Atlanta lawmaker to push parent trigger bill in January. Cites North Atlanta High as an example of why it’s needed.
In a break from the charter school debate, here is something coming your way in January — a push for a parent trigger law in Georgia by Atlanta state Rep. Edward Lindsey. (See earlier blog on parent trigger laws.)
The trigger law allows parents to take over a failing school and reopen it as an independent charter if they collect signatures from the majority of families. Only a few states have a parent trigger law. The first was enacted in California in 2010 and adopted since in some fashion in Connecticut, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
But 20 other states, including Georgia, have seen unsuccessful efforts to pass parent trigger laws. The film “Won’t Back Down” was a fictional account of a school takeover over a parent trigger law.
This is the official release:
State Representative Edward Lindsey, R-Atlanta, the Georgia House Majority Whip, announced today his intention to push for passage of a Parent Trigger Bill during next year’s legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly. The measure will give parents a greater voice in school governance.
“We have been working with parents and educators on this issue for some time,” said Rep. Lindsey. “However, the events at North Atlanta High School highlight the need for this kind of legislation. Parents, students, and school staff were completely cut out of the decision making process. That is no way to instill needed confidence to improve our schools.”
A parent trigger bill will make it easier for parents to petition to convert their existing traditional public school into a local public charter school, which would give parents greater control over their children’s education and give the school greater flexibility in improving student achievement.
“An integral part of improving education in Georgia is greater parent buy-in to their children’s education. The parent trigger proposal will assist parents with this in both well-established and struggling low performance schools,” Rep. Lindsey continued. “A quality education for all of our state’s children is critical to their future and ours. All parents should be given a greater voice in achieving this.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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136 comments Add your comment
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
10:18 am
Conservative I am correct that you can buy their paper at every drug store, grocery store, and office supply store in the state. I know this because I’ve bought plenty of their paper at four o’clock in the morning before going over to the 24 hour FedEx/Kinko’s to spend $50. of my own money making photocopies of lesson materials since I don’t have any textbooks and the one photocopier for 60 teachers in the school is broken.
Welcome to Georgia. Have a nice day.
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
10:20 am
A clear case of ADMINISTRATION not supporting their teachers.
What else is new? mountain man, they didn’t get rid of 4000 teachers by being nice.
Mountain Man
November 5th, 2012
10:25 am
I like Dr. Monica Henson’s reply to an earlier blog:
You are a lone voice trying to steer the Titanic away from the iceberg and everyone in the current school system is fighting you to keep the Titanic on course straight into the iceberg.
The current system doesn’t address social promotion because they BELIEVE in it!! They honestly think it is better for the student to be promoted with their age group, end up several years behind, either drop out or get a diploma but can’t read and write!! Then these students get out in the “real world” and can’t make it because they were coddled in school. Maureen wrote a long time ago about visiting a school where they were confident and upbeat, but they couldn’t write a coherent sentence. Then the rest of the students are forced to go to college to prove themselves because a high school diploma has been devalued to worthless toilet paper.
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
10:27 am
looking at watch – whup 5:30 am – better get finished up here – almost late for work.
Georgia coach
November 5th, 2012
10:33 am
Private citizen troll, you are offering criticism to administrators, but you could not lead a retreat. How many schools have you run?
Carlos
November 5th, 2012
10:48 am
Given the corrosively authoritarian environment within public schools, the variation in individual teacher effectiveness is probably less significant than the bad effects of the system within which they work. Bad environments lead to bad results. When only “super teachers” can succeed, the the bigger problem is more likely to be with the system than with the other teachers.
Change the system for the better and you ought to change overall teacher performance for the better, as well, provided that you begin with teachers who haven’t been at that location before.
Trying to change an existing environment is far harder and takes far longer than creating a new environment, so the idea of charter schools if properly directed isn’t bad.
On the other hand, if the replacement charter school begins with the same old nasty culture, changing out administrators and teachers little will change nothing but faces and the effort will have been a waste of time.
The issue for “pithed” public schools must be: What do the parents want the new culture to be? So far, there’s been little precise discussion of where we want the environment within schools to go. The KIPP charters have been relatively successful because the environmental issues have been thought through.
As a start toward massive change, the state legislature might consider razing all Georgia’s Schools of Education — our pedaogical hearts of darkness.
