Letter: Teacher blasts new agenda

It’s a shame I can’t write that I’m appalled and surprised by Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White’s comment that teachers leaving the profession “are more likely to be ineffective.” (The Advocate, Jan. 29).

The arrogance revealed in the subtext of that offensive remark is one reason I recently retired. A National Board Certified teacher with 25 years of classroom experience, I dared to be an exception to White’s opinion and scored “highly effective” on the new teacher evaluation. An evaluation designed by Charlotte Danielson, a former economist, whose bio states she “taught at all levels from kindergarten to college.”

It’s interesting that she obtained all those certifications. But in John White’s world, who needs an education degree to teach? (I’m relieved he’s not heading the AMA because my next surgery might have been performed by a landscape architect).

For the past two years, teachers have not received a pay increase, not even a cost-of-living increase. Over the same period of time, insurance premiums have risen, so teachers are earning less. Future “raises” of a maximum of $400 (annually, not per paycheck) are actually stipends, which means the increase is not necessarily fixed.

Recently, the Washington Post wrote about thousands of emails released between the Foundation for Excellence in Education and Chiefs for Change, a foundation working with public officials to write education laws that could benefit some of its corporate funders. According to the article, John White is a member of Chiefs for Change, and Paul Pastorek, former Louisiana superintendent, is an emeritus member and also a board member of the Broad Foundation (White is a Broad Academy alumnus). There are records, according to the article, reimbursing White and Pastorek for travel to Orlando and Washington, D.C., for FEE and Chiefs for Change events.

The article quotes Donald Cohen, chair of the nonprofit In the Public Interest, a resource center on privatization and responsible for contracting in the public sector. He said the Foundation for Excellence in Education is asked by companies “to help state officials pass laws and regulations making it easier to expand charter schools, require students to take online education courses, and do other things that could result in business and profits for them.” (Washington Post, Jan. 30).

We teachers are a savvy group; we can connect the dots. So, I do agree with the superintendent in this regard: I am likely to be ineffective in the classroom. Ineffective, that is, in speaking the truth about what is truly happening in education in Louisiana. Retirement affords me the opportunity to fight for and support teachers who are providing quality education — despite the new agenda, not because of it.

Christa B. Allan, NBCT

retired educator

New Orleans

Comments

1) Comment by bourbon-soda - 20/02/2013

The ineffective are more likely to stay on in any economically egalitarian collective system. This has been true for millennia, long before any of the present bogeymen were born.

2) Comment by Warp7 - 19/02/2013

The arrogance of White is blinding him to the truth. Only someone that lacks true knowledge and experience would make such ignorant statements contrary to the facts. What kind of leader do you expect when you have an ego driven governor who likes to bring in like minded and people who really have little actual experience in the job they were politically appointed to. Logic will tell you that it is the ineffective teacher that is more likely to stay on as they have no where else to go. This is not to say that the vast majority of teachers who are still teaching are not highly effective. The ultimate goal of this administration is to privatize every aspect of government so that their political supporters can turn tax payers money into their personal profit.

3) Comment by bourbon-soda - 19/02/2013

American public education was founded largely on the pattern of the German industrial-model education system of the time. The extent to which it has escaped is controversial, but compulsory funding and attendance (except by exception) and micromanagement from above remain salient features. Public schools are a monument to the idea that it is someone else's responsibility to educate one's children.

4) Comment by Crafty1 - 19/02/2013

Ms. Allan: I appreciate your efforts but when are the teachers of this state going to unite in force? I know it's tough and easy for me to say but until the vast majority of teachers fight back you will continue to be abused. It's a shame that you have to retire to speak up. Just imagine what it would be like to have even 10,000 teachers at the steps of the capitol in protest.........

5) Comment by Scrooge - 19/02/2013

Wouldn't free market (as "in business") proponents of privatizing education public educationcertainly realize that when valued, experienced employees start leaving then the product is at risk of substandard quality control? But wouldn't the failure to impose "free market" principles regarding salaries which would create conditions for recruiting the best and the brightest also cause product failure which is apparently what happened in the past in econocentric terms? So apparently the blather about improving public schools according to free markets is just that, blather. Unfortunately, educating children is not the same as manufacturing widgets, ask any parent. The idea that everyone should be born wealthy would solve the economic woes, wouldn't it?

