Sunday, December 29, 2013

Long after the fire is out and the smoke clears, the damage will have been done ... Submitted to NBEA

Wounds will heal but the scars will forever remain. The most important resources the children in our community had, will never forget the disgraceful way they where treated by this administration. Using the children they have worked so hard to educate, as a ploy for this drastic "turn around plan" will backfire. Although the teachers of our community will never receive the apology they deserve from the superintendent, mayor or school committee, I offer my sincere apology as a member of the community to the injustice they have committed against you. Today I am embarrassed to say I live in New Bedford. 

The school department will not accept responsibility for this failure. Accepting responsibility would only solidify what you already know. They are the reason for this mess. This superintendent herself said many mistakes were made at the central office and trust has been lost. This year many well educated teachers will be lost. A top heavy administration is not the answer.There are some among you who have forgotten your humble roots. Without the support of a strong foundation, you too will be caught in the collapse . Replacing the corner stones of the foundation with sand only increases its instability.

This is a poor solution to the mounting problems facing our city schools. In the end, the path of destruction left by this misguided attempt for change will be more costly to the citizens and children of our community, than the mayor, superintendent, or school committee could ever have imagined. 

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Newspaper is working overtime criticizing the union. Could it be that they are afraid of what's coming next?

Anonymous said...

^I noticed that too. The rag says boycotts don't work but they seem to be spending a lot of time focusing on something that doesn't work.

Anonymous said...

Let's face it, the paper is on life support. Social media and blogs like this one are killing their business so It won't be long before they are just a memory.

Anonymous said...

I canceled my subscription to the s-t last year and haven't looked back since.

Anonymous said...

When the standard times man of the year is craig dutra, you know they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. Ole Craig and his wife were involved in a low speed chase not long ago. She was arrested for drunk driving while craig was in car. What does that say about his "condition"?

Anonymous said...

If the superintendent is as smart as she is making herself to be, and data is the root of solving problems, then "she" knows she is barking up the wrong tree in firing all teachers.

If the solution is removing teachers that are doing a hideous job, what is the plan? By firing all teachers, you have just demoralized an entire building and its people. Are you thinking that you have now motivated your staff?

This is counter intuitive.

Anonymous said...

Do the math...a half dozen new contributors is NOT "support pouring in"...try not to miss my $. I will now have more for my underprivileged students. Maybe they can pass the standardized tests these people believe determine my effectiveness as a teacher.... I can afford test prep materials with the money I used to give to the United Way.

Anonymous said...

Honestly, I'm surprised that there isn't public outrage re. what is happening at NBPS! When the high school in Central Falls, RI, went through a similar situation, it made national news! People outside the confines of New Bedford were shocked by what I told them over the Christmas school vacation re. 200 people fired from their jobs at the high school. Can't we appeal to a higher level? Dept. of Ed? Get on national news?

Anonymous said...

I have never spent so much time and money working in any system. This probably is true of most of the teachers I know. The kids are not getting the resources they need to be successful in NB, and we are way behind other school systems.

Anonymous said...

There are two professions I would never pursue or recommend to anyone: law enforcement officer and public school teacher.

There are two reasons for this

1) Sociopaths reproduce, early and often.

2) You'll likely be fired for calling attention to the fact that sociopaths reproduce, early and often.

You people are convenient scapegoats. Don't expect either the public or the city administration to treat you as anything else.

Stay out of the hot sun folks and don't get stepped on by the elephant.

Anonymous said...

Also this is a cautionary tale to any future teachers looking for employment. Anywhere but New Bedford.

Anonymous said...

The same with reported assaults. One school in MA had one assault where the teacher got hurt and it made headline news. In NB 33 reported assaults in 3 months gets poo pooed! Disgraceful.

Anonymous said...

