Letter: White statement insults teachers

This letter is in reference to State Education Superintendent John White’s comments in the Baton Rouge Advocate, Jan. 29, where he stated, “teachers who are leaving are more than likely ineffective.”

An immature and insulting statement, isn’t it? I’m offended by his comment, but I’ve come to expect it. Many teachers are tired of White constantly degrading us in the public’s eye.

I started teaching in Baton Rouge in 1979 and plan on retiring at the end of this school year. Based on White’s age, I began my career when he would just be finishing potty training (immature statement?). Based on current retirement policies, I am now eligible to complete my career.

I believe I have the right to retire after 34 years of dealing with the good, the bad and the ugly, without someone labeling me as “ineffective.” I truly hope my sports medicine students from past years who are serving as military medics, paramedics, physical therapists and orthopedic surgeons don’t become ineffective with age while they are caring for their patients.

Those who run the public school system in this state can’t tackle the real issue, which is having the students and parents held accountable because they know they have no control over those two entities. So, the next-best thing to do is blame the teachers for everything.

Despite recent articles to the contrary, good teachers could care less about evaluations. In about three or four years, White could enlighten the remaining teachers on the number of teachers who have left or retired, opposed to the number who are entering the profession. Maybe White should research the number of teachers in the state who currently have 25 or more years towards retirement versus those with zero-five years experience.

In 2010 the Legislature removed the act that allowed teachers to retire and rehire. Monetarily speaking, it’s no longer worth staying after 30 years plus three years of DROP (deferred retirement option plan). There is the real issue.

It takes a special, caring and many times a thick-skinned person to deal with the many issues involved with educating public school students today. I truly believe that fewer qualified people will choose the educational field as long as our educational leaders choose to constantly treat us like garbage.

Tim Gonda

teacher/athletic trainer

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by Bouncer - 23/02/2013

And yet again, rgeraldwallace, that sage of the news forum, has left us his fragrant droppings. spqr has actually said it all, and I have nothing further to add.

2) Comment by teacherguy - 22/02/2013

@Mung...I disagree with your statement about ineffective/good teachers....good teachers who can't afford less pay at a private school will stay in the public system, also there are good teachers who have too many years vested in state retirement will stay...the purpose of this reform is to show the ineffective teachers the door. The problem is as the good teachers "time out" (retire), there will be more and more ineffective teachers entering the system under these new rules...but comparative data will be hard to be found because the "ineffective" ones will ALWAYS be the bottom 10% (a hard constant)...it makes sense, though, that the new rules of uncertified, less experienced teachers will be diminish the quality of the other 90% over this time period. However, I do agree with your statements about the public system being destroyed...

3) Comment by spqr - 22/02/2013

Rgerald...you do not know what you are talking about. At all! Our universities are NOT turning out enough graduates in a year education to fill a handful of classrooms. Do your homework. Very few are entering the profession and those that do opt not to teach. This is well documented, but over your head...great letter, Tim Gonda.

4) Comment by Mung - 22/02/2013

The reality is that inneffective teachers are likely to stay. Where else can they get decent pay and great benefits/retirement for a babysitting job? Good teachers can go to the private schools, for less pay but greater impact and more interested parents and kids. Meanwhile, the public system sinks further into the abyss. Jindal and his cronies will be long gone by the time his actions destroy the public system. They don't really care because they've made their bones with the right. Ultimately the destruction of the public school system affects Louisiana, with residents too uneducated to works the jobs available. Businesses can't locate here if there are no skilled workers. We all suffer when the economy suffers.

5) Comment by Menji - 22/02/2013

An opinion is not a fact, and "An immature and insulting statement, isn’t it?" is an opinion. Tim Gonda might be upset (offended, even) that he's being called a "she". I don't find it offensive. I find it useless and boring that he's offended, hence the "well so _____ what?" quote. It's just whining, basically. I'm offended quite a bit every time I'm dumb enough to shop at Wally World or listen to random conversations, but I don't feel the need write to the paper and whine about it. Shrug. To each their own, I guess. Andy Rooney's not around anymore, so I guess someone has to be crotchety.

6) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 22/02/2013

There are some who apparently will defend any lies. Follow the money, and see why it benefits some in this state, and elsewhere, to get rid of experienced, thinking teachers who will not roll over and play dead when attacked.

7) Comment by Menji - 22/02/2013

Original quote, because the censor goon stomped on it already: "It’s now very common to hear people saying ‘I’m rather offended by that’ as if that gives them certain rights – it’s simply a whine, it’s no more than a whine. ‘I find that offensive’. It has no meaning, it has no purpose, it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. ‘I am offended by that’ – well so what?” - Stephen Fry

8) Comment by civitasiveritas - 22/02/2013

@Menji: we should all be offended by a State Superintendent who lies on a regular basis to the people of Louisiana. We should also take actions to relieve him of his responsibilities for which he is clearly not qualified for. The author of the letter above does not claim any rights, she is merely stating a fact. Why is that offensive to you?

9) Comment by Menji - 22/02/2013

****Comment Removed for Violation of Terms of Use****

10) Comment by civitasiveritas - 22/02/2013

Colleges in Louisiana are not producing nearly enough new teachers, and especially in certain fields such as math, science, and world languages. Of course teachers leave for all sorts of reasons, but John White's report, and his comments, suggest that the report was directly in response to the articles. Yet it wasn't. Ask yourself why White's report does NOT actually analyze teacher retirements, but instead focuses on an issue never raised in the articles on teacher retirements. It also does not address the issues raised by local superintendents that SOULD be of concern to all citizens in Louisiana not totally enamored with the ALEC agenda. @Chucky, even the report says it was in response to the articles about TEACHER RETIREMENTS. Of course he was suggesting that the teachers retiring were less qualified... otherwise the entire report and his comments are a giant non sequitur. In other words, either all of the money and time spent on this report was an exercise in public deceit, or John White doesn't even understand that his report was not a response to the issues raised, or he is purposely misleading the public. Give him the benefit of doubt, and he should have immediately issued a press release clarifying his report, and saying that there is NO EVIDENCE THAT TEACHERS WHO ARE RETIRING ARE LESS EFFECTIVE. He owes the people of Louisiana the truth, for a change, and an apology.

11) Comment by crazycajun - 22/02/2013

Civit, demonizing the employees in any program he wants to privatize is L'il booby's way of gaining public support for his privatizing targets. Every single program he has attacked bares his signature M. O.. I warned the people in the Charity System. They didn't listen. By the end of this year over 8,000 will be laid off. A small portion will be hired back by the privates taking over the operation at a much lower salary I warned the teachers about what was coming their way in booby's second term. They didn't listen and voted for him in droves, only to be stabbed in the back once he received their votes. Now I'm warning the voters. L'il booby does nothing unless it benefits the rich. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Don't come back crying when it happens to you.

12) Comment by seebee - 22/02/2013

From the DOE's own report: 2009-10: 5622 left the workforce; 3076 new licenses 2010-11: 6072 left the workforce; 3136 new licenses 2011-12: 6183 left the workforce: info not available for new In fact, the college education majors are NOT keeping up with attrition, not even barely by half. The statistics for 2011-2013 will be even more interesting if we get to see them.

13) Comment by Chucky - 22/02/2013

i do not think White was referring to the teachers retiring and who have served their time.

14) Comment by [e-mail] - 22/02/2013

Teachers leave for all sorts of reasons and that's what they should do if they don't want to teach, no matter the reason. Colleges spew out education majors fast enough to keep up with attrition.

15) Comment by Traveler - 22/02/2013

To Civitasiveritas: that is an excellent analysis----thank you!

