In todays ADN: Veteran teachers have other reasons to leave Eric Croft’s analysis of ASD’s “funding problem” in Tuesday’s paper (Nov. 25) makes we wonder how much we instead have a leadership problem. He claims we are losing our most experienced teachers — because uncertain funding causes them the instability of layoffs and subsequent rehires. Has he forgotten the seniority rules of the teachers’ union? The most experienced teachers are not being laid off — the union requires that the newest hires be laid off first. Experienced teachers (who coincidentally have the most seniority) aren’t going to get pink slips until everybody in front of them gets laid off, and that hasn’t happened. It is frustrating for beginning teachers to deal with job insecurity, but that’s a fact of life in almost every school district. Mr. Croft conveniently fails to mention other key factors in play. ASD has adopted the controversial Common Core curriculum and the state of Alaska revised its standards to match Common Core (without using the dreaded words “Common Core”). Teaching is now a profession that does not allow personal innovation from a teacher, even though the teacher often is the person who best knows how to reach particular students. Not only is the curriculum narrowly defined but so are the teaching methods. Evaluation of teachers is now based on the achievement level of their students at the end of the year, not on how much the students improve during the year. This new system is weighted against teachers who have special-needs children, who were seriously under grade level at the beginning of the year. Experienced teachers are no longer willing to be in the classroom while they have been stripped of the opportunity to teach. Experienced teachers are not willing to have their students’ progress in their classroom be disregarded. Experienced teachers are leaving their profession — and ASD — because they no longer get to do the work they love and they don’t get recognition of their successes. The funding cycle is not the issue. We have far bigger problems in our broken system and money isn’t the only answer. — Marie Trueblood Anchorage
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 23:50:53 +0000
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