Where are the voices of teachers in DeKalb mess? Here is one and he’s not holding back.
A DeKalb teacher sent me this piece, noting that none of the blog commentaries on the crisis in DeKalb have come from teachers.
I suspect teachers all over the country will agree with his comments about the lack of respect for the profession. (At his request, I am not using his name because of his concerns for his job.)
This teacher is responding to a recent DeKalb commentary on the blog by Oglethorpe University President Lawrence Schall, but his essay speaks to the conditions facing teachers in many places:
I’ve seen so many commentaries over the weeks about the plight of the DeKalb School Systems – from interim superintendents to possible ex-board members to concerned politicians. The blaring omission of a teacher voice rings louder about our current state of affairs. I’ve shrugged all of them off and kept-calm-and-carried-on as has been the trickle-down mantra for years in DeKalb County.
Then, l read I read Lawrence M. Schall’s “wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing” commentary.
His manifesto of conservatism and privatizing the public school arena is, I think, a huge portion of what’s wrong with education today – it comes under the guise of common-sense solutions from informed think-tanks, but it’s really just the Trojan Horse that will finally do away with public education in this country. And, as I’ve said before, democracy in America won’t be far behind.
It’s a simple fact – public education is not and should never be seen as a business.
To suggest it is or could be run like one is itself the problem with education.
The agenda that Schall suggests is double-speak for fixing a broken educational system by doing away with it in piecemeal. “Creating paths for the recognition and reward of effective teachers” is pay for performance – pitting teacher against teacher to receive pay based on student performance is ludicrous and quickly becoming a reality.
I know virtually no teachers who think this would ever turn out well. If you think there was cheating on the high-stakes tests before (which includes the suggested model StudentsFirst organization by Ms. Rhee), wait until you tie a paycheck to some ridiculous exam written by a for-profit organization.
As far as “empower[ing] parents with real choice by providing them with easily accessible and understandable data and through equitable funding of effective charter school” – this is truly one of the biggest farces within school systems today.
If I can break down what I’m reading: we’re talking about vouchers for private schools that can produce the results that the businesses are telling the parents that students need. If a student in my class misses a question on a high-stakes assessment that asks the child to find the mistake in a sentence that’s missing the Oxford comma (an example one of the many hotly debated usage rules upon which we English teachers can’t even agree that test-writers love to target), then that student hasn’t met the standard for “Conventions” and must be remediated.
Or withdrawn and taken to a school where the child will suddenly master the elusive comma – a school that works. Frankly, there are some usage rules I have to look up every time I come across the issue, or I simply revise the sentence to fix what I don’t know.
That’s what I learned as a student before we traded learning for testing – to think critically and creatively. To use my strengths in my favor. These skills have fallen by the wayside in an era of manipulated numbers telling us what’s going on instead of visiting schools to see for ourselves.
Instead of working with teachers to help the students, parents have been empowered to believe that they know education better than the educator. And why wouldn’t they think that? It’s obvious that everyone thinks they can do a better job than teachers. Organizations like Teach for America are churning them out as people leave unfulfilling careers to enter the classroom and find purpose.
All you need to be a good teacher, apparently, is a dedicated heart – the thing that’s missing from those of us who went into education from the get-go.
The-Teachers-As-a-Second-Career-Crew will save education from the current teachers who just aren’t cutting it. Check out any news story that has anything to do with education and you’ll find the teacher featured at the center of the problem.
Even Schall suggests that the teachers are more to blame than the governance when he points out “performance of the school board, and more importantly, the school district have been abysmal for far too long.”
Dr. Schall, I’m a part of that district and you’re absolutely right – it’s broken, broken, broken. But, with all due respect to you sir, it’s not because of teachers not doing their jobs. It’s because the powers-that-be have not been focusing on student success and teacher protection – they’ve been running this district like a business complete with golden parachutes, missing monies and top-heavy management.
They, like so many in education, have forgotten that it’s about the students. And I don’t mean in a “Victory in every classroom” political slogans or the “We do it for the children” false-selfless statement that six-figure administrators make. I mean the hard-fought and sometimes ugly battles that it takes when it really is about the students.