What is happening in New Bedford is just one small symptom of the Ed. Reform movement. It is happening all over this country. Dr. Durkin, is an instrument of destruction to public education. It is by design and larger than most realize. We will educate the masses to follow the rules, answer in a scripted way, and free thinking will be penalized. The individual, who thinks outside the box, fails in the public education system. If children are fortunate enough to come from a family who is educated, they will attend a private school; a private school, which does not have to follow public policy to dummy down the curriculum. True education will be only for the affluent. When this fact finally comes to fruition, our middle class will be a thing of the past. Let's face it, we are almost there! The working poor are too tired to pay attention. Some unfortunately depend on skewed reporting sources for their news, like the Sub- Standard Times.
For years, in New Bedford, at the elementary level we have promoted students who are not reading at grade level. This was expected and encouraged. Those same students face constant challenges and failures for the next seven years. Once a student leaves the second grade, there traditionally is no formal reading instruction and these same students will predictably become the behavioral problems teachers in the middle and high school deal with every day. Who can blame these students? If you did your best without the proper tools, for years, wouldn't it begin to wear on your self-esteem? In New Bedford, although elementary teachers have long been aware of this fact, no one has listened. What was so clear to educators seemed unimportant. Instead, K-2 classes became larger, curriculum expectation lost focus on the basics of reading, writing and math, and less staff became available for the foundational years in our children's education. In pre-schools, the ratio for pupil to teacher is 1/10. How is it acceptable the following year, 1/30 can be considered the norm? Teachers became the pawns in the mess that we now are facing. When we screamed to be heard, we were considered the problem. No one listened. They do not listen now. We didn't start the fire! We have never been the problem, but like the failing students who have done their best without the proper tools, we are penalized. My profession is now almost unrecognizable. I spend most of my time focused on data. This data tell me nothing more than I have been aware of for years. Administration is so out of touch, with what really happens in the classroom, they are unable to be effective in their decision making.

Anonymous said...

The union needs to get to the local t.v. stations to let the people know what has happened. I have talked to family members over the Christmas break who had no idea that all those teachers were going to loose their jobs. We need to make noise. I know I do. Every opportunity I have, I tell anyone willing to listen what is going on. So let's get talking, screaming if we have to.

Anonymous said...

Just read Section B of the ST. The senior member of the SC indicates that Josh comes from good stock...I know his family. How about the teachers, do they not come from good stock? Do you not know some of their families?

As the senior member of the SC, I think its a great time for you to stand up, move to the center of the dais and support the teachers that have supported you.

This assault on teachers by the superintendent, mayor, and ST combined with the absence of support from you and the rest of the SC sums up the texture, the heart and soul, if you will, of the leadership of this community.

I sure hope Josh is up to the task of using sense and sensibility in helping to solve some of our problems, because God knows we are surely lacking it with the current roster of leaders.

I would also like to make a suggestion to all members of the SC. All funds that remain after a campaign should be donated back to funding materials and resources of our cash-strapped schools. What better way to put "your" donated money to work, and ease teacher's out-of-pocket expenses. Maybe the mayor would sign up for this as well, knowing how concerned he is with current conditions.

Anonymous said...

Let's celebrate the fact the Mr. Amaral is a recent product of our "failing" school system. Many of his teachers must still be employed here(for now).

Anonymous said...

boycott against "local businesses that advertise on local media outlets that have been attacking YOU and YOUR UNION"
Ha Ha Ha...It will never happen. Suck it up teachers and do a better job!

Anonymous said...

With all due respect Mayor Mitchell,
It appears you may be out of touch with the common man. There are 170 teachers teaching at New Bedford High School and AT LEAST 85 of them will be in the unemployment line. No one knows who will stay and who will go. No one knows how they will select who stays and who goes. What do you expect people who are faced with losing their livelihoods to do? Do you suppose there are 85 jobs just waiting for these people? When faced with the possibility of losing one's job is it not prudent to tighten ones belt? These people CANNOT afford to support the United Way or any other charity for that matter. Now is the time to save money because who knows what will be available for them? I have been looking for employment since 2/2012. Good Paying jobs are not laying about ready to be plucked up. Where are 85 professionals going to find good jobs? You are disgusted that the Union and it's Members are upset that the superintendent has chosen to fire AT LEAST 50%? And choose to boycott those who supported her? Did you read the evaluation from School works? Did you read that the problems with the NBPS was for the most part on the part of the administration? Do you not feel that most of the staff who will be fired will be sacrificial lambs? do you not feel that maybe 50% of the teaching staff being fired might just be a cut too deep? Do you not feel that a cut this deep will cause an instability in NBHS that we the residents, taxpayers, voters and parents of New Bedford can not afford on do many levels?

