Milk Carton Teacher
Does anyone remember the days when we drank milk from paper cartons and on the back there were pictures of missing children? I do and I want to add another category to the milk carton: missing teachers.
During this school year, two teachers have been “let go” without so much as a word of warning or explanation. Now being at a private school, maybe we deal with things differently than tax payer funded, teacher union connected public schools. But I ask, does this process serve anyone, or just shove the issues under the rug?
Let’s start with the first techer:
I have no knowledge of the official reasons for the person not being a teacher at my school anymore, however I have pieced together the following information. One day after school, there was an altercation with this teacher’s child (who is also a student at the school) and the teacher in front of other parents, students, and teachers. Supposedly the teacher was asked not to return. The next day not a word was spoken to the students or teachers about what happened or the plan to cope and move forward. Wild rumors about drug use and pornography circled through the student body. At some point in the day, teachers received an email telling us to not comment about the situation or let students discuss the situation in class. Pretty hard standards when a) we know nothing and b) teens love to gossip. This incident occurred over three months ago and we still do not have any answers.
On the second incident (today):
The teacher in question was here yesterday and not here today. End of story so far. Now we have been having some financial struggles and many are upset about the handling. However, I have not heard of any teacher talking of quitting. What makes this difficult is that the teacher in question was my co-sponsor. Students have been bringing up the situation all day and I cannot question, speculate, discuss, or tell them anything as again we have been told not to. Besides none of the teachers know anything at this point. A few students have alluded that they know the reason, but have not shared anything with me.
All of the secrecy is detrimental and that’s bad enough, but what about the former teachers’ classes. In the first instance, the school rehired a teacher who taught accounting and business last year and was furloughed during an economic crisis. The new teacher has reinstituted a computer curriculum and improved on the output of those students. Congratulations for the making the situation better. In the new incidence, a substitute will be covering classes for the rest of the week and then…. no one knows. The school certainly does not have money to hire a full time teacher, but the former teacher had a full load of classes each day. What will become of the students? I have a special place in my heart for these students (many are my sponsor kids) and cannot forsee how they will catch up with the curriculum. What makes this even sadder is those students probably won’t realize how far behind they are in the subject until they get to college in two years.
So how do we proceed?
Let me offer a few suggestions.
1. Hire better teachers in the first place. Both former teachers were well documented among colleagues and students that they did not teach or even challenge students. I am not the best teacher in the world, but I try to make the most of the time in class and try to challenge my students to reach the next level on every project, test, assignment, etc.
2. If problems arise, take care of them quickly before they become wide reaching problems. If there is an issue, unless it is something against the law (drug use, sex with students, etc.), try to deal with it through intervention, suspension even. In both cases, I think there was a final straw and then firing, when the issues could have been handled in a civil manner earlier in time.
3. If a teacher must be let go, have a story prepared. I don’t mean to say air all the dirty laundry and share every bit of information. Do have a statement for the students, parents, and especially teachers. We all came to school today expecting a normal day, and then the email came through with no explanation, but a gag order.
4. Have back up plans for classes. This one applies to the administration but also to teachers. Administration should have a contingency plan in the event of an absence, quitting, or firing of a teacher. Do we have readily available substitutes, or resumes from teachers would have previously applied for jobs? The staff vacancy should be filled as soon as possible to salvage the classes. For teachers, a note on advance planning. I have a lesson plan book in which I write the basic schedule for upcoming chapters and any large projects. Now I do not write out detailed plans, but could tell anyone who asks where I want to be chapter and project wise for any given week. In case I become ill or must leave school for any reason, the lesson plan book stays on my desk for easy reach. I also have all my resources for various subjects organized by class and chapter. Anyone could walk into my class, pick up the Ch. 10 folder, pull out a copy of my lecture notes, grab an assignment master, and create a lesson play for the day. I highly doubt either of the teachers in question had any type of organization method such as mine, but if they did, it could help.
Of course these suggestions are from a lowly teacher with no formal training in organization or administration, but don’t they sound nice? I hope this situation can be resolved soon, but fear that it will get even more confusing in the next few days. Rumors will swirl, emotions will run high, and no learning will be done in the former teacher’s classes. During this time, I will keep the teacher on the back of the milk carton and hope someone has information to help lead to him and the truth of the disappearance.
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