All the teachers I know accept that and are willing to fight for their students. Otherwise, we wouldn’t do what we do.
Here’s where I agree with you – we have to “spend tax dollars more efficiently by promoting better governance structures.” Those structures must involve the teachers and their protection along with students. If you want me to do right by your kids, ask for my input on their education. Protect me when I do speak out.
Don’t cut my pay or the number of days I have with your kids while adding more tests and then act shocked when the learning seems to have stalled – of course it has. The students were so busy pre-testing to show management that they didn’t know something that the teacher ran out of time to teach them something.
But it made for cool charts for the “data chats” and “war rooms.”
Instead of villainizing teacher unions, encourage them. Work with them. Teachers will be a lot more likely to fight for your kids if they know somebody’s got their back. As it stands, I can’t even sign my name to this commentary without possibly losing my job.
Now, I don’t have my own blog to fall back on or a doctoral degree in education, but even I can see that our system is patently wrong.
And I’m trying to do something about it. What I am doing is working from the inside to make things better. It’s a little more thankless than sitting on a higher perch and pointing out the mistakes that others are making, but those kinds of gigs are hard to get.
Still, in spite of my broken district, just like Dr. Schall’s two adult children, I’m also teaching at a public school that works. And it’s not because of the tests; it’s in spite of them.
Schall and I can agree on one more thing – we are focusing on the symptoms rather than the problem. The more we treat education like a business, the further away from ever fixing it we get. I’ve heard it said a million different ways (as have most of us actually in the classroom), but I’m not building the latest piece of technology or working on an assembly line of the latest mode of transportation – I’m teaching your child.
I want him or her to have imagination and creativity enough to make the future better for all of us. The more roadblocks and assessments of arbitrary questions put forth in the spirit of measuring my worth as an educator, the less likely your child is of actually being successful.
Because I have looked at them as only data and stamped the “product” with a big red label as defective.
Because my days are spent producing worthless charts and graphs for my “data notebook” so that my countless supervisors can justify their own jobs by showing that I’m not doing mine right yet.
Because there are so many corporate people whose job it is to tell what I’m doing wrong according to their business model that even I sometimes forget that teaching is my life, not just my job, and I didn’t go into it for the money.
The education system in our country is broken and we’re breaking it further with all of our uninspired solutions.
I guess if that’s our goal, then we’re “racing to the top” right on schedule.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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294 comments Add your comment
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
12:31 pm
@ op
good to know you’re using “protection”
Google "NEA" and "union"
March 11th, 2013
12:33 pm
Another day, another gaggle of anti-reform, anti-choice union astroturfers to scroll past.
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
12:33 pm
@ don’t
that’s an evasion, not an answer. all I’m asking you to do is back up your claim. you can do that, can’t you?
no kidding most public schools are poorly run. next discover grass needs rain to grow.
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
12:36 pm
@ Dr. John
that matches what I’ve read about the Finnish model as well. as far as I can figure, the Finnmania comes from looking at a headline, not reading the report.
sorta SACSish, isn’t it?
Google "NEA" and "union"
March 11th, 2013
12:41 pm
Hey @blabney feignsworth, why don’t those fat-cat union bosses you’re fronting for “make some sacrifices” instead of blocking needed reforms?
They can start by refunding the $168 Georgia Association of Educators members pay the NEA each year to help bankroll the Democrat Party.
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
12:45 pm
@ google/10:10
since there are no teachers unions in Georgia yet, your post, as usual, is meaningless.
it is funny however your choice to use union slogans to complain about union actions
Google "NEA" and "union"
March 11th, 2013
12:50 pm
@blabney feignsworth
I’ve appropriated another blogger’s name for you because it so very fits you. Both name and surname. And yes, the NEA says you’re wrong about there being no unions here in Georgia—right on their own website.
Google “NEA” and “union.”
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
12:54 pm
@ union/10:10
and both you and the NEA, in this instance, are wrong.
but you know that.
I must confess I’m curious what you are compensating for with the constant personal attacks on people and third grade (with apologies to the third grade) level insults.
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
12:56 pm
@ maureen
can I respond appropriately ie-publicly humiliate this bozo?
