Cold, cold world
No heat today.
It's 22 degrees outside.
This is the second day this year this has happened. Last time, at 10:30--after the children had been shivering in their coats for two and a half hours, and there was no word from the principal as to when we could expect the heat to return--I made the executive decision to call my children's parents and inform them that there was no heat in the building. Almost every parent came immediately to retrieve their child.
For this, my principal literally cussed me out. "You made me look like a damn fool! I can't deal with this. I'm through with you." And she stormed out.
So this time, I was a little more circumspect, communicating to the children that I wouldn't call their parents, but I had contracted a rare, and temporary, disease that made cell phones invisible to me. By ten am, I was down to two students.
We did eventually end up closing the building this time, but only because the principal was out sick and in her absence most of the teachers were ready to stage a mutiny.
I again would like to point out the SHEER ABSURDITY of anyone saying that money doesn't make a difference in education. In this case, the lack of funds for building maintenance and upkeep had the following direct effects on the learning of my students:
*Eight hours of planned instructional time were lost.
*One of those hours *would* have been a special guest teacher,an expert in African history, who had prepared a wonderful lesson on the leader of hte Black Consciousness movement, Steven Biko. Yesterday was the only time that teacher was available. Because of the heat, my kids will miss out entirely on that learning experience.
*Children were understandably upset that the heat was out, and verbalized a lot of resentment toward the school, the principal, and society in general.
*The teaching staff is demoralized, angry, and resentful that we are asked to work in such conditions. This, obviously, is not conducive to the inspired teaching that our students need and deserve.
Overall, this is the 4th day of teaching that has been wasted due to lack of basic amenities (either water or heat).
My question is this: Are they going to schedule the standardized test one week later?
posted by ms. sweetland @ 10:51 PM
2 Comments:
Two years ago in my partner's school district (where she was a first grade teacher) they could not only not get the heat to work in the winter, but *worse*, they could not get the A/C to be turned off. This took months to fix and only got resolved, as in your case, when parents got pissed. Granted, this was in the bay area, so not nearly as bad as your situation. Still unforgiveable.
I like your strategy!
andrewkg
Alas, my parents were not all that pissed. They took it in a very matter-of-fact manner. It is, after all, the routine in this building...and most other buildings their kids are likely to go to.
It goes without saying that people in other work environments would never be expected to report to their job every day for months if the heat or water was out. But because teachers also serve as childcare providers, and principals/school districts feel pressured to provide that service even if the primary service (education) cannot be delivered, the workers (teachers) are forced to report in unsafe, unsanitary, unhealthy conditions.
Post a Comment
<< Home