Black Hole in the Blueprint
INTRODUCTION
What is the “Blueprint”? This is the name given to the educational
plan for San Diego City Schools. This plan was set into motion
shortly after Alan Bersin became the Superintendent of San Diego
City Schools.
What is the Black Hole in the Blueprint for San Diego City Schools?
The “Black Hole” is a term I have coined to describe the prevalent,
deadly philosophy that dealing harshly with teachers is acceptable
and beneficial.
In the War of Differing Philosophies that rages in the San Diego
City Schools, there have been many wounded teachers, and some
who have become actual casualties. Our schools are riddled with the
destroyed careers of many very competent, professional teachers.
Medical stress leaves have mounted to an unprecedented high.
Hundreds of grievances have been filed, but still the level of
administrative dishonesty is pervasive.
There is nothing wrong with reform, but attempting to do this with
cruel tactics is reprehensible. If a teacher is on a principal's hit-list
agenda, training has been given to implement legally safe persecution
tactics. Many other teachers who are not listed on a principal's
agenda have become aware of the underserved abuse of targeted
teachers and are filled with dread and fear for their own professional
safety.
So many teachers have “stories to tell.” Some are willing to talk, and
others are afraid or embarrassed. My story is just one example of the
suffering and destruction that has taken place in the lives of so many
others in our school district.
The philosophy now held by SDCS, and the interpretation of that
philosophy, is not consistent with our country's historical basis of
treatment of our fellow man. It is not consistent with the
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Constitution's guarantee of every man's right to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. It is also not consistent with the California
Education Code, which states, “Do unto others as you would have
others do unto you,” a teaching once espoused by Jesus Christ, and
handed down through civilization for more than twenty centuries.
Where is the basic goodness of character that would dictate mutual
humane treatment of people? A clarion call beckons the
administration of San Diego City Schools, the teachers, students,
parents, and the general populace to treat one another with kindness
and integrity.
My story is just one of the stories of many teachers in San Diego
who have been maligned by the demonic ideas which attempt to
crush and destroy teachers who have been falsely singled out as unfit
for duty, placed in the crosshairs of a puppet principal, and
repeatedly bear-baited, fired upon and wounded.
Teachers need to be respected, encouraged and built up, so they in
turn can pass this on to their students. It is wrong to think that this is
not the responsibility of every administrator as well as the
responsibility of every teacher. Respect, encouragement and
edification are keys to building better teachers. Bullying, false
accusations and malicious tearing down has been practiced long
enough, and this needs to be replaced by a new, deliberate, and
stated policy and practice which is positive and unifying in the San
Diego City Schools.
We need to be cemented together in order to get the educational job
done — the job of preparing children to become leaders of integrity
in tomorrow's world.
The innocent lives of many good teachers have been viciously
attacked and vilified without good reason. I tell my story, not to be
vindictive, but to make the people of San Diego and the rest of our
country aware of the truth, and to challenge them to rise up and
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demand that high levels of integrity be restored to our school
systems.
Teachers do not need to be knocked down or unjustly accused.
About $250,000.00 was paid out to a law firm by San Diego City
Schools in 2001 to give training to principals. Principals are able to
maintain legal safety while creating a paper trail of harassment (and
sometimes lies) and loading teachers with unreasonable assignments.
The lives of targeted teachers are made miserable with undeserved
stress.
An extension of this training, to the tune of about $100,000.00 more,
was paid for by San Diego City Schools in 2002. This has resulted in
the dismissal, early retirement, or resignation of many experienced,
excellent teachers. Numerous instructors who have given many years
of faithful service, and have a history of excellent evaluation reviews,
have been knocked sideways by administrators who know much less
than they do. Perhaps the letter of the law has been kept, but the
spirit of the law has been splintered and mocked. In a dry, lawyerly
way, principals have been instructed how they can avoid liability
while using methods that many consider to be morally wrong.
