Memphis teacher tells of teachers being called "surplus" and "lemon"....replaced with TFA.

[madfloridian]

This is a moving letter from one of those teachers who apparently spoke up against the new methods of "reform."

Teach for America is making huge moves now, making themselves sound like the saviors of children. Pitting themselves against experienced teachers in public schools.

I find it hard to forgive that this is happening with the full blessing of this administration.

When the country's political leaders allow this lack of respect toward classroom teachers...then we can not expect parents and students to show respect. It is harming public education in this country and has ramped up the last 3 years.

The letter from the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

Letter: MCS mistakes prove costly

I am one of the many Memphis City Schools teachers whose official status is "surplus teacher." Supt. Kriner Cash derisively refers to us as "lemons." For him, it may be a joke. For cash-strapped taxpayers it is no laughing matter. By my conservative estimate, his misuse of resources will cost you in excess of $6 million.

Last year I taught advanced placement U.S. history, African-American history, economics, U.S. government and two regular sections of United States history. My other duties included coaching the debate team and serving as head coach for our varsity baseball program. It was a grueling schedule that I accepted as a professional challenge. I did not complain. I was proud to be a team player. At the end of the year when my principal told me that my A.P. class would be discontinued and that as a result of other staffing cuts he needed my slot to hire a football coach, I was stunned. I was placed on the surplus list and have yet to be hired at another school despite glowing recommendations, a master's degree in my subject area and a résumé packed with career experience in virtually every area related to the social sciences. My evaluations contain no deficiencies.

Being a vocal critic of reforms that too often label children, teachers and schools as failures as a result of high-stakes testing, I can understand how I may have rubbed some the wrong way. However, when I meet with other teachers in surplus status, I find they too are highly qualified and were solid contributors in their last assignment. So, what gives?

And then the writer wonders about data that proves TFA teachers are better.

It is curious to me why so many veteran teachers have been relegated to the sidelines in exchange for less experienced and, in most cases, less qualified Teach For America personnel. According to Deputy Supt. Irving Hamer and John Barker of MCS, it is data that drives all MCS educational decisions. Where is the data that says inexperienced Teach for America personnel are worth the millions of dollars spent to lock proven veterans out of the classroom?

That "surplus" teacher may not be aware that Memphis is probably just going with the flow under the new state Education Commissioner.

New TN education commissioner is a VP of Teach for America


Kevin Huffman

The Republican governor's selection is Kevin Huffman, vice president of public affairs at Teach for America, a program that has tried to improve classroom teaching by placing recent college graduates in low-income schools and is often criticized by teacher unions.

Huffman, 40, will manage the state's $500 million in federal Race to the Top education grants and its ongoing relationship with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has pledged $90 million to the troubled Memphis school system.

..."The 20-year-old Teach for America has been criticized by the National Education Association and other teachers' unions for putting inexperienced 20-somethings with just five weeks of training in classrooms and for letting top graduates experiment in public education for a couple of years before moving on to something else."

And add Michelle Rhee, his ex-wife to the mix in TN.

And his ex-wife, Michelle Rhee, is taking time out from wreaking havoc on Florida schools and heading to Memphis. In Florida she recommended that 8% of the state's teachers be fired.

President Obama need to fire Arne Duncan. He needs to distance himself from these reformers and bring back a respect for public education.

[izquierdista]

1. I think we should have more ______ for America programs

I'm waiting for "Surgery for America" to open up. I took anatomy 30 years ago, and my uncle was a surgeon, so I figure with 5 weeks training, I can be resecting bowels and decompressing skull fractures in no time. And hospitals could save a bundle paying me half of what one of those union (American College of Surgeons) doctors makes.

[truth2power]

2. madflo says, "I find it hard to forgive that this is happening

with the full blessing of this administration."

I don't find it HARD to forgive. I WON'T forgive.

End of story.

[Blue_Tires]

3. Funny how many fans Rhee had here and elsewhere not long ago

She was like Sarah Palin junior for awhile...

[CoffeeCat]

4. This is all about privatizing education--

Corporations see hundreds of millions of dollars to be made, don't ya know?

The first phase is denigrating the teachers and blaming them for every woe that's
ever happened in our educational system.

Now, they're purging the system of the professional, very qualified teachers who
know what they're doing--and can smell this bullshit from a mile away. They must
get rid of the people who won't go quietly into that good night--and accept the
corporate takeover of our nation's schools.

So either fire them or drive them out. This will soften up the system, making it
more ripe for a takeover with fewer professional voices who can complain and tell
us what's really happening.

All of this is disgusting. It's all about corporate profits. And President Obama
just ushers it all in. The corporations will always win out over the bests interests
of the public. That's the day and age in which we live.

I never thought Obama would play this big a role in these evil deeds. But then again,
I never thought I'd see our educational system slowly being privatized by corporate
greedmongers who could care less about children--and only want to make themselves rich.

