Teachers aren’t martyrs, monks or nuns. But they are dedicated and trying their best for their students.
I am hearing a lot about teachers leaving their schools, even in high performing areas.
One of the Get Schooled blog’s most eloquent and articulate posters, Jordan Kohanim, who gave up her north Fulton teaching job this year, shared this list of ways schools could stem the exodus.
By Jordan Kohanim
There are some obvious solutions to this problem which can be addressed at the grass-roots level.
1. Acknowledgement: This one of the most important factors. Recognizing that teachers have a difficult job and are doing the best they can (and often successfully so) is an essential and surprisingly easy thing to do. Acknowledgement across all realms of education — not just math and science is essential. All teachers have a role and purpose in a school. This doesn’t mean the principal needs to have a Ra-Ra session every year, but admitting that:
•This is a hard job, with not enough monetary compensation, that most people appreciate silently.
•There is a counter narrative that disparages the work of public schools which is largely false
•Teachers are being asked to do more with less and are adapting to those expectations for the sake of their students
Principals need to attach meaning to that. They need to express it not only to their teachers, but also their community. Leaders need to admit that public education is a worthy and successful endeavor — one that would not be successful without its teachers. Too many times, leaders refuse to counter this narrative because it allows them the savior role. If they agree with the perception that public education is failing, they can be the hero that saves it. This can lead to another dangerous scenario where educational leaders get caught up in their own ego and the misconception that a school’s success hinges less on the ability to govern and more on the principal him/herself.
2. Financial Gain: I have not seen a STEP raise. Had I stayed in teaching, I would likely not ever see a STEP raise. The money is not coming back for a long time, if ever. This is a hard economy, so it is no surprise that schools and teachers are suffering along with everyone else. That being said, leadership does not always have to do an across the board raise. There are other ways to compensate teachers. A good leader must be resourceful in involving the businesses around the school. Reaching out to the local businesses to provide free meals to teachers during teacher work days can make a big difference. Having local businesses give out freebies to teachers in the form of classroom supplies can also help. Respecting teachers’ time enough to understand that endless meetings is not the most appropriate use of Teacher Work Days — work days that need to be used to plan for larger classes and a new curriculum. As one of my teacher friends put it, if there are so little monetary resources, those resources need to be put where they will do the most good — in the classroom. Finally, giving hope. As I said, had I stayed in teaching I would likely never see a STEP raise.
Every year I taught, I lost money either through furloughs or benefit cuts. Had I been told there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I might have tried to stick it out. Instead, I received a narrative of money woes that basically told me to suck it up, that I should be grateful I had a job at all. I am grateful I have a job; I wish it were teaching. Instead, it is a field in which I am monetarily compensated for the time I put in.
3. Destroy the Martyr Mentality: The other dangerous perception that exists in teaching today is the “do it for the kids” narrative. This means that if you were a good enough teacher, if you cared enough about teaching, you would suffer whatever it takes to make your classroom successful. After all, you got into the job not for the money or the summers off, but to help society, right? This mentality creates a Kafka-esque Hunger Artist scenario. Teachers are told to sacrifice more and more to show just how dedicated they are. Equating an individual’s ability to suffer for the sake of his/her work is not a durable approach. There must be a breaking point.
Allow teachers the freedom to speak out about the conditions in which they teach without fear of retaliation. Shift the public perception that good teachers suffer for the sake of their students. It is not necessary. Teachers are not monks and nuns. School leaders need to produce a narrative that teachers are not the sole equation of success. Schools require all community participants from local businesses and social institutions to parents and elders to contribute to the success of the school. A school’s success affects housing value and thus the wealth of the entire community, so it would behoove all members to bear the responsibility of the success of their school — not just the teachers.
Of the utmost importance is the voice of the educational leadership. The voice needs to change from one of blame-shifting to one of support. Everyone can acknowledge that changes are being made to improve schools, but scapegoating teachers will not only demoralize them and drive them out of schools, it will forever tarnish public education. Leaders need to sacrifice their egos and admit they are not the sole bearers of success. They need to impart to the public the importance of keeping GOOD teachers — not just the importance of getting rid of BAD ones.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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175 comments Add your comment
Mary Elizabeth
August 1st, 2012
10:43 am
“There is a counter narrative that disparages the work of public schools which is largely false.”
