High School Social Studies teacher given option of resigning rather than being fired

Unfortunately, he was never told what transgression had created the situation in the first place.

http://www.dailymail.com/News/PutnamCounty/201203050289

Public Reprimands for Teachers

http://open.salon.com/blog/jeanette_d/2012/01/27/shaming_teachers

Jeanette DeMain reacts to news that the Tennessee board of ed will make reprimands of teachers public knowledge.  I still recall getting a reprimand because I was asked to dance to the Village People's "YMCA" at a pep rally, and later sent an email to the principal with links to its respective wikipedia page where there are nuanced homosexual lyrics (didn't bother me, personally, but I was being called on the carpet for allegedly using sexual innuendo in my speech and thought it was hypocrisy).  She slapped me with a reprimand for sexual harassment of her?? Why because there were embedded links in the text that went to more sexual imagery within wikipedia.  But I digress.  The point is that now any incompetent, or vindictive principal could throw something like that at a teacher and effectively ruin their career.  It's already difficult to teach without having your name dragged through the mud and this would make it next to impossible.

veteran and beloved social studies teacher retires rather than put up with the kangaroo court following questionable "sexual harasment" complaint

http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Rally-supports-Stephen-Flanagan-2554212.php

Judge Cotton Mather presiding....lack of transparency....I can't blame the guy at all. 

Leonard Isenberg reflects on the corrupt methods used by administrators to get students to finger targeted teachers

http://www.perdaily.com/2011/09/lausd-utla-california-education-code-section-44939---getting-rid-of-bad-teachers.html

This is typical admin...stand behind the accusations of students and parents, whatever the case.  It is expedience as there are no negative consequences for the students and parents and the administrators can say "I'm just doing my job."  It is the height of hypocrisy.

The surreal world of discipline within an American public school Part II

This kid, who had a D or so, was now a TA for some teacher. He could spend the rest of the trimester (about 3 weeks) sitting on his duff, stapling papers, for an A. 
Despite covering my bases,  I was the one being blamed for this debacle.  I had made my classroom rules clear, given warnings, taken abuse from this kid.  I had let the parents know, hoping to head off any escalation in the conflict, and they had continued to go after me.   I had contacted the principal and let her know that I had been on top of this and despite that, this "child" had continued to disrupt the class and misbehave.  Furthermore, he seemed hellbent on creating issues for me.

I emailed the principal that summer and asked what her protocol was for complaints.  Normally, the first person parents should talk to is the teacher.  That's exactly what she told me and I let her know AGAIN; that the parents had gone straight to her and never spoke to me.  When the Summer ended, I sent copies of this jerk's papers to the parents.  These were the papers where he bragged about misbehaving and was unnecessarily critical of me.  It was addressed to the father.  I wrote "If this was my child, I would want to know what was going on."  Approximately a month later, I received an envelope in my classroom from the parents.  The writing was so poor, I presumed that the kid might have written it.  Nope.  Mommy, the reading teacher, was no scholar.  Now she was telling me that I had waited too long to send their child's "work," and that this now constituted harassment of their child.

Let's see.  She was telling me that she would have actually responded to any indication that her angel was misbehaving.  Well.  I assume she knew he was working on the yearbook.  Wouldn't she have wanted to see the pages he contributed to?  Hmmmm......no 8th grade boy's basketball pics.  God.  The hypocrisy of it all. This letter indicated the parents would go to the school district's board meeting to attempt to have me removed as I "didn't belong in a classroom with children." If you care to see this teenager in action, google "mr. jingles goes boom."  It shows this young man blowing up a frog with a fire cracker.  They are real pillars of the community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7hrg1ZmfmI

It was disgusting to me, after all I had been through. I contacted Karen Horwitz, from NAPTA.  She asked if she could use the story for her book, White Chalk Crime.  It's there on page 166 or so.

The surreal world of discipline within an American public school Part I

I knew the kid disliked me.  He told me to get out of his chair one morning after walking into the computer lab while I worked on the school's yearbook.  I asked him to go outside to discuss his rude behavior where he told me his mother "didn't even like me."  I emailed his mother, an elementary school teacher in the district.  I never heard back from her.  This young man was on the 8th grade basketball team and had chosen to get photographs of the team for the yearbook.  Since he had sprained an ankle or something of that nature.  He should have had plenty of opportunity to comply.  But he was disruptive and almost sadistic in flaunting his disdain for me or the rules of the computer lab.  One day he sat there and took apart a keyboard right next to me as if daring me to take action.  His behavior deteriorated even more as the year began to wind down.  I called his father who told me he would "ask one of Michael's classmates whether I was accurate in my assessment or not."

