Michael McDonough retired last year after more than 30 years as a teacher, principal and administrator in the Houston Independent School District. He has spoken to many of his former colleagues, and they have described a “culture of fear” created by state-imposed Superintendent Mike Miles. McDonough is speaking out because he is free to do so. He can’t be fired. This article appeared in The Houston Chrinicle.
McDonough writes:
For over 30 years, I served the Houston Independent School District in a variety of capacities, including teacher, coach and administrator. I worked as a secondary principal for 18 years across three different campuses — Pin Oak Middle School, and Westside and Bellaire High Schools — and was recognized for excellence in leadership multiple times. I retired from HISD last year, before the state takeover, after a public disagreement with the previous administration.
I still care deeply, though, for the district and its students and teachers. As a resident of the district, I had hoped for the best with our new superintendent, Mike Miles. But that’s not what I’m seeing.
One of the most important leadership lessons I’ve learned is that an organization is in trouble when its most passionate people grow quiet. Through my conversations with former HISD colleagues, it has become clear to me that under Miles, a culture of fear prevents them from speaking up about valid concerns…
The current state of the district is not sustainable. In addition to HISD’s documented financial challenges, it’s short on an even more critical commodity: human capital. Similar to other districts, we simply do not have enough great people.
You can’t fire your way to improvement, and causing employees to flee isn’t much better. Instead, we should commit our scarce resources toward growing and strengthening our best people, and make our decisions based on what serves them. That is the surest path to excellence and a high-performance culture.
Experience has taught me that to keep our best people, a fair salary is a must. But that’s not enough. The leader we need now must understand all the facets of a high-performance culture, one that empowers teachers to create a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment for students. This same high-performance culture provides spaces for teachers to experiment, innovate, and reflect on their practice so they can continue to develop. The current administration’s one-size-fits-all approach fails in each of these areas.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Rule by fear is their theory of action, the hallmark of authoritarians.
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Miles’ mission is not to improve The Houston Public Schools. He is literally Abbott’s hitman. His mission is to instill a culture of fear, intimidation and mistrust. His plan is to undermine the schools and likely prepare the district and residents for more privatization.
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Precisely.
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The culture of fear is the aide-de-camp of destruction.
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I agree. Over my 32 years teaching, coaching, and being a “pseudo admin” but not with the pay, I felt the same way. Each day I would say, “It is impossible to actually TEACH with so many walls being put up and very little support or funding; I am quitting at the end of the year.” It felt I was doing things wrong. But then I would see a kid with no socks, hungry, in trouble with the law, suicidal, and I knew I worked for a higher power. My friends often told me, “Rick, you lead by example. These kids need to know someone is fighting for them. Their lives have been filled with a whole lot of “nothingness.” I am not sure when I stopped being afraid, but I did. And when the doors closed, I taught the way the kids learned. Oh, my classroom looked “nice and purty” and I followed the rules as they say “the same but different” and I was a good person to have on staff. But, I also challenged the status quo and was creating independent thinkers; a lot of people don’t like that. It’s just like trying to teach kids, “You have to do it like this!” Yeah, that never worked, but when they were provided the tools to come to their own solutions in accomplishing tasks, it provided “mojo” for success and they worked harder. In sum, growing up I worked in a bike shop. The owner was so supportive. One night he told me it was quitting time and I said, “No, I can’t leave yet. I need to finish sweeping the floor.” No matter what he said to get me to leave, I WANTED to STAY and make sure the shop was ready in the morning. Now apply that to teachers and it would be a world of difference. Thanks for allowing me to share.
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I’d like to read into the record, if I may, that the New York City Department of Education is rife with this sort of nonsense.
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Instead of reading about the politics of fear in history books, it’s happening in real time in red states like Texas, Florida, et al.
https://perspectives.ushmm.org/tag/politics-of-fear
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Many years ago, Texas’ tourism folks ran an ad campaign with the slogan “Texas. It’s like a whole ‘nother country.”
I have always been in favor of that position, especially if it means deportation.
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