Jerry Maguired

So, I just wrote my manifesto. You know, a philosophical statement like Jerry Maguire's. I've worked at the same site for 5 years after a total of 11 years in the business of education. I've tried to be patient and reflective and open to the ways that they do things at my school. But I'm frustrated. I've been frustrated. Things aren't working nearly as well as they could be and the administration refuses to look at it, accept it, allow staff to talk about it, be open to it, acknowledge it, etc. The solution for everything is "teach harder". It's never, "hey, maybe kids need a slower pace, maybe kids need more time to think, maybe kids need more time to get up and move", etc. I complain, I talk to coworkers... they all agree but no one says anything. I've been told to hold back and be careful and be more political. Why? I'm not running for office. I'm not concerned with winning the next election. Sadly, I'm not even concerned with losing my job. I'm a tenured teacher and that means no administrator will do the hard work of firing me unless it's really worth it. There's bad teachers all over the place, and unless they break laws, administrators don't want to go through the process of getting rid of them. Half the time, they move them out of teaching and into higher paying administration positions. So, what could happen? My boss already hates me. Everyone at our site agrees.

So, I did it. I came out of a staff meeting in which it took my boss 33 minutes to say 2 minutes (that's being generous) of new information to disseminate. I found out that I had 120 kids per day (mind you, that's with only 3 90-minute blocks per day, so I'm averaging 40 kids per class with no aides), while my coworker teaching the exact same subject has 99 kids per day. He also has the academically highest achieving kids while I have the lowest. And while there is nothing wrong with teaching lower kids than higher, anyone in teaching will acknowledge it takes far more time and effort and patience. So I did it. I sat down and wrote the two pages of frustrations and problems that I see and the ways that I know we can change to make our school better for kids. And I was holding back. It could have been 10 pages, or truly, 100. Everyone told me not to give it to the boss. But I didn't care. What's wrong with saying how you feel? I haven't refused any directives. I do my job every day, and to be honest, do it very well. I have glowing evaluations and only positive feedback from students and parents alike.

So I went to her. Her door was open and she has an "open door policy". She's said she "doesn't want yes men" and she wants "people who will speak directly an honestly" though all actions speak to the contrary. I sit down and tell her that I'm frustrated. I've been there 5 years and I know I've had adequate time to form a balanced opinion. I've also been at 3 previous sites in my earlier 6 years and they all had different schedules, so I've had a good comparison. I hand her my letter and basically tell her that I think we had a great opportunity to be responsive to the changing demographics of our student population and poll our highly skilled staff members to look at ways to change our programs to meet the needs of the new students walking through our doors every day. I told her that I was frustrated that I had 120 students daily, while an identical colleague had 99. She looked at me like I was from the moon. She refused to acknowledge that there was anything wrong with our school. When I said we were trying to do too many things which was keeping us from doing any of them well (teaming, looping, blocking, strats science, stranded math, etc.), she told me that these things were the "DNA of our schoo"l. She said these things were "cutting edge" in middle schools when she started the school (12 years ago). She suggested that I get a "change of perspective" and had I "considered teaching at the high school level".

So that's it. I've been Jerry Maguired. Now, luckily for me, it's public education. Absolutely nothing can happen to me. I can't be fired at will. She's got to deal with me for quite a while. I don't work on commission, though maybe teachers should, and she can't steal my customers. But at least I said what I feel. At least I can say I didn't just sit around and complain. I went to the powers that be. She can't say she didn't know people were unhappy. She can't say she thought everyone was on board. In the end, I know I was there for kids. She knows she was there for her herself. I also know I said what I meant and meant what I said, and from this point forward, there's no more holding back.