I received an apology letter from him saying he would try and improve his behavior.  I knew it did not jive with his earlier behavior and waited for the next attack.  A week later I heard "M is on the warpath" from a colleague of mine.  His mother was after me. Yep....should have known.  The kid was well behaved for about 3 more days.  I could see these people thought they could do whatever they wanted with impunity by the actions I had seen so far.  The boy had never completed his pictures of the 8th grade boys basketball team. As a matter of fact, he had not submitted a single picture. He had not showed up for detention due to his poor behavior and been given As despite not showing much work. ( He was given credit for work he said he did that he claimed had been lost due to computer difficulties).  By the time we finished the yearbook, I asked students to include everything they had done in a small booklet.  He had nothing to enter but went so far as to blame me for the class when asked what particular projects he had worked on.  He mentioned spending time texting on his cell phone and playing video games online in this resume as well.  He wrote an essay blaming me for issues that arose in the class and was quite vindictive.  I had inherited a computer lab that was basically dysfunctional for 3 months and we still managed to put out an improved yearbook over the previous year's product.

Now he was being held accountable and still behaving poorly.  His grade was a C- or D and moving towards an F very quickly.  I handed out a worksheet students were supposed to work on one day and found that he claimed I had never given him one on collecting this homework.  I knew this was an attempt to bait me.  If a student is paying attention and something like this happened, they would let the teacher know.  This was ridiculous to believe.  I had a talk with him outside and left him out there.  My class moved to the computer lab and instead of following us, he stayed outside of my regular classroom, attempting to do whatever he could to not comply with feigned lack of understanding.  I sent someone to get him and had a heart to heart.  When I walked out of the lab, seeing his face bout 3 week from the opening, I felt his foot under mine as I stepped towards him.  He was now going to play the physical abuse game.  "Get your foot out from under mine." I said.  I told him he had not done his work and had been doing whatever he could to get under my skin.  He told me he wasn't responsible for the basketball pictures because I hadn't "written it down."  When he asked how coud he have taken the pictures when he was in the games, I replied he probably sat on the bench, referring to his injury.  He gave me an F-U and I sent him with a referral.  He never went there.

What do you know?  His mother had scheduled an appointment with the principal that morning. I sent the principal information stating I had never spoken to the mother and had been trying to resolve the issue for some time.  A week later I was asked to show up for a meeting with union rep.  God.....it figured I was in hot water after putting up with this bully.  I brought all the paperwork I had trying to defend my behavior.  It was futile.  The mother claimed I had kicked her kid and when I told the administrators that he baited me the way he had I got a sarcastic "yeah right" from the principal.  The principal told me she wanted to put me in the program improvement which is a euphemism for the teacher exit door.  "You have never even watched me teach I retorted."  She said she was unimpressed with the way kids just threw down their backpacks as they entered the lab, on a day when she covered for me.  I was incensed by the injustice in this.

That summer I found a site called NAPTA (National Association for the Prevention of Teacher Abuse). I bought the book on principal mistreatment of teachers and joined.  Little did I know that this travesty of justice was only the beginning of my nightmare in this snake bit district.

(to be continued)

Students who slander/ accuse actually get consequences

This is news to  me.  It is the first time I have heard of a case where unfounded gossip lands a student in hot water.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_education_edblog/2011/06/teacher-gives-student-a-phone-students-who-gossip-about-it-disciplined.html

Read the comments. 

CTC incompetence, nepotism, conflicts of interest

CA teacher's commission- royal society

When one thinks about the various agencies out there to keep education running smoothly and efficiently, you have to wonder why we end up with such a poor product in terms of what graduates from our high schools.  This attorney was fired for blowing the whistle against the CTC.  Years ago, when I knew they had my number, it was suggested I report some of their below the belt practices to the board and the ctc.  I never did. Why?  They just favor their own.  It becomes apparent.

I still recall forwarding some information on our former principal to hr to underscore how corrupt she was.  Do you think I ever heard a word back from him?  Of course not.  Now he is the district superintendent and she is "executive director" (and woodrow wilson fellow) at a charter school.  Work hard and be rewarded? ......

