White teacher wins $350,000 in Prince George’s schools bias lawsuit

[Anonymous]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/jury-awards-former-prince-georges-county-teacher-350000-over-retaliation-claim/2014/08/08/6e2d50f6-1e73-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html


Everhart said Simpson-Marcus told students that the “only reason a white teacher teaches in P. G. County is that they can’t get a job elsewhere.”

Why would someone say this? Isn't that a put down of your system and not the person you're saying it to?

[Anonymous]

Sadly many of the white teachers and adminstrators have been forced out of their jobs. Many end up in AA or MoCo. Which in the end is alright because the benefits there are better any way.

[Anonymous]

Sadly, this won't get much attention. Now, if the teacher was black and the principal white..... Watch out!

[Anonymous]

What self respecting teacher stays in a system that regards itself as the last resort for bad teachers.

[Anonymous]

Actually a lot of us that focus on the kids and tune out the noise.

[Anonymous]

Sadly I think a lot of great teachers who move to the area to work for PGCPS wind up leaving. Wage freezes, bad administration, lack of constructive feedback - a lot of people just skating by. No inspiration. You can move to any surrounding county or urban system to get a better career-building experience, and several of these pay better, too. It's all adding up to a terrible school system with very few excellent schools (not to say that there aren't still some great teachers in PGCPS - there are just a lot of bad ones too). I'm not optimistic that we'll be able to put and keep our child in public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually a lot of us that focus on the kids and tune out the noise.

How long can you sustain that though? Seems like the perfect breeding ground for burnout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually a lot of us that focus on the kids and tune out the noise.

Thank you for your work. Seriously. My child's had some amazing teachers in this system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sadly I think a lot of great teachers who move to the area to work for PGCPS wind up leaving. Wage freezes, bad administration, lack of constructive feedback - a lot of people just skating by. No inspiration. You can move to any surrounding county or urban system to get a better career-building experience, and several of these pay better, too. It's all adding up to a terrible school system with very few excellent schools (not to say that there aren't still some great teachers in PGCPS - there are just a lot of bad ones too). I'm not optimistic that we'll be able to put and keep our child in public.

A bigger reason people start at PGCPS and move out is that our pay structure is better than some of the surrounding counties for the start and end of a career, but lags for the middle of people's careers. We train a lot of good teachers to see them move away; it's something that Dr. Maxwell has identified as a problem and has said he is working to change.

[Anonymous]

There's an article in the Washington Post today about the principal. It's not just the discrimination case won against her. She seems to have engaged in bullying and harassment of a number of teachers. Why is she still in her principal position?? It seems that the school system adminstrators are protecting one of their own, at the expense of students, other teachers and the integrity of the public school system.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/maryland-principal-accused-of-bullying-members-of-her-staff/2014/09/12/3d84d67e-37ad-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's an article in the Washington Post today about the principal. It's not just the discrimination case won against her. She seems to have engaged in bullying and harassment of a number of teachers. Why is she still in her principal position?? It seems that the school system adminstrators are protecting one of their own, at the expense of students, other teachers and the integrity of the public school system.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/maryland-principal-accused-of-bullying-members-of-her-staff/2014/09/12/3d84d67e-37ad-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html

Unfortunately I think this is part of a larger problem of stagnation and cronyism that pervades the PG system. Terrible school systems require a major overhaul (including the kind of unpopular measures that, for e.g., Michelle Rhee implemented in DC) before any real change can take place, and the reason these overhauls are unpopular generally stems from a desire for those in power to stay in power and to face no threats from outside govt., community, etc. The path of least resistance is the one favored. It takes a major commitment from a county government to make the kinds of changes that PG County needs, and I simply believe the corruption and apathy here is way too entrenched for that to happen. About 5 years ago it emerged that the chancellor of PGCPS had purchased his PhD online - who vets these people? This is the kind of individual the county government selects to run the school system. It kind of reminds me of the transportation problem thread on here right now - not enough people complaining or demanding a certain quality of service leads to widespread problems. Standards here are simply low. It's refreshing to see the exceptions to that rule, but there simply aren't enough of them, and they will remain exceptions unless something drastic were to occur at the highest level.

[Anonymous]

The Post reported today that the local NAACP called on the principal to be dismissed. They said that discrimination and harassment, whether against black or white, should not be tolerated. Kudos to the NAACP. It's past time for the PP public schools to act, and get rid of her.

[Anonymous]

The case is appealed. What if it turns out to be lies told by folks who just want to trash Prince George's schools? The principal is not going anywhere because she has earned R-E-S-P-E-C-T in the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/jury-awards-former-prince-georges-county-teacher-350000-over-retaliation-claim/2014/08/08/6e2d50f6-1e73-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html


Everhart said Simpson-Marcus told students that the “only reason a white teacher teaches in P. G. County is that they can’t get a job elsewhere.”

Why would someone say this? Isn't that a put down of your system and not the person you're saying it to?

And the guy got $350k to boot!

[Anonymous]

^^ More white male teachers should head on over there pronto.