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.

Abused teacher in NY city

http://teacherabuse.com/

When you see how common it is for teachers to be railroaded like this, you have to wonder how many have simply vanished into the word work without saying anything.

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? ......

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.

Letter from hunted teacher- an all too common occurrence

The principal acts on rumor & innuedo, calling in my entire class to ask if I’ve done anything wrong. It’s a fishing expedition with, according to concerned students, leading questions. Usually these come when I write a referral for a behavior problem, so there are one or two students who will say anything to try to get back at me, particularly when they well understand administration is against me. However, one of my writeups (I’ve had three in two years, there was not a single collaborator in the class, yet the principal went forward with the action against me, stating, “You have to be aware of parent complaints.” When I told him no one had told me of the complaint and the accusation had been roundly refuted by an entire class, the principal simply shook his head and said it was going in my file.
Last time I wrote a referral the mother complained and I ended up getting a “Professional Improvement Plan,” kind of the first step toward being terminated. As a new and non-tenured teacher, I am in tremendous jeopardy. My union’s view is to just allow the abuse and hope it gets better. There is some sort of weird rumor mill at this school, and now virtually no other teachers will even talk to me. I am confused and angry and feel very much betrayed. Worst of all, I am totally unempowered by the process. The union rep says administration doesn’t have to follow their own rules of procedure because they get to make them up and even change them as they go. Does anyone have any advice???

http://ugotnerve.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/standing-up-to-abusive-principals/

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.

TEACHER HUNT

There any number of reasons a teacher might need to vent in this day and age:  apathetic students, low prestige and pay, being overworked, too much red tape, etc.  This blog was created to chronicle the various ways that students, parents and school administrators have rendered many teachers helpless in the face of unfounded accusations.  I left my position as a junior high school teacher two years ago as I could no longer take it.

The administration uses the necessity of investigating each and every complaint as a wedge to drive the teacher out.  And why not?  The system is largely broken and operates as a baby sitting service where overworked administrators spend time putting out fires.  What employee wants to spend more time in this disagreeable situation?

I would like to think some changes in policy can be made where unsubstantiated, vindictive and vexatious complaints against teachers are minimized.  Under the present system, students and parents can accuse all they want with next to no consequences for false claims. Furthermore, the emphasis on grades has rendered the real reason for school, less important.  Many indulgent parents want to believe their child and also have an axe to grind when memories of their own dislike for school/ teachers comes up.  In my twenty years in education,  I see things getting worse all the time.  Memories of my last year are little more than a recurring string of visits to the principal's office following hearsay from some disgruntled pupil who didn't expect anything lower than a B- for showing up, and received a C instead.

One could argue that the sad state of our educational system is in part, due to the often hidden and nuanced dynamics where today's student often hopes to maximize their grade while keeping energy / time expenditures to a minimum.

So what is the usual root for complaints?   low grades or being disciplined: the student's failure to meet expectations.

Most complaints against me started with a pushback after the above mentioned occurred.  Sometimes the complaint/s came months after I had done something but now the student had a low grade.  Teachers realize that politics is a part of the game they must play but, unfortunately, politics supersede academics in many places.  The attempt to head off any sort of retaliation by students and parents pushes teachers to:

1. inflate grades   
2. overlook disruptive or unproductive behavior 
3. dumb down lessons (frustration creates disruption)
4. behave as if teaching is a popularity contest rather than teaching. 

Almost every teacher surmises that whether or not students are learning, keeping their job is a matter of keeping complaints to a minimum.  Many principals, who were never good students to begin with, make judgements about teachers based on complaints rather than assessing them on their ability to teach. What we have increasingly is an attempt to create the illusion of learning rather than the real thing so that when an administrator walks by the door, the kids are quietly engaged in some activity.  The tendency to spoon feed students the answers keeps kids on task but it also keeps them from pushing themselves and keeps their threshold for dealing with frustration low.

I would suggest that posters not use their real names or mention the names of students, but getting the school's name, or geographical  location might be helpful.  A teacher wishing to contribute should enter 1. the events prompting the accusation, 2. possible motives behind the allegations 3. steps the administration took to resolve the issue 4. lessons learned, questions, etc.  I will close this introduction by saying that I started my career with a masters degree, pride and idealism.  By the time it ended I felt like I was practically powerless in the face of such stacked odds.  I can't be only one to experience this.