School Limbo

I have been meaning to post about this for a while, but haven't had time. But, for some ungodly reason I'm locked out of my online gradebook, so I might as well post b/c it's too early to pump before bed.

A few weeks ago we were called to an emergency UFT (United Federation of Teachers, the city's teacher union) meeting and were told that our school had been placed on some State-wide shit list and that one of four options would happen to us:

1. we would be closed down
2. we would be turned into a charter school
3. we would all stay, but next year we'd be under crazy surveillance and without UFT protection, therefore if those observing didn't like us or our test scores, we'd be fired. bye bye.
4. half the staff would be "replaced" to restructure the school.

The union representative who delivered the message said that they had no idea which option the city would choose, but that as soon as anyone knew, we would know.

Nice, huh?

Let me clarify that we are on this shit list for graduation rates below the city's average for 2006, 2007, 2008, although we had a graduation rate HIGHER than the city average for 2009. We are NOT on the the list for test scores, only graduation rate.

I have worked at my school for nine years. No, it is not a great school and no, I would not send my kids to it, BUT it is a functioning school. 80% of our students live below the poverty level, our special education population is edging towards 30%, and the majority of the 9th graders enter reading at a 4th grade level, having scored 2's and 1's on their 8th grade English Language Arts exams (out of a possible 4). And, in spite of our student population and the challenges they bring, we have many loving, dedicated, and hard working teachers who not only bust their butts teaching things they don't know (ahem, I am NOT trained to teach reading, but literature), but they also mentor these kids in many ways--buying prom dresses, taking them to movies when their house has burned down and they have nowhere to go after school, calling colleges and trying to explain that the kid shouldn't lose their scholarship b/c her stepfather is an asshole who refuses to file his taxes because he's afraid of the government...the list is long.

So this is what I don't get: In the meritocracy that is the NYC DOE (high school is an application process, students take a test in 8th grade to get into specialized schools like Stuyvesant, one of the best high schools in the nation. Stuy admitted 9 Black students into their 2010 freshmen class of 700. In NEW YORK CITY. It's a public school. Yeah.), what the hell does the City think is going to happen to these kids?

I can tell you one thing that's going to happen: These schools are going to lose the good teachers. Teachers get so much crap in general and it's exhausting. I honestly believe my mission as an educator is to teach the population I currently teach, and that I am a good teacher, but I can tell you that after 10 years in I am tired of the bologna that comes with working with my student population. I love them, but what would it be like to work in a school with grade level students, that had resources, and didn't freak out every year about test scores?

The kids and schools who need good teachers are going to lose them under the guise of "aggressive actions" towards "failing schools." And then who will teach these kids? Great work--Obama, Bloomberg, & Klein. A-freakin'-plus.