ANOTHER TEACHER PUSHED OUT IN FLORIDA

BELOW IS A STORY OF A TEACHER THAT WOULD NEVER BE HEARD IF NOT FOR NAPTA. IT CONTAINS ALL THE USUAL ELEMENTS: UNION TELLING TEACHER TO RESIGN AND PRETENDING THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BLACKLISTING; FEAR OF TELLING HIS STORY; SCAMS TO AVOID ACCOUNTABILITY; AND ANOTHER TEACHER WHO WAS WILLING TO HELP IN A TOUGH SCHOOL, NO LONGER IN THE PROFESSION. NAPTA

This year I re-entered the teaching profession after a three-year leave. The school I returned to has one of the worst reputations in my county. They have an extremely high turnover rate and have a reputation for being quick to deny people their contract. Now I know why. We have an extremely rough group of inner-city students and the administration expects the teachers to handle it all with minimal support. This year they expect us to complete behavior tracking forms. While the idea seems OK, in reality it is nothing more than a scam to make it harder for us to refer unruly students to the administration. Like in other districts, the administration of my school is under pressure from the county administration to lower their referral rate. As a result, they throw it all on the backs of the teachers. The official documentation states that severe infractions result in an immediate referral. In reality, many severe infractions are labeled as minor and we are expected to go through the "tracking process". The tracking process reqiures us to fill out what happened, as well as the reasons why the student engaged in the behavior along with what we did to intervene. This needs to be done seperately for every specific behavior. After three infractions, we can write the referral, provided that we contacted the parent and took the time to meet with all the student's teachers to address the problem.

As you can see, this results in more unruly behavior in the classroom which blossoms, when students who would normally behave begin to engage in unruly behaviors when they see their peers getting away with it. I have had students threaten me "I'm gonna take some alcohol and slap you on the head", students curs at ma "Asshole", "You better watch out old man..." etc. only to have infractions delayed or thrown back at me for not going through the tracking process.

To make matters worse, since I have been a successful teacher with excellent evaluations for several years (15 +/-)with this type of student population, I have asserted myself with the administration by stating that I need more support and that my job has become difficult to impossible to perform without their consistent support. In response, I was placed in a remedial teacher program early in the year and criticised as being ineffective. A few weeks ago, I vented my frustrations to another admnistrater concerning an incident of violence that occurred in my room that could have been avoided had she supported me and had been more prompt on referrals I had written prior to the occurrence. She responded by placing the blame on me and said we would work out a plan. Well...the plan seems to have been a formal observation that I got slammed on a few days later. Now I am disciplined with a rating as an ineffective teacher in danger of beng fired.

They union appeared supportive. They said to continue trying to improve as I normally would. If this didn't appear to be successful by May, then they would tell me when the time to resign would be. They were well arare of my school and it's reputation. They encouraged me by stating that they have seen many teachers leave my current school to go on to long and happy careers in other schools.

Another Pushed Out Teacher,

FOLLOW UP:

Since I joined your organization, I was given a form to sign stating that my contract would not be renewed. I refused to sign it and handed them a resignation letter stating how I felt about their school. To make matters worse, since I was on the non-renewal list, I am now prevented from applying to any school in my county, which is the 23rd largest district in the nation so I have a bit of a drive to work in another district.

I met with an official at my union. They reviewed my evaluation and gave me pointers on how to defend it. However, since I am on an annual contract (rather than continuing contract.) I can be released, with or without reason, since Florida is a "right to work" state.

Anyway, I am burnt out on teaching and will try to find something else to do. I would like to continue to help my fellow teachers though. Once I am no longer traumatized on a daily basis, I will have more energy and will be able to think clearer.

I am considering going to the local newspaper once school is out. I spoke to the reporter a couple of months ago and she was very interested. She was familiar with my school and the problems going on, but she said that she can't write a story without having someone's name available. I just may do it, now that I am no longer eligible for a job in my county.

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