Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Scarlet U


I don't know if it's just my school or a trend, but a lot of our untenured teachers have been getting U ratings lately. I'm much more familiar with the old BloomKlein school of harassment in which veteran teachers over 40 get U rated, so this is coming as a surprise.


In fact, in one department in my school there are 5 teachers, four of them untenured. Everyone but the tenured teacher received the Scarlet U. Truth be told, if anyone deserved a U, the tenured teacher did. The other four are solid. So I'm not sure what's happening. Is this some effort on the part of the DOE to wage war on untenured teachers so they'll end up begging the DOE to rate them on test scores?


To be honest with you, it's hard to see why anyone gets a U rating these days other than the people who really deserve them. In the last week alone, we've seen a teacher punch out a girl on a viral video; we've seen two teachers romping naked during a talent contest (they were not, however, one of the acts); and another teacher at the romping school sending salacious texts to a student. You'd think admins would be busy enough just handling the real issues without having to go after newbies. But the BloomKlein adminstration operates in mysterious ways its wonders to perform.


As a tenured teacher myself, and one who has had his head on the chopping block at one point, I'm glad to see a trend away from the assault on veterans, but I'm disheartened that it's turned into an assault on the untenured.




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Are these untenured 1st year, 2nd year, or up for tenure at the end of the year teachers?

I agree with you that the DoE is going after the newbies and scaring/forcing them to make a faustian deal with those at Tweed.

How much can we do if they are at-will employees? I always tell my newbie colleagues give them what they want even if it against the gain of the conscience.

I am so sickened by this abuse by the BloomKlein administration. Twenty-one years in the system and I thought that the system would show more respect for the teaching profession. Unfortunately, teachers are treated like third class citizens with no rights and constant shame and abuse.

Someone who works at McDonald's are respected more than the teaching profession.