6) Comment by twinkie1cat - 19/02/2013

Sandy: Why is a teacher entitled to regular raises? Because she is already working for less than people in other fields requiring her amount of education make and also because without her there would be no other educated professions. That's why. And she doesn't get paid properly in this state not because the money is not available but because most teachers are women and Bobby Jindal does not like women. Women speak their mind and most do not vote for Republicans. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >> Traveler: The role of first responder social worker is often a position teachers relish because it means they are changing the lives of children. Add to that nurse, and substitute mama. We also keep food in the desk for kids who com to school hungry. I once bought underwear for a student who had been put out by his mother at 18. He had muscular dystrophy and would probably be dead in 5 years but wanted to finish high school and go to college. Then we got him in a group home. Also bought a bra for a foster child who had "sprouted" over the summer. Her foster mother was elderly and did not drive much. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. We can also take a lot of criticism, of ourselves that is. Special ed teachers get hit real hard because nobody wants to even look at our children, much less teach them. Often the regular education teachers think we are day care workers, not professionals. Shortly after I got my Masters I had to straighten one. But what we cannot take is politicians undermining us and badmouthing us on TV and pretending that anyone can do our job. That will make us quit or, as we did in Georgia, make a governor a one termer. I have a friend who works for Teacher Retirement. He says teachers are retiring in droves, highly credentialed and experienced teachers. In Pointe Coupee I heard they lost 12 teachers from one school this year. Eventually there will be no experienced teachers in Louisiana, only Teach for America and they will leave as soon as their 2 year commitment is over. Teachers will find a state, or maybe a country where they are not abused and the schools will be run only by the religious nuts, for profit businesses, and other Republicans. We will have nothing but unskilled labor unless parents can afford private or having their kids indoctrinated by parochial schools. Jindal has got to be stopped. He is Louisiana's Anti-Christ and John White is his False Prophet.

7) Comment by Sandy - 19/02/2013

It always breaks my heart to hear our public servants talk about not getting a raise, or even a cost of living adjustment for two years. It just goes to show how far removed they are from the real world. In business, if the company doesn't make money, the employees don't get raises. Why is she entitled to so much more than the rest of us?

8) Comment by HerbF - 19/02/2013

I know that teacher evaluations are a whole lot of additional work added to an already heavy workload. But, while the evaluations are mandated by the federal government, the particular form, and amount of corresponding work associated with it, is not. It is my understanding that the evaluation work load is being eased. Hopefully, that is the case. >>>>> As for the pay increased, maybe in 2015, because we're going to have more budget cuts next fiscal year. I believe White is a smart, hard working, and well meaning person. But, that doesn't mean his policies are the best for Louisiana. As the old truism goes, "All intelligent people don't agree."

9) Comment by bourbon-soda - 19/02/2013

That would fit msimo77, who posted "I think she is asking for competitive wage for noble and important career in our society," reminiscent of the rent-seeking nobles of feudalism and introducing the subject of competitiveness of teaching.

10) Comment by Bouncer - 19/02/2013

Troll (pron.: /ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/): someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. DO NOT FEED THE TROLL. It thrives on attention and notice, even of a negative sort.

11) Comment by Traveler - 19/02/2013

To Bourbon_soda: It's too bad that you consider your occupation (whatever it may be) to be "irrelevant." However, here's a thought: go get a credential in education. Then, you will be one of the more "relevant" members of society. Then, you will be in a position to make a real, lasting contribution to the future of our state, nation, and world----one child at a time. In the process, you will discover that competitiveness is a counterproductive attitude among educators. The current administration (and education "deformers") would have you believe otherwise. Veteran, successful teachers understand the vital importance of teamwork----it truly does "take a village."

12) Comment by bourbon-soda - 19/02/2013

Irrelevant.

13) Comment by MBW - 19/02/2013

bourbon-- what do you do for a living?

14) Comment by bourbon-soda - 19/02/2013

A recommendation that someone not known to have even Teach for America credentials, much less a teaching certificate, teach, and that one might be allowed to do so, corroborate that teaching is not highly competitive. It might be like having a landscape architect do surgery. This does not disqualify the landscape architect from commenting on surgery or a particular surgeon, nor the surgeon from commenting on a landscape architect or landscape architecture. Sorry that the ellipsis "help equip" for "help to equip" confused.

