Last month I got an email from Governor Rick Scott as did all the other public school teachers in Florida; he thanked me for all my hard work and lauded the improvements that Florida has made over the last few years.
Gary Chartrand the chair of the state board of education and Jeb Bush former governor and education advocate repeated this sentiment to anybody who would listen. According to them things in Florida aren’t just looking up but are already amazing and it is due to the reforms they implemented.
Here is the thing that is truly, stunningly, mind boggling; if we have made such improvement, if we are doing such a good job, then why do they continue to introduce reforms designed to knee cap teachers and privatize public schools?!?
Merit pay, something few teachers want and value added evaluations something that is driving most teachers crazy, more vouchers and charter schools that siphon resources out of public schools, the parent trigger, union harming legislation and a desire not to treat teachers like professionals whose experience and education matter are the center pieces of their reforms. My question is why do they want them if we are doing such a great job? Why all the teacher bloodletting and the desire to privatize?
How does that make any type of sense?
So which is it Governor Scott? Am I doing a great job or do you want to replace me and my school with a revolving door of rookie teachers and a management company that both answers to nobody localy and profits off our kids? The problem sir, is your and Chartrand's and Bush's and the rest of the corporate refrom movement's words and actions don't sync up.
Chris Guerrieri
School teacher
Gary Chartrand the chair of the state board of education and Jeb Bush former governor and education advocate repeated this sentiment to anybody who would listen. According to them things in Florida aren’t just looking up but are already amazing and it is due to the reforms they implemented.
Here is the thing that is truly, stunningly, mind boggling; if we have made such improvement, if we are doing such a good job, then why do they continue to introduce reforms designed to knee cap teachers and privatize public schools?!?
Merit pay, something few teachers want and value added evaluations something that is driving most teachers crazy, more vouchers and charter schools that siphon resources out of public schools, the parent trigger, union harming legislation and a desire not to treat teachers like professionals whose experience and education matter are the center pieces of their reforms. My question is why do they want them if we are doing such a great job? Why all the teacher bloodletting and the desire to privatize?
How does that make any type of sense?
So which is it Governor Scott? Am I doing a great job or do you want to replace me and my school with a revolving door of rookie teachers and a management company that both answers to nobody localy and profits off our kids? The problem sir, is your and Chartrand's and Bush's and the rest of the corporate refrom movement's words and actions don't sync up.
Chris Guerrieri
School teacher
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteYou make a lot of sense! That said, I was a high school teacher who was Teacher of the Year. We had some great teachers but we also had some that I would never want to allow to teach my children. There is really no effective way to get rid of the "bad" teachers and the administration goes after many of the "good" teachers if they vary one foot from the party line.
As long as you had your standards posted and your classroom "conformed", you were fine. Merit pay is for those that the administration selects.
I gave up teaching even though I loved it. The "nonsense", the lack of discipline, the lack of respect at all levels for the teacher drove me away.