Rules for teachers and students and facebook, etc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/business/media/rules-to-limit-how-teachers-and-students-interact-online.html?hpw

Proposal for teacher discipline plan to Randi Weingarten

teacher discipline plan

Notice that the district has the burden of proof.  What an idea.  Students and parents should have the right to complain but this idea of taking every charge against a teacher at face value is not objective and morally wrong.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/24/new-york-teacher-discipline_n_866287.html

How to conduct a valid investigation-from untamed teacher blog

http://untamedteacher.blogspot.com/2011/11/chancellors-bogus-investigator.html

This is what you do if you are a Real Investigator:

First of all, you make sure that the parents of all children involved have been informed about the incident and that they be given the opportunity to be present during at least part of the interview. 

In K.N.'s case, the parents of the children who were being used to corroborate J.F.'s story were not informed about their children's statements.  I know.  I called them and asked. 

Second, you interview both parent and child separately and together.  It's no joke to bring false allegations against a teacher.  You make sure that everyone knows that you expect the truth and nothing but the truth and that liars will be delt with severely.

J.F. would have caved.  The six children who gave false testimony in support of J.F. would have caved.  Karl, the boy who couldn't get to the bathroom in time would have provided enough testimony for you to bring several people up on charges, none of whom were K.N.  For that reason alone, the principal would never have given you the opportunity to interview Karl, because she would have been the first person to be brought up on charges for locking the bathroom doors.

Third, you interview the teacher.  Union representatives often tell teachers not to say anything, but if you are a Real Investigator, everyone knows that you will do everything in your power to protect teachers from false allegations.

K.N. would have given her version of events and might even have shared with you that a custodian could corroborate her version of events on the day J.F. said she had tripped him. Mr. E., one of the custodians was talking to her as she stood in the hall.  She was asking Mr. E.  if he could give her some plastic bags for an experiment she planned to do later in the week.  Mr. E. saw J.F. push past her.  He saw the children run up as the bell rang.  Why hadn't she mentioned Mr. E. to the principal?  He was a nice man. She didn't want to make trouble for him.

Fourth, you interview other people not included in the principal's report.

Mr. E. would have backed up K.N.  He was shocked that she was in trouble.  Such a nice woman.  He saw the boy push her out of the way as he ran into the classroom, tripping and almost falling as he did so.  Children these days don't know how to show respect for their teachers.  The other children?  Oh they ran up as the bell was ringing and had to stand in line as Ms. K.N. marked them late.  You should have heard them complaining! Children these days!

Then you interview the entire Leadership Team that came up with the rules about locking the bathroom doors.  You also interview Karl's Math teacher, Ms.  B.,  who taught Karl during the first two periods of the day he had the bathroom accident.  She admits that she didn't allow him access to the bathroom in spite of repeated requests because of Principal S.T. didn't allow children to go to the bathroom during those periods (The accident occurred at the beginning of third period).

How many principals would want a Real Investigator in their building?

No, B.F. was not expected to carry out a real investigation.  If he had, he wouldn't have remained a Chancellor's Investigator for long.  He was expected to help fortify a case against a targeted teacher--  someone the principal wanted to get rid of.

All of B.F.'s investigations are a matter of public record. A researcher should look for a clear pattern of bias in favor of the DOE.  It would also be a good idea to interview the children.

By now, J.F. has graduated from high school.  It would be interesting to interview him about his role in destroying a teacher's career.  Does he still think there was no harm, no foul?

Administrators are beholden to parents

See what Chaz says

 Poor Administration: Many of the small schools have had "Leadership Academy Principals" in charge and quite a few of them lack the necessary classroom skills and mentoring to help their teaching staff. Furthermore, these principals have been taught to not collaborate with the teaching staff and will use intimidation tactics to get their way. The result is high teacher turnover and an unstable school environment. Finally, many of these principals tend to ignore student discipline issues and staff morale suffers. More than one Principal has told their staff that they will call in any student accusations to the investigative agencies OEO, OSI, and SCI no matter how frivolous it may seem to be.



 http://chaz11.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-mayor-bloombergs-small-schools-are.html



For the most part, admin has a tricky path to walk between teachers, parents, students, the board, etc.  But my issue is that they often choose expediency over truth and justice.  Not once did I witness an administrator hold a student and parents to task for unfounded accusations.

