Cautions and Reminders

        It has been said that everything you need to know to be successful in life is learned in the first five years:  kindness, consideration, compassion, and how to play well with others.  How soon we forget!  By the time we reach high school, we will have pretty much become the people we will always be, too often abandoning kindness and compassion for the sake of gossip, and principle in payment for the comfort we’ve come to expect and enjoy.  The point here is that there are wolves among us; people who apparently feel compelled to squeal on their colleagues for the slightest perceived indiscretion; tattletales who are still behaving like kindergarteners.  Fifty Oakridge teachers and administrators attended last month’s Capturing Kid’s Hearts training, and then returned to the district promptly having forgotten that the way you treat kids is an extension of how you are supposed to treat adults.

        This is, of course, exactly the kind of environment the evaluation process was designed to foster, and administrators are taking full advantage of that fact.  Too many of last spring’s final evaluations were done with a capriciousness that is breathtaking when you consider the anxiety it created among teachers.  Highly effective/effective/minimally effective.  What does any of that even mean?  Whatever an administrator determines it to mean, sadly enough.  With no concrete and reliable way to measure effectiveness, the sycophants and backstabbers rise to the occasion, and petty administrators with no real talent for anything but bullying are happy to accommodate them.

         The good news is that, in spite of every effort they’ve made to do so, Randy Richardville and Rick Snyder have been unsuccessful in their attempts to destroy the MEA.  Applications to withdraw from union membership are even lower than union officials anticipated, but that doesn’t mean House Republicans have stopped trying.  The latest union-busting bills devised by Richardville and company would privatize teachers, and you can bet there are plenty of private companies that will never be held accountable as you and I are chomping at the bit to see them passed.  For all their chirping about big government, Republicans are moving forward with a big government turnover of public education in this state that is downright evil.  A summary of the bills can be found here:  http://www.eclectablog.com/2012/11/michigan-republicans-move-to-privatize-public-education-under-the-guise-of-reform.html .  The fact that the bills were not passed last session makes them no less a threat, and you can bet Mr. Richardville is waiting for just the right moment to re-introduce new incarnations of them.

         The better news is that on Tuesday, kids will begin pouring into our classrooms and we will begin doing what we do best: building the very human relationships that make an education possible in the first place.  In spite of Michelle Rhee and Randy Richardville and Rick Snyder, the Smarter Balance Consortium and the MME, kids at Oakridge will begin that process of growth we as teachers are privileged to witness and be a part of each school year.  So be happy.  Remember that you are doing one of the most important jobs in the world.  Ignore the naysayers and the negativity, but be vigilant.  People in positions of authority are intent on solidifying their power and furthering their careers, and to deny that this is true only makes us more vulnerable.  Don’t access Facebook on school computers during your duty hours.  Turn off your cell phone!  Anyone who absolutely needs you while you are at work can do so without calling you during class.  Keep a parent contact log.  Assemble a portfolio that reflects your instruction.  At the end of the day, you are the best evaluator of your teaching, and when you know in your heart that you’ve given your all for the sake of your students, what more do you need to know?