Letter: Teacher says White has driven her out

I can’t stand it anymore. The lies, the spin, the disrespect and vitriol against hard-working excellent teachers that spews from Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White’s mouth keep coming faster and faster.

This National Board Certified teacher with 25 years of experience is throwing in the towel — retirement. I leave with my pride and dignity intact, knowing that I have touched the lives and inspired thousands of young people throughout my career.

White has just lost another one of the good ones.

Susan Summers

teacher

New Orleans

Comments

1) Comment by Dawson - 11/03/2013

Thanks for 25 years of service. I hope you enjoy the next 25 to 30 years of your life on the government pension that will be provided to you by the tax payers. Most people can't work 25 years and get paid 50 years so in this instance you are a lucky person. I appreciate your service to the students.

2) Comment by Vernonbrew22 - 01/03/2013

Congrat Ms. Summers. The average non-teacher has no idea of the hours of planning, grading and being on-stage you've gone through. It is truly a thankless job and almost seems to be getting worse; much worse. Even the so-called leaders allow blame to be placed in the classroom when we all know it starts at home and has no belt or two-by-four to enforce. The haves versus have-nots will continue to get bigger in Louisiana and the teachers will unfortunately and unfairly receive the brunt of blame. You deserve more that the lousy retirement you're about to get.

3) Comment by twinkie1cat - 02/02/2013

Starley, I heard that was what happened. I don't know where Jindal gets so much power, but it needs to be taken even if it takes a constitutional amendment. Our legislators seem to have NO family jewels. I don't know where Jindal got that a Teach for America with only 2 years in the classroom and no Masters could run the schools. BESE needs serious reformation. Jindal just asked for disrespect from the education professionals of Louisiana when he put a rank amateur who was not even a real teacher in that position. It's like the Bar Association took a cashier at Walmart and made her the president of their group. And now, Jindal's clones on BESE have given White an all-star review!

4) Comment by twinkie1cat - 02/02/2013

Being Stupid: The unions do not get taxpayer money. What they get comes from the dues the teachers voluntarily give them when they join. Normally, it comes out of their paycheck, again, voluntarily, but some of the worst union busters are trying to stop even that so that they will have to waste time and money soliciting.................................................................................................... ......Attilla: I think you must have been put in special education and made to behave and you resented it when you got a teacher who could control you. Most people who resent teachers, I have found, had bad experiences with strict teachers or were lousy students. The former governor of Georgia, Roy Barnes, was always getting in trouble at school and as soon as he got into the mansion he started bashing teachers and cutting education budgets. The teachers united and got rid of him after one term. The word about his behavior came from my paraprofessional who was in high school with Barnes. When you get a mad teacher who can type on a computer you might get a little hyperventilation. But it comes from having been in the trenches.

5) Comment by Bouncer - 02/02/2013

The utter contempt for teachers and education that the typical denizen of Louisiana holds is astonishing, and you see that scorn reiterated time and again. Anytime there is a story about education, the usual "experts" show up on these message boards, showing everyone just how little regard they actually have for teachers. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This state and its infrastructure is in the pitiful condition it is in because of the caliber of most of the people who live here.

6) Comment by Scrooge - 02/02/2013

Attila, true to from, posts his "thought" in three letter words , he didn't need no teachers to teach him how to write and speak hes gots tv and the inturnet for that, interesting how much of the vitriol directed at the noble practitioners of teaching is by those who obviously were not stellar academic achievers and that stunted growth has followed them into adulthood. Let's make it simple: You gots what you paid fer, fer decades teachers in Louisiana were underpaid, if market principles are valid then competition for the best and brightest was non-existent-remember that civics class taught by a football coach? So now you gonna blame the free market which current political/educational visionaries claim will save education? A reasonable guess at an outcome of all of this might be chaos, sure looks chaotic to me.

7) Comment by GM - 01/02/2013

Well, bye.

8) Comment by starley - 01/02/2013

@twinkie...The requirements for state super of ed were waved for white. He didn't have the credentials, so Jindal had his BESE waive them...ta da

9) Comment by Attila - 01/02/2013

All can say to Ms. Summers is...bye!...and Twinkie, take a breath before you hyperventilate..

