My name is Bonnie and I am teacher and I'm here to tell you there are some serious issues with public education.
Now I don't want you to think that I'm complaining about my job, but I'm complaining about my job.
Usually I try to stay out of the "politics" of teaching. I show up- habitually four minutes late- prepare my lessons, teach my students, laugh at their dumb jokes, grade their papers, lock the door, and go home and forget about it all until I have to go back the next morning. It has thus far made for a pretty good job and a pretty good life. I do my best to not worry about which teachers get what "favors", which teachers slip out of meetings to go eat breakfast with their buddies, which teachers don't have to take on extra responsibilities.
A month or so ago I was eating lunch with my teaching buddy who is a P.E. teacher. We were talking about the upcoming ACT that is given at our school and how all the teachers had "proctoring" assignments. School for the sophomores and seniors wouldn't start until noon that day, while all the juniors come at 7:30 to take the test. Teachers have to give the test, make sure no one is teaching, etc. My P.E. teacher buddy (I am not going to mention names in the rare chance that this could get anybody in trouble) mentioned that she was the only person in the P.E. department who had to proctor a test- that all of the rest of the teachers essentially got "the morning off". Not only do they not have to do this specific test, but they never have to proctor the tests.
I was shocked at this mainly because I had no idea that there were some teachers at the school who weren't assigned test proctoring responsibilities. Since my first year I had always been assigned to proctor the sophomore PLAN test as well as the ACT. It never entered my mind that there are some teachers who don't have to do this little responsibility.
And it is a little responsibility. It really is. Basically all you do is give the students the test, set the timer, and then work on your own stuff while they stress themselves out sick over the ACT. It's not a hard gig. But this year I have been absolutely pushed to my limits. I am teaching an extra class- making me more than full time. I have 260 students. I commute, adding an extra 1.5 hours to my work day. I am job searching and trying to get accredited to teach in California while at the same time renewing my Utah license. On top of all that I am giving the best attempt I can to make this blog successful. Some days I feel like I am absolutely working myself to the ground.
Now. I understand that I took on all these responsibilities myself and I have to make my bed and lie in it and roll around in it and however that idiom goes. BUT it didn't seem fair to me that they would give a teacher of English (which is widely known to be the subject that requires the most grading time) who already teaches an extra class (as a favor to the school!) and who busts her butt all day long this extra responsibility when there were other options. Why wouldn't they give it to a P.E. teacher who DOESN'T teach an extra class who DOESN'T ever have to do even a speck of grading? Why wouldn't they say to the English teacher with an extra class- "you know what? You don't worry about this. You are busy enough. We will give this responsibility to someone who has less on their plate. You use the morning to grade those essays!"
Normally I don't complain to my school, but something about the whole situation struck a painful chord for some reason. So I marched down to the counseling office and asked to be taken off the list of ACT proctors. I explained to them how many extra responsibilities I had and that I desperately needed the four hours that morning to catch up.
The counselor raised his eyebrows at me and looked at me like I was being a total diva.
I tried to explain.
"I just don't understand why I have been given this responsibility every single time. I've never had a break from giving the test. Why do some teachers always get a break from it, and some teachers never get a break from it? It doesn't seem fair!"
To which the counselor smiled at me and replied, "Bonnie, are you aware of the politics of teaching?"
I felt like answering, "You mean how some teachers don't do jack and other teachers have to pick up all their slack? Yah, I'm aware."
But instead I was a good girl and I answered, "No, not really..."
"Do you understand that we cannot trust every single teacher to proctor a test as big as the ACT?"
"No, actually I don't understand that. What do you mean you can't trust them? Like they're going to give answers to students?"
"No. Like they're not going to show up at all. They call in a sub. We have to find someone last minute to cover for them."
"Well why do we have someone like that working at the school? Why are we employing them if we can't trust them? If they don't do their responsibility then they should get in trouble for it! They should be fired! There should be some sort of accountability!"
"These are all tenured teachers. We can't fire them for not proctoring an ACT."
"I just don't get how we can have a system where teachers don't do work and so they are given less work. Teachers who do work are given more work. And the teachers who aren't doing any work are getting paid more than me because they've been here longer! If a teacher doesn't do a responsibility that he is assigned, he should get in trouble. You can't just throw it on the teachers who you know will do it and let the lazy teachers off the hook every time."
"Bonnie, I have nothing to do with the system. I just put you on the list because I knew I wouldn't have to worry about you screwing me over last minute. That's a good thing."
"So what you are saying is if I do screw you over and don't show up that morning I will never have to proctor another test again? I am rewarded for bad behavior?"
The counselor sighed and it occurred to me that he was probably every bit as overworked and overwhelmed as I was. And here I was, just adding to his plethora of stresses.
"Don't worry about, I'll do it. I just don't think it's fair and I think the system is corrupt." I shrugged my poor heavy laden shoulders and trudged back to my classroom.
The next day the counselor came to my room with a revised list for proctoring the ACT. My name wasn't on it. I felt an immediate sense of relief. I looked at the names to see what poor unsuspecting coach they had made come in to do the job for me.
No coach. Instead, a first year teacher replaced my name. A guy that is teaching three different preps, struggling to find time to get all of his lessons together, and completely overwhelmed with all the responsibilities of that crazy first year.
"Mr. Thomas?" I questioned. "You made Mr. Thomas do this?!? What about Phil? Or Kevin? Or Coach Bradfield? That's who I wanted to have to do it! Not Mr. Thomas!"
The counselor shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I just couldn't trust any of those guys to do it for me. It is what it is."
I was overcome with guilt. Guilt for passing my responsibility on to someone I know would never have the nerve to say no. Guilt for ever having complained in the first place. I should have just shut up and did it. But another part of me still screamed that I did the right thing. Like I had to stand up for myself and let them know that this wasn't right.
Unfortunately in education there seems to be many more questions than answers. Should I have just kept my big mouth shut? What do you do with a "lazy" teacher- who refuses to help with extra small assignments like proctoring an ACT? Do we just let them glide by and give this work to those who always come through? How do we expect to have good schools if we tolerate this type of behavior?
And why is it so damn hard to fire a tenured teacher?