Anonymous said...

Dr. Durkin is assuming that there are enough out of work teachers here that would willingly work at NBHS. I seriously doubt there are. Perhaps she should have done a feasibility study first. It's more likely that a lot of formerly let go teachers would simply be hired back on. Exactly what would we be solving if "the teachers are the problem"? Nothing. She's really not grounded in reality and needs to be let go.

Also, how many superintendents have we had in the last 3 years? Perhaps we need to look at that as to why our schools are failing and start blaming the people that hire them. When a teacher doesn't have enough books to teach with, how is it their fault when their children score low on MCAS?

Anonymous said...

To Ha Ha Ha. We try to do a better job every day, and by the way you forgot to close your quotation marks, but I'll cut you a little slack here. I can't cut you slack on not making a big "B" at the beginning of the first word of the first sentence.

See, we are even trying to make you a better writer in spite of your condescending comments. I even put it in student friendly terms for you to understand.

Anonymous said...

I can't ever remember our community with such a number clueless leaders. The exception being Henry. It is mindbogglingly. The superintendent has the entire leadership hooked by way of pinky to nose, and is leading everyone in a death spiral down her road to ruin.

If the leadership and ST thinks that the public is going to come to the rescue, think again. The public that cares are involved in their children's education, and for the most part are on the side of the teachers. Those parents that are involve know what is truly going on in the schools. I hope they come forward and stand up for what is just and right.

Anonymous said...

I have worked I NB less than 20 years and a few years in another district. Since coming to NB, I have worked under Nanopolous, Silva, marginson, Longo, Bonner,Francis, Shea and Durkin. Now that is a high turnover rate.

Anonymous said...

"teeky
12/28/2013 11:31 AM EST
1. Just to clarify for the public yet again, teachers are ONLY paid for the 175 to 190 days they are contracted to work each year. The real time spent is more like a minimum of 10 hours per day.
2. Hardest part is knowing that the literally hundreds of decisions you make each day in your classroom on the run must all be the correct decisions. (And that's just during the part of your day that the public actually sees, the part when you're required to always be "on"--- 7:15 to 3:15.) Very little room for error without doing some kind of damage somewhere--either to instruction, a student's ego, the way in which your administrator views you, your working relationship with a parent.....
3. Keeping everybody happy: students, parents, department head, coaches, principal, district administrators, school board, the state DOE, and lastly yourself and your family. Many stakeholders, all wanting different things from you.
4. Next to no personal life, and even carving out that time takes time.
5. Lack of professional respect from everyone, with the exception of other teachers.
6. The politics: parents, teams and committees, building, district,
7. Meetings and committees----usually work assignments, expectations, obligations, and more work to do
8. Differentiated instruction---necessary, but means that each lesson all day every day must be taught appropriately so that the 3 to 5 layers of students in your room each get something valuable out of it---from the highest gifted to the lowest SpEd student, from the slow learners to the middle students, and including
non-English-speaking students, the behaviorally-challenged. those with emotional problems, those who don't care to be there, etc. Major balancing act, that. All under daily schedule time constraints, of course, and while honoring learning styles, and including movement, activity, choice, hand-on.
9. Not getting a lunch or planning time due to weekly meetings.
10. Staying on top of constant, daily change."

Anonymous said...

I think Durkin is just trying to do what is best for the kids. What a godsend to our city. Very refreshing hopefully she is Woman of the Year 2013 she deserves it making the tough choices that is hard.