15) Comment by Scrooge - 19/02/2013

I'm with Traveler, comments like" War is too important to be left to the military" ( politicians have tended to disprove that statement), "All professions (and semiprofessions) are conspiracies against the laity" so that justifies one making judgements on subjects one considers oneself to be qualified to do so? So the problem with public education is the abundance of pseudo-experts? Doctor, heal thyself.

16) Comment by Traveler - 19/02/2013

To Bourbon_soda: You write: "If going to school does not help equip [sic] to comment on aspects of society regardless of personal experience, then it is not worth much." Have you ever heard the old adage, "A little learning is a dangerous thing"? Your remarks clearly reveal that, when it comes to knowledge of what is really behind the so-called "education reforms" in our state (and what teachers are up against in this battle), you have a LITTLE knowledge. I challenge you to sign up to be a substitute teacher in an inner city BR school for one solid week----go every day. Then get back to me.

17) Comment by bourbon-soda - 19/02/2013

@Traveler - Competitiveness is relative. Teacher colleges for decades have had among the lower admission profiles but higher aggregate GPAs on most campuses. If going to school does not help equip to comment on aspects of society regardless of personal experience, then it is not worth much. War is too important to be left to the military; education, to educators. @Scrooge - that a job engenders dissatisfactior or burnout does not make it competitive; usually the contrary. All professions (and semiprofessions) are conspiracies against the laity - paraphrase of GB Shaw. @both - most personal attacks and insinuations are motivated by a desire to shut someone up. Is that something taught in public schools? @prbeav - The axioms of the theory of evolution implie that lessening of evolutionary pressure leads to decline because most mutations are harmful rather than beneficial, but under evolutionary pressure, are not reproduced, weirdness of Professor Crabtree's specific ruminations notwithstanding.

18) Comment by Scrooge - 18/02/2013

bourbon-soda, "A competitive wage for noncompetitive work? Where do I apply?" EBR schools, but you wouldn't last an hour.

19) Comment by agagent - 18/02/2013

Parochial schools do not charge the full cost of educating their students. The school has fund raisers and sponsoring churches usually contribute to the school. Teacher are often willing to take lower pay because the discipline is better and students can be expelled for not following rules. Maybe the public schools can learn: better discipline, each parent contribute money or school service for their children’s education, and no free lunches. Parents can work off their debt to the taxpayers.

20) Comment by Traveler - 18/02/2013

Bourbon_soda: teachers DO compete. They compete every day. They compete with the devastating effects of poverty on the physical, cognitive, and emotional health of their students. They compete with a broken society that lures young people to be numbed by recreational drugs or hardened by the lyrics of songs filled with words of hatred, violence, and vulgarity. They compete with a legislature that can find plenty of money for pet projects but not enough funds for textbooks, supplies, and materials. They compete with indifferent parents who send their children to school unprepared to learn. They compete with news outlets that have been bought from the deep pockets of profiteers. They compete with YOU----someone who obviously has never taught a day in his life in an inner city public school, but who thinks that because he went to school, he knows all about teaching. They compete for the minds and hearts of a young generation who are being treated by politicians like guinea pigs in a lab experiment. You're not part of the solution, ***** you're part of the problem. And some teachers, like Ms. Allan, are just weary of competing. They're going home. God bless them----they've earned their rest.

21) Comment by agagent - 18/02/2013

Make charter schools accountable, too. A good thing about school choice is that children not condemned to staying in a failing public or private school. If parents are not satisfied with the school their children attend, they can switch. Some of the best schools in the state are private. I just checked the Forbes list of best colleges and universities and private institutions dominate the top 100.

22) Comment by prbeav - 18/02/2013

@bourbon-soda: As usual, I am grateful for your post about Crabtree. I think I found his ten page article at http://bmi205.stanford.edu/_media/crabtree-2.pdf . I am no biologist, so had difficulty with the terminology. However, Crabtree kindly included some plain thinking, for example, arguably, that our required thinking power is about the same as hunter-gatherers of perhaps 10,000 years ago. It seems to me he is leaving common sense out of his analysis. For example, it is much more intellectual to read about evolution than to slowly develop spears with which to effectively hunt and gather. We may be effecting more dense electrochemistry in the same sized brain. I especially disliked his introductory claim that he would be willing to bet on the intellectual fitness of an ancient Greek, followed by the technical presentation with it's pro and con considerations, and then concluding he does not know. I like it that he seems to recognize that we are more aware of autism and other intellectual disorders, but he does not notice the larger population and faster communications (more awareness) we have. I also got the impression he admitted our positive evolution will continue despite the mutations he mentions. I like to know if a qualified reader would feel as I do: Crabtree's study is much about nothing, because it is only an idea.

