Ohio Governor John Kasich said at an education summit in New Hampshire that many teachers believe that "we’re out to take their job" when schools evaluate teacher performance and that teachers' lounges provide an environment where this worry spreads.
"No we’re not out to take their job. If you need help, we’ll help you. If you’re a terrible teacher, then you should be doing something else because you’re going to find more satisfaction doing something else that you’re good at," he said. "We have to constantly communicate that."
He then suggested that teachers' unions contribute to educators' worries.
"I’ll tell you what the unions do, unfortunately too much of the time. There’s a constant negative comment, ‘They’re going to take your benefits, they’re going to take your pay,'" Kasich said. "So if I were, not president, but if I were king in America, I would abolish all teachers' lounges, where they sit together and worry about, 'Woe is us.'"
In my school we have no teachers lounge.
There used to be a teachers cafeteria, but that got taken and made into classroom space.
Individual departments sometimes have their own spaces, but those have been cut down or completely eliminated in recent years as well because space is at a premium.
Teachers share classrooms as well.
There isn't much private space for commiserating where I work, that's for sure.
Frankly, I don't want the private space to complain about things - I'd like it so I could get some work done (i.e., grade papers, plan those wonderful Common Core-aligned lesson plans, etc.)
Alas, it is sometimes difficult to get that where I am.
So I dunno what the hell Kasich is talking about, but I can assure him that we're not all sitting around in teachers lounges complaining about teacher evaluations tied to test scores and the like.
I can say that teachers certainly talk about topics and issues that affect them, just as any group of people talk about things that affect them.
Where I work, it ain't happening at the teachers lounge, however.
The bathroom, maybe, or the hallway, but definitely not the teachers lounge or teachers cafeteria.
Maybe Kasich wants to ban teacher bathrooms as well?
I mean, if he's so concerned about teachers commiserating over things and all.
Maybe he can make all teachers bathrooms one stall?
That ought to cut down on the commiserating, eh?
I always wanted to open up my own bar that caters to teachers and call it "THE TEACHERS LOUNGE". Regular district teachers and private school teachers that can show proof of employment such as a school ID or UFT card get 10% off all drinks. Charter school teachers do not get a discount but will be allowed in.
ReplyDeleteShame thing at Kennedy HS, a student cafeteria on each floor and no staff cafeteria. Bronx Theatre in that campus has no staff room. ATRs are treated like absolute garbage there, especially from the AP Marika and the payroll secretary Zena.
ReplyDeleteDoes Kasich have delusions of grandeur?
ReplyDeleteAbigail Shure
There are very strict legal regulations on bathrooms in the workplace.
ReplyDeleteI can actually understand what he is trying to say. The teacher's lounge at my school is toxic. I avoid it at all costs and encourage the new teachers to do the same. Way too much negativity, even about things that aren't a problem.
ReplyDeleteGot news for ya': Everything is a problem these days with the teaching profession. The real problem with the teachers lounge is that you never know who might be a "rat" sitting in there waiting to inform the principal about all the complainers.
DeleteIf i became president people like him go to gulag!!
ReplyDeleteIt's because of politicians like Kasich (and Cuomo, Christie, and, truth be told, Obama) that the worry spreading through the teacher's lounges is there to begin with; and why the lounges are shrinking in size or disappearing entirely. I've never been to Governor Kasich's offices in Columbus, but I'm willing to make him a deal. I'll promise to suspend my First Amendment rights to complain to my colleagues if he agrees to trading spaces with my department. Full disclosure: we recently underwent a downsizing of our lounge to accommodate a new classroom, and he might feel a bit cramped (when he returns from his quest for a larger (oval) office.)
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