Nobody wants to be the fall guy for the targeting, bullying, and
dismissal of mature, experienced, excellent teachers. Legal loopholes
have been found to alleviate liability while using prescribed language
to discredit and incriminate teachers who have many years of
consistently positive evaluations and very high recommendations
from their peers.
We need overt action by everyone, from the top down, to reaffirm
the need to encourage and edify teachers, and to bring honesty and
objectivity back into the evaluation arena. It is the teachers who most
directly affect the education of the children. Teachers are often told
what failures they are (using prescribed language that is often
unfitting for the situation), made to openly cry because of harsh,
arbitrary treatment, lied to, or lied about. Mean criticism in front of a
teacher's students undermines the teacher's respect. The bullish
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attitude and actions of some principals causes many good teachers to
chafe under the heavy yoke of a hostile work environment.
Tender spirits found in high numbers of teachers are the very quality
that makes them most capable of nurturing and educating our
students. Myriads of criticisms, never intended to be constructive,
can kill the soul of teaching, cause intimidation, and hinder creativity
that is so vital to maximum student learning. Haven't the SDCS
administrators heard of the “trickle-down” theory of management?
After cookie-cutter negative letters from principals are received by
teachers, filled with fault-finding, threats, often repeated accusations,
and baffling, vague, and unrealistic directives, teachers are expected
to return to the classroom to inspire, edify, and challenge their
students. This is positively ludicrous.
Some principals have become harsh taskmasters, exacting “bricks
without straw,” making excessive demands, and exercising cruelty
and terrorism by their abuse of power as administrators. This is
wrong, even if they can get away with it legally.
We need a resurrection of the ideals of mutual honesty, respect, and
good faith between the San Diego City School administration and
those in the trenches, the teachers. I believe that when this is
accomplished, we will see respect from parents and the general
public return to the educational scene.
The people who have been brought from New York to the
educational system in San Diego should return to New York and
take their philosophy with them.
Furthermore, San Diego should not be used as a showpiece to
perpetrate this debilitating philosophy throughout our nation. Our
goal ought to be that our school system is exemplary to the whole
nation because of our fairness, concern, honesty and humanitarian
treatment of one another, which would result in more academic
success of students in the classroom.
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Most of the citizens of San Diego have been sold a bill of goods that
leaves them deluded regarding the climate in our schools. Given the
illusion that the ideals of the Alan Bersin regime is something to be
desired, they have been lured into the acceptance of a false
panoramic view of our educational system.
I call for a public outcry for decency within the ranks of San Diego
City Schools. I call for a change in policy in the way the
administration views and treats teachers. Teachers are not the enemy.
Teachers are the ally in accomplishing the successful, quality
education of our students.
I call for a stated declaration by the San Diego City School Board of
Directors, that the spirit of fairness shall prevail, and that tangible
ways of implementing that spirit are put in place.
It seems like the San Diego Teachers Union has been relatively
unsuccessful in stopping the flood of weapons used against teachers.
However, the general public can and ought to demand that an
atmosphere of safety, freedom, and integrity replace the paralyzing
intimidation, distrust, unfounded accusations, and general ugliness
that now prevails against many teachers.
Many teachers wonder why they have paid more than $800.00 a year
for union representation while nothing has been done to alleviate the
unfair treatment they have received from their administrators.
My salary is greater than the combined salaries of two young teachers
who have just begun their teaching careers. Perhaps placing me, and
others, in the crosshairs of evaluators is somehow connected with
this fact.
The malicious bullying of teachers in San Diego, and in scattered
pockets of education throughout the nation must be stopped.
The stories of other teachers who have suffered abuse in various
places in the United States have been exposed by the National
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Association for the Prevention of Teacher Abuse, NAPTA. See
www.endteacherabuse.org
As you read my story, keep in mind that I am only one of dozens of
teachers in the San Diego City Schools who have suffered. Each one
has a unique story, but a common thread of malice and cruelty is
found woven into the fabric of each one, again and again.
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