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
10:58 am
Ah, the coach appears! Good to see you and hey, I’m typing too much. Obviously, your question is rhetorical. I have not run any schools. Basically, I can’t stand accounting (actual accounting: business management . ledgers etc.) But I do have significant experience in systems engineering and have done effective work with same. I’m not completely vacant on the topic of “what works.” Now that you bring me out my fog, yes I’ve done pretty well with it. There’s a reason the trains run on time and the show must go on. I have some experience with it. I don’t talk about it much in the context of education because I’ve heard so much banter about “world class” from people who wouldn’t know “world class” if it bit them on the behind. Meanwhile, I have done some of the development work in at least one area of technology that is the best in the world and dealt directly with the strategic applications director of at least one top technology in the world. Not the second best, no. The top. Since you asked, if I seem a little headstrong, yes, I have a record of performance. I’m being a little obscure and I’ll keep it that way but I will tell you my mum was married to the projector director of the four-function calculator at T.I. if you recall of if that means anything to you, if was a pretty big thing at the time. Casio did something similar in Japan. That is the first two calculators came from, T.I. and Casio. My mum used to author software for seismic exploration so if you want to “get real” yes, I’m there. Mum’s work is unrelated to my own, but yes, I am some understanding of industry and real-world applications of concept. Unfortunately, in the internet age, at present you can either be completely public or you can call your “Joe” and speak of “potatoes.” I’m sure you know the utility of what I mean, “coach.” Good to hear from you. Are there any authors you recommend? i have recently been a student of Marvin Harris. He makes some good points about cause / effect and the changes in anti-trust law. http://books.google.com/books/about/Why_Nothing_Works.html?id=bgy7AAAAIAAJ And it’s easier to read than Hegel but not nearly as much fun or relevant as Rilke.
AlreadySheared
November 5th, 2012
11:01 am
This movement is caused by educrat delusion. In their minds, they are educational experts who know, and do, what is best for their clients – their students. Parents who disagree, are dissatisfied, or become visibly involved are irresponsible, infantilizing meddlers.
In fact, teachers and schools for PARENTS. This is clear in private schools. Of course, the educators in private schools are skilled professionals who want and do what is best for their students, but the private schools themselves live and die by being chosen, or not, by parents to educate their children. In this respect, while they are mostly hands off, parents have the decisive and final word over whether the private school their children attend is getting the job done.
The prospect of this model of responsibility spilling into public schools scares the bleep out of educrats who
1) have deluded themselves into thinking that their students’ parents are anything other than their (the school’s) clients, and
2) have gotten used to having their own way – free to try whatever ineffectual instructional cure du jour suits them.
AlreadySheared
November 5th, 2012
11:02 am
shoulda been “teachers and schools WORK for PARENTS”
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
11:05 am
Oh no. I dropped the R word. It’s not on the “standards.” Ugh-oh. I’m in trouble now.
williebkind
November 5th, 2012
11:17 am
As I have stated before, take federal government out of schools and they will succeed. Oh wait she is wearing a cross and that should be banned because the school receives tax payer funds! I am sick of this argument. People living out my area telling my community what I can and can not do in our community. That was the beginning of the decline of public education.
Beverly Fraud
November 5th, 2012
11:31 am
Again, here is an issue that Rep. Lindsey and NONE of the other Republicans will address:
You claim to be the party of “the rule of law” and “personal responsibility” Yet can you point to a single piece of legislation that gives teachers direct, tangible support in matter of discipline, so that teachers can impart to students there are real consequences for not obeying “the rule of law” in the classroom and not taking “personal responsibility” for academics and behavior?
Why Rep. Lindsey, are so many Georgia schools completely out of control in terms of discipline, when the ruling party in Georgia for a decade has been the party of “the rule of law” and “personal responsibility”
We know (because conservative pundits have told us LOL) that the liberals are pantywaists who look to promulgate the nanny state. But why are the Republican doing their own best impression of do gooder-bedwetters when it comes to addressing discipline?
Is there a Republican out there who can address this?
