The Union Has Failed Us To Protect Us, We Have To Protect Ourselves

I have a couple of questions for you out there.

Norm Scott left a comment on last night's post about the burnout I and many other teachers are feeling due to all the compliance work in schools these days:

I had written:

Meetings, meetings, meetings, PD, PD, PD, observations, observations, observations...

It just doesn't stop.

Would be nice to have some time to actually teach and grade, work with students.

Would be nice to stop running from meeting to PD, writing up four page lesson plans for every class just in case it's time for a drive-by observation, drowning in compliance work.

But nope - no time for any of that.

Only time for that constant feedback ed deform destructos like the Educators4Excellent love so much (it's not a coincidence most of them have moved on from teaching to full-time advocacy work.)

Only time for compliance work.

We are nearing the end game in the ed deform destruction of public education in New York State.

Part of the goal was to burn everybody out - children, teachers, administrators.

And we're there already.

Norm wrote:

Some of us in MORE met with a group of Brooklyn High School teachers yesterday who talked about this enormous workload. What is the answer? The time is coming for masses of teachers to just say NO since so much of this is pushing beyond the contract. Since the Unity Caucus/UFT machine has no interest in organized resistance it will take alliances of people from many schools to address this issue in a way to force them to take action.

The truth is, much of what is happening in schools these days is being pushed outside the contract.

Principals have been empowered by the DOE to break the rules, break the contract, even break the law, with little to no impunity when caught.

When teachers push back, they are the targets of retaliation, the targets of vengeance.

I have seen this with my own eyes.

It gives a person pause, knowing that if he/she pushes back against the latest insane directive from the Little Autocrat in the building, he/she will end up targeted by a vindictive administration out to destroy a person's reputation and career.

And you can be sure the UFT, busy meeting with Carmen Farina on the latest collaboration scheme between the UFT and the DOE, will not be there to help a teacher when he/she needs it most.

Again, I've seen this play out with my own eyes.

Norm writes that it will take alliances of people from many schools to address this issue in a way to force the UFT to take action.

It starts by building alliances within buildings, across departments, across age groups, across seniority demographics.

I noticed early on in my career how very good some administrations are at playing different demographics against each other within schools - this department vs. that department, this age group vs. that age group, this seniority demographic vs. that demographic.

But this divide and conquer strategy is working less these days, as almost everybody comes under the feel of the administration bludgeon.

Still, it's a difficult task to build alliances when a culture of fear is rife throughout a building.

So, here's the questions I have for you out there:

Are you now or have you already built alliances within your school across departments, age groups, seniority?

If your school is infected with a culture of fear emanating from the top, how are you dealing with that?

Finally, what suggestions do you have for dealing with a culture of fear and retribution in schools when the entity that is supposed to protect us - the UFT - has abdicated its responsibilities and obligations and will not be there to back teachers up when the chips are down?

How Many Abusive And/Or Insane Principals Are Out There?

A good point raised by James Eterno over at IceUFT blog in response to this Daily News story about hundreds of students, parents and teachers demanding the removal of a Bryant High School principal who is said to have doctored performance records of teachers, altered grading policies at the school to increase the graduation rate, ignored special needs students, and retaliated against teachers who spoke against her policies by canceling after school programs or removing them as coaches:

I am fairly certain there are stories like this one in many schools across NYC.  Let's see if this type of event is repeated elsewhere.

One of the teachers at the school told the Daily News the following:

“This is the end of my 30th year teaching here. No principal has ever treated staff like garbage like this one does,” said teacher Mary Bozoyan, 51, who attended the high school herself. “Everyone’s waiting for the next ax to drop on their head.”

A commenter at the DN responded to Mary Bozoyan's statement:

Mary Bozoyan was my math teacher years ago. Wonderful teacher who genuinely cared for the student. If the situation got to her, it must be really bad. I hope the students, parents, and teachers will continue to make their voices heard. 

Earlier in the school year, the NY Post reported that the Bryant High School principal had created a mini-jail outside of the school for students who were considered behavior problems:

This school treats its most troubled students like trailer trash, whistleblowers say.

The principal of William Cullen Bryant HS in Long Island City, Queens, has rounded up more than 20 failing kids with behavior problems — and put them in a trailer where they stay all day.

Principal Namita Dwarka calls the boxy, red trailer housing the confined misfits “the Scholars Academy.”

Teachers come to the trailer for English, math, science, history and other classes. Even lunch is brought in. If kids go into the cafeteria, they are not served, one told The Post. The only break is phys ed in the yard, when a teacher “rolls out the balls.”

“Most of the kids are not happy with the situation,” a staffer said.

Some “act crazy” during class, making it difficult to concentrate on work, one trailer student said. Others defiantly listen to music on headphones.

The trailer empties out as the day goes on. By the last two periods, “everybody leaves, nobody stays there,” the student said.

If he sticks it out, he’s the only one in the trailer besides the teacher. “She just sits there, looks at me, and waits for the bell to ring,” he said. A dean lets him sign in and leave.

The student’s mom was shocked to learn of the cooped-up conditions.

“I thought it was the regular school,” she said. “You might as well send them to Rikers Island.”

Teachers describe the trailer assignment as “challenging.”

“It’s a struggle to teach these kids,” one said. “They are not easy kids to deal with.”

Staffers said the trailer may get laptop computers so students can do online “credit recovery” to make up for failed classes.

Others say the isolation is not conducive to success.

“These are kids with a lot of ­issues,” said Gus Prentzas, president of the Bryant HS parents association. “To have them locked up in a space like this is unacceptable.”

Prentzas called the trailer — which looks “like a shipping container” — not only jail-like, but a potential health hazard.

Teachers have reported seeing mold in the trailer, which is air-conditioned and has a couple of small windows.

Officials said the trailer was inspected but no mold was found. Two other trailers hold classes that regular students ­attend for single periods.

The “Scholars Academy” “is designed to provide extra academic support in a safe and structured environment,” a DOE spokesperson said, adding that the program aims to help “over-aged, under-credited students” graduate.

“There is some relief in the building,” a staffer said. “These kids are no longer a problem in the halls or the classes they would have attended.”

During the Bloomberg/Klein/Walcott Era, the NYCDOE sought to make as many principals as possible into school autocrats who led their school communities with an iron fist and pushed through whatever policies they wanted while retaliating against anybody who stood in their way.

This Bryant High School principal is a prime example of that movement to turn schools into autocracies.

But she isn't the only one out there and while we keep hearing so much about incompetent teachers, ineffective teachers, criminal teachers, we here so little about incompetent, ineffective, criminal, abusive and/or insane administrators and principals.

The reason is, the DOE likes it when these kinds of autocrats are in charge of running schools.

They want everybody in FEAR, from the teachers to the students, that the orders of the Little Autocrat in the principal's office must be followed or there will be hell to pay.

And they back these Little Autocrats up, even in egregious cases like the Bryant High School case where the Little Autocrat has built a Rikers Island jail for students right outside the school.

Chancellor Farina said in January that she wants to bring joy back to schools as part of her NYCDOE policies.

She can start by clipping the wings of Little Autocrats like the Bryant High School autocrat, who clearly thinks she can treat students and staff like trash, engage in unethical and perhaps even criminal behavior with impunity, and run roughshod over everybody without worrying about any accountability for her behavior.