Dismantling an ES for the sake of change

 

Our island school system hired a new Superintendent who came with her own vision, and curriculum. This school model emphasized the 3 R's, using a basic curriculum and scripted interventions to bring all students up to a passing level in Math, Reading and Writing. With this model there is no need for ESL, Speech, Reading or SpEd teachers, since all students receive the necessary teaching within the classroom curriculum. There is only a need for PE, Art and Music for the sake of appeasing the parents and giving the classroom teachers a break. I have heard of this type of school, but in all my years of teaching (in 10 schools) I have never taught in one. And the obvious question here was, how would our new administration go about getting rid of surplus teachers and converting the rest to embrace the new curriculum.

After only two years, half of our staff are leaving, or have already left. There has been a very effective campaign to jettison teaching staff that are seen as unnecessary or non-compliant. Looking back now, it is quite easy to see how this was done:

• First, teachers were managed in isolation.  The very infrequent staff meetings came with a format not allowing discussion, comments or even questions. All those had to be brought up to the Principal later in a one-on-one session. No teachers knew what their colleagues were thinking.
• Anything the administrators didn't agree with was buried, often only mentioned three paragraphs down in the daily repetitive emails. 
• PLC's were formed for classroom teachers only, since they were the only ones who needed to adopt the new curriculum. Other staff never met, and had no platform on which to voice their worries or celebrate their accomplishments.
• All staff were asked which committee they would like to join, but only classroom teachers were actually placed on them. These committees gave updates at staff meetings where other staff could clearly see they were not involved in the school culture. The classroom staff and the 'specialists'  had no time to discuss student achievement or instigate collaboration. As a specialist myself, I often went days without seeing or speaking to another adult at school... completely alienated.
• Phase two began in the second year, when specialists such as myself were called into a private meeting with the administration to be told that we were not doing enough, our teaching schedules were too light. We were then asked to do more duties, substitute teaching, and take random classes for no other reason than to give classroom teachers as many as three preps a day. This sent the message that we were not really needed.  Fighting this only created more separation between the classroom teachers and the support staff. 
• Non compliance led to referrals to HR, and disciplinary meetings. Complaints to or about the administration went unheeded. Teachers feeling the stress of conforming to an educational model that didn't include or celebrate their strengths were advised to take some time off work. 

Depending on your world view, you may see this as a step in the right direction, or you might see it as change for the sake of change. Our school was not failing previous to this administration. Our test scores were very good, and most stakeholders were positive about the school's place in our small island community. It is unfortunate that, although there will always be change, we must live with a pendulum that swings from one extreme to another, where many will be left behind.