Google "NEA" and "union"
March 11th, 2013
12:57 pm
And I doubt the inner-city parents you so cold-heartedly consign to failing schools—will treat you very nicely if you ever turn up at a local town hall meeting.
And have at it, bozo.
Google "NEA" and "union"
March 11th, 2013
1:01 pm
@blabney feignsworth
Perhaps you can start by explaining just why you’re unemployed, with free time to spare to constantly bore us with your snarky opinions.
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
1:03 pm
@ google/10:10
and you would know this how? you tight with the inner city crowd?
funny, I actually have attended several meetings like you advocate. and since I talk to the “inner city” crowd as people, not down to them as you seem based on your posts, I have almost always gotten a polite reception.
but its good to know I rattled you
Google "NEA" and "union"
March 11th, 2013
1:05 pm
@blabney feignsworth
That your best shot?
Just A Teacher
March 11th, 2013
1:06 pm
I just want to thank the writer of this article. I have been in the classroom since 1993, and it seems as if almost everything I’ve read concerning education comes from one of three sources: professors of education, administrators, or politicians. There is a good reason for that. These people have a vested interest in keeping teachers quiet. We know how ridiculous they are, but if we speak up, we risk losing our meager salaries and benefits. To the average teacher, it doesn’t make one iota of difference who sits on the school board. Heck, in a system the size of Dekalb, the school board probably doesn’t even know the names of 5% of their employees, let alone what they teach.
Google "NEA" and "union"
March 11th, 2013
1:07 pm
No wonder you’re unemployed. And probably blogging from your mother’s basement.
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
1:07 pm
@ google/10:10
I’ve been very public about being part of the 300+ who got laid off from GPC. along with several other very good people.
I’ve been looking for work and sharpening up my skills since. and a lot of volunteer work.
are you validated by this somehow?
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
1:10 pm
@ maureen
I retract my request to deal with this “gentleman” as he deserves
while I admit it would be interesting to see if this bravado would stand up face to face, there is no beating I could administer which could be worse than him being stuck being him.
Attentive Parent/Invisible Serfs Collar
March 11th, 2013
1:11 pm
Bootney-I know you’ll be stunned I actually read the reports on Finland and Pasi Sahlberg’s works and I also know quite a bit about how all these ed reforms being sold as the Common Core relate to what were called the Swedish ed reforms in the 50s and 60s. These education reforms cannot exist outside a welfare state society or as all the Nordics now call themselves-Human Resource Societies.
When you pull away the layers of rhetoric here and what the Finns have you quickly find political theorists pushing economic democracy or a Fair Shares society or a Cooperative Commonwealth or Capitalism 3.0 or distributed capitalism. With these ed reforms, the political, social, and economic transformation must come. Michael Barber recently in a document called The Learning Curve actually said that who does well on the PISA-driven top performing countries in the world is based on which countries are pushing social justice through their ed systems.
The Finns are. The Canadians are. The Chinese in Shanghai are. So those high rankings are not about how well those students are being educated. It is more about what are the priorities in the classroom.
Isn’t it mean of me to read something other than the Executive Summary of these reports and to actually read footnotes?
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
1:11 pm
since my parents are long since dead and gone, blogging from their basement would be a challenge.
Google "NEA" and "union"
March 11th, 2013
1:13 pm
@ blabney feignsworth
Okay, if that’s all you got—then I hope one of those job applications actually answers back, and you can get on with your life. And the rest of us with ours.
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
1:21 pm
@ serf
I was so stunned it took me a moment to get off the floor. somebody who actually read the documents? so regardless of agree or disagree we can discuss their actual merits?
you obviously are some kind of radical union idealist/communist/pick you favorite ists…
I’ve thought for some time the “social justice” (whatever the hell that is) aspect was/is the primary driver in their decisions and policies.
at GPC, just before Tricoli got removed and we imploded, GPC went “social justice” crazy. classes were spent building and maintaining gardens, “volunteering” in food warehouses, ect when they should have been in class.
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
1:25 pm
@ google/10:10
how is my being active in educational matters preventing you from “getting on with your life”?
and you never did answer my question: are you validated somehow by my being laid off?
