Madness at Muir
Before my long night of covering local elections Tuesday, I ventured out to John Muir High School for a meeting between the staff and Edwin Diaz, PUSD superintendent. The meeting was to answer questions regarding the reapplication process - teachers go first and they have till the end of the month to submit a resume and sample lesson plans.
It would be an gross understatement to say the teachers are livid over the process. Most of the frustration though stems from not having all of the information they want: how the school will be configured, what the themes of the small learning academies will be. That will all be figured out...but not till after the teachers submit their materials.
I think this quote sums up the situation:
"I feel bamboozled. I feel cheated. I accepted this position for this year, but on my first day I was told I was being fired." - a first-year Muir teacher to Diaz.
I think the re-application process is fine. However, I would not create small learning communities based on teacher interest; I would create them based on student interest.
Desparate times call for desparate measures. With that being said - this is what we have to do to make sure that the right people are in the right jobs. If cuts are being made at the Board of Education - so must cuts be made with teachers.