by James A. Bacon
Virginia, like other states, is facing a teacher shortage. The debate over how to reverse the thinning of the ranks has been mind-bogglingly superficial. As a consequence, there is little prospect of solving it.
The root of the problem is that the Virginia Education Association (VEA) and its ideological allies in the mainstream media define the problem as insufficient pay — a problem that can be addressed only by boosting teacher salaries. VEA rarely if ever makes an issue of poor working conditions.
Thus, we read in the Virginia Mercury that Virginia teacher pay “gets a boost in budget, but it’s still projected to fall short of national average.” The two-year budget signed last week includes $540 million for 3% salary increases each year. Predictably, the VEA says it’s not enough to keep Virginia salaries competitive.
The article delves into a discussion of methodological differences between the VEA and the Youngkin administration on how to calculate average teacher pay so it can be comparable across the 50 states.
Here’s what the arcane budget debate ignores: the teacher shortage in Virginia isn’t caused by teachers picking up and relocating to states with higher pay. It’s caused by teachers dropping out of the profession because they think their jobs suck.
Consider this article from the Fredericksburg Advance (by way of The Republican Standard):
Gloria Joan Jackson, a behavioral interventionist with Spotsylvania County Public Schools, has been charged with one count of misdemeanor assault and battery for striking a 6-year-old male student with a shoe. The child was uninjured.
Maybe Jackson behaved in a manner that warrants punishment, maybe she didn’t. There’s not enough information to make a judgment. But I’m inclined to be sympathetic.
The Fredericksburg Advance had few details about the incident that triggered the charges but it did describe a different incident involving Jackson that occurred in 2017.
A student accused Jackson, whom he described as someone who helps him when he gets upset, of physically assaulting him. He told police that Jackson told him, “Get over here or I’m going to get you,” then pushed desks into him and grabbed him by the neck. The student, whose age was not identified, had no marks and did not want to be photographed.
Jackson had a different story, according to the Fredericksburg Advance. She said the student was running around the room and pulling papers off the wall. She got the students out of the classroom and tried to calm him down. The student began hitting and punching her in the chest. She admitted to grabbing him by his shirt to stop him. An assistant principal stepped in and pulled the student away.
The student was suspended for three days for hitting/punching Jackson. The case was closed after investigators found no evidence to support any criminal charges against her.
One reaction might be to say maybe Jackson got off the first time, but she was back in trouble seven years later; there seems to be a pattern of mistreating students.
Yeah, that’s one way of looking at it. Here’s another: there’s a pattern of out-of-control students disrupting classrooms and acting violently. Given the fact that she deals with problem students, it’s a miracle that Jackson has been the subject of investigations only twice.
I have no idea what the 73-year-old Jackson thinks about all this, but here’s one plausible reaction: classrooms are out of control. The elementary school student in the 2017 incident wasn’t punished for running around the room and pulling papers off the wall. He was given a three-day suspension only after assaulting her. Not only did Jackson have to cope with disruptive behavior in the classroom, she had to endure a formal investigation in 2017 for her actions. Now she’s going through a second investigation. Who would blame her for calling it quits?
Let it be said that throwing a shoe at a student does not sound like an appropriate way to deal with a disruptive pupil. But then, we have no idea what the extenuating circumstances are.
More to the point, teachers are motivated to enter the profession because they want to teach students who are willing to learn, not to become enforcers of classroom discipline, a role that can land them in trouble if, among dozens of challenging encounters, they do the wrong thing once.
Of course, the VEA has little interest in highlighting discipline problems — unless it’s to argue for hiring more school counselors. The VEA shares authorship of the lax, touchy-feely Social-Emotional Learning approach to discipline that has contributed to the breakdown of order. To the VEA, more money is the solution to every issue.
Paying teachers more won’t hurt recruitment and retention — everyone likes more money. But it is folly to think that replenishing the ranks of Virginia’s teacher corps is achievable until working conditions improve.
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