I am a bit jaded, I recognize it and try to work around it but when Trey Csar president of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund accompanied Superintendent Vitti and our ridiculous dog mascot whose name I refuse to commit to memory to several schools to announce the finalists for teacher of the year I felt like it was a charade that cheapened the award and insults the profession.
Click the link to see the picture of one of the finalists sandwiched between the super, Csar and somebody in a dog costume.
http://www.news4jax.com/education/5-finalists-named-for-duval-countys-top-teacher
Ugh
None of them, (Csar, Vitti and the dog) ever taught in a Duval county school and their entire teaching careers can be summed up cumulatively as a little more than a cup of coffee. The super frequently denigrates our teachers, I have documented at least a half dozen occasions but what gets me most is Csar and the organization he represents.
JPEF was founded by Gary Chartrand who is delighted that teachers no longer have job protections, thinks anybody can be a teacher and has advocated for using temps instead of professionals. Furthermore he has pushed charter schools and the drill and kill teaching culture that has had Florida in a death grip for over the past decade and no he never taught (he was Betsy DeVos before she was) and he sent his kids to expensive and exclusive private schools, yet for some reason, oh he is super rich, he feels like he knows what is best.
It's his organization, that also pushes a privatization agenda that is in charge of our teacher of the year awards and I find the entire thing unseemly.
We should have somebody who understands the sacrifice that educators make and how hard they work, not hobbyists who just as often bash educators be in charge of the awards.
Click the link to see the picture of one of the finalists sandwiched between the super, Csar and somebody in a dog costume.
http://www.news4jax.com/education/5-finalists-named-for-duval-countys-top-teacher
Ugh
None of them, (Csar, Vitti and the dog) ever taught in a Duval county school and their entire teaching careers can be summed up cumulatively as a little more than a cup of coffee. The super frequently denigrates our teachers, I have documented at least a half dozen occasions but what gets me most is Csar and the organization he represents.
JPEF was founded by Gary Chartrand who is delighted that teachers no longer have job protections, thinks anybody can be a teacher and has advocated for using temps instead of professionals. Furthermore he has pushed charter schools and the drill and kill teaching culture that has had Florida in a death grip for over the past decade and no he never taught (he was Betsy DeVos before she was) and he sent his kids to expensive and exclusive private schools, yet for some reason, oh he is super rich, he feels like he knows what is best.
It's his organization, that also pushes a privatization agenda that is in charge of our teacher of the year awards and I find the entire thing unseemly.
We should have somebody who understands the sacrifice that educators make and how hard they work, not hobbyists who just as often bash educators be in charge of the awards.
I was one of the public school teachers that served on the TOY committees that read teachers' TOY applications and visited the teachers in their classrooms this year. Our committee was one of several committees that brought together teachers (both retired and current), administrators(retired and current), PTA members, parents, and the public. The only thing I saw that JPEF did for us was to provide the initial meeting place, copies of the teachers' TOY submissions, and a bottle of water for the first meeting. The other meetings we had were at one committee member's (current teacher) and at the schools of the 5 teachers we visited. JPEF did the same thing last year. Frankly having JPEF do this saves the district money to hire someone to get the committees together, get the interview committees together, and get the venue for the event.
ReplyDeleteI get it, they are cheaper and easier, I for one however cannot ignore the anti-teacher rhetoric their founder has spewed. I would rather us do the work so we can hold our heads high.
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