I think my wife is going to lose her job

[mjh42]

Your wife should leave this school as soon as possible.

I mean like quit before the school year is over.

You should not stay in a place that has immoral and illegal actions.

Whatever it takes, medical, whistle blower, other reasons...

Report illegal activities to state attorney general, labor board, education department.

Walk away.....


I walked away after 18 years in a middle school classroom.....

Self preservation was more important than 20 years or more towards retirement....

I'll just have to work a little longer than expected but I'll be able to live a little better in the long run.

I did different work before the classroom--in between the classroom--and now after the classroom...

There are a lot of opportunities out there in the world for a person.....

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by edcmat-l1

Yes, I recognize it's a private school which is the reason I said "Most people send their kids to private school to get away from this stuff".

Not sure how that can be misinterpreted.

In case you don't have kids or grand kids, USA public education is a mess everywhere these days. I won't go further than that as I'd be breaking all kinds of AGF rules in a matter of sentences.

It's not a mess everywhere but sure has some challenges where teachers don't deserve the blame. At lower demographics the hundreds of kids in the enterprise where I work are a best generation in a long time. We are not wealthy people and a a very large public high school got our 3 kids into one of the "public ivies" and they're or did absolutely do well.

On to the topic at hand. Some close associates had troubles they didn't expect such as described in the original post. Even though my wife's public school teacher job gets a lot of pressure to pass, a lot of the private schools are not getting kids ready as they need.

My wife's advice would be look for another job, behave well and represent yourself. She's gone from a district that once had a strong union to their being disolved in the whole state. There are a lot of teaching jobs out there. Teachers are also prime candidates for many other good jobs.

Though our kids are in or done with college, I still volunteer in kids programs. From or kids ages and what I still do with the kids I often wonder if many who are critical are actually with kids still in the schools or doing work in them. Lots I know are always thinking or imagining the schools as worse than they really are. They aren't even there to really know.

That is a lot like comments I'm getting on protests. Our son just left to take an exam on campus. 99% of the kids are studying and getting ready to graduate but many act like it is chaos.

[Merak]

Whatever she decides to do I wish her the best. She is in an honorable profession which unfortunately doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by TBman

...An educator is a special kind of person. I could never put up with the BS from the children, parents and school administrators that I do hear of. My BS limitation meter is set at a much lower setting...

Originally Posted by Mbroady

...Though it was not as part of the academic staff I spent a decade working in the (affluent) private school sector. I did not experience any moral ambiguity or ethical gray area. I had a good relationship with the headmaster and some of the board members and they were all folks of good character. That trickled down. Not sure how ubiquitous that is in the private education world but my experience was good.

I also spent some time with the (NYC) Board of Education. That was a nightmare and never again...

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

I would never consider working with children in a non-union school. Cases like your wife's school are the exact reason strong labor unions are still needed in educational settings...

Originally Posted by LAPlayer

Many private schools do not require a teaching certificate/license to teach. Consequently, they operate free of the teacher's union and many other state education protections...

In no particular order:

• My wife and I are both retired NYC public school teachers, having spent the last 14 years of our careers at the same school, and ourselves having met as kids attending another NYC public school in the '50s-60s. Having seen things in historical/philosophical perspective from both sides of the coin, I'll be the first to agree with Barry that it takes a special kind of person to be an educator, and both of us were blessed to have had a couple of those, in a day when they were the rule rather than the exception (but see below); it was the memory of their styles and approaches that served as role models throughout our own careers, and by the same token we endeavored to pass along the same traditions to our junior colleagues. Unfortunately most outsiders don't realize that education, if done right, is not a job or even a profession: it's a calling on the same level as medicine or ministry and, as I said at our retirement dinner, if you don't regard it as such you're in the wrong field...
• While every job has its ups and downs, public education in the US has unquestionably taken a turn for the worse since the late-1960's, as university think-tanks and for-maximum-profit private concerns have effectively displaced educators as the primary determinants of policy/curriculum. During our 14 years of collective service the entire curriculum - not merely a single area or a single grade level - was scrapped and replaced no less than a half-dozen times; needless to say, this created a nightmare on every level: established and proven methods/techniques were thrown out the window, teacher work volume was increased dramatically with each change (leaving little or no time for individual instructor creativity - McEducation, as some of us called it), think-tank "trainers" with no classroom experience were called in to conduct monthly staff meetings (and monitor compliance - in two cases all the lessons were "scripted"), and having no stability the kids didn't know which end was up or down. Furthermore, speaking as one whose own BS meter was finely tuned in the Brooklyn housing projects where I grew up, I found some highly-questionable material in the teacher's guides (particularly in ELA and Social Studies) which had nothing to do with the objective teaching of the relevant skills and which I won't elaborate upon here - and if that's a "dog whistle" I'm calling out the entire pack...
• IME private schools are not all they're cracked up to be, and haven't been for decades: while there are undoubtedly some very good ones (as Mr. Broady states) the ones my wife and I attended during our high-school years were rife with moral ambiguity and ethical gray areas: with no objective, impartial oversight (and at the time of my attendance having a board of trustees consisting largely of older alumni, with a vested interest in the insularity of the institution and the status quo of the system) my own alma mater was plagued with scandals, a couple of which made regional and national news 30+ years later in the early-2K's and, in the most egregious case, a direct result of the lack of education/licensing requirements. As we're all well aware, money talks: when your chestnuts are on the coals the old lean green is screaming at you through the Grateful Dead's PA system, and with a healthy influx of A-lister cash and the need to put the old baggage behind them, over the last twenty years they've rebounded from the Dickensian to the dysfunctional...
• As regards the national (AFT/NEA) as well as many local unions (including our own NYSUT/UFT) they've pretty much lost sight of their original purposes, instead espousing a skewed agenda that emphatically does not represent the interests of/speak for all of their membership; a former pastor of ours used to have a sign over his desk, "In ministry, the main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing" - and while somewhat of a tongue-twister the idea is obvious. Although there are some exceptions, as a whole they've become as comfortably entrenched in their own position of control as those they were opposing on the picket lines two generations ago, to the detriment of the rank-&-file (and their young charges) whose interests they purport to represent: even at the building level, chapter-leaders-for-life who enjoy a far-too-cozy relationship with out-of-control administrators are not uncommon (I've been in two schools like this), and while Janus lit a fire for a short time the net effects were, in the above cases, virtually negligible...
• Finally, the NYC system was placed (and still remains) under mayoral control, on a business model, in the early-2K's: experienced (read well-compensated/knowledgeable/no-nonsense) teachers are effectively considered both a financial and methodological liability rather than an asset, and unless you're on an administration track (or "useful" to same... ) plan on being out before you're vested - whether as a result of burnout, harassment, lack of administrative support, attacks upon or threats to life/limb/property, or simply realizing that you can make more money with less grief somewhere else without sacrificing your personal life, health, or self-respect...

