My wife recently embarked on a new career. At 55 she decided that she wanted to be a school teacher. She applied for an accelerated certification program, since she already had a Masters Degree in Media Communications, and was accepted. The course work was difficult and demanded hours of time both during the day and in the evenings. She got assigned to a relatively new and progressive school for her training, or as I called it, her internship. She enjoyed the work and I tried to support her as much as possible. When it came time to take the certification test she thought she was ready, but she did not pass. She was crushed but was determined to pass on her next attempt. She continued to study and participate in professional development programs over the summer. She did pass on her second attempt but her results did not come prior to the start of the next school year. Once the results were in she applied for a position within the district. Here is where things got interesting.
She was given the opportunity to apply for a position at a school located in what may be considered the inner city in her home of Louisville, KY. She talked with the principle who told her that it was a pretty hard my position and that she was looking for a strong applicant to work with the students and the parents. Needless to say my wife is a "strong" African American female. She has raised three girls of her own and had a great experience with classroom control the previous year. She got the job and was very excited about starting. Things then started to fall.
First the school was downtown and in an area were parking was limited. People informed her that she would need to park in an alley way and that she should be very careful about going to her car alone or staying late. She met with some of the teachers in her group, which was for 3rd graders and asked about support. Basically she was told she was on her own. The second day she found out that the school did not have a computer for her to use. This really hurt since that was the manner she used to develop lesson plans and worked with children, based on her training. The class had 21 students which she would need to manage on her own. There were no desks, just a few tables. On the third day she actually met her students. The substitute that had been working with them had quit. The students were out of control. You could see that they were not used to any structure and were not very interested in paying attention. My wife asked for some support and the Assistant Principle came to her aid. However, she soon saw that he had no better luck with them than she had. There were fights to be broken up and the day was spent trying to manage the kids behavior versus teaching them. My wife me home in tears. She told me she just couldn't go back and it was just too much for her. We talked and ending up deciding that she contact the principle and write a letter
informing her that she didn't think she could handle the situation there and that it would not be a good match for her as a new teacher .
After this she heard nothing form the school system for a couple of weeks which I thought was strange. What we eventually found out was that when my wife resigned from that position, that the district felt that she had resigned her employment with them totally. This was something that surprised me since her letter and conversations all indicated that my wife wanted to be a teacher, but felt that this assignment was not viable for her or the district. As a corporate executive I find this odd considering all the time and effort that went into training her. Surely the district had openings in other schools that her training could be used? However that is the case. We have a school district with very low graduation rates, poor elementary education scores in both math and science, and that spends time looking at analysis of the situation, but not on addressing the problems. Perhaps it is just the large bureaucracy in the district, or the need to look at a way to improve those schools that are failing, or a lack of parental support, but our schools are failing.
Teacher like my wife and others that go through schooling to become teachers are disillusioned when they do get hired and have to work in conditions that restrict them. They become more baby sitters or social workers than educators. African American teachers are even harder to find as they feel like the deck is stacked against them even when their hearts and minds are in the right place. The tenured teachers move on without the needed upgrades to their teaching skills and don't want these troubled children that this generation has spawned. Our children are in a desperate downward spiral that starts earlier and earlier. Preschool programs are being cut and effective parenting is at a low level. This is not just and African American problem, but with the poor economy it affects all races.However, it affects those in the lowest economical groups the most.
My wife is still not teaching. She is considering trying to apply at a private or Catholic school district. However, some of her peers have indicated that the district here has blacklisted individuals in the past and blocked them from getting positions in other districts. Why and what this would accomplish I don't know. She is doing some volunteer teaching assistance at the school she worked at last year with the hopes that maybe something will become available there and the principle would request that she get the position. It is a long shot at best but she does get to work with the children and "teach".
