For talented teachers who struggle to make it on puny salaries, it should be a dream come true.
Some would get a $15,000 signing bonus and most would get a 15 percent raise in pay. All they’d have to do is transfer to one of the school system’s four lowest scoring schools and boost students’ scores, in some cases by over 10 percentage points, and meet tough performance standards. If they fail, they could be fired. If not enough of the system’s most talented, experienced teachers choose to go willingly, they could be forcibly reassigned from higher scoring schools.
Most of the teachers Creative Loafing talked to — including most of those the school system suggested we talk to — thought Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman’s plan was, shall we say, a little loco.
Teach kids at schools where less than half the student body passes annual tests and most of the students are poor?
Several teachers said that if they were forced to teach at the target schools — Garinger, West Charlotte, West Mecklenburg or Waddell high schools — they’d leave the district and teach elsewhere. Ironically, most agreed that if Gorman could pull this off and move experienced teachers to struggling schools, something good might happen there.
“Is he (Gorman) going to leave too if this doesn’t work?” said Ginger Bevan, a civics teacher at Independence High School who has been teaching for 28 years. Bevan thinks the students at these schools can’t achieve the test score gains Gorman wants in two years. Because of that, she says teachers who are forced to transfer and could be fired if they don’t make the grade are being set up for failure.
“It seems like they can’t blame the kids, they won’t go to the parents so that leaves one group to place the blame on — teachers,” said Bevan. “I just want him to say, ‘I’m holding hands with you, and if you go, I have to go, too.'”
“If you don’t put gates on the gateway,” said Judy Kidd, “how do you expect to blame the (high school) teachers when (middle school) principals promote functional illiterates?”
Kidd, head of the Classroom Teachers Association, says the plan won’t work unless the school system ends the social promotion of eighth graders who fail their end-of-course tests and are promoted to high school anyway.
“I think that it’s a great idea that they want to give me a 15 percent raise,” said Rebekah Myers, a chemistry and physics teacher who is in her third year at West Mecklenburg. “He (Gorman) had to start somewhere. Our kids deserve it. There are great kids at West Meck, motivated kids. I’m rip-roaring ready to go.”
“Only teachers from outside the district could possibly be duped into being a part of that,” said one high school teacher who asked not to be named. “No one from here believes that they (the administration) will do what they say and pay you what they say. They’ll have to bring them in from far away, like California.”
“For me, there is a quality of life issue,” said an Independence High School teacher who asked not to be named. Even though the potential $15,000 signing bonus alone is almost half his $32,000 salary, he says he wouldn’t be willing to make the move.
“To go into those schools and deal with the problems wouldn’t be worth $15,000. These schools have struggled for so long. My suspicion is that the problem is bigger than who is at the front of the classroom.”
“I was shocked to hear about it,” said Quinn Jones, a second year English teacher at Garinger. “It has lowered the morale of teachers at school. We know our jobs are on the line. It seems like it holds teachers accountable for what the students do. It puts a lot of accountability on us.”
“We have 14 sections of kids who have not passed the eighth grade test, but they came to high school,” said Joanne Whitley, chair of the math department at Garinger. “The other high schools can hide these kids under good scores. We can’t.”
Whitley says she is currently struggling to fill seven vacant openings for math teachers and doesn’t know what she’ll do if teachers whose students don’t post the scores Gorman wants are fired. But she says good teachers could make a difference if the district can manage to hire them.
“I make my scores,” Whitley said. “Twenty of me could help a school make it.”
This article appears in Oct 11-17, 2006.
I find Rebekah Myers to be a true inspiration. She is teaching at West Mecklenburg High School for the kids. They DO deserve a good education. My students at West Meck are some of the best kids, and they don’t want to keep hearing all the things they do wrong. So I truly appreciate Rebekah taking a stand for our kids and showing the good that is coming out of our school. Yes, these kids deserve it.
Here’s anovel idea Mr Gorman.
Give the bonuses to the schools performing above average, so that the schools performing below average can have something to look forward to if they too produce.
Great article Tara. Half of the problem lie with the parents who sit idle while their kids sleepwalk through school.
I think there is a saying that goes something like ” the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
I’d say, stop all activities after the end of school bell at these 4 schools, reschedule the school buses till last pickup (4:15), and restart classes for two more hours.
