unimportant matters”. My son was counting on scholarship in Music and wanted to march in APSU marching band. Without a teacher this will not be an option! Yes, his director resigned which may I add has a doctorate degree. Not only this but these kids are upset cause he left. These kids have up most respect for their directors and coaches.The kids work with these coaches and directors for years. But if some want to go the other route on how great taking the “unimportant matters” out. Let me point out Math, English, Science, art and so forth.( I don’t think I need to mention all subjects) also carry scholarships. Which we have NO TEACHERS FOR!!!! I do not blame these teachers. The things they have to deal with on a daily bases is ridiculous! I pray someone steps in and tries to fix this before August. Our children will be the ones to suffer because “the good ol’ boys” have a power trip. And as of “y’all voted them in” That to me is fishy, also. As they keep say ” Our childrens education is our number one priority” PLEASE……….
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I am working with parents across Cheatham County to organize and take back our schools. Find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/taoneill.tn
Thank you for posting this! We need all the help we can get! We have only just BEGUN!
Tracy A. O’Neill
CCCHS Parent & Cubs Football Team Mom
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The money is coming from the back liquor-by-the-drink tax from Ashland City and Kingston Springs.
For decades, many cities across Tennessee have not shared revenue from liquor-by-the-drink taxes with local school systems. The oversight was caught last year.
Ashland City and Kingston Springs have since repaid the school district the back taxes
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Tracy O’Neill you are mentioned in this article
quotation came from this article :
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/cheatham/2014/06/04/school-board-takes-steps-proposed-charter-school/9897069/
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Thank you Lucianna. 🙂 I saw the article on Wed when the AC Times came out. We’ll see what happens Tuesday with the so called “public forum”.
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And the plot thickens while, simultaneously becoming a bit more transparent……
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