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
11:31 am
Coach, one thing I can tell you is that, in part, from my applications effort and communication, berrylium is used in place of titanium in at least one widely applied technology in the world. And it works better. The one critique is that aside from performance, berrylium is toxic to work with and it is a significant concern to protect the workers who are forming berrylium as a raw material. Another story is that a company on my side of the fence under the same umbrella stole my font from a rather seering product research I did that had people jumping out of their bed’s at 5:00 in the morning and yelling, as I had just destroyed their product line and made a crisis for their company (outside the U.S.). In return, the company on my side of the fence used my unique font (without asking me) for the applications manual of a new product line. Not the top product line, but I sure got a chuckle out of it and nod in my direction from afar. I wish education research was as easy to accomplish, but in private industry no one is messing with you, you’re getting paid to do good work, and doing some of the midnight to 5AM extra is more manageable since there are not roving managers going around maligning people. It’s also easier to use computers and test equipment on an object than to try and navigate the murky waters of layered information in education, as is evidenced in the Harvard video on New Orleans when the moderator repeatedly asks how many New Orleans teachers there are in the aggregate and no one can give him an answer. A good place to start in Georgia would be to have a document bank and use “absolute” values instead of moving “what is failing” up and down to result in this week’s shallow sham of “focus” “reward” etc. which they then have the nerve to go around and hit everybody over the head with like a frying pan.
FYI
November 5th, 2012
11:34 am
@ Private Citizen. In many posts on different “Get Schooled” blogs, you claim to be a presently hired teacher, and include many details to show you are as you claim. Yet you post very long, digressive essays very often during the day, which you could not possibly do if you actually were a teacher.
Just on this thread so far, you’ve posted at: 8:03 am, 8:18 am, 8:40 am, 8:59 am, 9:03 am, 9:10 am, 9:35 am, 9:37 am, 9:52 am, 10:01 am, 10:06 am,10:11 am,10:18 am, 10:20 am, 10:27 am, 10:58 am, and 11:05 am. You’re probably posting something while I’m writing this.
I scroll past your name now, of course, but something weird seems to be going on. Seems compulsive to want to have your name and opinions on everything out there.
Beverly Fraud
November 5th, 2012
11:40 am
Can you imagine how fast Errol Davis would be lauding the suddenly “passing” NAHS if this bill would come to pass?
Of course if this amendment passes, Errol Davis might just find out he brought a knife to a gunfight when he did his ham-fisted NAHS power play.
Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Beverly Fraud
November 5th, 2012
11:48 am
Just on this thread so far, you’ve posted at: 8:03 am, 8:18 am, 8:40 am, 8:59 am, 9:03 am, 9:10 am, 9:35 am, 9:37 am, 9:52 am, 10:01 am, 10:06 am,10:11 am,10:18 am, 10:20 am, 10:27 am, 10:58 am, and 11:05 am. You’re probably posting something while I’m writing this.
Maybe he’s just outsourcing his posts to an out of state company…you know, just like Georgia is going to do when this amendment passes LOL
From the newswire:
The Sarah Palin Onward Christian Soldiers Science Academy (team logo, a caveman riding a pterodactyl) announces that, since Sarah Palin can now see Russia from her home, the school is now qualified to offer an International Baccalaureate program.
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
12:02 pm
FYI I do not “claim” anything and you are correct that I am enjoying a reprieve due to my own decision. Unfortunately, I am seeing some others follow my lead. Thankfully, it is a big world out there. I have no “allegience” whatsoever to the local power structure however I have great empathy for the students in Georgia. I don’t do school teaching to join a “church” and be lectured in “character” and made to fake my time redelivering the same type of denial of individuality and harassment of people. There are a few addresses I am welcome to live at, my friend. The one thing I enjoy is intense hard work and productivity to show for it. Obviously I can not keep up this rate of commenting but it is terribly wonderful to discover this discussion at the moment of decision re: “the amendment.” Imagine six months from now, a year from now. We’ll still have the same determinative social issues in the Georgia plantation system. And I’ve seen a school punished and disassembled and put back together, the faculty replaced, and a year later the exact same results, so there is something to my ranting about determinative social conditions and any parrot with a pair of claws on their roost can see that much of the populace in Georgia is living in deprived conditions.
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
12:05 pm
FYI, I’ll try and tone it down. You’re right. Thank you.
Entitlement Society
November 5th, 2012
12:06 pm
just checking in, but I see Private Citizen is blabbing away, so I won’t bother… too much to scroll past
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
12:15 pm
Beverly Don’t be joking about the IB program. They do good work. They’re probably the only separate curriculum that penetrated the government schools in Georgia and provided a safety zone and buffer between the teachers (who are then allowed to do productive work without harassment) and the state rituals to stand on one toe and sing the song. No one has mentioned the damage done to the relationship between IB and the state of Georgia due to Mr. Davis’s karate chop but I would think those in the U. S. IB office would be thinking “What’s the point of applying any effort or integrity toward this?” On some days, I might telephone them and ask, but I’ve got other things to do today. It could be that IB does not fit in with charterization, that IB is built on a prior model. I have a high opinion, even appreciation of their work, and know of several examples of IB students who have been well-prepared for college, no small thing. Credit where credit is due.
