THE RECIPE FOR REMOVING COMPETENT TEACHERS
The Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde administrators, combined with entitled parents, are depleting today's schools of excellent teachers. If you are a parent, teacher or taxpayer, this is a must read!
You’re fired! Not really. Not in today’s 21st century schools’ mindset of avoiding litigation. Teachers are seldom fired. Instead they are bullied by colleagues, department chairs and threatened by menacing administrators until they resign. Today’s Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde administrators missed their Administration 101 classes on mentorship and due process. Neither are offered in most school settings. Case in point?
In my book Rescue the Teacher, Save the Child! I wrote about my own experiences on the teacher roller coaster ride with my administrator at my last position. I was “removed” (after years of harassment) without mentorship or due process but I technically was not fired. What the admin wanted was for me to resign and go quietly into the sunset. I had the audacity to stay the course. My principal gave me the option to return as a study hall teacher! Several staff and teachers before me encountered the same treatment and results. It was the MO of the district and many districts like it.
Let’s just summarize it this way: God chooses suffering for good. My students and I built a sizable choral program which received local, state and national recognition. During my nine year tenure at this school, there was only one year where I wasn’t constantly challenged by both colleagues and admin. I will never know the reason why. But I did suffer mentally, physically and in the end even spiritually. That explains the “suffering” componant. Where’s the “good” part? My experiences forced me out of a couch retirement into an activist position for the better treatment of teachers. Pre-Covid, teachers were walking away from the profession in large numbers. But today, according to U.S. News, 50% of our teachers are considering not returning next year! Let that sink in and understand the reality of American education’s loss in the competitive world-wide market. Are the administrations of America’s schools even listening? Instead of badgering their staff, they should be mentoring each new hire since many did not receive much instruction from their university classes. If a teacher cannot make it in the classroom by the tenure year, then due process must be the order of the day.
Here is the truth pill which is hard to swallow: Any teacher today, with worthy credentials AND tenured, can lose their job without the words “you’re fired” let alone due process! Let’s investigate the who and why first. Who are these summarily removed teachers and why are they being removed?
Female teachers over the age of 40; younger, inexperienced teachers can be manipulated to fit the agenda du jour mold and it is budget-friendly
Conservative and Christian teachers pose a threat to the liberal ideologues pushing their agenda
Teachers who do not accept the status quo and fight for their students represent a challenge to any administration who cannot lead but instead takes cover in their offices
Teachers who push the envelope of creative education are under appreciated by parents, which encourages inefficient administrations to allow the unabated attacks on their staff
And now for the how. In the district where I taught, this was the plan (from Rescue the Teacher, Save the Child!:
Exile Isle is a term used to compel teachers into resigning or retiring, thus avoiding the firing process. When teachers quit of their own volition, no recourse exists to litigate damages against the district. My ordeal substantiated the implementation of Exile Isle as the end game designed for me. Tenure, with excellent evaluations, should have insured my sustainability in my position. The Exile Isle procedure appeared multifaceted and scripted by administrators:
Early in the fall term, veiled verbal and emailed accusations cast a shadow on my integrity.
The administrator sided with any complaining parents, making no efforts to fact find.
Emails with vague agendas periodically requested meetings with an administrator. Meetings always scheduled in the middle of the day so returning to classes, after receiving a verbal rough up, presented its usual challenges.
Three to four confrontational meetings per semester, behind closed doors without witnesses, proved debilitating.
Answers to questions raised, regarding supposed classroom scenarios, never garnered even a nod of affirmation from the administrator.
Each additional meeting, administrators became more direct with printed out, unfounded accusations. The questions from previous meetings, already asked and answered, reappeared.
The tone of the meetings began to take on a demeaning nature by midyear. “This meeting is for you to listen and for me to talk” stated by one administrator.
No rational answer would satisfy the administrator’s growing distrust.
At the EOY (End of Year) evaluation, teachers could return but in a lesser position. This MO prevailed. Even to the point where the EOY was changed at the last minute to reflect a poor evaluation.
On my daily drive to school, instead of experiencing the incredible beauty of the area, I found myself praying for strength and wisdom. No supplication could alleviate the knot in my stomach wondering if today would produce one of those “gotcha” meetings. The target painted on my back as the admin team went out of their way to make my life miserable. Exile Isle was not a familiar term at the time. Reexamining my final year, my banishment to Exile Isle began in the fall of 2016, which ultimately resulted being kicked off the island permanently in the spring of 2017.
No teacher, exceptional or challenged, should have to endure menacing administrators, who feel compelled to isolate their unwanted staff to Exile Isle. I found my advocacy voice and now I encourage others to commit to that same cause.
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Does Exile Isle sound familiar? It should as similar programs of teacher persecution exist all over this country. All you need to do is read any of the numerous teachers’ pages on Facebook. Looking back, I wish I knew there was a concerted effort to force me out of teaching. I would have fought harder and louder! Perhaps even as far as litigation. Instead, I wrote a book and took time to lay out all the ways and means for students, parents, teachers, and administrators to unite. After all we are on the same team even though there were so many days I didn’t feel the approval or glow of “team” membership.
How do we change this narrative? Start by truly caring about America’s teachers. The teachers’ unions have come under much fire in recent months. Did you ever wonder why teachers’ unions are so strong? I joined our local/state association to receive advice regarding the terrible conditions I faced as a public school teacher. Perhaps if administrators and faculty provided mentorship, integrity and kindness, teachers would not feel the pressure to unionize with others who fear constant attacks and the ultimate illegitimate loss of their jobs. You also play a role in retaining quality teachers in your local schools:
intervene and stop neighborhood and parental gossip about teachers, thus averting their removal without cause
reach out to your community schools and demonstrate your willingness to volunteer
encourage parents to step back from their computers and quit sending dreadful emails
support battered and weary teachers by positive letters, defending them publicly and shed the light on those administrations who get away with inappropriate and unethical behavior
TUNE IN SOON. Here’s a tease: Have the internet and reality tv shows wreaked havoc on American culture, thus negatively affecting America’s schools?
PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK WITH ANY AND ALL . Read more of my thoughts at: rescuetheteacher.com. If you’re experiencing unfair practices in your teaching position, please reach out to me at rescuetheteacher @yahoo.com! Here is even a better idea: propose a book study of Rescue the Teacher, Save the Child! for your school district. I would be happy to come and lead it!