Monday, April 15, 2013

LETTER FROM A CHICAGO TEACHER


Dear Friends,

Today I received a letter from my principal informing me that I will not have a job next  fall. This was after I received a letter from her dated March 12 confirming that she wants me to teach next year.

I've been effectively fired, and it has absolutely nothing to do with my performance. I have tenure and I've received a rating of outstanding" for each of the thirteen years I've been with CPS. I've been observed by principals, teachers and even principals from other schools and always the evaluation has been positive.

But the mayor has decided that our school is going to change into an IB school and apparently that means that principals can hire and fire who they want; and those decisions are all based on who these principals personally like or dislike.

Just an update. Take care.
Name withheld.

3 comments:

  1. Is IB being used like a turnaround strategy?

    ReplyDelete
  2. You got it, Queenie.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Whenever one doesn't hold, another is tried. As everyone is getting wise to using "standardized" (ISATs are neither valid nor reliable--therefore, NOT standardized, hence the " .") tests as criteria for school closings, the reasons have moved to "underutilized" (going over like a lead balloon), which has lead to the more respectable IB excuse. And isn't that SPECIAL?

    ReplyDelete

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