“. . .but scapegoating teachers will not only demoralize them and drive them out of schools, it will forever tarnish public education.”
=============================================
Jordan Kohanim has written a truthful, eloquent, and wise appeal to leadership in public education. If those in leadership will heed her remarks, their voices and actions can help to create more positive school environments for public school students and teachers, the vast majority of whom are caring and competent.
However, the public must also ask questions. For instance, why has this negative bombardment against public education and its teachers occurred with such intensity, especially within the last decade? Consider this possiblity: Traditional public education cannot be dismantled and supplanted by private education and by corporations which may run public charter schools – both of which would exist mainly for profit – unless traditional public education and its teachers are, first, disparaged and underfunded. All who will see, will see that the disparagement and underfunding of public education have been occurring with increased, and deliberate, momentum.This overall momentum is beyond the power of school site administrators to control. But, the public, made aware, can control what has been happening, and the public can turn around what has been happening – through their voices and votes. But first, they must see.
Here is some advice I gave to a caring poster yesterday on this blog. I will repeat my words, below, for the consideration of all who read this blog.
——————————————————
“Your comments, above, are wise and caring ones.Thank you for them. I urge you to become politically savvy and to begin to recognize how what is happening to public education and to public school teachers is larger in scope and design than the educational arena alone, and to recognize that what is happening has very powerful and wealthy forces behind it. Knowledge is power.”
williebkind
August 1st, 2012
10:49 am
” until the parents take responsibility for their childs academic performance, the situation will not change.”
I am sick of hearing and reading that garbage.
williebkind
August 1st, 2012
10:52 am
In a local paper the BOE funding of 10m plus was approved for a school that graudates 60 to 80 students a year in a small community of 2000. Explain this cost please.
MiltonMan
August 1st, 2012
10:54 am
“Teachers were able to innovative and go “outside the box” until something called No Child Left Behind came into play. You’re so quick to decry Democrats, but please tell me, what brilliant mind thought of NCLB and how has it worked since its conception?”
Co-authored by none other than Teddie Kennedy signed by Bush.
MiltonMan
August 1st, 2012
10:56 am
The APS spend 12k+ per student. North Fulton spends 1/2 that. Dare we discuss student performance between the two?
Democrats answer to everything = just spend more money.
Dr. Monica Henson
August 1st, 2012
10:56 am
Chunter posted, “Each year we produce LEGIONS of college graduates eager to teach. But the complainers among us deny them the chance—by stubbornly hanging on to teaching jobs they apparently find too unrewarding.”
And therein lies a huge part of the problem with public schools. More than 95% of those people were awarded tenure pretty much by default because of lax/lazy administrators, and now they are entrenched for the long haul. Seniority protects them from RIFs and guarantees that they’ll earn far more than the Jordans of the world, no matter how mediocre they are, no matter how many students they turn off with their negativity. In union states, it’s darned near impossible to remove them.
The majority of teachers I’ve worked with don’t fit into this category, but a substantial percentage of them do, and national there are far more of these people than the general public is aware of. Their colleagues know exactly who they are, and the kids who are chained to their classrooms for a year can name them instantly if asked.
Dr. Monica Henson
August 1st, 2012
10:57 am
“nationally”
MiltonMan
August 1st, 2012
11:01 am
Teachers who complain about the school adminstration, here is a question for you: Are these administrators former teachers themselves? Are you trying to convince us that they were good people when they were teachers and all of sudden become bad when they become admin???
Also, teachers receive a pension – hardly ever mentioned by a teacher. Most private sector companies no longer have this luxury.
GwinnettGuy
August 1st, 2012
11:02 am
@williebkind
I fully believe that the overall failure of schools is a sociological problem. It doesn’t mean it is the only problem.