23) Comment by Traveler - 18/02/2013

ERIC Digests (published by the Education Resources Information Center) has issued a series of reports in recent years, showing that teachers are being stretched beyond reasonable limits today. Increasingly, their role encompasses not only teaching specific content but also functioning as first-responder social workers. Disruptive students, public criticism, increased duties, and salaries lower than people with comparable degrees in other professions, have combined to drag down teachers' morale. One survey reported that teacher morale is so low that over 40 percent of the respondents would not again select teaching as their profession.

24) Comment by twinkie1cat - 18/02/2013

Aagent: I constantly seem to have to give you reality checks. You are getting to be right up there with bourbonsoda: The cost of a voucherized education is less because the charter schools do not have to pay the teachers state wages and because, now get this one, the desk fillers that are hired to pretend to be teachers, Do NOT Have to have a College Education! They can go straight from making beds in a motel to teaching school for about the same salary!!!! They also have NO real accountability standards, pick and choose the students they want and work in Sunday School rooms. Pay for a cheap education. Get a cheap education. Graduate passing an entrance exam but have to pay for a year of remedial courses in college!!!! It's the world of White and Jindal.>>>>>>>>>>Jindal did basically say that anyone can teach. But he never tried to do it. See my comment below for the acid test.

25) Comment by twinkie1cat - 18/02/2013

It is going to take those of us who have retired to stop the Jindal Administration. The active teachers cannot afford to lose their jobs. One is never a "former teacher" as you have demonstrated-----except maybe Holly Boffy, one of Bobby Jindal's clones on BESE who used to exist in the rareified world of Gifted Education.>>>>>>> I would love to get both Jindal and White and put them over a class for a week, in an unrecognizable disguise of course. White I would put over a class of low functioning autistic students, or else a severe/profound multihandicapped group with wheelchairs, diapers and g-tubes. since he has a little tiny dab of classroom experience, with no paraprofessional. He might last the week, but I doubt it. Most likely he will last a day before an irate parent comes for a visit because he sent her child home in a dirty diaper and without her shoes! I would also love to see him get three wheelchairs and a runner off the bus and into the classroom alone as I often did in New Orleans. I would also like to see him conduct an IEP meeting. Jindal, how about an inner city middle school in the RSD complete with 7 students who have IEPS and 20, well, MIDDLE SCHOOLERS. He just has to read an IEP. And we can make sure they all get red Kool-Aid for a snack. (Teachers of kids with ADHD know what happens if you do that.) He will walk out by lunch time. I would almost guarantee this kind of reality check would give those two Republicans a "come to Jesus moment" and spark a moratorium on teacher abuse that would bring everyone who quit back to work as soon as they could sign the paperwork.>>>>> Since they would not dare put their heads in the lion's mouth, teachers, active, retired and student teachers need to get it together, forget about being pro-life and get Jindal impeached and White fired. Surely the legislators can find some reason and the moderate Republicans can go bipartisan with the Democrats, create a majority, set and example for Congress and save our schools.

26) Comment by Vernonbrew22 - 18/02/2013

Congrats Ms. Allan, I truly respect the hard task you guys have faced day-in and day-out. I also agree that Mr. White has no clue about what kind of teachers will remain in the classrooms of our beloved public schools. Pretty soon, the only teachers we'll have will be like the Baker High teacher who was certified to share herbs with her kids and the Marketing and Economic majors who will be trying to teach our struggling kids how to diagram a sentence. Going backwards, I believe.

27) Comment by agagent - 18/02/2013

It has been extremely difficult to fire incompetent public employees. I hope the new system overcomes that problem, and that the most effective teachers receive extra compensation.