Tackless Angela Just Speaking The Facts (Angela)
November 5th, 2012
12:16 pm
Maureen,
This is off of the subject. Can you please get a confirmation that DCSS super Cheryl Atkinson has resigned? Please with an explaination. Thanks!
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
12:17 pm
Entitlement Society Point taken. Got it. Thank you.
David
November 5th, 2012
12:26 pm
We have to get past this ridiculous notion that the property taxes people pay on their homes come close to funding the education of their children. Unless you live in a $500,000 house, you do not pay enough property taxes in a year to generate the funding for sending two children to public school. The overwhelming majority of taxes applied to education are paid by those without children/ school-aged children or by private businesses. Many people have rationalized the notion that because people pay taxes they should have the ultimate say in how schools are run or should be given vouchers to send their kids to school where they choose. By this logic, I should ask the Army to assign me my own armed soldier and I should be assigned my own day to control a Reaper Drone. After all, I pay taxes.
Maureen Downey
November 5th, 2012
12:48 pm
@Tackless: Just called to check that out. Was told it was false.
Maureen
Batgirl
November 5th, 2012
1:09 pm
@Amazed and David, amen.
@ Maureen, is there any way you can give a breathalyzer test to some of these people?
Truth in Moderation
November 5th, 2012
1:19 pm
When Hollywood spends money on a propaganda film (Won’t Back Down), you know there is money to be made. The Trigger Law allows parents to overthrow the government for the benefit of for-profit charters. Citizens! Don’t do their dirty work! The only way to give parents total control and to rid our schools of corruption and fraud is to pass a Constitutional amendment to overturn the compulsory education law. WAKE UP!
Shar
November 5th, 2012
1:28 pm
I don’t know enough about a “parent trigger” to comment substantively on Rep Lindsey’s bill, but I find it interesting that the party in power is trying to move school policy in two different directions – the macro of a tiny group of cronies controlling statewide charters and the micro of a tiny group of parents controlling their local schools. In both cases, the outcome appears to be the hiring of outside “educational management” companies who can and will take over schools without the inconvenience of local board or taxpayer oversight.
Both of these approaches reveal Republicans to be set on undermining the power of local boards and school districts, as well as siphoning money to their corporate contributors. Perhaps a better “trigger” would be to set a maximum number of schools or students within a given district, and break up the district if that number is exceeded, while maintaining larger consortia of districts for the purpose of group purchasing power?
Just a thought, but I am immediately suspicious of the seemingly contradictory approaches shown by the Governor’s charter initiative and that of the majority whir. Two very powerful men most likely have but one true aim, and I’d rather know what that is before I agree with their tactics for getting there.
Tackless Angela Just Speaking The Facts (Angela)
November 5th, 2012
1:43 pm
Maureen, Thanks!
Kris
November 5th, 2012
1:43 pm
First of all please help defeat Amendment 1. For the sake of our children and grand children.
Then if this joke Lindsey law on parent trigger becomes real…Then we can (shady ) DEAL with it!
Vote NO Amendment 1
ELMom
November 5th, 2012
1:59 pm
Don’t we in GA already have the abbility to convert a tradditional school to a chareter school?
http://archives.gadoe.org/DMGetDocument.aspx/TITLE%2020%20Charter%20Schools%20Act%20of%201998%20as%20Amended%20July%201%202009.pdf?p=6CC6799F8C1371F6EAA2AF24ACB0BEBC5871519FA348829658DA33163C3678F8&Type=D
ELMom
November 5th, 2012
2:00 pm
charter not chareter
DeKalb Inside Out
November 5th, 2012
2:12 pm
ELMom
There are a number of different types of charters.
Conversion Charter Schools – traditional public schools that opt to become charters
Note: There is no path for a traditional public school to become a state chartered school.
ELMom
November 5th, 2012
2:17 pm
@Dekalb Inside Out. Thank you. To clarify a local traditional school can currently become a local Conversion Charter via parent/teacher petition.
