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Sunday, August 22, 2010

Hello, my name is Al Brennan, I am the principal of Forrest high school and I hate teachers (revised)

Principal Brennan didn't actually say that, and I doubt he feels that way, too. Sadly, that's what numerous teachers heard when he told them at the welcome back staff meeting that if they didn't park in their designated spots he would have their cars towed; if they didn't turn in a classroom key, he would say they stole it (and words to the effect that he would prosecute them) and that if they were one minute late they would be disciplined. “ I wouldn't dream of talking to my students that way, and if I did I would rightfully get in trouble”, a teacher friend of mine said.

Principal Brennan has also taken to monitoring (or having monitored) his teacher’s social networking sites, telling teachers that they can’t have students on their pages and taking umbrage to some of his staff’s status updates. I have better things to do than look at my student’s pages, and I would hope people entrusted to run schools would, as well.

It's common practice for teachers to start the year strict with their students; that way, they have room to lighten up as the year progresses. It is also not uncommon for a principal, reappointed to an unfamiliar school, (and Mr. Brennan will be Forrest’s third principal in three years), to lay ground rules and expectations - but, like teachers shouldn’t, principals shouldn’t come off like bullies, either. Teachers try and protect their students from bullies, and should they expect any less?

I am not saying bosses can’t be bosses. I am saying the teachers that are most successful are the ones that get the kids to buy into what they are teaching; the ones that get the kids to want to work for them. The teachers that bully and browbeat their kids are usually the ones that are least successful, and so to will be those principals and administrators that act in the same fashion. In education, the message is important, but how you convey the message determines if people are going to hear it or not.

Sadly, this is where we find ourselves in 2010. Principals are told to shake things up, as teachers and principals have both become the scapegoats for the district. On one hand, teachers have gone from valued colleagues to someone who can be browbeaten, intimidated, marginalized and, worse of all, disrespected, while being put in positions where success is hard to achieve. Then, on the other hand, principals (thirty seven of which were reassigned last year), are also put in almost unattainable positions as they are told they can’t discipline, and to move as many kids along as possible. This, whether they are prepared for the next level or not, and the less than forty percent of students who read at grade level at the neighborhood high school, would seem to indicate that many are not. So much about doing both jobs successfully is about fostering positive relationships, and when both groups are put under such impossible pressure and in opposite positions, it’s really a tribute to the fine professionals we have that things aren’t worse.

The chasm between the administration and teachers is widening everyday, and that can't be healthy for the Duval County school system. If you want more proof , look at how the superintendent declared a financial emergency just days before the school year began in order to stop teachers from getting their step increases. Many teachers took it as the district flexing their muscles as if to say, ‘look who the boss is’. Mr. Superintendent, our bosses, both yours and the teacher’s, are ultimately the children of the district and we should be doing whatever we can to make sure they are successful, and putting both principals and teachers in impossible positions is doing the opposite of that.

Andrew Carnegie once stated “you can take my buildings and resources, leave my workers, my greatest asset, and I'll be back on top”. The school district, in contrast, treats many of its teachers and principals as if they are disposable, while at the same time playing them against each other. The sense of comraderie and teamwork between the two groups is quickly dissipating and the esprit de corps that had both groups believing they were in this together has been replaced by ‘it’s the teacher’s fault’ and ‘if this principal doesn’t crack the whip, we’ll find another one that will’, by the county’s administration and school board.

If we want to have a truly successful school system, it's going to require a partnership between teachers and their administrators. I think teachers are the district’s number one resource and should be treated with dignity and respect. I believe the better teachers are, the better they will be for their students, as well, and I also believe if they are supported - put in positions where success is attainable, and not overwhelmed with task after task - then the district will prosper. Ater all, if the teachers didn't show up one day, then school would slam to a halt; but if a principal didn't show up, school would merrily chug along.

I also think schools need leaders - people that teachers can come to when they need help and someone students can look up. A principal is like a quarterback of a football team, or like the rudder of a ship. Quarterbacks probably get too much credit and too much blame when a team flounders, but they are still the ones who keep the ball moving. A ship may still be able to float without a rudder, but at the same time its sense of direction will be seriously impaired.

I wrote above that Mr. Brennan hates teachers, but let me make emphatically clear he did NOT say that in so many words, that’s just what several members of his staff felt after their welcome back staff meeting, and how they once again felt when he monitored their social network sites. He did not say that and I sincerely hope he does not feel that way, because if he did, then the faculty, staff and students at Forrest High School are all in store for a very long year.

