Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Teachers Can Take Only So Much

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by

Dick Hall-Sizemore
in ,

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

I learned recently from a friend that his wife, after more than 15 years of teaching, will not be going back to the classroom next year. She teaches in one of the school divisions in the Richmond area. The reasons for her leaving are myriad. However, they did not include students and behavior problems, as Jim Bacon often cites. Rather they include parents and administrators. One of the last straws was the objection by a parent or two to a book she had assigned her eleventh-grade advanced English class to read. I won’t identify the book, but it is one of those that has made the American Library Association list of banned books over the years. Having to deal with those parents in finding a book to which they did not object was frustrating and time-consuming. To add to her frustration, there is the prospect of more standardized testing, in addition to the SOLs, next year. Finally, due to staffing shortages, particularly substitute teachers, she has had to take on more duties this year.

She is not the only one. Of all the teachers in her department, all but one have indicated they will not be returning next year.

If driving out the teachers currently in the schools was the intent of the vocal parents demanding to have more say in how schools are run and what teachers teach, they, along with administrators relying on standardized tests, are succeeding. One wonders where they are going to find the replacements for those who flee.

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31 responses to “Teachers Can Take Only So Much”

  1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    Mr. Dick you tell your school teacher friend that she is going to land on her feet. 15 years in classroom means you are vigilant, resourceful, and a self starter. I knew so many teachers who were practically institutionalized. Only job they had ever had since college. They needed those four walls of the classroom. They never understood the prison they had made for themselves.

  2. VaNavVet Avatar
    VaNavVet

    Let those parents try just one day in the classroom and see how they feel. I don’t imagine that the “teacher snitch line” is helping much either. Administrators have never had the teachers backs when it comes to parents being unreasonable as the front office is terrified of the parents complaining to central administration.

    1. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      Mr Whitehead was a teacher for 27 years. He voted down your comment. But don’t let reality creep into your narrative. Keep on screeching!

      1. VaNavVet Avatar
        VaNavVet

        I was a public high school teacher for 20 years and saw the reality every day. I do value all opinions that come with some actual experience. Mr. Whitehead and I taught in different areas of the Commonwealth and expect that our experiences were not always the same.

        1. Matt Adams Avatar
          Matt Adams

          “I do value all opinions that come with some actual experience. Mr. Whitehead and I taught in different areas of the Commonwealth and expect that our experiences were not always the same.”

          No, no you don’t. You only value the opinions of those whom agree with you. That’s evidently clear based upon the comments you make here.

          1. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            Clearly, I do value some opinions more than others as I would expect is the case with most people. That is not to say that I don’t value free speech and that I don’t acknowledge that others will have differing opinions. I will engage with good nature jesting on occasion, but really do try to keep it civil. I find that I do learn a lot from constructive dialogue and it does help to better understand the positions of others.

          2. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            Others being able to state their opinions has exactly zero to do with “free speech” and the 1st Amendment. The only arena where that matters involves the Government.

            “I will engage with good nature jesting on occasion, but really do try to keep it civil. I find that I do learn a lot from constructive dialogue and it does help to better understand the positions of others.”

            Again, given the litany of your comments on here that’s a glass statement.

          3. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            I do seem to recall reading about some public meetings where folks were not allowed to express their opinions. It appears to be a glass half full or half empty type of thing.

          4. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            Free speech and associated terms only apply to the Government. Typical a “public hearing” is a function of Government.

        2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
          James Wyatt Whitehead

          20 years in the black board jungle. I salute you! Most school teachers last less than five years.

          1. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            Thank you. We do not always agree but I respect your civility herein. I am glad to share experiences with you and will give you up and down votes as the circumstances in MHO indicate. I expect you to do likewise and would have it no other way.

          2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
            James Wyatt Whitehead

            We actually agree on a great deal. We have different paths to achieving the same goals. These two often had a battle on how to achieve equality but they were in agreement on the necessity for equality. History proves that both were partially correct and have some feathers in their cap to prove it.
            https://casaruraldavina.com/img/booker-t-washington-and-web-dubois-differences-6.jpg

        3. James C. Sherlock Avatar
          James C. Sherlock

          Was Glenn Youngkin the Governor at any point during your tenure?

          1. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            No but not sure that it would have made any difference.

      2. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        Ouch, so if only taught for 20 years – he’s a “screecher” ? OW!

        And VaNavVet tells the truth about administrator having your back. NOT!

  3. James A. Bacon Avatar
    James A. Bacon

    The problem is inherent in public schools in a highly polarized political environment. Everything is political now. If teachers veer to the left, they piss off the right. If they veer to the right, they piss off the left. Because removing their kids from public schools (or moving to a different district) is not an option for most parents, they have no choice but to stay and fight. The ideal solution is one in which parents had the latitude to pick schools that met their preferences for academic challenge and the values taught. Many teachers are caught in the middle.

    Public education can work in communities where most everyone shares the same values. It is problematic in communities where parents have diverse values and intolerant attitudes toward people who think differently.