Dr. John Trotter
March 11th, 2013
1:26 pm
Thanks, Bootney and Attentive Parent. Yes, thanks for reading all of the reports! This sort of gets on people’s nerves…when you actually know their agenda. Ha!
Here is an article that I just ran across that I wrote a couple of years ago. You can tell that it is old since I actually made reference to my Blackberry! But, I thought that it tied in to what this DeKalb teacher was trying to communicate (and did very well) to the readers. Teachers just want to teach!
Here is the article…
Why Do Teachers Teach?
By John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD
Many times you see me rail against what has happened to the teaching profession. Sometimes I may seem like a broken record (ala “You can’t have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions”). I am passionate about what has happened to the teaching profession…educrats treating teachers like they are hired hands and expecting them to mindlessly teach a prescriptive curriculum like they are robots. It is a tragedy. When I taught in the old days, we could be zany and creative in the classroom. We could have our own style, a style that the students knew and to which they adjusted…and usually with a degree of delight. That’s the great part of growing up…learning to adjust to different people (teachers, in this case) with different styles.
I have often told my colleagues and teachers that I would be fired every day under the current culture of teachers being placed in straightjackets. I even bowed up to the odious structure that was in place in the old days (especially those horrid TPAIs and the accompanying written lesson plans and behavioral objectives in the old DeKalb County — when DeKalb was King of the Rock and thought that their mess didn’t stink). I turned down my second contract (didn’t even sign it — which was stupid of me) and left. Moved back to Athens and the next year car-pooled each day to Greene County High School. I had a great principal, Dr. Donald Garrett. He was so supportive of me and just let me do my thing. When MACE picketed the superintendent in Greene County on three occasions about three years ago (yes, this superintendent moved on not too long after these downtown pickets which were joined in by local towns people!), I had one of my former students, Vincent, to happily meet me on the picket line. We laughed, talked about where my old students were today, and just reminisced. I had a blast teaching at Greene County High School, but I was offered a good assistantship in the Department of Administration at the University of Georgia for the next year, and Dr. Garrett (who was finishing up his doctorate there at the time) encouraged me to take it. He said, “You can always come back here anytime you want.” But, after my assistantship, I took a job as Assistant Principal at Washington County High School down the road…at 27 years of age.
This morning I looked at my Blackberry to see my emails and my Facebook comments. I saw the nicest comment from one of my former Jonesboro Jr. High School students. It was from Eric Jensen, a First Team All State football player from Jonesboro High School and a student and player whom I taught and coached at Jonesboro Jr. High School in the early 1980s. Forgive me for my vanity but he wrote the following: “Well I hope my boys have a teacher as dedicated and passionate about education. A legend is a person whose fame or notoriety makes him a source of romanticized tales and exploits. That’s you coach.” This is why teachers teach. We teachers (and I am still a teacher at heart) teach to have an influence (not to artificially raise the standardized test scores to fatten up the superintendent’s wallet or pocketbook). We love interacting with the children and watching them grow — even to adulthood. I get a kick out of watching Norreese Haynes run the day-to-day operations at MACE…especially since he was the classroom “bishop” in my 7th Grade History class.
I have witnessed hundreds of people through the years come up to my father at restaurants or elsewhere and be delighted to see “Coach Trotter” or “Mr. Trotter” (my father was a teacher, coach, assistant principal, and principal). They love to regale in the old stories. The men love to recount the times that my father had to paddle them. I remember some over 70 year old retiree recalling at the Burger King Breakfast confab (a morning ritual at Airport Thruway in Columbus) this to my father (who will be 86, Lord willing, on April 21): “Mr. Trotter, do you remember paddling me when I showed up for school with no socks?” This man was laughing big time about this disciplinary incident. I bet he didn’t show up anymore to Jordan Vocational High School with no socks! My father didn’t put up with any foolishness, and the students loved him and respected him for this. This is what is missing in our public schools today. Today’s students hold the teachers in contempt because there is NO discipline (especially in the large school systems). Kids really crave discipline. That’s how they know that they are loved. Pampering and coddling won’t do the trick. It’s like what is said in the Bible: “The Lord disciplines whom he loves.”
