Harvey Scribner is a teacher in Philadelphia. He got his pink slip over the weekend. He was broken-hearted.
He knows that no one cares.
But he needed to say what he did in his four years as a teacher and why his school should not be destroyed:
“Since coming to the District I found equipment when there was none, I created curriculum when there was nothing, I did without when we needed supplies, I broke up fights, I sent kids to class when they wandered the halls, I worked two summer programs and took the extra step to complete training when the District did not think it was needed. For the last four years I have struggled, alongside the most courageous and honorable people I have ever worked with, to teach the students, feed the students, clothe the students, protect the students, and lead the students. For this dedication, and for the dedication of my brothers and sisters in education, we are now rewarded with this?
A District that lets us go, a union that shrugs its shoulders, a city that sleeps, a state that remains deaf, a federal system that demands more and offers less. The real crime is to the neighborhood’s and blocks in Philadelphia that cry out for something better, to anyone that would hear and that sound is lost in the overwhelming symphony of thundering apathy on all sides.
I realize that there are always forces beyond my control, but know that if you break up our team at Crossroads, you will damage one of the few systems in the School District of Philadelphia that is actually working. We are strong because of the integration of our curriculum, the dedication of our small but determined band of educators, and because we have the proper leadership to carry us through. I understand that every school and employee will claim the same, but we are truly different. If you break us up now, you will lose one small program that is making a profound impact on the fabric of our city.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“He knows that no one cares.”
That’s not true. Lots of people care. Just not the people who have the power to stop the carnage.
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There is a concern I have about this post. It is a concern that I have had for a very long time. Mr. Scribner describes HIS program as one of a few that is “actually working”. And then complains about a union that shrugs its shoulders. While I am not privy to the inner workings of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers I do know this. As long as individuals who work in our schools see their union as some entity outside of themselves we will never have the solidarity to defeat the forces who are destroying public education. As long as individuals who work in our schools see their OWN program as somehow better than others we will never have the solidarity to defeat the forces who are destroying public education. So while I would fight to the end to defend Mr. Scribner’s program I am not sure that he will fight for others. That’s what a union is. That is what our unions need to become. And it will take all of us together.
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Garrett,
Here in NYC, our local is touting a new evaluation system that was “arbitrated” by an education commissioner who barely had a cup of coffee in a public school classroom, was a charter school executive, and sends his children to a private Montessori school that doesn’t give high stakes exams.
This system is likely to be devastating for teachers, but they will not be allowed to vote on it, despite the fact that evaluations are part of the contract.
It performed a similar betrayal of union democracy and the rank and file four years ago, when Randi Weingarten unilaterally discarded the recommendations of her own governance committee and supported the re-authorization of mayoral control. Over 140 public schools have been closed because of the dictatorial system of mayoral control that out union continues to support.
Yet, when members complain about these high-handed, anti democratic actions, we get the same lecture that “we” are the union.
I call BS on that. This past April, the current UFT administration was returned to power by an electorate that consisted mostly of retirees, indicative of a crisis for a union under sustained attack. The dirty little secret, though, is that the leadership loves this situation, since the local, as well as the national union, is controlled by a tiny group of people, and real membership engagement is seen as potential threat.
The misleaders of our union support virtually every bit of Bill Gates-financed lunacy and aggression that comes down the pike, denies us the right to vote on it, and then hypocritically blames the membership for its apathy.
As a public school teacher, I’m already blamed for social ills I have no control over. I’m not going to take the rap for a blind, anti- democratic, self-destructive union, too.
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Then organize your fellow teachers to change the leadership of your union. The alternative is to throw up your hands, make excuses, and bitch moan and complain. You are absolutely correct when you say that you are blamed for social ills that you have no control over. What are you going to do about it, retreat or fight?
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I thought we were talking about Philadelphia?
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It was your comment that mentioned “our unions,” so presumably that permitted discussion of conditions elsewhere.
And by the way, Betsey, I have been fighting against the anti-democratic leadership of the UFT, and its accommodation to the privatizers, for fifteen years.
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Sadly, they want your excellent program in a charter school with non-union teachers and no benefits.
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After reading this post and Garret’s response, The novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair popped in my head. Hmmm
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Why Zee?
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Tragic and unfortunately being done all over. we need to hold our elected reps accountable to us and not big money, big business. A school is not a business and we don’t do what we do for profit. Maybe we have to lose a whole generation to realize this. To all those in public elected service, there’s a price to pay for this betrayal.
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Mr. Scribner, Your school, your team, even your students are being split apart because you are successful. It is the good news/bad news theme running through edrephorm. This is not about good teachers, schools that work, or creating thoughtful, active, intelligent citizens. What is happening across this country and around the world is the creation of a servant class, cogs who will fit anywhere and be grateful for any job they can get. It is about the world of the wealthiest 4% of the 1% getting and not sharing their goods…and the jobs they create will go to the hungriest, neediest, poorest who are willing to poison themselves and their lands, who are willing to walk into a factory in which they will be burned alive, who are willing fodder in a never-ending quest by the 4% of the 1% to be top gun. I am thinking more and more about the need for community home schools, led by teachers like you, Mr. Scribner, because you care about our kids and are willing to make something good for them from the cast-offs of the 4% of the 1%. Thank you! I look forward to hearing more about your successes, Harvey Scribner!! I’m a retired music teacher ready to assist!!!
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as D’Alta says, creation of a servant class. he is right. In dictatorship, when your usefulness is up, its up. They inflame your passions and flatter you and get you to demonstrate and hold up signs and walk out and fight, and then pink slip. who fought for you? A kick to the curb. it’s a classic move. History repeats itself. Teachers have been lied to for so long. now machine in, teacher out. Common Core is offensive and teachers blathering over it only cuts the wheat from the chaff. This is only going to help parents scramble towards home schooling and private schools.
so I think there is going to be a landslide of people looking for teachers with integrity and classical skills to homeschool in groups. If you were let go, chances are you are a good teacher and not a robot. it is already happening, right here in philly. start a tutor database, they will follow. good luck!
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What a thoughtful post, D’Alta.
this country is in big trouble, and no one wants to say, “But the Emperor has no clothes on.” Our political system is totally corrupt and morally bankrupt.
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This is all a part of their plan. Destroy and then put in place your plan of destruction and the elite and indentured servants in “Permadebt” through college loans and credit card debt. This is the Nazi Fascist Amerika they desire. It is our job to stop them.
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Agree 100%, George!
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I am full of tears I dare not release.
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I agreed with your comment above Betsy. I don’t always agree with my union. But I certainly don’t stand on the sidelines and constantly attack it when it doesn’t go the way I want it to go. I never thought that was a productive way to make change.
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After paying taxed tuition for 91 “school years” for our large family, I have little sympathy for the public school machine. I would have much, much, more sympathy for the bankrupt public school system, If we were given some form of tax relief for the secular subjects that my children studied while in required “non secular” school.
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“…for the secular subjects that my children studied while in required “non secular” school.”
I don’t understand what you are talking about with that phrase. Please clarify what the “secular subjects” were. Thanks!
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