    1. VaNavVet Avatar
      VaNavVet

      Yes and many in the political class are encouraging those intolerant attitudes in lieu of seeking common ground between diverse values.

      1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
        James C. Sherlock

        Unfortunately, when the dividing line is a river, one can drown in the middle.

      2. DJRippert Avatar
        DJRippert

        The political class as amplified by social media and its wretched algorithms.

  4. Kathleen Smith Avatar
    Kathleen Smith

    If teachers leave and can’t be replaced, we have a problem Houston.

    1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
      James C. Sherlock

      If the school divisions would only tell the truth about their vacancies, we would have a point from which the Governor and General Assembly could act with targeted teacher pay increases. Yet as I pointed out in previous columns, many don’t. They are cutting their own throats.

      Even when and if we get true numbers, conservatives and the left will disagree utterly as to the causes of the shortfalls.

      This isn’t a problem for the public schools, it is an existential crisis.

      I predict widespread virtual public K-12 education within a decade or less driven entirely by teacher shortages.

  5. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Teachers, administrators and school boards have been relentlessly attacked over in-person/remote, masking, academic performance, teaching history, CRT, DEI and now ‘grooming” by conservatives and on these pages more than a few times in the last year. It’s a frequent topic on BR with both regular and guest blog authors.

    Public school teaching was never an easy occupation. Many start and only a few stay and now they are going. The parents were and are pains in the A$$ long before we got to the partisan stuff… now it’s almost untenable for many. Easy to leave… lots of employers looking for college-educated help these days.

    1. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      “Easy to leave… lots of employers looking for college-educated help these days.”

      And lots of teachers in NoVa looking. I’m working for a small technology company in Ashburn, Va. We have software that monitors who is visiting our website (as a marketing tool). I look at all the visits. Lots of visits from Fairfax and Loudoun County public schools. The monitoring software also tells what pages on the website are being viewed. The school employees? Careers.

  6. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    My entire life there have been disputes over books some parent found objectionable, left or right. It happened long before that. I suspect this is just one more unfortunately phenomena made far, far worse by the social media echo chamber. But no question the parents can be hard to deal with.

    For 39 years I watched in amazement as my wife put up with stuff that would have driven me to extreme responses. She loved the kids. Part of the problem with staffing shortages is people like my wife were barred from coming in as volunteers during the pandemic, something she had been doing until March 2020. Perhaps that will now relax.

    1. VaNavVet Avatar
      VaNavVet

      Appears that Team Youngkin is on board with the efforts to drive the teachers out of the profession. When will they wake up and see the mess that they are helping to create?

      1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
        James C. Sherlock

        (Team Youngkin) will “wake up and see the mess that they are helping to create”. Seriously?

        Team Youngkin has been in office 3 months. They are still getting their feet on the ground. Both the exodus from the schools by teachers and the collapsing new teacher pipeline pre-dated this administration.

        But then you know that and wrote this nonsense anyway.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          oh you must think the anti-maskers, anti-CRT, and anti-groomers were around before Youngkin and not energized by his win! 😉

        2. VaNavVet Avatar
          VaNavVet

          I have posted before that it is the impression of many that the Youngkin admin is anti-teacher as evidenced by the efforts on divisive concepts, the “snitch line”, and the apparent targeting of Northern VA districts and counties. I agree that they are still getting their feet on the ground and came in without much experience. Even JAB has commented about their mis-steps. I did not say that they were the “cause” but was implying that they don’t seem to be doing much to address the situation and may be making it worse by continuing to feed the divide between parents and teachers for what appears to be political purposes. You may still feel that this is nonsense and lets hope that it is indeed misplaced.

    2. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      the teachers I know do have volunteers in their classrooms so not sure if rules are different. There
      are also paid paras and said to be worth their weight in gold for classroom management.

      someone said something about cameras to monitor teachers. What those cameras would more likely show is what teachers have to put up with , with some ‘johnnies” whose parents are also hell-on-wheels.

      A teacher can have 18 kids and their parents and 17 are normal and decent and a joy to deal with and one and his/her parents are enough to cause the teacher to want to quit. Throw in some anti-maskers and other political stuff and time to find another career.

  7. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    re: liberals and conservatives will disagree about why teachers are leaving.

    yes, but then reality competes with opinions.

    we’ve had a couple of years of unrelenting attacks on teachers from conservatives on a variety of issues.

    Teachers are not leaving because of liberals attacking them…just saying.

  8. Baconator with extra cheese Avatar
    Baconator with extra cheese

    As part of a reentry to society program, we should take soon to be released (and as most libs say unjustly convicted) prisoners and train them to serve as teachers. They can definitely bring a diverse world view to the schools and can easily implement restorative justice principles.
    I mean we’ve all been told the vast majority have been wrongly set up by a systemically racist judicial system so we at the very least owe them an opportunity to not only have gainful employment but also nice benefit packages. Plus it will become evident to the children that it is ok to normalize former felons.

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