Goodforkids
November 5th, 2012
2:35 pm
Boy, he must have been next in line with his hand out to ALEC. Tomorrow is vote day for Jan Jones’ forced and disingeuous amendment. Now that she has done their bidding (win or lose) , I guess Lindsey is ready to send up the next one. These folks don’t give a darn about what is good for kids. They sure are in bed with ALEC model legislation though. Anything to privatize and profitize.
3schoolkids
November 5th, 2012
2:38 pm
I haven’t done much studying up on parent trigger laws, but I found this comparison of basic components of the law in the states that have passed them:
http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/educ/state-parent-trigger-laws.aspx
In my years of volunteering in schools I have met many great parents who I would trust to help guide school plans for improvement, but I have also met some I would barely want to even be allowed to enter the school. I might be in favor of a version of parent trigger law (hate that name, conjures up scary images) that favors take over of a school or school system by the State DOE for a determinate period of time. However, there would have to be lots of specific language regarding improvement benchmarks and no for-profit charter management organizations involved. AND, enrollment would have to remain open to ALL who live within the school’s original attendance zones.
I would hope our state legislators would research what IS working in other states and model our own law suitable to our state, but I’m pretty sure my hopes will be dashed and it will merely be copied and pasted garbage meant to open more doors for the gravy train.
Mountain Man
November 5th, 2012
2:41 pm
“Where is the unlimited supply of excellent teachers to staff these magical places? ”
They all left the current “traditional” schools because of unbearable working conditions. Hopefully, they would like working in a school environment which supports teachers (sort of like how teachers gravitate to private schools).
Mountain Man
November 5th, 2012
2:45 pm
If 50% of the parents of the students in your school think a change is needed – you are in REAL trouble. I don’t think this would help but in the most dire circumstances. In the WORST APS schools, they probably could not get 50% of parents for the “trigger”.
Only two more days until this Amendment 1 controversy is over – one way or another.
Maureen, is there any information available about attendance at schools – like what is the average # of days missed at “failing” schools VS. at high-performing schools vs. middle of the pack schools?
Maureen Downey
November 5th, 2012
2:49 pm
@Mountain Man, Have to weigh in here that private schools have higher teacher turnover than public schools. Check the research of Richard Ingersoll of UPenn.
Charter schools also have higher turnover than traditional public schools:
Charter school teachers leave the profession and
move between schools at significantly higher rates
than teachers in traditional public schools. The odds
of a charter school teacher leaving the profession versus
staying in the same school were 130 percent greater than
those of a traditional public school teacher. Similarly, the
odds of a charter school teacher moving to another
school were 76 percent greater.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:XiR2A1VRfgIJ:www.vanderbilt.edu/schoolchoice/documents/briefs/brief_stuit_smith_ncspe.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShS6aA6RfrVfgS7qNuVj5HlMvkJ87NidBYqcd8JbbNy8oEifd9jK8Fn7J6Y2FYzPTzjmqXjkysvlatH5YEhY4CvveKnumCDNyu_qTQkX5yKkCnwHR4LLOU5bBsw8iwr54YPlPR9&sig=AHIEtbTRaZIxjQ8phZBhnzO82jMtCFWIBA
Maureen
Maureen Downey
November 5th, 2012
2:53 pm
@Mountain: There is some great stuff here on that issue:
http://www.attendanceworks.org/research/
Mountain Man
November 5th, 2012
2:54 pm
Maureen, I found some information myself on a study of Ohio schools:
http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ714746.pdf
The difference between attendance at top 10% schools and bottom 10% schools was up to 12% – 95% to 83%. If a school year is 180 days long, then the AVERAGE attendance of 83% means the student missed 31 days. Again, this is the AVERAGE, so some missed a lot more. How can that NOT affect the performance of the school??? This should be the FIRST thing that administrators look at to improve test scores. Forget about blaming teachers – it is time we fired some administrators!!!
Mountain Man
November 5th, 2012
2:55 pm
Thanks for your answer, Maureen.
Mountain Man
November 5th, 2012
3:52 pm
“Have to weigh in here that private schools have higher teacher turnover than public schools.”
Hmmm. Have to think about that one. Wonder how the rates of turnover compare between either charters or private schools vs. “failing” or “at-risk” schools?
My first thought is that good teachers at “failing” or “at-risk” schools are the worst pressured by the “blame the teacher” menatlity, and they are the first to leave for the first better job available – charters or private schools. However, these schools (I believe) pay less than traditional schools. When an opening comes about in a “good” traditional school (think Pope High School in East Cobb) then they move over to it and stay there for the rest of their career.