28) Comment by agagent - 18/02/2013

I don’t think you will find much sympathy for not getting a raise in two years. Many employees, public and private sector, have gone for longer periods. Employees get pink slips will not sympathize with you either. It is easy to ask teachers why they are retiring, and that would be a useful information. retiring employees would only be problem if we cannot find competent replacements. Some retire to spite their employer, but they only hurt themselves. Public school teachers are unhappy with vouchers; parent whose children receive vouchers are very happy; and most taxpayers know that the cost of the voucher is much less than the cost of educating a student in a public school. Some preliminary results for voucher are encouraging, but not definitive.

29) Comment by bourbon-soda - 18/02/2013

A competitive wage for noncompetitive work? Where do I apply?

30) Comment by msimo77 - 18/02/2013

@tradewinns- First, you sound like you watch a little too much FOX news. It is hard to have a reasonable argument with your statement because you already believe it's fact and I don't have that much time to waste. The reason why I don't have time to waste Mr. @rgeraldwallace is because I am on a small break and I am working towards my BIG RAISE I should be getting soon (and I don't work for the government or a subsidized union). You totally missed the point of this letter. Sounds like you are bitter about your profession. The thing is... these educators are preparing children to be your boss, so it's probably a good idea to have qualified, caring, happy teachers around. I don't think the author of this letter is saying that teachers should be paid 6 figure salaries and roll in a BMW and using 100 dollar bills as kindling. I think she is asking for competitive wage for noble and important career in our society.

31) Comment by bourbon-soda - 18/02/2013

It's also possible that the human race is becoming dumber faster than this Stanford geneticist thinks, at least in Louisiana: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/11/13/dumb-and- dumber-study-says-humans-are-slowly-losing-their-smarts or google "gerald crabtree cognitive ability stanford".

32) Comment by tradewinns - 18/02/2013

the lack of funding and all the accompanying problems are not jindals fault. if jindal has the power to bring down the world's economic standards, we need to have him as president, cause he can improve the world's economics just as easily. education's problems are everyone's fault. the public has allowed those politically correct to run the nation. the "stuff" "it takes a village..." is to blame. raising one's children is the parent's responsibility. we have alowed the individual parents to waive that responsibility to "everyone". everyone is not there every night to assure the child does their homework and prepares for tomorrow's schooling. the parent is. but "we" don't want to have a individual responsible for their own failures, it's everybody's elses fault, not mine! teachers have become babysitters, faux parents, mentors everything BUT teachers. put the problem back where it belongs, on the parents! as parents improve, the education system will improve, we will produce a product (and yes students are products of the education system) that can improve the fiscal economy here and the world. we have 100's of thousand of immigrants here for high paying, productive jobs because we do not produce the amount of educated people our industry needs. whose fault is that?

33) Comment by [e-mail] - 18/02/2013

"For the past two years, teachers have not received a pay increase..", hey, join the rest of America. The only people who have been getting raises is government and their taxpayer subsidized unions. If they don't like where they are they should get out and go do something else and get out of the way.

34) Comment by crazycajun - 18/02/2013

In Vermilion parish this school year alone 127 teachers have resigned or retired early rather than be subjected to L'il booby's ignorance. Yeah I'm sure they were all ineffective.If you people continue to blindly follow booby, this state will resemble Atlanta after Sherman was through with it. booby's world of "because I say it is" is a parallel world with no substance. Just like him an empty suit.

35) Comment by bourbon-soda - 18/02/2013

Is this the same person as at << http://blog.nola.com/faith/2013/01/catching_up_with_christa_allan. html >> and << http://www.abingdonpress.com/forms/authors.aspx? contributorid=422339 >> or google "christa allan new orleans" and "christa allen abingdon press"?

36) Comment by spqr - 18/02/2013

The letter is honest. And John-boy ( always lower case) had better be correct about anyone being able to teach. The number of veterans leaving or planning to leave the teaching corps this year resembles an army.

37) Comment by lovemykids - 18/02/2013

Christa, thank you!

38) Comment by Traveler - 18/02/2013

Christa, I have talked with a number of outstanding veteran teachers who echo your statements. They are simply done. Thank you for your years of service and your courage in speaking out to reveal the motive behind the so-called education "reforms."

39) Comment by Bighug - 18/02/2013

It isn't White's fault. He is only doing King Jindal's bidding in order to keep his job.