Why do teachers teach? Teachers love the interaction with children. Teachers love watching the light turn on when a kid finally understands a concept or skill. They love watching them grown and mature. They love the “relational learning” (I will coin this phrase) that takes place. That’s why teachers are so frustrated today…because all of this has been hijacked for the sake of infinitesimal gains on a standardized test which does not amount to a hill of beans, with the exception to the gypsy superintendent receiving financial bonuses and maintaining his or her job for another year or two. (c) MACE, April 9, 2011.
bootney farnsworth
March 11th, 2013
1:26 pm
@ serf,
this further supports something I’ve known instinctively for some time
education these days is more about social control -much more- than it is about actual education
Private Citizen
March 11th, 2013
1:36 pm
Original Prof, Are you spamming me because I put a link to a picture and the server the picture is on does not like direct linking? And then you make this very basic concept into something else? I took a screen picture for you. You sure get hot over a bowl of curry. http://postimage.org/image/f5azrpwox/ PS You ought to learn a little more about browsers and servers and then you would not so paranoid. Did it occur to you to research the reason for a “forbidden” hyperlink? It’s because I went to their main page first. It won’t bite you, there, Para-Pro. You ought do more building and less complaining while you are consuming. You’d better understand the web. Read the w3c site and check back.
Anonymous in DeKalb
March 11th, 2013
1:37 pm
“Maureen, Dr. John Trotter continues to use your blog to shamelessly flog his third-rate outfit and thereby stuff his own pockets—for free. Ha!”
Maureen: Please see above. Ha!
dekalbite@Attentive Parent
March 11th, 2013
1:37 pm
“Michael Barber recently in a document called The Learning Curve actually said that who does well on the PISA-driven top performing countries in the world is based on which countries are pushing social justice through their ed systems.”
This document was published by Pearson, one of the largest sellers of educational programs in the U.S. DeKalb County Schools has had their fill of two Pearson programs, “America’s Choice” and “Success for All”. Literally tens of millions of taxpayer dollars spent on “America’s Choice” and not an ounce of proof it has been efficacious for DeKalb students. Ask DeKalb teachers how they like using these scripted learning programs. In addition, another $10,000,000 a year is spent on non teaching “Coaches” to implement these programs.
http://www.pearson.com/news/2012/november/pearson-launches-the-learning-curve.html
Mary Elizabeth
March 11th, 2013
1:38 pm
“It’s a simple fact – public education is not and should never be seen as a business.”
I strongly agree with this teacher’s analysis as to why public education should not be seen as a business..
===============================================
“. . .I’m teaching your child. I want him or her to have imagination and creativity enough to make the future better for all of us. The more roadblocks and assessments of arbitrary questions put forth in the spirit of measuring my worth as an educator, the less likely your child is of actually being successful.”
As a retired teacher, I have consistently maintained that students’ test results should only be used to diagnose precisely individual students’ academic needs. Students’ test results should not be used as a threat to teachers’ pay or to teachers’ job security, as might occur in a business climate. In education, there are many factors, beyond test results, which must be considered as to why specific students may not be functioning on par with their peers. Moreover, when students’ test results are used for punitive purposes toward teachers, the entire educational climate will change to one of tenseness and fear, and that type of educational environment will adversely effect both students and teachers.
=======================================================
“Instead of villainizing teacher unions, encourage them. Work with them. Teachers will be a lot more likely to fight for your kids if they know somebody’s got their back. As it stands, I can’t even sign my name to this commentary without possibly losing my job.”
This teacher was wise not to disclose his name. However, the fact that he cannot prudently reveal his name is testimony to the fact that teachers (and students) need teachers’ unions. In those states which have teachers’ unions, student performance is higher than in those states without teachers’ unions.
=========================================================
Private Citizen
March 11th, 2013
1:45 pm
Lesson 1 vocabulary:
hyperlink: (noun) A link from a hypertext file or document to another location or file, typically activated by clicking on a highlighted word or image on. (verb) Link (a file) in this way..
