Hit the lights on your way out

UFT in NYC agreed to a new evaluation system.  NYC Educator does a good job of describing what the UFT obfuscates. That’s one helluva’ shoddily cobbled-together wooden horse welcomed by the union inside the walls of Troy (and other cities in New York state).

I hear hollow hoofbeats headed toward a district near the bay.

Why worry about VAM junk science when it counts for only a percentage of evaluations? Because incompetent but vindictive principals, and their toadying assistants, will complete the remaining percentage. Such stooges already hold tremendous power to punish workers by manipulating budget lines, directing  favors from unsupervised slush funds, hiding open positions from public posting, jiggering the interview process for new hires , changing work schedules, playing favorites with space allocation, abruptly changing subject area assignments, and increasing the inherent division between classroom and support staff. And even stooges can get downright malevolent in their schemes. Without fierce and unbroken solidarity, no union building committee can win. I know that for sure.

Friday was my last day. As I hit the lights on the way out the door, here’s a final fable to illuminate the problem described above:

 Z,  the very effective and well respected teacher of the high level and Advanced Placement Mandarin language classes, was transferred. Seems there was a drop in student demand for Chinese studies. Odd to find a drop in demand for Mandarin studies in a school with a junior class demographic of approximately 70% Chinese, but hey, the teachers trust their administrative pals to equitably and professionally manage the world language class recruitment system and to transparently report on its results. Mandarin attracting too few students, lowest in seniority  Z had to go.

However, with highly successful Z gone off to work elsewhere, a replacement is needed for those high end Mandarin classes.  The obvious choice is Y, an experienced Advanced Placement instructor whose first language is Mandarin. But wait! Not so fast. In the palace of intrigue, the obvious can impede the necessary.

The Prince_of_Pals explains to the always-most-collaborative world languages department head, “We have determined XX as best replacement for Z.”

Puzzled, the head replies, “XX is not a native speaker of Mandarin, Prince_of_Mine. And just last week you explained to me, again, your great desire to rid our realm of the incompetent but wily veteran XX.”

Noblesse oblige, the Prince explains, “Head, my pet, listen and learn. XX is the worst possible choice for Z’s replacement. XX will fail to teach to the standards expected in such a high profile and academically demanding assignment. I will document that failure at every opportunity available to me – in the formal evaluation process, during informal walk-through visits, in soliciting the opinions of disenchanted students, and most importantly, by encouraging loud and unrelenting complaints from those students’ parents. In this way, I will hasten XX’s departure from the realm.”

Placated, the head dutifully informs XX of the new assignment. 

Indeed

“How many good classroom teachers will no longer be in the classroom because they question decisions by ham handed administrators looking to quickly make a name for themselves by implementing shortsighted procedures that might look good on resumes, but will have a negative impact on student learning?” – A Warning to Young People: Don’t Become a Teacher

A rout of snails

I had a conversation with a teacher colleague today about fighting off Obama’s despicable sell-out of Social Security. The colleague seemed puzzled and asked, “I don’t qualify for Social Security, do I?”

I was tempted to answer, “No, no, YOU FUCKING IDIOT, you don’t qualify for Social Security! In fact, CalSTRS provides you with a much better pension than Social Security would provide. But your fucking pension depends on …”

I contained my rage.

I hear, informally, that our School Site Council (SSC) decided last week that the library gig that I’ve had for the last ten years (and that has been, as far as I know, a full-time position since about 1925) will be reduced to a 60% position for 2013-14. Some of the teacher representatives on the SSC seem to have acquiesced in that decision. Well, it makes sense given the demand for STEM classes and curriculum. Why read when you can contribute to data?

I’ve finally realized that, at least at my school site, teachers’ collective defensive capacity is equal to the defensive capacity of a rout of snails:

“Shelter in place, friends.That noise you hear is NOT footsteps.”

Idiots.

So says Cassandra.