Notes from the Field
Submitted by Frank Murphy on, Dec. 20, 2010
During the last few months I have been meeting with teachers and principals from across the city. In private they are willing to share with me their thoughts and feelings concerning the many changes that have been imposed on our schools by the current school district administration. The Renaissance school initiative, Empowerment Schools, scripted instruction and central office walkthroughs of school sites, have been the primary topics of these conversations.
I am not hearing positive comments regarding any of these topics. This is not particularly surprising given the disempowering and disrespectful manner in which these endeavors have been forced on school communities. What is surprising is how in less than three years, the school district has become a threatening and depressing world in which to work.
In recent posts, I have written about the mid-course corrections that have taken place at the Empowerment Schools and Promise Academies. This most recent shift in direction at these schools was abrupt and carried out without the consultation of school staff. This is but one example of the arbitrary management decisions being made by the district’s central office leadership team. Actions like this one are adversely affecting the morale of district employees. The teachers and principals who shared the information I used in these posts are not interested in quietly complying with unreasonable mandates. They want to be heard.
The purpose of City School Stories.com is to tell the story of urban public education in America from the perspectives of the principals and teachers who daily work and live in city school communities. These are the people who best know what is taking place in any particular school. Yet they are seldom offered the opportunity to describe or explain their work to the general public. In order to accomplish this goal, I invite readers to continue to share your stories concerning your own classrooms and school.
If you teach in an Empowerment School, how have these most recent changes affected you?
Are you receiving any additional supports as you work to implement yet another set of instructional mandates?
How has the instability created by the frequently changing instructional demands of the central administration affected student management, parent involvement, and colleague collaboration in your school?
Share your story. You decide what the public needs to know about how our schools operate. Speak up and speak out. Do so by submitting a post or comment to City School Stories.
Guest posts to this blog are welcomed and will be published under the category titled Notes From The Field. If you are not ready to author a post but want to be heard, send an e-mail to mailto:f@cityschoolstories.com with a description of how the school year is unfolding at your school.
We daily accomplish our mission of educating the youth of our society and we need to let the world know of our successes. Your comments and personal stories will help to tell the general public of our challenges and rewards as urban educators. Most importantly, by creating a forum to collectively tell our own stories, we say that we will not continue to be passive victims of ill-conceived school reform strategies. We instead insist on being recognized and treated as the knowledgeable professional educators that we are.
Send your stories, story ideas, or comments to mailto:f@cityschoolstories.com