Our society is attacking education on all fronts. You have a segment of society that attacks public education as not only a failure but a bad thing overall. You have a segment of society that tells kids they don’t need an education when they can resort to criminal activity. You have a segment of society that tells them that society “owes them” and they don’t have to work. I can continue to list these all day long.
What is the one overriding influence in society that can overcome those mentalities? The parents.
You then have the federal government and state government trying to institute a “one size fits all” approach to education. They are instituting uniform standards and curriculums across all school districts. It is tough enough to apply a uniform standard to a single school district much less an entire country. However, this is what the state and federal government are pushing off on school systems.
You have studies touting the fact that minorities/non-whites don’t test well compared to their white counterparts… yet we are judging a school’s success on standardized test results. Which ones are performing well? Typically, the school systems that have a super-majority of white students.
Yet… We then sit and question why school systems can’t improve performance.
Eyes Rolling
August 1st, 2012
11:05 am
Before you sit anonymously at your keyboard and malign us, come do what we do for a day. It might change your perspective on “government teachers.”
Spoken by an education major who’s probably never had a job in the real world. An old whine that doesn’t bear any freight outside the teachers’ lounge.
MB
August 1st, 2012
11:06 am
@Dr Henson: So WHERE is the call for lax/lazy administrators to be called to task for NOT doing their job of truly evaluating teachers and following the process to have them removed so they don’t create the negative posters who say they only had three or four adequate teachers in their K12 years?
This IS a call for educational leadership to make the teaching environment a positive one, including removing the albatrosses whose presence removes hope from students and other faculty. How do we – parents, educators, and taxpayers – make administrators accountable? I tried, on several occasions, and had almost zero success…
William Casey
August 1st, 2012
11:07 am
Thanks, Jordan, for a very well articulated description of how teachers view the world. This essay is a rational exposition of the situation, not a “whine.” It seems that a large number of posters here have a problem with READING COMPREHENSION. Did any of you anonymous critics notice that Ms. Kohanim initiated her exposition with a call for ACKNOWLEGEMENT when a job is well done in difficult circumstances? This is a basic principle of leadership that costs our precious taxpayers NOTHING. I acknowledged my students and players achievements all the time. I also read them the riot act when they didn’t work up to their potential. Why is it that the former is neglected for teachers? Jordan isn’t calling for phony, generalized, “rah rah” stuff but rather simple acknowledgement of “beyond the call of duty” effort and results. Why is this so difficult?
Let’s get real about teachers and MONEY. For most great teachers, the profession is a “calling.” However, we have to live in the real world. Our decision is simple: either get out of teaching or find ways to supplement our incomes. I faced this stark choice in my mid-thirties and chose the latter, acquired real estate credentials and began investing. I still did a decent job teaching but don’t kid yourself. Many hours that once went into my profession were redirected into money making. If that’s what you want, you got it. For those of you envious of teachers, this should really annoy you: I retired comfortably (not lavishly) at 56. Luckily, I liquidated my real estate holdings in 2006. It’s better to be lucky than good..
ONE MORE THING: I understand why currently employed teachers post anonymously. Fear of retribution. But, what explains the cowardice of you abundant “outside agitator” critics of teachers? Afraid to man up and stand behind your opinions?
William Casey
August 1st, 2012
11:10 am
@EYES ROLLING: The above was for you. Your post showed-up after I posted the above. Love it!
William Casey
August 1st, 2012
11:12 am
@MILLTONMAN: Most administrators have minimal (often only 3 years) teaching experience and even then seldom in a core subject.
Warrior Woman
August 1st, 2012
11:20 am
First, teachers are not underpaid. The average starting salary for teachers is $36,800 for a 10-month position. This is equivalent to $44,160 for “year-round” careers, and compares favorably to average starting salaries for other non-technical careers (sociology, social science, social work, public health, English, journalism, art, etc.), but compares poorly to STEM careers. This is especially true when you realize that education majors typically have lesser qualifications than other majors. The bigger salary problem is that earning potential is capped unless teachers leave the classroom for administration. Another salary problem is the way teachers are paid. When you can’t increase salaries for good teachers without also increasing them for bad teachers, it raises public opposition to throwing ever more money at a problem without commensurate progress.