16) Comment by civitasiveritas - 22/02/2013

This is at least the fourth letter to the editor concerning the bait and switch technique that Superintendent JohnWhite has played to distract the public (and one suspects the legislature) from the very real problem of this rapidly increasing rate of loss of our talented veteran teachers. White sought to respond by talking about there being "enough" teachers to fill the void, but the report put out by his own department and highlighted on their website would not earn a passing grade in a college research class. Why? It had NOTHING to do with the reasons it was authored, unless, of course, it was only intended as a public relations ploy. If the reports and concerns expressed by every superintendent quoted, along with the actual number of teachers retiring (and how it compared to previous years) was the issue, why would White use a report THAT DIDN'T EVEN FOCUS ON TEACHER RETIREMENTS to answer the concerns? That's right, the report specifically did NOT look at retirees. Teachers are retiring at increasingly high rates and are saying it is because of the misguided ALEC-inspired reforms put forward by White -- ergo, put out a report that 1) says we have enough teachers, and 2) then goes on to suggest that those leaving are more "ineffective" than those staying. Both claims are not at all responsive to the very real concerns that superintendents (and teachers, and parents) have! First, no one was claiming we are "running out of teachers. We are well aware that the ALEC and profit-inspired response to that is we will pay more money to BESE member Kira Orange Jones and her Teach For America "5 week wonders." (That's right, they have less than 5 weeks of training as teachers, and stay for two years or less, on average. John White and a large portion of his top staff are 5 week wonders.) So, no one is saying we don't have enough teachers... the concern is that veteran teachers are leaving. Louisiana's teachers, with families, local roots, and lots of years left to contribute to Louisiana, not to padding a resume and leaving Louisiana. Now, John White and his four page report, complete with misleading charts and even more misleading conclusions, suggests that these veteran teachers are less effective, and he suggests that that is perhaps why they are leaving. One big problem here, and one The Advocate failed to note. The data about who was staying and who was leaving included ALL TEACHERS, not just those retiring. Yet, the State Superintendent, with malice and forethought it seems, suggested that this report was a direct response to the earlier concerns about a spike in retirements (one that continues to spike ever upward, but it WILL go down, obviously, when all of the Louisiana teachers are replaced with transient teachers coming for a couple of years and NO ONE is eligible for retirement) and that the teachers retiring are less effective. NOWHERE in the report is there data that supports this conclusion. NOWHERE. In fact, most of those leaving teaching that were included in the report would be first and second year teachers, many of them TFA, and anyone who has taught will tell you that the first few years are seldom, if ever, our most effective years. So, does John White owe the teachers of Louisiana an apology for misinterpreting (maybe) and misrepresenting (totally) the report he cited? I'll let you be the judge of that. I wouldn't hold my breath though as we haven't heard any apologies for many other lies from our purchased state Superintendent of Education. White lies.

17) Comment by Traveler - 22/02/2013

Tim, thank you for your years of service, and Godspeed in the next chapter of your life! Although I am still seeking statistics on the number of young men and women entering education degree programs in our state's universities, empirical evidence leads me to believe that the numbers are significantly reduced from 5-10 years ago. The current administration, BESE, and the legislature have made teaching an unappealing option for our bright high-school graduates. Ten years from now, what excuses will those "deformers" offer us for the debacle in education that they have created?!

18) Comment by teacherguy - 21/02/2013

White and BESE prefer to war with experienced teachers rather than harness their expertise. They are the leaders of an "army" that for the most part just isn't following them...although they may think themselves important and have the authority to bulldoze their reform ideas...the passivity of teachers to embrace these "leaders" will ultimately render them ineffective. They've gone to war against 100% of their own army (teachers). The way they have set up education reform...the future of LA education will look like this: non-certified, inexperienced teachers...voucher/charters where parents hold schools accountable by removing their children after years of subjective review (public schools face annual objective accountability review), and a standardized test based curriculum (music, electives,arts, etc. sifted out). I'm not sure how all of this equates to "better"...but they seem to have it all figured out.

19) Comment by prbeav - 21/02/2013

Mr. Gonda, best wishes for a turnaround and I hope Maya Aneglou touched Governor Jindal.