Online Reflection #3: The Pains of Protecting Poor-Performers

USD 259 is in a hiring freeze.

There is no better way to say it - no possible way to rephrase these words in order to eliminate the frustration, confusion, and anger that almost all educators across Kansas are feeling.   

This hiring freeze stems from an approximate $30 million budget cut that Wichita Public Schools are being forced to face.

Now the budget cut in and of itself is causing a lot of anger. And this anger is mainly being directed at our fine governor who does not feel it necessary to create revenue for our state by taxing those who make absurd amounts of money (this may be oversimplifying the matter, but I have a feeling this is what it all boils down to). 

And I would like to go on the record by saying that I agree that our governor is dimwitted and deserving of all of the heated comments that come his way.

But he is not who I am concerned with. At least not right now.

I have another concern.

A concern that I believe is much more problematic on a grander scale than a lot of us want to realize.

This concern has to do with the teachers’ union, our teaching contract, and the reason that the hiring freeze is going to cripple both teachers and students.

An administrator at my school (who will remain nameless) once made the statement, “Your contracts are going to kill you.” At first I was taken aback by this statement. Wasn’t my contract supposed to be the thing that advocated for me and ensured I was being compensated fairly for my teaching performance? How could this sort of an advocacy be a bad thing?

I posed this question to my administrator and was then given an answer that made me furious.

***THE FOLLOWING IS A SIMPLIFICATION OF THE ANSWER MY ADMINISTRATOR GAVE ME. ALL ERRORS FOUND WITHIN THIS EXPLANATION SHOULD BE BLAMED ON ME NOT ON ADMNISTRATION.

Basically, what I’ve come to understand is this: Budget cuts are causing schools to cut personnel. This means that teachers will more than likely lose their job within certain schools. There is a specific order that teachers are cut when under contract. Those first to go are those that have been identified as needing special assistance (a.k.a underperforming, struggling teachers). After this, seniority takes over with new hires being let go first, then first years, so on and so forth.

So. With this information, one would think that all the teachers that have been identified as needing special assistance would be let go, and that we could move on with fixing our budget and not feel too sad.

UNFORTUNATELY THIS IS NOT THE CASE.

Instead of being able to simply let go of these underperforming teachers once and for all, they are instead simply taken from their position in their current school and moved to fill a vacancy within their content area at a different school. Thus, their bad talent is merely being transferred from one school to another while also stealing away a job from what could be an extremely gifted and impactful educator whose application is not even being considered due to the hiring freeze.

These transactions make me sick. And are largely in part due to the teachers’ union, the contracts they create, and their undying loyalty to defend all teachers, regardless of their effectiveness in the classroom.

There is a special term for this trading of poor-quality teachers and it is called “the Lemon Dance.” Because unions make it almost impossible for teachers to be fired from a district completely, schools will simply move them from school to school because they have no other way to get rid of them. This infuriates me for several different reasons:

1.       They are making the same amount of money as me for doing lower-quality work

2.       They are taking jobs away from people that are much more capable than them

And maybe most importantly…

3.       THEY ARE NOT PROVIDING CHILDREN WITH THE PROPER EDUCATION THAT THEY DESERVE.

How can our nation’s leaders (yes this is a national problem – please watch the documentary “Waiting for Superman” if you don’t believe me) sit and complain about how poorly the U.S. ranks in terms of education when compared to other countries, and then allow this monstrosity to continue?

I have always believed that quality of education stems from the top. We must have extremely high standards for our education colleges and professors, which will then trickle down into having high standards for teachers, which will finally trickle down into having high standards of students.  Unfortunately, this is not currently a reality, and I’m starting to personally feel the effects.

My close friends, the people who have gone through the arduous journey of receiving a teaching degree are not being hired because their jobs are being given away to those who are less deserving.  More importantly, I am seeing how far behind certain students of mine are due to their having a teacher who was less than adequate in previous years.

I know this post isn’t politically correct, and that it may even be offensive and extremely one-sided. I am aware that maybe someday the union will come and rescue me from a lawsuit I don’t deserve and that I will then be forced to eat my words.

But until that day comes, I believe I have the right to be angry. And to call out teachers’ unions for letting down both parties that they intended to protect: teachers and the students they serve.