Second, teachers are not alone in suffering economically through this recession. Based on the ones posting here, however, they think everyone else should have suffered more to insulate teachers from the effects of recession.
Third, all teachers are not trying their best for their students and all teachers are not good at their jobs. To say so reveals the depth of bias of this blog’s author for the status quo. It also flies in the face of objective and subjective evidence. When the classroom teachers cannot demonstrate proficiency in reading and writing, or when math tests are repeatedly graded incorrectly because the teacher worked the problem wrong, or when a teacher tells a student, “You are not allowed to think that in my class,” it boggles the mind to say they are trying their best or are even adequately professional.
Fourth, it IS more important to get rid of bad ones than to keep good ones. Bad teachers directly harm the students, whom are, after all, the entire reason for the schools. Importantly, bad teachers also harm good teachers, because the bad teachers are a huge drag on the reputation of teaching as a profession.
Finally, it would really help advance the discussion of the problems in education if we could better distinguish between the role of teachers, administrators, and central office staff. Although there are bad teachers, many of the biggest problems in education can be placed at the educational leadership level. Some of the most harmful strategies for students are the fault of administrators and leaders, not teachers. Just to name a few: eliminating ability grouping, zero tolerance policies, inadequate/inconsistent discipline (since administrators frequently penalize teachers for trying to keep order in their classrooms), administrative/central office bloat, creation of silly support positions (graduation coaches, anyone?), etc.
MB
August 1st, 2012
11:20 am
@Eyes Rolling My undergrad degree is not in education and I worked 14 years in the “real” world before moving into education after my children were school age. I was salaried in my other (professional) jobs, but they did not require the hours I see most people giving as educators. The stress level does not compare, and I worked in healthcare (non-profit and private industry), which isn’t known as a stress-free climate. The level of disregard and disrespect some of you display here is also, sadly, seen in schools.
I, as someone who is NOT an education major and who HAS worked a substantial number of years in your “real” world, challenge you to sign up to substitute teach for at least a month. Can you risk having your negative perceptions of all teachers changed or is that too scary for you to consider?
(A reporter several years back took on such a challenge and taught for a year. Her experience was life-changing and she became a teacher advocate. Do you have the courage to risk that?)
Tonya C.
August 1st, 2012
11:22 am
Milton Man:
Because many of those chosen to be administrators are not chosen based on merit, but on brown-nosing and political connections. The most outspoken teachers, those that will do anything for the betterment of their students, are generally considered ‘rabblerousers’ and not given the opportunity to move up. At least not into administrative positions for the most part.
This piece was an eloquent presentation of very real issues facing the future of our kids. Ignoring it won’t make the presented problems go away.
cobbmom
August 1st, 2012
11:27 am
My salary has decreased every year for the past five years, but I’ve still paid out over $1,000 this school year and it hasn’t even begun. I’ve been asked to teach in an area that I haven’t taught before and need new supplies to meet the students’ needs. Notice, not what I need or want but what my STUDENTS need. A thousand dollars taken from my own children to help take care of complete strangers children, that is what teachers do every day. I have paid for children’s lunch, bought books for them, provided snacks and taken time from my family to stay after school and tutor, for FREE, other people’s children. But in my eyes when they walk into my classroom they become MY children for a few hours each day. I want them to know that they are loved and wanted in my classroom and that it is a safe place. All of you that are posting negative comments about teachers remember this, every Friday students tell us that they don’t want the weekend off because they would rather be at school with US instead of at home with YOU.
I said I had been asked to do a different job this year, I was asked because I get results. My students know that I want the best for them and that I’m willing to do whatever is needed to help them achieve their goals. Because of this they try harder than they ever have and all their accomplishments, big or small, are celebrated. It takes very little effort to tell a child “good job”, or “good effort”, but it means the world to them.
Warrior Woman
August 1st, 2012
11:34 am
@DebbieDoRight – Apparently you have forgotten why NCLB was passed. If there hadn’t been excessive cases of high school graduates that couldn’t read or write, NCLB would not exist.
