Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Teachers' union president: HayMac reapplication process will be a 'disaster'

"If we make teachers reapply for their jobs, these teachers will leave the school. We'll lose a lot of talented people. I think it is a mistake," said St. John. "They should be worried about keeping the teachers who are there now."

"Hayden-McFadden teachers are doing a terrific job educating the kids," said St. John. "They are educating everyone regardless of their circumstance. Regardless of student needs, teachers step up to the plate."

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another example of how incompetent Dr. Durkin and her staff are. After saying what a great job she's been doing how is she still not being held accountable for the mess she has created in our schools? I am tired of hearing how it's the teachers fault that our students are failing. How about the Superintendent and her staff? I am disgusted by this ongoing attack on teachers. Let's wake up and hold those responsible for this mess.

Anonymous said...

Sad, Just Sad

Anonymous said...

How can they (the State) still dictate what is going to happen at Hayden-McFadden, when this is not an "official TAKEOVER"??? They did dictate with the threat of becoming a level 5, and the stakeholders took their advice.

Anonymous said...

Lou, You Were Awesome On WBSM Today. Teachers And All The Other Education Officials/Employees Who Are NBEA Members In New Bedford's School System Could Not Get Better Representation Anywhere In America & Beyond.~

Anonymous said...

There is a reason why people get jobs in administration. They usually cannot handle the pressure of teaching. Then, like Durkin, they bully and blame others for their failures. Many forget what it is like to teach especially when said administrators observe a class and blame the teachers for the kid's disrespectful and disruptive behaviors. It is not our job to bring up other people's children...isn't that what parents are for? Three more years of Durkin's crap....what a joke!

Anonymous said...

Durkin should never have written the Massachusetts law on school accountability, should never have made haymac and Parker go level 4 and should never have caused that nuclear meltdown in Japan. Why is she causing all of this?

Anonymous said...

I must admit that I felt asolutely sick this morning when I read the article about Hayden-McFadden. Both teachers and students are the losers in the disaster that is about to happen. No one will benefit from making teachers re-apply for their jobs as they did at the High School and Parker. Both of those schools have lost so many good teachers only to be replaced by a steady stream of inexperienced teachers and substitutes. As we all know there are still positions in those schools that are not filled. Teachers are leaving their positions in our schools as soon as they can find employment elsewhere. If you don't believe it - check out the job openings for NBPS on schoolspring.com. Sad to say - Dr. Durkin has broken our school system, and it cannot be repaired. If the Southbridge Public School system was just taken over by the state I think that in the "not too distant" future we are looking at a similar fate. I think it's about time that the school committee and Mayor Mitchell publicly admit that Dr. Durkin has failed to turn around our schools and has only succeeded in doing great harm to the children of New Bedford who are attending our public schools. She should be terminated as soon as possible.

Anonymous said...

You can write all the turnaround plans you want: however, if the parents and students are not interested, engaged, willing to step up to the task, want to be successful, and buy into the importance of education, it will be the same old same old thing. Parents and students are a huge part of the problem not teachers! It is up to the parents to be fully engaged in instilling in their child(ren) the importance of getting an education.

Anonymous said...

New Bedford has a large population of immigrants, this is a fact, the school system is educating 100s of students lacking English as a dominate language (ESL Students). The parents of these children are trusting, loving people, who have been fooled by Pia and DeFalco's smoke screens and mirrors. They believe their children are in capable caring hands, when they sends them to school each day. This is NOT the case. Schools are being run by day to day substitutes more than contracted experienced teachers. If we wait for parents to make enough noise to remove Pia it will never happen. We NEED the school committee to do its job and blow away he smoke, break some mirrors, speak truth and save New Bedford's schools.

Anonymous said...

Sad to say - where are the parents at meetings & Open House. When I taught at Keith the turn-out was dismal (78 - 2011) worse every year. We need parental involvement !!!

Anonymous said...

in my 33 years of teaching my biggest complaint was that many of the parents were NOT interested in their kid's education. I was at Hay-Mac for many years and it was a huge problem then and things have not changed. Attendance was an issue, too. There are absolutely NO easy answers. But I also believe that a huge part of the problem in New Bedford is Durkin. No good changes will be made as long as she is in charge and "the powers that be" continue to believe that she is doing a fine job.

Anonymous said...

If teachers at Hay Mac are not on par with their peers in other schools how come data reflects that they are equal or better than many of their colleagues throughout the system??? Like Parker before ... Hay Mac teachers are scapegoats ... When will the blame game end??? There are not enough teachers in the commonwealth to continue this constant turn around ... And BTW ... Is this model of change even working at Parker??? Data ... Where is the data???

Anonymous said...

I did not hear Lou on the radio this morning - I really wish I had. I have known Lou for a long time and he is the hardest-working person I know. He is the biggest supporter of New Bedford's teachers and he deserves the respect of every single member of the NBEA.

Anonymous said...

Yes he does!

Anonymous said...

So Pia is in charge of improving Hay-Mac's scores. Isn't she the turnaround leader in charge of Parker's scores already? How's that working out, score-wise? Her excuse of "Hay-Mac was under a turnaround plan that I had no input on" is lame - she could have ensured the building wasn't falling down, that the roof didn't leak, that the teachers had enough textbooks for the kids in their classes, and that the ESL teachers her minions told the state were there were actually there! But no... move the kids, bring in new teachers, and claim victory. Yeah, that's forward thinking.

Anonymous said...

Please don't forget about the horror show she caused and continues to cause at NBHS. Everyone had to reapply for their jobs. Teachers were reassigned or let go. We are still doing hours upon hours of extra work because of a turnaround plan that was written and implemented by the powers that be. Young people just out of college from outside of our community were brought in by the droves. The administrative team was hired, again from outside of our community, due to the fire in their belly and their willingness to facilitate change. In the course of two years only one of the original administrators remain, all others are gone. I doubt he'll be with us next year. We are told every day by the Chief of teaching and learning that the new teachers are turning the building around while the veterans need to be replaced. Many of us are teaching seven periods a day. We cover classes everyday. Lunch? Yeah right. Planning?
PLC? This is insane, yet we are told we'll get paid for it. It is not about the money. It's about sanity. I love my school, my kids, and the community in which I live. Please help us.

Anonymous said...

As an ELA teacher many of these posts, and one committee member remind me of Macbeth - full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.