By Show of Hands...How Many of Your Schools Have Had Teachers Leave Already?

[Anonymous]

This happens in DC because parents don't know how to advocate for themselves. The ones who do are getting what they want or go to charter schools, so they don't care.

What I don't understand I why Henderson is getting a free pass and Rhee didn't. Teacher retention is a problem, test scores are abysmal, and morale is at its lowest in DCPS. Where is the criticism of Henderson? The media is not covering the negative aspects of her time here. Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This happens in DC because parents don't know how to advocate for themselves. The ones who do are getting what they want or go to charter schools, so they don't care.

What I don't understand I why Henderson is getting a free pass and Rhee didn't. Teacher retention is a problem, test scores are abysmal, and morale is at its lowest in DCPS. Where is the criticism of Henderson? The media is not covering the negative aspects of her time here. Why?

Washington Post no longer has a journalist like Bill Turke to cover schools in the same way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This happens in DC because parents don't know how to advocate for themselves. The ones who do are getting what they want or go to charter schools, so they don't care.

What I don't understand I why Henderson is getting a free pass and Rhee didn't. Teacher retention is a problem, test scores are abysmal, and morale is at its lowest in DCPS. Where is the criticism of Henderson? The media is not covering the negative aspects of her time here. Why?

1. Because Kaya is more palatable (nicer) than Rhee. So her flaws aren't as loud and obvious.

2. Because of the spin. Kaya & Co manipulate & force school leaders to manipulate data (under threat of dismissal) so her work looks good.

3. Many parents, not knowing any better, are satisfied because their kids are being passed along. When your kid brings home straight As, you're too busy being proud to realize you and your kid are being scammed. If you're not a very educated parent yourself and have to trust the schools, you don't realize your child can't perform on grade level or compete with peers in other systems. You also don't question why your honor roll student isn't proficient on state tests. And you feed into the 'teacher's fault' game when your child fails because he doesn't do his work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This happens in DC because parents don't know how to advocate for themselves. The ones who do are getting what they want or go to charter schools, so they don't care.

What I don't understand I why Henderson is getting a free pass and Rhee didn't. Teacher retention is a problem, test scores are abysmal, and morale is at its lowest in DCPS. Where is the criticism of Henderson? The media is not covering the negative aspects of her time here. Why?

1. Because Kaya is more palatable (nicer) than Rhee. So her flaws aren't as loud and obvious.

2. Because of the spin. Kaya & Co manipulate & force school leaders to manipulate data (under threat of dismissal) so her work looks good.

3. Many parents, not knowing any better, are satisfied because their kids are being passed along. When your kid brings home straight As, you're too busy being proud to realize you and your kid are being scammed. If you're not a very educated parent yourself and have to trust the schools, you don't realize your child can't perform on grade level or compete with peers in other systems. You also don't question why your honor roll student isn't proficient on state tests. And you feed into the 'teacher's fault' game when your child fails because he doesn't do his work.

All parents fall into this myth, what are they going to say "no my child really is a C or D student?". Whatever happened to the students at the school were there was cheating, showing categorically that the students didn't earn the grades that they did on the DC CAS. Did they retest all those students and offer them support services and remediation, someone should really look into this because my bet is that they didn't and are still struggling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This happens in DC because parents don't know how to advocate for themselves. The ones who do are getting what they want or go to charter schools, so they don't care.

What I don't understand I why Henderson is getting a free pass and Rhee didn't. Teacher retention is a problem, test scores are abysmal, and morale is at its lowest in DCPS. Where is the criticism of Henderson? The media is not covering the negative aspects of her time here. Why?

1. Because Kaya is more palatable (nicer) than Rhee. So her flaws aren't as loud and obvious.

2. Because of the spin. Kaya & Co manipulate & force school leaders to manipulate data (under threat of dismissal) so her work looks good.

3. Many parents, not knowing any better, are satisfied because their kids are being passed along. When your kid brings home straight As, you're too busy being proud to realize you and your kid are being scammed. If you're not a very educated parent yourself and have to trust the schools, you don't realize your child can't perform on grade level or compete with peers in other systems. You also don't question why your honor roll student isn't proficient on state tests. And you feed into the 'teacher's fault' game when your child fails because he doesn't do his work.

All parents fall into this myth, what are they going to say "no my child really is a C or D student?". Whatever happened to the students at the school were there was cheating, showing categorically that the students didn't earn the grades that they did on the DC CAS. Did they retest all those students and offer them support services and remediation, someone should really look into this because my bet is that they didn't and are still struggling.

You & I both know passing kids along would not fly in the suburbs.