10) Comment by twinkie1cat - 01/02/2013

ON the fence: Where do you get the assumption that Ms. Summers is a minority? Do you think that the only teachers who don't like White, the teacher abuse, and the destruction of the public schools are black? And why would you assume that? You know nowadays there is a shortage of minority teachers because they can get paid better and be abused less in other fields. Just because a school system is predominantly black does not mean that the teachers are, although in some cases, like Atlanta Public, that is true.

11) Comment by twinkie1cat - 01/02/2013

One thing that would help resolve Louisiana's problem of teacher abuse and corporate takeover of the schools would be to pass laws for criteria for running for BESE and for Superintendents, both local and state. Superintendents should have a Masters or higher in Education and at least 10 years of classroom experience. This includes the State Superintendent and a Ph.D is preferable. BESE members should qualify only as follows. Certified or retired teachers who have taught in public schools (1/2 ) and parents, grandparents, legal guardians, siblings or students in K-12 public schools. (1/2) If they pull the kids out of public schools they have to resign, but if the last one graduates, they can finish their term. Coroners are doctors. Why don't the people who make the policies for the public schools have to have a stake in those schools? We also need to take the governor's power to appoint BESE members and the state Superintendent needs to be approved by a 2/3 majority of the House and Senate or selected and voted on by the local school boards.

12) Comment by twinkie1cat - 01/02/2013

After those 6 teachers and staff gave their lives for the children of Sandy Hook, and the quick thinking of the remainng educators saved the lives of several hundred more kids, you would think the teacher haters could declare a moratorium on teacher abuse. Any of us real teachers would have done exactly the same thing to save our children! Instead they focus on gun control and school security and go right ahead with their policy of abuse and disrespect.

13) Comment by twinkie1cat - 01/02/2013

Where did a Teach for America get the family jewels of John White. If the man has any ethics he should be having nightmares. I guess the Bible is right when it says, "The love of money is the root of all evil". Even though he is not a real teacher, that big paycheck seems to make him think he is the chosen one.

14) Comment by twinkie1cat - 01/02/2013

Sorry you are leaving, Susan. You are obviously one of the good ones. Now that your paycheck will no longer be dependent on your obedience to John White, please work hard to change the system. It is only those who have tenure and retirees who will be able to fix things. I am afraid the young ones will be too afraid of losing their job. Read "Dianne Ravitch's Blog", by the way. The same mess is going on all over the country. Also, read the Facebook page of Lee Barrios. She is one of those feisty local folks who speaks the truth.

15) Comment by twinkie1cat - 01/02/2013

Oh, but our dear spin doctor of a Superintendent says we are NOT losing teachers. No, we are losing only the good ones, the ones who know what they are doing and just want to be left alone to teach. Pretty soon we won't have any teachers over 40 and very few with Education degrees and more than 5 years of experience. In other words, no career teachers. But that is ok with the Anti-christ governor and his false prophet. He said back when when Pastorek was superintendent that experience and advanced degrees don't matter with teachers. Strange how, in every other professional field but ours that experience is highly valued, but yet there would be NO other profession if it were not for us. Even Jesus Christ learned his trade with an experienced carpenter for a teacher. And some teacher probably taught him to read and write.

16) Comment by On_The_Fence - 01/02/2013

Black or White, in Black and White, most of the articles published each day are about the minority population. Poverty and Paradox. (The people I work 45 hrs. a week to help feed.) Juvenile Crime. ( The children of the people I work 45 hrs. a week to help feed.) CATS. (You get the idea.) "why does the media and politicians pay so much attention to them?" Because no one wants to read about families, with a Mother and a Father who work to support their own children. Maybe working families and parents who raise their own offspring should form a Union. Oh, wait, they did. It's called Marriage.

17) Comment by phil - 01/02/2013

Given there are only a certain number of teachers to go around, who will be left to teach regardless of whether it is in a private school or in a public school? The more school systems we come up with, it seems like the number of good teachers to teach in those systems will be spread out too thin. Maybe we better listen to the teachers. I think we actually need them to stay. Right now I appreciate any teacher who has had the courage to stay in the public school system for 25 years. Best of luck to you, Ms. Summers. That is my 2 cents.