In actuality, however, this piece has very little to do with him and the problems at Forrest High School, which are being repeated at numerous schools throughout the district. It is more about the deteriorating relationship between teachers and administrators because of the impossible expectations put upon them and the impossible positions they are put in. It’s about how the district is fostering a contentious relationship that, unless changes are made, will inevitably collapse upon itself.

15 comments:

  1. I wonder why none of the teachers at Forrest HS didn't write a letter to the editor about this themselves? Having to hear this from you makes this really nothing more than hearsay, and those of us that have read other things you have written know how opposed you seem to be to teachers being held accountable for the performance of their students.

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    1. They "didn't write a letter to the editor" because they are scared of Brennan, and the Dictators at the Ivory Tower. Do you, for God's sake, have any clue what the Duval County Public Schools Oligarchy is like. These poor teachers are 'afraid to sneeze' less they lose their jobs. I have been a teacher and I can tell you teachers in Duval County Public Schools are beaten down and are TREATED LIKE FAECES, by the whole system including students and their parents. I lived under a south-american dictatorship for 28 years and I am CERTAINLY HIGHLY QUALIFIED to recognize one when I see it. I constantly pray for GOD to shake the system and give back our teachers their DIGNITY.

      You sir/madam who wrote the above comment certainly have not one iota of what is going on in your school district. I also find it appalling that someone could come on this Blog and make such kindergarten comment about Chris Guerrieri being opposed "to teachers being held accountable for the performance of their students". I have 2 kids of my own and I am accountable for their performance. Every day that they step out of my car in front of the school they KNOW DEFINITIVELY that their performance throughout the school day must vehemently reflect my expectations. God gave them to me to raise and educate, not to the teachers. And I don't condone entitlement.

      The so-called teachers accountability is a charade for political mileage by our unscrupulous politicians goaded by the merciless billionaires who are fixated on half a trillion dollars a year of taxpayers money; in other words, it is all POLITICS for the purpose of extortion. And in the process, they so readily denigrate our valued teachers. GOD, if only men weren't fools. GOD VINDICATE OUR TEACHERS!

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  2. To answer your first question, several asked me to write about because they are scared about retribution, though the piece isn't about the problems at Forrest it's about the deteriorating relationships between teachers and administrators.

    Next I am all for accountability but I am all for fairness as well. When teachers are put in impossible situations neither they not their students will have much of a chance. How would you gage or measure teachers accountability. How do you think the school board, district administration and state are doing or do you think they should get a pass and it's all on the teachers shoulders, let me know. Along with accountability I am all for respectful discourse too.

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  3. Dr. Brennan is a wonderful Principal and I would gladly work for him! Forrest HS is a mess and needs someone of his caliber to straighten it out.

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    1. Spoken like someone who clearly hasn't worked for Brennan....

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  4. You are missing the point of the piece. It will take Dr. Brennan AND the teachers of Forrest to straighten it out, neither can suceed without the other.

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  5. I got the point. You were unfair to Dr. Brennan.

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  6. Reasonable people can disagree. I only wrote about what he said and did and how some of his teachers felt. I don't think that's being unfair. But if you did get the point doesn't it scare you? How are we to be succcesful as a school district with such a wedge being driven between the two groups.

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  7. I don't think the state, et. al. are doing well at all, but at least the voters can choose not to re-elect them if they don't approve of the job they are doing.

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  8. i dont like dr.brennan, i honestly think that hes not respectful to the parents of the students that go to the school. if he wants people to think hes a good leader he should show it.

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  9. Sadly my freind ended up quitting...

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  10. What a hoot! I know Brennen from MDCPS. I see he hasn't changed. He and many other principals like him attended the Attila the Hun School for Principals where principals are taught to brow-beat teachers into submission. Most of these principals were terrible teachers who escaped the classroom and moved to leadership positions. They project their bad teaching practices on us.

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    1. Its a fact that most school administrators are lazy people. Those of us who have been around for a long time constantly observed our former peers who eventually move up to administration. Many have mediocre degrees in the first place, teach mediocre courses, move around lackadaisically, and gave grades for petty performance. In other words, they moved kids along even before GW signed into law No Child Left Behind. Maybe he was inspired by them as well as Jeb.

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  11. And Brennan's "doctorate" is in Phys. Ed. or am I mistaken? He is certainly an intellectual lightweight.

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  12. Actually.....his doctorate is in educational leadership. I thought this article was about being respectful. Does it matter what his degree is in? Even a person with a degree in basket weaving could become a great leader therefore that comment about his degree is irrelevant to the main idea.

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