Yeah, let’s punish all the children including the good ones by taking away the incentives that they have to perform at school. I too teach at West Mecklenburg High School and I am proud to say that. The composite scores are exactly that a composite. What the public does not know is that there is a public high school which can refuse to take children that are assigned to it if they don’t arrive on grade level in reading and math. It is not West Meck, nor any of the other “challenged” schools. No that is where they send the low achieving students and then blame the teachers for not doing enough. I am very proud of my students and I claim them with the same pride that a parent feels for their own children, celebrating their successes and consoling their failures, while always pushing them to achieve just that little bit extra. My kids do have a good teacher ME and they have many other GREAT teachers during the day. Kids are challenged and achieving just look at our AYP numbers.
People rise to the expectations set upon them.
If we expect no more than a 55% – 65% passing rate for these “challenged” schools, why would any of the kids try harder?
The solutions begin with expecting what should be the norm…reading and performing at grade level, not disrupting classes and not tolerating student criminals.
If teachers can expect that of the kids and hold them to those standards, they in turn can do their jobs better.
Those expectations fall on the parents shoulders as well.
When the kids don’t perform, disrupt and commit crimes…with no parental intervention…we should send them to reform school with the same expectations as the regular schools. Are there any reform schools anywhere?
…that should read “If CMS, parents, teachers would expect and hold students to those standards…”
…and the students themselves…some of which do…otherwise the pass rates would be around 25%.
What about the parents? It seems that no fault is placed on parents. They are not accountable for anything. I work at one of the feeder schools for West Charlotte and West Meck and I understand the problem the teachers are faced with daily. The same children who enter high school not prepared are the same children who entered middle school not prepared. Many of them are behavior problems because their is no parental control. When will the state make parents accountable for their child’s behavior? If a parent had to suffer consequences for their child’s adcademic and behavior problems, we would see changes in a majority of students. A parent who endangers their child acadmeic success is just as bad as a parent who endangers their child physically. Abuse is abuse.
Why AREN’T THE PARENTS held accountable? NOT FOR THE SUBJECT MATTER ITSELF, BUT FOR BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDES ABOUT LEARNING… I am a parent and a teacher who has worked at a FOCUS SCHOOL for MANY of years. Ninety percent of the students are NEVER prepared for learning. Most have witnessed criminal acts (can quote the recipe for CRACK), abusive parents (unattended- no baths – no food – home alone – no homework enforcement), beatings (verbal and physical). The current plans must be revisited with a number of factors in mind…this war on education is not just about the teachers. Look at your demographics – income status – single parent to no parent homes! Kids raising kids. Current school leadership must stop playing: let’s blame the teacher, if this continues, the kids and their parents will play the blame the teacher game as well. Believe me, as parents, we have the ultimate responsibility to raise our kids (to be good citizens, to be responsible, to respect others and to be prepared with their A-Game everyday in order to be successful not only in the classroom but in LIFE.) When you don’t get that in the classroom, it’s a day full of unnecessary disruptions and those students WHO COME PREPARED are the VICTIMS here. I feel strongly that parents should suffer more when their child is disruptive and not following the rules. That is why our jails are MAXED. Children have never been held accountable nor responsible for their actions or following directions nor following the basic rules in the home or school. Out of school suspension is like a vacation to these students. Parents and students should be FORCED to attend workshops on “Parenting, Helping w/homework and Classroom Behavior”, my list goes on. If they can’t attend, they should be fined to the max, surely they can afford it. Most qualify for free and reduced lunch but can afford at least 3 top brand sneakers per school year@ $150+ each pair. It is sickening to hear the public disrespect teachers when they have absolutely NO clue of what we endure on a daily basis. MOST of us do it because WE are striving to make a difference in a child’s life and society. These kids are our future!!! If my words of WISDOM, reach at least one of them, I have saved someone from selling drugs, someone from taking drugs or going to prison, someone’s LIFE (either the student’s, yours or someone you love) the list is endless…
TEACHERS ARE ON THE FRONT LINES IN THIS WAR ON EDUCATION… IF YOU CAN READ THIS: YOU SHOULD BE THANKING YOUR GOD FOR A TEACHER RIGHT NOW!
The last comment said it all. Lets stop rewarding welfare trash for having children. Our nation has developed a breeding ground for criminals and losers due to the fact that the government has taken the responsibility away from these breeders (dont deserve the title of parent). Free food, health care, transportation, housing, education,—why be responsible when you can have these things plus some for every child you have? If a child is not being raised at home then their chances of succeeding are little to none. And you can not expect a teacher to raise then educate one child, let alone a whole class.
FORMER CMS TEACHER AND RESONSIBLE PARENT 11/14/06