18) Comment by tradewinns - 01/02/2013

just curious, but if 12% of la. teachers are union members, why does the media and politicians pay so much attention to them? they seem to in the forefront (especially in the press) anytime education is discussed. where are the nonunion teachers?

19) Comment by Fyreduo - 01/02/2013

@ Being_Stupid - Less than 12% of Louisiana's teachers belong to a union. Why don't you stop drinking the Jindal/White kool-aide?

20) Comment by prbeav - 01/02/2013

Jindal is in deed bad for the people. We the People needs to require the next Louisiana administration to heed the seven goals in the preamble to the US Constitution.

21) Comment by 1ryben - 01/02/2013

Commenters here will probably fall into two camps, teacher bashers and fellow teachers. As a fellow teacher I can relate to Ms. Summers. I am sorry that you feel as you do a d that your only recourse is retirement. Retirements will certainly increase because of these awful policies. If only our voices would be heard. Then, the public would hear a profession that is fatigued, vilified, defeated. Honestly, I'm jealous of Ms. Summers. I don't have enough time invested to retire, but I'm too invested to quit. Too old to take the risks associated with a career change. That, and I love my kids. When I close the door, I love teaching. I am a teacher, it's not something I just do.

22) Comment by lovemykids - 01/02/2013

Susan, thank you for all you have done for the children of Louisiana. In your retirement, instead of remembering the fiasco of the Jindal/White years, I hope you remember the faces of the young that you have nurtured/educated through the years.

23) Comment by Scrooge - 01/02/2013

If you think education is bad now, just wait.

24) Comment by starley - 01/02/2013

From one National Board Certified Teacher to another...I understand and am so sorry you feel you must leave your beloved profession. I am sorry for the children who will not have you for their teacher. I have too many years to go, so....I will be hanging in there. I am sorry we are help accountable for things we can not control (student's home lives, selected curriculum and pacing, mandated over-testing, etc...). I am sorry, we are being judged based on a short observation by administrators (who admit they have only received a few unclear trainings on how to do the assessment) in which students must lead and self-direct themselves even if they are 4/5 years old. And the administrator must hear these babies self-assess themselves and manage their classmates time (or we don't get to be rated effective.) I am sorry Pre-K teachers are held to the same expectations as senior AP teachers. I am just so sorry that students education is suffering because great teachers are having to train their kids to do 'tricks' while the administrator is being observed. Instead of teaching reading, the teacher is teaching the students to jump through the hoops on the rubric. I am just so sorry....

25) Comment by potkcalb - 01/02/2013

Thank you for your dedicated service Ms Summers. Given the educational turmoil in the state and the governor's support for pseudoscience your choice not to continue in your profession is understandable.

26) Comment by spqr - 01/02/2013

Chucky, grow up. This lady just worked 25 years doing something you could not handle for 25 minutes and I am certain she is better educated than you. Beingstupid continues to be. Tax dollars do not go to union bosses. Put the beer down and pull up your pants. Susan, thanks for your service. You will be joined by an army of disrespected educators sick of this Louisiana Nazi regime. Chancellor Jindal and his SS officer John-boy White are as cruel as they are disconnected.

27) Comment by smuchmore - 01/02/2013

Being Stupid: What??????? Chucky: Thank you for making my point!

28) Comment by Being_Stupid - 01/02/2013

The purpose of public education tax dollars is to fund quality education to the public, not to fund union workers and union bosses.

29) Comment by Traveler - 01/02/2013

Susan, thank you for your many years of dedicated service to students! Thank you for all the unpaid hours you put in, over and above your salary (which was never commensurate with your credential and experience). God speed in the next chapter of your life. Driving excellent teachers like you out of the profession is part of the scheme to dismantle public education for the political and financial profiteers----and the plan worked. It will be a long time before an indifferent populace realize what has been done to our education system and our children.

30) Comment by Bighug - 01/02/2013

Give White a break! He's just a mouth for King Jindal. Ever heard him say anything contrary to the King?

31) Comment by Chucky - 31/01/2013

well pat yourself on the back and now get out of the room and let others take over.