Fire or Inspire?

In one of my interviews, an educator said, and I quote, "Well, I think sending a brand new teacher into a Program Improvement school is like throwing the Christians to the lions. Seriously, you’re going in there, and you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. I mean, even an experienced teacher coming to a PI school, I think it’s very difficult because the rules of the game have changed. "

I suggest a new hiring policy and practice in districts throughout the nation.

NEW POLICY: No first or second year teacher will be hired at Program Improvement school.

Why?

It is unfair.

Think about it. Two new teachers, equally qualifed. One is hired at a PI school. One is hired at a Non-PI school. One has a greater chance of being "let go". One has a greater chance of getting burned out and leaving their assignment.

Are there any guesses as to which one it would be?

I am surprised Teacher Union Presidents throughout the nation have not picked up on this inequity to new educators.

Let me tell you how things currently are in our district. All teachers are being hired on a temporary basis. Just today, I was told, the way things are now, a teacher gets tenure in our district in FIVE years. This was news to me. I thought it was three years.

Every year, in the Spring, when birds are laying eggs in nests, our district is laying "pink slips" in the boxes of untenured teachers. It's an unnerving process.

So, here comes the gratitude.

After the first year of working at a Program Improvement school, I was brought into a "secret meeting" with my area administrator and my principal. Mind you, I had a CLAD and clear credential. At this meeting, I was told if I continued to work at this school site I would have tenure the first day I taught at the PI school my third year. So, after three years, I was tenured...safe. Phew!

Hm. I wonder why? Well, apparently the only "perk" of staying at a PI school in our district is that sometimes, and I want to stress sometimes, if a teacher can hold up under the stress and pressure of PI requirements, build positive relationships with staff members, get good evaluations, submit to any demands asked of them, and remain in the good graces of the administrator, an early tenure might...might...be offered.

Here's the trouble.

Now, I do not claim to be an expert on the hiring and "tenuring" processes of other districts, but in our district, campuses are required to "let go" two untenured teachers a year. My understanding is that those teachers are not ever allowed to be hired in our district again, and the principal is not required to give any explanation as to why the teacher was not "adequate enough" to be retained.

So, let's do some deducing. If Non-Program Improvement schools have higher teacher retention rates, as a whole, they probably also have more veteran tenured teachers. Therefore, they have less teachers who are "let go". This leaves PI schools with the bulk of positions in the districts to be filled, year after year, and therefore, these are the campuses with the least experienced teachers, which can affect student learning.

My qualitative research data has established how stressful, anxiety producing, and restrictive working at a PI site can be, especially under the leadership of a militaristic controlling principal.

Do any teachers out there remember their first year of teaching? How did you feel? Please post if it was the most relaxing, easiest, dreamy time in your life.

I was stressed out...all the time. I remember if I went to my teacher's box and saw a piece of paper a feeling of dread would come over me, each piece of paper seemed that it could be "the thing that could break the teacher's back." There were so many feelings of doubt and inadequacy. I knew I had so much to learn...and learn I did.

Lucky for me, I was assigned a peer mentor ( one thing I can definitely give my administrator credit for), who helped me with classroom and behavior management, organization, and engagement strategies. She actually CAME INTO MY CLASS (ideal) while I was teaching, and when I would give her a signal, she would casually move in and take over, so I could see a model. She saved me my first year and made PI requirements bearable. Giving up my "credential class ideals" and submitting myself to the stagnating horrors which come with commercial mandated base programs also helped to relieve stress. Plus, I tried to have positive outlook ( believe it or not). All of this got me tenure in three years.

Now, I think of other new teachers, perhaps, more timid than me, less able to ask for help, less of a worker-bee (translation:work-a-holic), but still good teachers. What if, instead of being dropped into the "lion's den" to be torn up and spit out by conditions at PI schools, districts everywhere allowed new teachers a few years to "ease in to the teaching profession" and become inspired as professionals at less stressful Non-PI school sites?

Surely, there would still be teachers who would leave Non-PI schools, statistics tell us they always do, and always will. But, if teachers could get over the first two years of teaching and then get transferred to a PI school ( after a LOT of issue-relevant professional development), they would have more confidence, experience, and could more readily contribute to the education of the students at PI school sites.

Please don't make me think in a sinister manner. Please do not tell me that a policy, as mentioned above, would make it more difficult for districts to "rid themselves" of teachers, and therefore would never be enacted. That would just be too sad.