Are Massachusetts Officials Out to Harpoon New Bedford High School?
Ahoy, matey! That great looming specter in the distance is not a mighty white whale but New Bedford High School being turned upside down and shaken till 50% of its teachers fall out. School turnaround time has come to this scenic, hard-scrabble seaport and our trusty state education captains have launched a full sail operation to convince New Bedford residents that throwing half of the high school’s teachers overboard is the only way to reach the distant shores of Excellence. But are the captains on a fool’s errand that could end up capsizing the ship of public education in the Whaling City?Click here for the rest of the story.
13 comments:
Great! Thanks for your understanding and support!
File this under “God bless the Czar and keep him far away from me”. Pia Durkin threw SPED overboard and nearly drowned it in Boston when she was at the helm of the department. Lawsuits ensued.
The elephant would like you to imagine Pia Durkin as the Superintendent of schools in a world where athletics, not academics is the road to success. She takes charge of the school system in a community where a hefty percentage of the parents never get off the couch, eat and drink to excess, and ridicule any form of exercise as a total waste of time. They've conditioned their children from infancy to spend as much time in front of the television as humanly possible. After the school system has been given a low grade for student athletic performance, Pia Durkin knows exactly what to do...
Fire all the gym teachers.
This animated whale of a tale reveals a complex dilemma. It is clear that NBHS administrators were ineffective leaders and need to be replaced. On the other hand, unions protect teachers, both good and bad. This turnaround measure is employed to weed them out. You know they exist: Busy work, allowing students to sleep in class, antagonistic, texting in class, failing large number of students rather than improve personal practices, only there to collect a pay check, outdated instructional practices, resistant to change... If you are confident in your abilities, and dedicated to your profession, this ship won't sail without you.
In its most recent piece, the nationally renowned blog Edushyster shows up the Standard Times, accusing the supposed paper of record of leading with a clearly biased headline and mangling statistics to overstate its case.
This is is the same paper that then takes the moral high ground in its disingenuous calls for dialogue and declarations of love for teachers.
As the above blogger points out the union protects teachers, both good and bad. This is true. Good teachers are protected. And, yes, sometimes the imperfect system protects bad ones. There ARE bad teachers. And the good teachers and administrators know who they are. First of all, are 50% of the teachers at NBHS bad? NO. So what happens to the terminated 50%? Believe it or not, under the current procedure they (the unfortunate good AND the bad) can "bump" teachers at other schools (read "middle schools") So, we lose lots of young, vibrant, motivated teachers at that level. And then there can even be "trickle down" to the elementary level if the middle school teachers have the appropriate certification. Really? THERE ARE NOT 50% "bad teachers" AT NBHS. They are throwing out the baby with the bath water. And, what? Replace them with largely untrained, untried, inexperienced people. Yeah, that makes sense....maybe in a galaxy far, far away.
In response to “If you are confident in your abilities, and dedicated to your profession, this ship won't sail without you.” This comment is misguided at best. This assertion would only be valid if EXACTLY 50% of NBHS teachers are “bad”. Let’s say, just for example, only 40% are not up to standard, and the other 60% are dedicated, QUALIFIED, resilient and adaptive to their students’ varied learning needs. Under the mandates of this turnaround model, 20 “good” teachers will lose their jobs. This number would only be tempered by the number of teachers who throw up their hands and give up (not fired), and those that choose to retire early. Dr. Durkin did state that the 30 individuals fired last year would count toward the termination quota; I guess that is supposed to be a consolation. No one is arguing that some subpar individuals exist within the system, but that can be said for every occupation under the sun. I have yet to hear clearly-defined criteria for determining who gets terminated and who gets to keep their jobs. Why not work with NBEA to come up with, and agree upon, appropriate and clearly-defined criteria that would warrant termination. Then the number of individuals that get fired is what it is. This recipe of 50% termination without consideration for the actual quality of the faculty body is absolutely ridiculous. This approach to “weed out” the “bad” teachers is akin to throwing the baby out with the bath water, especially given the fact that, as reported by the ST, “The vast majority of city teachers received proficient or higher grades under a new state evaluation system”. I would like to qualify this entry by stating that I am not a teacher. I am a New Bedford resident: born, raised and educated in New Bedford. I am a property owner and have two children in NBPS. Teachers’ voices are being dismissed under the notion that they are only trying to save their own necks. Teachers are NOT the only stakeholders opposed to this turnaround model.
Christian Petitpas
Why would you hear Christian, if you are not a teacher? Sounds suspicious.
What is up with all this mob wife mentality? We just want to keep ours jobs. Put your money where your mouth is. Show up. See u at the rally.
As I am a parent in this district, it should not seem suspicious that I care to hear the voices of the teachers. Why is it suspicious that a non-teacher would make the comments that I made in my earlier post. I signed my name. I am not a teacher, nor am I related to any teachers. My opinions regarding the injustices of the proposed turnaround plan are based solely on what I perceive as the facts. I see teachers being scapegoated. To the teachers who would like this blog to be for teachers only, I do apologize, but please understand that keeping this blog open is a good way to get your voices heard and out to the greater public. Reading some of the anti-teacher comments on this blog has really been eye-opening. It has shown me that public educators truly are under attack. I am a proud graduate of NBHS and am grateful for the educators in this district- both for setting the foundation for my own higher education and for providing excellent learning experiences for my two children currently in NBPS. See you at the rally!
Christian Petitpas
Thank you Christian P. You are a thinker. That raises red flags for some folks.
What about the teachers at the middle and elementary level who could possibly lose their jobs because of what is happening at the high school? This is not fair either.
Maybe the teachers at the Jr high and elementary who are pushed out by seniority rites will replace the high school teachers.They claim to have masters degrees an should be able to adapt to the high school courses.What we now have isnt working and the union hasnt given us any fixes .
Post a Comment