MB
August 1st, 2012
11:34 am
@Dr. Henson WmCasey and Tonya speak to a big part of the problem: administrators who move up for reasons other than merit, often with little, weak experience, and then don’t have the intestinal fortitude to do what needs to be done – with discipline and expectations for both students and teachers. How do we change this mentality? Bottom line: we will NOT have high quality education when people who dislike teaching (and/or students) are placed as supervisors over people who do. How do we end this trend?
MB
August 1st, 2012
11:42 am
@WW If you think there aren’t still excessive numbers of high school graduates who can’t read or write, you live in an alternate universe. But they CAN bubble in answers REALLY well. (Of course, they’ve grown up in a world where everything is a multiple choice test, but that’s all they need for a ballot anyway, right?)
And Bush’s buddies who set up the pilot for NCLB in Texas, and sell the textbooks and tests aligned to each state’s standards, are as rich as oil men.
Beverly Fraud
August 1st, 2012
11:43 am
How do we end this trend?
MB, I say we try mandating that an administrative leader pass a “vote of confidence” from staff.
Could that “weaken” an administrator, in that they have to curry favor? Sure, but it hasn’t stopped the state from doing the SAME THING to teachers by requiring a student survey.
But still the concern is legitimate, so let’s set the bar RIDICULOUSLY LOW for starters. Let’s say an administrator should be transferred if more than 65% of staff has lost confidence in them.
I would ask any school administrator out there, if MORE than 65% of your staff don’t have confidence in you, isn’t that a COMPELLING argument that you have lost your effectiveness at that particular school?
It’s all about “checks and balances” and right now we have none for the teacher; and because of that the CHILDREN suffer.
Beverly Fraud
August 1st, 2012
11:47 am
@DebbieDoRight – Apparently you have forgotten why NCLB was passed. If there hadn’t been excessive cases of high school graduates that couldn’t read or write, NCLB would not exist.
WarriorWoman that’s what you were TOLD when, in the quintessential example of bipartisan ignorance, it was passed. But look at the “bidness” relationships between testing/book publishers and certain politicians and you’ll see what REALLY drove this legislation.
Surely WarriorWoman, you can’t believe that a bill that called a school a “failure” if even ONE student failed, had any integrity in it to begin with can you?
MB
August 1st, 2012
11:48 am
@ cobbmom KUDOS to you!
Taking your statement “know that I want the best for them and that I’m willing to do whatever is needed to help them achieve their goals. Because of this they try harder than they ever have and all their accomplishments, big or small, are celebrated. It takes very little effort to tell a child “good job”, or “good effort”, but it means the world to them.”
Begin the statement with “faculty” and substitute “staff member” for “child” and you are echoing Jordan’s sentiments. We all thrive with merited praise and wilt under undue negativity. AND THEY COST NOTHING but a few seconds time and a smile.
Another Math Teacher
August 1st, 2012
11:55 am
MiltonMan: “Also, teachers receive a pension – hardly ever mentioned by a teacher. Most private sector companies no longer have this luxury.”
In the private sector I make significantly more money and can fund my retirement without an employer helping.
“Teachers who complain about the school adminstration, here is a question for you: Are these administrators former teachers themselves? Are you trying to convince us that they were good people when they were teachers and all of sudden become bad when they become admin???”
I can only speak of the administrators that I know. (I’ll be referring to them as ‘he.’)
1) A former SPED teacher of 3 years. He never was a lead teacher. Likeable but incompetent. Wouldn’t last 6 months in the private sector. Hired due to personal relationships.
2) A former ESOL teacher of 1 semester. The class size was 10 or so kids that could not speak English well, if at all. He has tried to move to different schools every year. No one else will hire him. (He was hired into the district by a fraternity buddy.)
3) A former English teacher. Last in a classroom over 20 years ago. Likeable but not cut out to be an administrator. Was demoted this past year. Hired by the super because they are friends.
4) A middle school social studies teacher. Had 8 years in the classroom…in 4 different districts. Never got ‘tenure.’ He was related to the new principal. Attempted to place many teachers on a PDP. He didn’t do the paperwork correctly and cost the district a whole lot of time.