Sometime hyperlinked images can give a “forbidden” message as described here (this used to be very common, less so now) http://www.110mb.com/forum/index.php?topic=20938.0;wap2
Private Citizen
March 11th, 2013
1:46 pm
Additional reading, “Directories and Default Index Files” http://webtips.dan.info/subdir.html
A Web site needn’t be all in one directory. You can use subdirectories (what graphical-environment types tend to call “folders” these days, but us old-time computerists prefer the more technical term) within your site. That’s a good way to separate your content in a logical, easily-maintainable way.
Private Citizen
March 11th, 2013
1:52 pm
Mary Elizabeth,
Students’ test results should not be used as a threat to teachers’ pay or to teachers’ job security
Test score can also be used to threaten students. I’ve seen it in action. And setting up the “if you do not pass the CRCT, this will happen…”
There’s a term for this activity: emotional blackmail. It is completely unethical. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_blackmail
Google "NEA" and "union"
March 11th, 2013
1:57 pm
@Mary Elizabeth:
Parents can rent the excellent film “Waiting for Superman” to see the sorry role the National Education Association and other unions have played in prolonging our public education mess.
If they live in the union-dominated cities of Chicago or Washington D.C., for example, they’ll know first-hand.
Dr. John Trotter
March 11th, 2013
1:58 pm
Anonymous: You still demonstrate very transparently your jealousy. You need to get hold of yourself, Anonymous. Jealousy is a powerful emotion. You can call MACE anything that you want to call it. I just know that teachers like MACE. Let’s face the facts…the classroom educator in Georgia has three friends, WalMart, the good Lord Himself, and MACE. The administrators have PAGE and GAE.
I know that MACE must really get under the skin of those so conflicted. Sorry, but this is life. Other than your fuming about MACE, have a good day, Anonymous, my brave-hearted friend.
Private Citizen
March 11th, 2013
1:59 pm
Original Prof, go to any image on the web, right-click on the image and select “view image” and there is your image url. Got it? If you can not do this, lose the Explorer browser and use Firefox, Opera, or Chrome like a grown up. Browser -> category “application” -> just like potato chips, there is more than one. http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/design/browsers_list.php3
Private Citizen
March 11th, 2013
2:02 pm
Yo Prof, I was using this browser for a while. Works great. http://kazehakase.sourceforge.jp/screenshots/ss20040828.png -Live a little. Take an adventure.
Real life
March 11th, 2013
2:11 pm
I agree that schools are not private businesses and that the Dekalb School system is broken–almost beyond repair. I do not agree with vouchers for private and charter schools–simply an excuse to get private education at taxpayer expense without solving any problems.
But as a retired teacher I also know that teachers are part of the problem, unlike what the anonymous author believes. If the majority of your students are not passing basic skills tests then that teacher is obviously not doing something right. I was in a union, the American Federation of Teachers, for my entire career and learned quickly that we were to blame all problems on administrators, school board members and others. Nothing was ever our fault. Never.
That pass-the-blame belief is common throughout all layers of US society now. It is never our fault and we must never accept responsibility for it.
And it is obvious that the lack of critical thinking skills that this teacher decries is missing from his essay. All of us share responsibility for this debacle– from the voter, to the parent, the student, the teacher, administrator and so on. No one is blameless. And no quick solution exists.
If you think that you do not hold even an iota of blame then I suggest you find a new career where personal responsibility is not important and is not to be expected.
Private Citizen
March 11th, 2013
2:11 pm
That’s pretty clever that Pearson has a program titled “America’s Choice” since they’re a UK company located in London:
“Pearson PLC is a British multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London. It is the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world.”
_____________
Not exactly keeping “the money” local.
Anonymous in DeKalb
March 11th, 2013
2:12 pm
@ Dr. John Trotter -
MACE is a third-rate organization, which won’t even put your membership numbers on your website because you’re so very tiny. The local schools I’m familiar with have one or two MACE members, at most! Any actual teacher out there experience anything different?
And MACE has zero influence with the state legislature.
But MACE dues supply you with a paycheck and somewhere to commute to each morning—right, Dr. Trotter?
Georgia Coach
March 11th, 2013
2:28 pm
@ Anonymous, Trotter will not answer your questions, nor will he admit to his purpose, defending incompetent teachers who give him money.