But yeah someone really needs to look into the goings on of DCPS

[Anonymous]

Someone should organize a protest. Stand in front of Wash Post headquarters and demand they cover what's happening in DCPS. They are ignoring all true stories about the school system. Residents in this city need to know the truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm
Sorry that you are having a hard time. However, can you step back and see how arrogant you (likely) were when you started just a few weeks ago? DCPS attracts/recruits urban teaching 'veterans' who assume that they can do what DCPS teachers cannot accomplish. It drives me nuts. Every year I see you all start the year with smug attitudes and then bail. Turns out that this is a tough as hell place to teach.

This is my first year teaching ever. I wasn't smug at all. I didn't assume much. I wanted to teach here, because I grew up here. I received a crappy education. My teachers used to turn on a video and walk out of the room. I wasn't prepared for college. Somehow I made it anyway. I wanted to help people who look like me see a world outside of the bubble that they know. I'm not leaving because it's "tough as hell." This place is hell.

I'm leaving because in the first week one teacher had his arm dislocated by a student while another suffered a broken hand. They threatened to rape a female teacher after work. One of my students was arrested in my classroom for fighting another student for "looking at him." That same day, another student was beaten unconscious in the classroom next door. The students intentionally threw laptops from the laptop cart to the ground, shattering them, because they "didn't feel like reading." All of these students are still enrolled. At most they received a two or three day suspension and returned with new shoes, new hairdos, and a new lore among their peers.

They sit in the classes on their phones, they gamble, they throw chairs and flip over tables in what our administration writes off as "attention seeking behavior" and all throughout this someone comes in to informally observe us and tell us how shitty of a job we're doing. They don't suspend or expel, because the goal is to reduce suspension numbers this year. I call parents everyday and, while a FEW apologize and say that they'll try to speak with their kids, the majority say something along the lines of "that's your problem," "I've washed my hands of my child," or "don't call me again."

My evaluation is based on their test scores, but 90% of my students are five or six years below grade level. They're working on learning basic subtraction in 10th grade Math. I don't fault them for that. The system failed them, but you can't put 28 of them in one class with one teacher and with these behaviors and expect any actual learning to occur. I have 34 in some classes despite union rules and the most I get is a stipend because it violates the agreement. I technically get a planning period each day, but I have meetings or am told to cover someone else's class 3-4 times a week. I leave the building around 5 after all of our after school meetings, then pick up my child. By the time I get home, it's after six. After my child is fed, then I get to grading and filling out paperwork for 215 kids. Then, I work on my lesson which is essentially a 90 minute presentation every single day.

Please don't lessen the experience by making it seem like we're just in a funk about kids who may be a little talkative.

Thank you. Eye-opening. Thanks for your hard work and commitment.

[Anonymous]

Does teacher experience still match this thread from several years ago? At least from what I can see my kids (1st and 2nd grade) are getting a good education in a racially integrated DCPS public school. But we are already thinking about middle school. No way I want to let them near what the teacher is describing here. But I also am not seeing any of this at the elementary school level...though I realize it starts to appear later probably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does teacher experience still match this thread from several years ago? At least from what I can see my kids (1st and 2nd grade) are getting a good education in a racially integrated DCPS public school. But we are already thinking about middle school. No way I want to let them near what the teacher is describing here. But I also am not seeing any of this at the elementary school level...though I realize it starts to appear later probably.

What school? They aren't all the same by a long shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does teacher experience still match this thread from several years ago? At least from what I can see my kids (1st and 2nd grade) are getting a good education in a racially integrated DCPS public school. But we are already thinking about middle school. No way I want to let them near what the teacher is describing here. But I also am not seeing any of this at the elementary school level...though I realize it starts to appear later probably.

That teacher is describing a high school. I've worked in several high schools in DC. They are all different. Go visit and you'll see right away if= the school reflects the teacher's description.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does teacher experience still match this thread from several years ago? At least from what I can see my kids (1st and 2nd grade) are getting a good education in a racially integrated DCPS public school. But we are already thinking about middle school. No way I want to let them near what the teacher is describing here. But I also am not seeing any of this at the elementary school level...though I realize it starts to appear later probably.

That teacher is describing a high school. I've worked in several high schools in DC. They are all different. Go visit and you'll see right away if= the school reflects the teacher's description.

Unannounced and at end and start of day. Walk those halls, find out how many other folks walking them too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does teacher experience still match this thread from several years ago? At least from what I can see my kids (1st and 2nd grade) are getting a good education in a racially integrated DCPS public school. But we are already thinking about middle school. No way I want to let them near what the teacher is describing here. But I also am not seeing any of this at the elementary school level...though I realize it starts to appear later probably.

I'm the teacher who posted that. I taught at a "Bottom 40" high school. Unless you send your kids to a Bottom 40 middle school, you likely won't see much of what I described.