Public education, as I have known it, needs to change.
Years ago, I began with the school system as a part-time teacher. A full-time position eventually came open. The last day of that school year, I was promised the full-time job by the middle school principal. I left the next day for the entire summer to attend the Summer Institute of Linguistics - some five states away, happy in my new success after toiling away as a part-time employee.
Some weeks later, I received a letter from the principal who had promised me the full-time position. I would begin the next school year as I had the past two - as a part-time employee. In a subsequent phone call to my principal, it was revealed that the high school basketball coach needed an assistant. He was given the position I was promised. After an internship with our varsity basketball coach for a couple of years, he was off to head up his own program. Apparently, the classroom was not a priority there either. I could not leave SIL and return home to interview for any of the three available English positions at area high schools. I was left to take one for the team. I wonder how many other ethical shortcuts were taken on behalf of that basketball program.
Tens of millions of dollars are spent on what amounts to an after school, extracurricular activity, yet I had students four or five grade levels below their reading level and little resources for them, but then again, their parents did not play in Division I schools, nor would they have the ear of the administration.
I entered teaching with a master's degree, but was not paid accordingly until later. Following the contract or simply doing what is right did not matter. Dr. Harmon was above all that.
From time to time we would receive e-mails from administrators indicating that we were a "best buy" school. I wonder how many ethical shortcuts were taken in order to brag about being a "best buy" school. In my own situation, students were left without books, or books were copied and I supplied the paper, or a class room and curriculum were provided, but I had to do the class room wiring, etc., ad nauseum, ad infinitum. I wonder how many other students, classrooms and teachers were left without by ilk like Dr. Tony Etienne so that administrators could boast. Read "best buy" in this context as gross neglect and incompetence.
Dishonest, disingenuous, dysfunctional - a trend I hope the new superintendent will discontinue.