DeKalb Inside Out
March 11th, 2013
2:29 pm
Educating Children is a Business
Education is the product. Parents are the consumers. Educating our children is a business.
Whether it should be a private or public business is a different conversation.
Private Citizen
March 11th, 2013
2:31 pm
Anonymous in DeKalb, give it up for a week, oky?
Btw, I find the real information in this thread overwhelming. Good luck to this teacher who wrote the essay, to keeping it together through the spring. I looked in a teacher friend of mine and he’s a ball of nerves since the main admin. is going to spring everybody around again. Very cold about it, too, these folk. It’s really crazy, they just treat people like dirt which is so counterintuitive when you’re working with the kids each day, are conscientious and caring, but then do a 180 degree turn to face the bosses and the bosses treat you as alien. Never ever seen a one of the bosses pick up a marker and “do it” or address the class.
Private Citizen
March 11th, 2013
2:36 pm
DeKalb Inside Out, If “educating children is a business” why don’t you give teachers textbooks?
If you’re the business manager, you’re pretty unethical, hiring someone then making their spend their own money to get the job done. Even the wage laborers at Wendy’s and SubWay have the foodstuffs bought for them. They don’t have to spend their one money so they can have the ingredients to finish the sandwich.
Methinks you are repeating some pre-package propaganda and ought to think for yourself. If I go get new tires at Sam’s Club, the worker in the auto bay who is putting on the tires does not also pay for them out of his own pocket.
Private Citizen
March 11th, 2013
2:38 pm
Bold Announcement is Bold
Do not read the text, for it is not bold and there of lesser importance. The above fits the curriculum of satire as business.
Angela
March 11th, 2013
2:46 pm
I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT ANY BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!! HUGS AND MORE HUGS TO WHOM EVER YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Google "NEA" and "union"
March 11th, 2013
2:56 pm
@Angela
YOU’RE ENTIRELY WELCOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mountain Man
March 11th, 2013
3:07 pm
‘Test score can also be used to threaten students. I’ve seen it in action. And setting up the “if you do not pass the CRCT, this will happen…”’
That is the way it should be. If a student does not pass the competency test, he/she should be retained in that grade until he/she DOES pass it.
concerned citizen
March 11th, 2013
3:09 pm
I am a retired teacher and am still teaching and have been communicating on this blog for many months. From the content I see, I believe there are a number of teachers participating, but remember, it’s at your own risk!!!!!
Cassidy
March 11th, 2013
3:11 pm
I read the article, but became quickly bored with the same old, same old comments so I skipped a few of those. Back to the article: As I read it I got the feeling that teachers have been beat down so much that, at this point, they don’t realize one key thing – we need you more than you need us. You don’t need anyone to stand up for you because you really hold all the power. If you signed your name to that letter then what is the worse that would happen? They let you go? So what? Another great teacher gone so the system, parents, students, and community is worse off, but the truth is that you would probably be able to find a job with more pay and respect (and better hours) either teaching elsewhere or even in another industry if you wanted that. When enough teachers are gone and the almighty test scores are getting worse instead of better than the community at large will take notice and demand answers. If not, then they probably don’t care much anyway and you are probably better off long gone.
I work with much of the same public as the teachers and I have no problem making people reschedule if they text or take a call while I am talking to them, if they are late, or if they can’t behave appropriately. The thing is that if I was let go tomorrow then I would just find something better. I know my worth and they get much more from me than what I am getting in return (and they want to take some of that away, too).
My point is that if you do your job the way you need to do it and stand up for yourselves then you may lose that job (but you probably won’t), but there are worse things than losing a job and you all are so much more valuable than you realize. I feel like the beauracracy, politics, and community as a whole have given all of you battered wife syndrome. Seriously, we need you so much more than you need us.
concerned citizen
March 11th, 2013
3:15 pm
Last night in Dunwoody, Supt Thurmond, when asked about the hiring freezes and subs only postings, replied that that was “just a rumor.” If anyone will look on the PATS system, all teaching jobs are marked for subs only. Why would he lie??????
concerned citizen
March 11th, 2013
3:17 pm
I am now hearing final interviews are being held for prospective board, and names could be available as early as tomorrow.