Sound plausible?
Mountain Man
November 5th, 2012
3:57 pm
“The odds of a charter school teacher leaving the profession versus
staying in the same school were 130 percent greater than
those of a traditional public school teacher.”
If I were at a school like Pope High School of East Cobb, I wouldn’t leave the profession – high-performing students make me look like a great teacher all day long.
On the other hand, if I am employed by a ‘Conversion charter” that was a failing school, what really has changed? The same BOE is still in charge. They still practice the same old routines that caused them to fail in the first place. Their students are the same students, drawn from the same demographics that makes them a failing school.
Tony
November 5th, 2012
5:32 pm
You think the parent trigger law works one way, but it really does not! Beware!
This kind of law does not actually give parents the right to take over their school. It only appears to. The devil that is in the details (and is being found out the hard way) actually diminishes parental control.
Pride and Joy
November 5th, 2012
5:36 pm
Mirva, it is such a heartbreaking shame you think as you do. I’ve never heard of anyone thinking that the word “appropriate” means inadequate and failing because that what many GA schools are.
And many GA public schools are more expensive than great private private schools. APS gets $14k per kid per year. I put BOTH of my children in private school for a similar amount and they are getting a FABULOUS education — and the frosting on the cake is that the teachers are pleasant, kind, and HAPPY.
Goodforkids
November 5th, 2012
5:46 pm
@3schoolkids…
This law is all about the for profit charter companies moving in.
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
5:55 pm
Mountain man, I think you’re really confabulating a lot of stuff from your imagination re: “failing schools” and staff turnover. If I made a generalized guess, many of these schools are lower income and many of the teachers are bedrock professionals with great personal stability and who are committed to their jobs. If there is teacher movement it is usually due to higher admin playing checkers trying to meet some initiative, not teachers moving around on their own. Career teachers like stability and are durable individuals. Dealing with high-needs kids may be a travail (work) but it is a labor of love and I don’t know anyone running from it. Changing schools, even changing classrooms within a school (getting moved around in subject or grade level) is a pain in the neck. Most people want to get their classroom set-up and do their thing and keep it that way.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
November 5th, 2012
5:58 pm
@AlreadySheared “Of course, the educators in private schools are skilled professionals who want and do what is best for their students…”
Sheared, I am curious as to why you think “private” schools are staffed by some elite group of teachers who graduated from some “special” teaching training program that somehow made them more “skilled,” more “professional” and more caring than their public school counterparts. As far as I know, there are no “special” educational training programs that cater to teachers destined for the private schools verses the public schools. We all come from the same pool of teachers. Or course, private schools sometimes hire non-certified teachers, but that does not make those individuals any more “professional” ..unless you think that educational training programs have some required class on how to be ‘unprofessional’ or some such thing. Are there poor teachers in public schools. Yes. they also exist in private schools. I could tell a few tales.
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
6:06 pm
You’ve to remember that when a teacher changes schools they generally do not get to pick their grade level and if they’re certified in different areas, do not get to pick what they teacher. They’re usually plucked by admin and moved somewhere within their certification and basically told what to do as far as what they are teaching. That means who new lesson plans and lesson materials and rebuilding from scratch. This is particularly notable for science teachers when one grade is for life science and another grade for earth science. These are wholly different subject areas. Maybe there is a study somewhere about moving teachers around and the resulting effect on the teachers. In Georgia, I would guess that by a great margin, teachers moving around between grade / subject or school is due to the district moving people around, not the teacher’s want or request. This is really something that should be looked into by SACS and documented because some places it is just crazy the amount of “setting up the year” that the admin does with no regard for anyone. Seen it in the middle of the year where they just up and start playing checkers with people.
Private Citizen
November 5th, 2012
6:16 pm
So if you have your groove on and your materials and you’ve taught a certain play a few times and tuned it up and improved the activities and you’ve built up good sources and materials and then you up and get moved to another area, all of the work you’ve done is just eliminated. You stick it all in boxes and store it and marshall on and start over building supplies for the new assignment. You’re not asked before hand and you don’t see it coming. Basically, there are schools were proven veteran teachers are getting treated like fast food workers, complete with a time clock. “Grill cook? No! Run the french fry machine! Wait, you’re on the front counter taking orders. Hold on, back to the grill with you.” I think this stuff has ramped up in the last few years. Maybe as the management is both thinning the herd and trying to cover their bases.