Just to make it clear, we loved our kids - many of them thought of us as their second family - but after years of trying to hold the line against impossible odds we saw retirement as our only viable option; shame is, under different circumstances we probably would have stayed another five years or so. As we began to see the writing on the wall (figuratively and literally) we effectively isolated ourselves in our classrooms, made sure our written lesson plans conformed to the pedagogy of the week, did sub rosa what we had already been doing successfully for three decades and, as they say in buffalo country, let the chips fall where they may - BTW I've yet to have a single bigwig (or small-fart) who hides behind the phrase "but you can't do that anymore" explain to my satisfaction precisely why not......

To the OP: run, don't walk - it's not worth losing your health/sanity/family over - and get on with your life...

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by Merak

Whatever she decides to do I wish her the best. She is in an honorable profession which unfortunately doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

Big +1 on that. Some of the most impactful people in my life have been my teachers. I wish there were more examples of those folks, but across the board, the dedication and patience...I couldn't do it.

It's a little like my profession of design, in that everyone has an opinion about it, but to such a higher degree and about such a more important thing – our kids. Tough job.

My dad had the plan, as a professor he was dealing with just the students, and they were paying for his services, so a very different dynamic. No parents. That's probably even changed now. I'd imagine he's glad he was a professor in the era he did it.

[eyesore]

No morels any more . Teachers get no respect! My wife is an assistant to a preschool teacher ; and they ALL hate it! Wife loves her job , parents are an issue. I too could get thrown off this forum for telling what I think . I wish your Wife all the best!!

[dnf777]

That is classic toxic workplace. I just walked away from my job of 17 years for similar. Toxic behavior is like cockroaches….they run when lights are on, and you only see a small slice of whats really going on.

[rollypolly]

Thanks for the support everyone. She meets with the head tomorrow. Scare tactics are one of their main tools. It’s just so wrong on so many levels.

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

Thanks for the support everyone. She meets with the head tomorrow. Scare tactics are one of their main tools. It’s just so wrong on so many levels.

Do Not Be Afraid.

[edcmat-l1]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

Thanks for the support everyone. She meets with the head tomorrow. Scare tactics are one of their main tools. It’s just so wrong on so many levels.

Have her record the conversation. Use their own tactics against them. If you're not in fear of losing your job the scare tactics are pretty useless.

[A Scot in Otley]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

"In ministry, the main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing" -

To the OP: run, don't walk - it's not worth losing your health/sanity/family over - and get on with your life...

Yes. This. I've been there. Smile and leave ... breathe the clean air. It will work out.

[MrDB]

Plenty of teaching jobs are available in districts/schools that don't treat people like that. There are quite likely several in your area. Time to move on. Also time to report these people to the SBOE.

[Jim Owen]

I’m sorry for your wife’s situation. There is a reason for our current teacher shortage. Teaching is a hard job made worse by administrators.

[catndahats]

Another retired teacher here. I taught in a variety of settings from inner city public schools to elite private settings. And I loved everyday teaching.
I was fortunate to work under some amazing administrators, a couple weak ones, and one really bad one.
Teaching has really changed, it used to be respected, but not much now.
If there is no hope for an administrative change right away I hope your wife can leave on a positive note. A vindictive admin could mess up her chances of getting a better position elsewhere.

[SFCRetired]

Most are missing the point here. This is about cheating kids out of a good education more so than being mean to a teacher. But I have come to expect that from our education system.