Anonymous said...

Dr. Durkin doesn't have to worry about finding new teachers as she will look to Teach for America, TFA, for replacements. These are individuals who are recent college graduates and are given approximately 5 weeks of training before entering the classroom. Training does not include working with multi-cultural or ELL students nor does it include a introduction to behavior management. (Key components of keeping inner city students on task) TFA teachers come with a caveat of funding and a plethora of teaching supplies. They provide cheap labor and fill a teaching void (in this case a purposely created void). Sadly, this was never the original intent of this program but most recently it has been utilized as a catalyst for educational reform. Regardless, the problem is that data on the success of such programs is unclear. It is impossible to discern whether TFA is effective for a few reasons. First, TFA teachers rarely remain in a school system for more than two years so they never become vested in the system or students that they serve. Second, if and when any gains in test scores are noted, it is impossible to discern whether they are due to teaching style or unlimited resources allotted to TFA educators. The TFA program originated as a graduate student thesis to provide teachers to underperforming school systems with significant teacher SHORTAGES. In New Bedford it will not be used in the manner for which it was devised. We do NOT HAVE a shortage of veteran educators. What we have in our fair city is mismanagement of funds designated for education and a superintendent who cannot work peacefully with existing, highly qualified, staff. This incompetence and lack of compromise has resulted in a most drastic reform plan which will give way to a higher unemployment rate for the Greater New Bedford Area. I believe that if existing teachers were given the same resources and a two year trial period they would have no problem increasing test scores.(but that is not necessarily what will help our community) It is time the general population of the city as well as the politicians understand who will be responsible for the education of their children. Google TFA to understand the future of New Bedford's students and don't be surprised by what you learn ... After all it was a seasoned educator who led you to a better of understanding of how your tax dollars will directly affect your children's education and ultimately their future. Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

I believe that when data and test scores are your primary focus you can never really be doing what's best for the kids. I believe when you encourage mistreatment of teachers you can never really be doing what's best for the kids. I believe when you hire and fire based on defective data you can never really be doing what's best for the kids. I believe when you think it's OK to provide very little Art, Music, or Phys. Ed you can never really be doing what's best for the kids. I believe when a toxic atmosphere is felt by every person in a district you can never really be doing what's best for the kids.

Anonymous said...

Let me tell you about "Teaching Across America" teachers. They teach in an urban district for two years and then move on. You cannot expect a deep commitment or investment from these traveling teachers. This will not solve the problem of replacement or backup teachers. They know this is not a permanent home.

Anonymous said...

There is a difference between making tough and hard decisions, and decisions that make sense. Lets not confuse the two. The change that is needed is cultural not academically.

Anonymous said...

I am a veteran teacher who does agree with most of what is being said on the blog, but I believe the superintendent along with her associates has a bigger plan and it doesn't matter what teachers say, especially since she has the backing.

I would like to address a couple of points:
Teachers ARE NOT to blame!I have taught on all levels in my career and it has always come down to NUMBERS!We're in this mess partly do to administrators pushing students on to the next grade when they have not acquired the necessary skills. I've witnessed this at the middle school where teachers are threatened with losing their job if they do not comply. We wonder why some students at NBHS are not succeeding.These administrators (including superintendents) can play dumb, but they are part of the problem. Take a good hard look at the people at the top. We need to go back to the basics and forget about the numbers. Until that is done we will never fix these problems.
Special needs students are not being serviced according to their Individualized Educational Plans, which are legal documents. Violations have been brought to the attention of the principal of the building, as well as the Assistant Superintendent and it has yet to be addressed, since the infractions continue. How would you like this happening to your child?
Lastly, there can be no learning without STRUCTURE and DISCIPLINE in a classroom. Didn't the commissioner of education say that ALL students are entitled to a fair education and if any student denies others that right to learn, they must to be removed?
As a veteran teacher it saddens me to see the current state of affairs that exist in the New Bedford Public Schools.