5) He had 6 years in CTAE. Likeable but incompetent. Was hired due to friendship with other administrators. (Poker, coaching.)
In general, many of the worst teachers try to move ‘up’ to administration as fast as possible. Typical reasons are more money and to get away from the kids.
MiltonMan
August 1st, 2012
12:08 pm
“Milton Man:
Because many of those chosen to be administrators are not chosen based on merit, but on brown-nosing and political connections. The most outspoken teachers, those that will do anything for the betterment of their students, are generally considered ‘rabblerousers’ and not given the opportunity to move up. At least not into administrative positions for the most part.”
If that is the case, then you teachers need to clean house and stop complaining about parents, lack of money, bad students, etc. Why are you teachers not forcing/requesting the NEA to assist you to clean house??? Teachers sound more concerned about getting their chosen one elected than they do to clean up their own house. How much has NEA “donated” to politicians??? Would that money be better suited to assist the profession?
MB
August 1st, 2012
12:11 pm
@Beverly Interesting you should suggest that because our high school had the experience of “no-confidence” situation with a principal. In his second year, at the school, NO ONE on the leadership team spoke out on his behalf in a meeting held with the area superintendent. He was THAT ineffective, BUT he was, in sadly typical education fashion, moved to the county office. The next year he was principal of an alternative school and later moved to our other school, with a smaller population. He is about to begin his sixth year as principal of an alternative school; this year he will begin the year with 18 students in the school with 30+ staff members, including an assistant principal. (For EIGHTEEN students!) His salary in 2011, according to open.ga.gov, was $124,639, making him the highest paid (non-retiring) principal in Fulton County last year.
BOY, was HE penalized for his lack of leadership, teacher support and discipline. Slap on the hand with MANY hundred dollar bills and almost a 2-to-1 staff: student ratio. Now the teachers at the original high school are teaching the equivalent of at least another class-full of students each day and he …? Think that qualifies as demoralizing – to the teachers and other administrators? So, SO sad.
In other words, there has to be a plan to either remove administrators FROM THE SYSTEM or send them back to the classroom. We can’t afford this method of dealing with ineffective “leaders!”
MiltonMan
August 1st, 2012
12:15 pm
“All of you that are posting negative comments about teachers remember this, every Friday students tell us that they don’t want the weekend off because they would rather be at school with US instead of at home with YOU.”
BULL! My kids (one currently in dental school at MCOG; one pre-med at UGA with HOPE & multiple scholarships) would come home and tell me how bored they were at school EVERYDAY! I met numerous times with teachers/admin to address this and I constantly heard this dribble from them about social promotion garbage and both kids were in multiple AP classes!
Ole Guy
August 1st, 2012
12:17 pm
One has no doubt, whatsoever, that teachers aren’t monks, martyrs, etc. Just exactly WHAT are they? Is the teacher corps comprised of dedicated professionals who SEE the problem and have the guts…the professional desire to actually DO something about the issue(s), or are they simply YESMEN (oops…gotta be politically correct…thats YESPERSONS).
MB
August 1st, 2012
12:25 pm
@MM Get over the NEA. Look at just the highlighted comments by Maureen regarding unions in Georgia. They don’t exist.
Read the posts about teachers and retaliation and ask yourself why PARENTS don’t demand that ineffective administrators be removed. Why taxpayers don’t insist that our state require more TRUE classroom experience for administrators AND that they be required to return periodically to the classroom to teach (and walk the road they’ve paved).
See my post about the principal being removed after the faculty (and LSAC parents) DID something about lack of leadership. Yes, my school tax dollars go to help pay that man’s salary and it sickens me. You live in Fulton – call your school board member and ask why that school has SO many staff while regular classes have students packed in like sardines in classrooms. Ask why they need a principal AND an assistant principal for eighteen students?
Please let us know what you learn.
mountain man
August 1st, 2012
12:30 pm
“Teachers who complain about the school adminstration, here is a question for you: Are these administrators former teachers themselves?”
