I have taught physics and math at Newton South High School since 2013, immediately following my graduation from MIT, broken only by a return to grad school for a year. There are two things that drew me in and I still love about Newton South:
1) The people. My colleagues are *fantastic,* the parents are supportive, and I've experienced nothing but positive interactions and professional growth in my interactions with my department chairs. They are committed, competent, and deserving of respect.
2) Newton's commitment to teaching *all* students. Like my colleagues, I work hard to utilize anti-racist teaching practices, support LGBTQ+ students, and otherwise ensure that demographics that have historically been marginalized feel welcome and safe and have their voices heard. I did not grow up in such a community, so I consider it a privilege to squash the same kinds of ignorant beliefs that I once held all those years ago. While we certainly have more work to do, I'm proud to be part of a community committed to doing that work.
Yet in some ways, being a teacher in Newton isn't so different from being a teacher anywhere else. There seems to be an acknowledgement in our society that teachers are underpaid and that they make sacrifices for their students. That acknowledgement has evolved into an expectation; teachers being underpaid and making sacrifices is an intrinsic part of what it means to be a teacher.
But here's the problem: all the sacrifices that we are happy to make, that we choose to make, lead to an expectation that we will make whatever sacrifices we are told to make.
Mayor Fuller and the Newton School Committee like to talk about how much they respect and support teachers, but when it comes time for a contract renewal, we have to fight tooth and nail to get basic cost-of-living adjustments and fair wages. The sickening hypocrisy of Mayor Fuller praising teachers at South's graduation at the same time as she was fighting against paying them will forever stick with me as emblematic of the problematic way our policymakers interact with teachers.
The second element that is representative of how policymakers interact with educators can be seen in the work that happened this summer around creating plans for hybrid and remote learning. Teachers put in countless hours of work on plans. The Newton Teachers Association tried to work with the city, requesting information and designing their own plan, which the city ignored. In the end, Newton released a horrific failure:
A plan that entirely fails to address the needs of METCO students.
A mysterious "Distance Learning Academy" that may include teachers who are not Newton teachers with almost no details.
A survey that forces both parents and teachers to choose between vague, undefined options with only days notice.
A plan that does not adhere to CDC and DESE guidelines that restrict interactions of students and staff to one small group.
In line with past behavior, they even had the gall to release all of this with the claim that they worked closely with Newton educators to develop it, when in fact, they entirely ignored the input of Newton educators.
I have seen a lot of student projects in my years of teaching, and the vast majority of them contain more detail and thought than Newton's hybrid proposal, which is an embarrassment to the district and a complete abdication of responsibility to protect our students and staff.
In most specialized fields, people defer to experts. Education as a policy area is unique: many consider themselves "experts" because they attended school once upon a time, and they know what worked well and didn't work well for them. This reluctance to defer to teachers is what leads to these kinds of half-baked proposals that endanger the lives of students and staff alike.
I have made many small sacrifices in the course of working as an educator, and I am crushed that I've finally found the one that I am not willing to make. I have requested a leave of absence for the 2020-21 school year because I do not wish to take part in a system that is going to endanger my students, myself, and my family.
If my leave of absence is denied, then I will have a decision to make, and it is not a decision that I wish to make, so I implore the School Committee to reconsider its decision and begin the school year with a remote opening in line with the NTA's detailed, well-considered phased plan that stands in stark contrast to their own.
Finally, to any of my students who read this: First, I hope that you and your families do whatever it takes to stay safe. Second, please know that I am not abandoning you. You can always reach me at my email address. Third, I hope that each of you will get involved to the extent that you can; read the proposals, think critically about them, and advocate for what you believe is right. Too often, student voices are left out of the conversation, and this is simply the latest example. Make yourselves heard.
The School Committee has a choice:
Option 1: The current plan gives students a couple of hours for a couple of days a week of "in-person schooling" (while it lasts). During this time, they will all sit six feet apart and experience something that bears zero resemblance to actual in-person learning. The risk, of course, is sickness and death. The rest of the students will be enrolled in the mysterious DLA, entirely separate from their in-school peers.
Option 2: A plan much closer to the NTA's, which guarantees a remote start, guarantees that students will work with Newton teachers, and guarantees that there is no risk of sickness or death due to schooling. This plan likely also delivers the possibility of a class experience closer to a traditional year, where teachers will be able to run class discussions with the entire class, put students into groups, etc.
I've always been one to root for success when policymakers create plans I disagree with, and this time is no different - especially when failure means a body count and lasting ailments even among some who survive.
It just blows my mind that the School Committee doesn't want to guarantee that success.
Comments
Post a Comment