On August 28, Superintendent Pia Durkin set a very positive tone for a new school year. Her speech to the staff drew a standing ovation.
After her speech she told a reporter that her "biggest takeaway was hoping people would be energized and begin to have a sense of hope that indeed we can do this and do it together."
Two months later: Are you energized and hopeful under Dr. Durkin's leadership?
21 comments:
Only the new hires in her administration are energized by their paychecks...she's bringing in her cronies after claiming to scale back the top heavy main office.
No
No, I am not energized.
Here is what I want to do:
1.Provide my students with a loving, caring and competent teacher.
2.Create engaging and challenging lessons.
3.Foster independent learners with a zest for knowledge.
4.Engage parents and create a team for their children.
5.Treat the students in my classroom like I would want my own second grader treated (She is a NB resident and attends school)
6.Work collaboratively with my co-workers and principal.
Here is what I do not need:
1. I do not need to feel intimidated by my principal.
2. I do not need to feel that I am worthless by Dr. Durkin.
3. I do not need people who have never held a teaching position to feel like they know what it is like to teach.
4. I do not need my students to feel intense scrutiny if they make a mistake.
5. I do not need my students to lose interest in school because some higher ups have taken all the flexibility away from teachers.
Not at all
No!!!
Not sure how working under a microscope with administration being told to look for problems with teachers (the blame game), while having the threat of losing your job constantly hanging over your head is supposed to "energize" us.
The only ones clapping now are the education mayor, the school committee, the bumbling times, and pia as fills her pockets with cash.
Not at all .... Feel tired and depressed
Depleted and Ravaged before Halloween....a new low for NBPS.
I am so tired of all the complaining. Instead of hiding behind this blog why doesn't the union who we pay very well do something for the teachers. It seems like things are only getting worse and nothing is being done except blogging about it anonymously. We do live in a democratic country where we can protest !!!!!! Lou it's about time you stand behind your teachers and do something for them because they will be dropping like flies from stress !!!!!!!!
^ Last time I checked, a union is more than one person. What have you personally done to support your Union? Have you attended any of the rallies or meetings the union organized? Have you made your voice heard? Have you written any letters to the s-t, called Wbsm, spoken at school committee meetings, called any school committee members or the mayor? Again, what have you done to support our organization.
Seriously, Lou should be applauded. You and I ARE the union. Stand up with us .
I believe principals should be able to walk into a classroom anytime. After all I have nothing to hide, I am doing my job. However each time they come in it should not be to find something wrong. I thought this was about helping us, seeing what we are indeed doing right and giving ideas of how we might improve (fine tune) something. It should not be that each time a Principal comes in they are writing down everything. What about just a quick informal visit? In the business world they are always being audited (observed) by others. This however is done with the notion of helping the individual and giving good feedback. It is not done with the object being to look to find something wrong.
Many times, principals don't even know what they are looking for. In this past, it was a show, or in my opinion, a joke. How can one be versed in all content-areas. Now, they have been briefed and their jobs are on the line. They have been told that teachers cannot receive the highest rating because, if that were the case, we would not be in the situation we are in now. Even if our administrators know we are continually striving to be the best we can be, they have their orders. And, they have to protect themselves even if it involves being immoral. Grieving unfair evaluations is a bust. They set us up to fail by weakening our confidence. It has happened time, and time, again.
Have you ever encountered the Headmaster and his assistant during a classroom visit or district walk? It was the blind leading the blind. How are we expected to respect our administrative leadership? They've lost credibility, and we've lost confidence.
I have always felt that way, too, about having an open-door policy until I saw that it was anything but authentic. It was demoralizing, to say the least. Our professional visitors were not very professional, and the protocol was just a bunch of empty words.
I'll be clapping when I see the moving van show up to pack Pia's belongings to move her to another district. That day there will be dancing in the streets.
Remember how we sat in the dank cafeteria for our monthly staff meetings and were drilled about district walks, time frames, feedback, availability of administrators, and new teacher evaluations? It was a joke way back then, too. I had always received exemplar ratings, until... they had our housemaster in their back pocket. I would be ashamed to even call myself an administrator after such poor leadership qualities and lack of respect for their teachers. Just as bad was having to listen to headmaster and his assistant meaninglessly drone on and on about the same topics, and knowing how they, themselves, were not invested. This is what bleeped on my radar.
You can't be energized when the "powers that be" are doing everything they can to break your spirit. I think prisoners of war got better treatment than the teachers in New Bedford are getting. I think Pia is going to be sticking around until the end of her contract....unless she steps on the toes of those who are "politically connected!"
Is helping the individual just always giving good feedback ? The problem is teachers are coming off an Eval system of satisfactory or unsatisfactory which was ridiculous . Great hard working teachers only could receive satisfactory while maybe an average teacher received the same ? What's the incentive ? Why should a person try hard to receive the same rating and same pay ? They shouldn't and many haven't and that's why everyone is on the real world people . Welcome to a real job .
^This buffoon(real world?)...could not do the job of a city teacher for one hour and still spout this type of garbage. Our incentive is empowering students to grow up with thinking skills and become stronger intellectually than limited folks like you. That is not just an incentive, it is a purpose much more fulfilling than a larger paycheck. Eliminate ignorance-Spread knowledge.
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