People who can’t teach, become administrators.
mountain man
August 1st, 2012
12:32 pm
“@MMGet over the NEA. Look at just the highlighted comments by Maureen regarding unions in Georgia. They don’t exist. ”
If Georgia teachers had a union, they would collectively bargain for better working conditions (and reasonable cost of living raises) and, if they didn’t get them, would go on strike. However, teacher’s unions are prohibited by law in Georgia.
Rural Juror
August 1st, 2012
12:34 pm
On our last day of preplanning, I was rummaging the school so I could find enough desks for my 35 person class. And then in class when they added another student, he didn’t have anywhere to sit. A teacher has to worry about a lot of things. Having enough desks shouldn’t be one of them.
My supplies were 2 markers. Two! Granted I’m thankful to have a job (we cut 6 positions from last year) but I hate that more and more is being asked of me and I’m given less and less support.
Oh, and here’s a real morale booster: yesterday we all came in to our rooms to see an email discussing a pay reduction in our checks. Welcome back!
mountain man
August 1st, 2012
12:35 pm
“or are they simply YESMEN”
If teachers are not YESMEN, then they are not part of the teacher corps very long.
MB
August 1st, 2012
12:35 pm
@MM Don’t see the mix between social promotion and multiple AP classes…if your school didn’t provide the joint enrollment and gifted directed studies your children needed, why did you not advocate for that to change? I was more effective when “only” a parent in Fulton and have know others who have been successful with consistent, non-confrontational insistence on meeting the needs of the students effectively “left waiting” with NCLB. Bonus: when you advocate for your own child, others often benefit as well, as you may benefit from others’ advocacy efforts.
A principal cancels a field trip that was the culminating event for a group of TAG directed study students so a group of special ed students can take eggs to a business partner (photo op for principal). WHY do the parents of those TAG students not scream bloody murder? (The teacher can’t – see retribution..)
Contac Georgia Association of Gifted Children and work to make a positive change for students like your children, okay?
mountain man
August 1st, 2012
12:35 pm
“or are they simply YESMEN”
If teachers are not YESMEN, then they are not part of the teacher corps very long.
See APS cheating scandal.
MB
August 1st, 2012
12:36 pm
Contact GAGC – hit submit too soon.
Digger
August 1st, 2012
12:38 pm
Put a hidden camera in any elementary school teacher’s lounge, and then post it on YouTube. The superficiality and ignorance of this all-girls club would astound anyone.
mountain man
August 1st, 2012
12:38 pm
“ask yourself why PARENTS don’t demand that ineffective administrators be removed”
Because PARENTS WANT ineffective administrators. That way they can come down and demand that their Johnny (LiL Angel) Troublemaker be put back IMMEDIATELY into his classroom with no punishment allowed.
MB
August 1st, 2012
12:46 pm
@Another MathTeacher – Sadly, your experiences are far too common. When I see people post that they’ve NEVER worked anywhere that principals accept incompetence or bad attitudes in staff, I want’ to ask them to post where they work. As parent and educator, I’ve had experiences with both ends of the spectrum, and honestly haven’t joined Jordan in the exodus only because my current situation is a good one. (If still at my last assignment, I’d have the 250 days to vesting marked on my calendar in a countdown…) Eager to see how LeaderKeys is implemented; skeptical but trying to be optimistic
MB
August 1st, 2012
12:59 pm
@mtnman As a parent I wanted administrators who supported the strong teachers, helped the teachers who just needed fine-tuning, and GOT RID OF the incompetent, uncaring, hateful staff. Luckily my sons didn’t encounter too many of the last group, but sadly some of them are still in their positions, or retired when they chose after years of maltreating students.. (Did have one suggestion too late for my own children – if the administrator doesn’t deal with a KNOWN problem staff member, I would now forward the original written complaint to the superintendent and school board. That shows you’ve followed the appropriate reporting procedure, but alerts them that nothing has happened.)