My second year in the dixon unified school district, a student who had been increasingly disruptive claimed I slammed his head against the brick wall.  According to him I sent him outside and did this while class was going on, then he came inside, resumed class but told teachers in subsequent classes I had put my hands on him.  Then he went home and never mentioned it to his parents.  Does something seem out of place here?  It should.  People don't generally "get on" with  their day after having their head slammed against a brick wall. (Gee. Maybe I did it softly?)  I had made the mistake of trying to talk to him outside and I instinctively put my hand on his shoulder as he began to walk away from me.
" Teacher's not sposed to touch dey student," he said.

I told him to take a minute or two and come back in when he was prepared to behave.  I walked back into the room and heard him kick the wall with the sole of his shoe about a minute later.  The principal caught wind of his accusations and asked me to call the parents over the holidays.  I did.  As I've already said, this was all news to the parent.  "Did you touch my chile?"
       
When I admitted I had put my hand on his shoulder the woman really lost it.  When school resumed, the parents came in and the child was moved to another class.  An investigation began and I found that one student claimed the big bang on the wall happened as I was outside.  What never seemed to occur to the investigating authorities was that if someone gets their head slammed against a brick wall their tends to be some evident trauma.  The investigation did reveal that some T.A's had witnessed me talking to this kid and saw no sign of violence. The most the principal would concede in the end was that there was not enough evidence to conclude that I had committed this egregious assault.

This is true.  But it should have been obvious by his behavior and the lack of physical evidence that he was not being truthful.  Of course, the administration did not want to do this, but I think they should have taken a moral stand on it. Vindictive complaints based on hearsay should be called just that.  The district opens itself up to even greater threats when parents and students think they can throw such unfounded, false accusations around with no consequences to themelves. But this is the system now in place.  Teachers are lame ducks under this situation.  It is only a matter of time until one of these groundless accusations takes them out.

A possible remedy- cameras in the classroom

I believe cameras in the classroom are increasingly necessary.  This is unfortunate but so long as parents are skeptical when a teacher says their snowflake has been disruptive, things will continue to decline.  Knowing that you are being filmed would keep a lot of the poor behavior down to a minimum.

letter on cameras in the classroom

How does fear of lawsuits drive school behaviors?

Central administration spends their time in meetings, crunching numbers, dealing with complaints and discipline issues, etc. Their priorities are skewed towards the group and protecting the institution. Teachers deal with small groups on the front line of program delivery and have a personal stake in their small world.  Who is consumed with a fear of lawsuits?  Administration.  I still recall the assistant superintendent castigating me for saying "I teach the flavor of the month" in reference to teaching a variety of subjects.  Even after I explained I meant no offense I was told that I needed to watch what I said and that I was lucky because it was only adults around to hear it.  Huh???  This article examines the role lawsuits play in all this.  I think it underscores the idea that laws and rules are not always a remedy and that the cure can be worse than the disease.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin371.shtml

Neal Schwartz recounts his harassment at the hands of unscrupulous, incompetent administrators in his book: guilty until proven innocent.  See his summary on the site for the national association for the prevention of teacher abuse.

http://endteacherabuse.org/NSchwartz.html

http://www.workplacebullying.org/2009/04/06/northcutt/#comment-16079


Gary Namie, America's advocate for a bully free workplace

page on teachers bullied by principals.

NEA President Reg Weaver

False Accusations against teachers




http://www.nea.org/home/11244.htm

Steve Bell
A teacher accused of molesting a student.  Notice that he mentions that the victim/ witness went from saying there was nothing provocative in what he did, to turning him into some sort of monster in a later interview.  I believe that children, in particular, are more prone to this inconsistent and hyperbolic behavior, because they want to please certain adults.  After they see all the attention that greets some admission that the teacher did something inappropriate, they may feel pressure to enhance their version of things.  After all, it might feel like they are crying "wolf" if after weeks of cps and police interviews, they think "well....I'm not too sure that the events that occurred were that egregious.

Sean Lanigan

http://volokh.com/2011/05/17/falsey-accused-teacher-sean-lanigan/

a disgruntled student's accusations create hell for him and his family and he is still left having to pay lawyers fees although he is not guilty.  And for the student?  ....no consequences.

lannigan acquitted

video in the classroom

Read the letter on the teacher who is now in hot water despite not being informed that there was school policy against filming.

http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123399