[madfloridian]

12. You are so right.

First step is to make teachers look bad. That's not hard if you have NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS on your side.

[chervilant]

15. Let's not forget Oprah,

and her double episode homage to "Waiting for Superman"! What a load of crap!

[TheMadMonk]

13. Rich is not the goal. Power is the goal. Ultimately the power of...

...a feudal overlord.

[sulphurdunn]

5. How is it that being a VP

for the private foundation and being the commissioner of public school system in which that foundation has financial interests isn't a conflict of interest? The irony is that TFA and other private foundations are dismantling public education tax free. http://www.teachforamerica.org/assets/documents/IRS_501c3_letter.pdf. What's most insidious is these grifters have an air of respectability. They make the Mob look like cub scouts.

[Jakes Progress]

6. Had lunch with four members of my team who worked for Obama 2008

Two are teachers. Two are just good Democrats (real Democrats)

The five of us put in hundreds of hours in 2008. Not one of us could say that we will vote for Obama again.

Sure the fandom crowd can start calling these long time Democrats names and letting their heads explode, but what they should be doing is demanding that Obama stop this. But they go along with ronald reagan's education plan because it has Obama's name on it. I just want to ask them if there is any principle they hold sacred or if winning is all to them. We are all sick about this. Sick at the betrayal. Sick that our party is doing this. Sick that there is no alternative to death for education.

All but one member of this group has already been working for local and state Democrats. If Obama doesn't care or is too dense to know what is happening, he doesn't deserve a Democrat's vote.

[theaocp]

8. Are you kidding me?

These defenders aren't about winning. They're too busy being scared of Republicans. I don't want Republicans, but they're terrified of them. Fear is a useful weapon for the powerful. Fucking pathetic.

[Bake]

11. There's no principle. It's all about winning, for them.

And defending Obama at all costs. He can do no wrong.

Bake

[chervilant]

16. + a gazillion!

I will NOT cast my vote for Mr. Obama.

[CoffeeCat]

17. I remember during our caucuses...

I was a precinct captain for Obama. I gave a speech to our Iowa caucus, encouraging people
to caucus for Obama. I had a group of teachers tell me they were concerned about NCLB and
what was happening in their schools.

I pulled out Obama's "Blueprint for America" and showed them the education excerpts. Obama
criticized NCLB as an unfunded mandate--that put too much pressure on teachers and didn't
do enough to help teachers. I told these teachers that Obama was on their side. And these
teachers weren't concerned about themselves. They were at the caucuses, searching for a
candidate who would truly help their students.

I talked every one of them into standing for Obama and they did.

I kind of feel like an idiot now.

And I'm so sick and tired of the nuance involved with the Obama sycophants, "He never
said he was anti war!" or "He never said he was a liberal!"

Obama and everyone else knows that he campaigned on "CHANGE" for more than a year. This
nation was so traumatized by Bush, and when we heard "CHANGE" and all of those hopeful
speeches--and how "Change happens from the ground up"--clearly--the suggestion was that
things would be different and now--the people's interests would be represented.

The corporations have more influence with DC--than ever. The corruption and the lack of
transparency is horrendous. And I don't care what anyone says about Obama's war stance.
He touted the fact that he was against the Iraq war--repeatedly. That's a big statement--
especially when the PNAC/neocon crowd spearheaded that effort. We were led to believe that
Obama wouldn't continue the PNAC/neocon corrupted war machine.

Now--here we are in Libya--the forth country that listed on the PNAC wish list--directly
from their website.

It makes me want to throw up.

[Jakes Progress]

18. The idiots who run his campaign

are too stupid to know that there are hundreds of thousands of us who feel just as way you do. The fear tactics don't work any more. We have been misled and told to shut up. We have been sold out and told we should have expected to be betrayed. Too late they will learn that most of us are way smarter than they give us credit for and we see through their lies and games. Screw them. No. Actually. They have screwed themselves.

[saras]

7. "Less qualified" implies that TFA teachers have SOME qualifications. Many don't.

[Supersedeas]

20. an important distinction, that.

[WinkyDink]

9. Obama is not about to fire anyone with whose actions and statements HE AGREES.

Get with the obvious game-plan.

[madfloridian]

14. I think you are right about that.

Unfortunately.

[madfloridian]

10. Make that..."President Obama needs to fire Arne Duncan." Added s to need.

President Obama needs to fire Arne Duncan.

With an added s on need...I proof read but never catch all the mistakes.

[tomg]

19. As a college teacher who has

in the past been asked by my students to write letters of reference for Teach for America, I simply want to say I will no longer write student recommendations for that program. We need teachers, not dilettantes. We need professionals, not union busters. The hypocrisy is that on the one hand, Duncan et al. now want to assess teacher ed. programs based on the student scores of the students of teachers who graduated from those programs. On the other hand, they are willing to put in untrained teachers who did not go through teacher ed programs Arne Duncan has to go.

Thank you, MadFloridian, for your constant consciousness raising about education.