Prof
August 1st, 2012
1:04 pm
Jordan Kohanim has been a longtime blogger to “Get Schooled”—I’ve read her posts for about a year. So surely when she wrote the article above she knew q
Prof
August 1st, 2012
1:12 pm
(Cont. Hit the wrong key.) …she knew quite well the negative responses her position would call forth. And they really do seem to illustrate points #1 and #3 she makes above very nicely. Other teachers’ testimonials illustrate point #2. Carry on, for all of you are giving evidence that her assessments are correct and she was wise to leave when she did.
Of course her article also shows that she still cares a great deal about the profession she left and those who remain there.
Mountain Man
August 1st, 2012
1:14 pm
“As a parent I wanted administrators who supported the strong teachers,”
Yes, MB, but would you support such an administrator if he called you about your son being a discipline problem?
Mountain Man
August 1st, 2012
1:17 pm
Actually, there is one little-known benefit that teachers enjoy that the rest of us in industry do not have. Must be a best-kept secret, since I never see it mentioned on this blog.
Teachers can retire after 30 years and keep their insurance. That means they could retire at age 52. I wish I could do that. I am tied to the 66 year old Medicare retirement age.
Beverly Fraud
August 1st, 2012
1:23 pm
Well MB here’s the thing. If it were MANDATED that principals who lost votes of confidence be removed, eventually the numbers would be such that even the most BLOATED central office couldn’t accommodate them. Then hopefully they would be “counseled” into something more in line with their skill set.
Yes it’s a slow and pathetic way of dealing with the problem of administrative retaliation, but since we are NOT dealing with it at all now, it’s at least a start.
Do any administrators care to comment on whether or not a vote of confidence may serve as a useful tool to cut down on administrative abuses?
interesting perspective
August 1st, 2012
2:06 pm
To Jordan’s point about STEP increases, Fulton County pay scale is quite different than neighboring counties in Cobb and Gwinnett. They are being paid a lower salary than other school systems as a result of budgets. It’s hard to imagine that a teacher in Cobb is worth more than a teacher in Fulton ( I mean that in a positive way – no slam on Cobb). That alone is discouraging, or at least, encouraging for a teacher to jump counties.
Archie
August 1st, 2012
2:07 pm
@Another Math Teacher: Very good descriptions! I might have known at least one or two in your “rogues gallery.” It seems that the “good ole boy” (girl?) system is still alive and well in Georgia even though the demographics may be different today! The days when a principal could sit in his office and make sure the bells rang on time are pretty much over! If they don’t get out and see what the kids are doing, the kids will soon come to them, one way or another!
William Casey
August 1st, 2012
2:12 pm
@Mountainman: You are correct on health insurance. Not true of life insurance, at least in Fulton County. That’s a benefit that influenced my decision to return to public schools from private for my last 20 years.
Mary Elizabeth
August 1st, 2012
2:17 pm
“Teachers can retire after 30 years and keep their insurance. That means they could retire at age 52. I wish I could do that. I am tied to the 66 year old Medicare retirement age.”
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Divide (the working/middle class) and conquer (more control and power/wealth for the top 1%). Republicans deliberately ran up the deficit during the 2000s (tax cuts and unpaid for wars) in order to create a populace that would support cutting “governmental” entitlements, such as Social Security benefits (a goal Republicans have fought for since FDR’s administration). This is not simply my opinion. Read Paul Krugman’s editorial in The New York Times, entitled, “The Bankruptcy Boys,” published Feb. 21, 2010. Link below:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/opinion/22krugman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Paul%20Krugman,%20The%20Bankruptcy%20Boys,%202/22/10&st=Search
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In France, the government is lowering the age for their citizens to receive Social Security benefits to age 60, whereas, in America, Republicans are trying to raise the age for citizens to receive Social Security benefits from age 66 to age 70. Republicans are also trying to dismantle traditional public education.
If you vote the Republican ticket in November, you will be voting against your own interests (if you are part of any sector of the working/middle class), as well as voting against public education.
I desire for all citizens to receive the security of benefits in their old age, which teachers presently have. I do not wish to take those benefits away from any American citizen. Medical care, old age security, and public education are all human rights that should be a part of any humane society.