By Antonio D. French
Filed Tuesday, June 6 at 10:47 AM
The following letter is from Kathy Hull, a teacher at Madison School:
Over here at Madison School we still have no official word of the school's closing. When Bill Parker met with us, we were told that moving the student body to Mullanphy is a proposal. We have boxed the school and moved out our personal possessions, yet nothing is official.
Because nothing is official, we are in limbo when it comes to jobs for next year, and the vacancy list that was promised to us weeks ago has not appeared. There is some question about whether it will ever appear. Maybe we will just be reassigned at the will of Human Resources.
I have 20 years of devotion to this school district. I really think I should receive better treatment. I think I should know where teachers have retired, where new positions may exist, and where teachers may be out on sick leave at the very least. The list could be updated weekly as more information becomes available.
With them waiting so long to post the open jobs, a lot of jobs may be filled by word of mouth. (Teachers telling their friends and relatives about retirees, etc.) I know when Waring closed, I discovered that my top 3 choices were listed as vacancies, but the principal at each school told me that there was no vacancy, since he or she already had a person for that position.
You may forward this message to anyone you think may be interested.
-- Kathy
4 Comments:
Wow! The amount of time that it took this teacher to write this letter is the same amount of time it would have taken to go to her boss and her bosses boss to demand an answer. Instead, she felt the need to expose her complaints (whether warranted or not) to the public. Again, I'm hearing another teacher concerned about everything else. I want to ask her 'how was her test scores this year in her class?, how was her job performance ranked? will any of her students speak of her as the most influential teacher they ever had?' From this letter...probably not b/c it seems that when she should have teaching her mind was on who is retiring in the district...to apply for their job. So, I guess she looks in the obituaries too to find out where new homes are avalable? I have no empathy for how long she has been in the district if she or anyone else 20 years strong is not producing. Not that what is happening to her is fair or unfair but sometimes the answers we are looking for are right in front of us....
Tuesday, June 06, 2006 11:53:00 AM
I believe a teacher can perform his/her job in the classroom, and still have time to be concerned about having a job next school year.
What if this teacher is one of those that students remember fondly and emulate as adults? What if she really can instill a love of reading or math or science?
Is it really in our best interest to make her question her job prospects for the upcoming school year? Why should she have to wonder? No matter how much someone loves to teach, that person also has to make sure they stay employed. Perhaps she can excel in another, higher-paying school district. What if all the really outstanding teachers who don't know if they'll have a job in September decide to work in other districts?
If I didn't know if I would have a job in 3 months with my current employer, I would be looking for another job now. The best teachers will get those other jobs easily. Can SLPS afford to lose such teachers?
Tuesday, June 06, 2006 7:31:00 PM
It is virtually impossible to get an answer to the transfer list question. I have been calling HR since April which is the date in district policy that the list should be posted. I called on Monday and I was told that they still do not know when it is coming out ("maybe this week but we don't know"), don't know where it will be listed (internet or mailing) and don't know the timelines for requesting a transfer. I agree that the teachers' focus should be the kids and their academic achievement but I don't see how inquiring about a procedure in the district policy threatens the students' progress or indicates incompetency. I find teachers that are uninformed in the guidelines and policy statements of the SLPS tend to be uninformed in other matters as well. It is stessful not to know your future employment status and worktimes. Many employees need to make arrangements for their own children based on their work hours and it is impossible to plan for the next year if you don't know where you will be working. Some schools begin at 7:15 while others begin at 9:00. I think many teachers support Dr. Williams and his reform plans but would like to be informed on their status as soon as possible. By the way, it is the building administrator's job to monitor and not renew contracts of teachers that are not performing. Perhaps if more administrators took this part of their job seriously then we would have a district full of high-functioning, committed employees. Every teacher that has attained tenure has been recommended to receive tenure from a building principal.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006 8:46:00 PM
If the teachers are not performing...via records of TOTAL SLPS Test score increases, real grade reflections and more college bound students ...I am not interested in their complaints. If we clean house with the teachers anyway perhaps we can start hiring and attracting teachers who are concerned about the students and their peformance. I am not threatened by the thougtht of losing a 'few' good teachers who like to write public letters of displeasure, when we could have thousands of 'great' teachers whose letters are minimal because their students performance speaks for itself...they are always secure in their jobs and their market value to go somewhere else! No more excessive subs, and teachers with excessive absences and teachers that just pass students and teachers that don't want to clean up their rooms etc, etc, etc. When the Teachers Union stops complaining and start producing only then will St. Louis begin to take them seriously again. Right now it really does look like they are scared now because truth is being revealed about what they 'don't do.' Perhaps a little lack of job security will be a good fire starter to build better work performance. Its an old trick...but it seems to still work.
Monday, June 12, 2006 11:28:00 AM
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