The teacher/administrator relationship dynamic has been in the spotlight this month.

  • “Got an email from admin saying I didn’t contact the parents of a few failing students and document it, so now they might be given a passing grade. First of all, yes I did. But second of all, why am I given the role of a prosecuting attorney who has to prove they should fail? It gets worse. I showed them my parent contacts for the one senior. I made three. But they only included a general warning of low grades, and warnings about failing the first two quarters. I never warned them specifically about being in danger of failing the semester.” —Secondary Teacher in the United States
  • “Actual conversation… TEACHER: So, if the student didn’t attempt the assignment at all, I have to give them a 50% because a ZERO is too difficult to get out of? ADMIN: Yes. TEACHER: Okay, what if a student did try, but earned a 50%. What grade should they get? ADMIN: 50%” —Educator in Michigan
  • “Teachers: Please remove the disruptive student so others can learn. Admin: Everyone needs seat time, so we sent him back after a restorative conversation. Teachers: Johnny has only been here 5 days this semester. He’s going to fail with a 20. Admin: Seat time doesn’t matter. Just give him a 70. We don’t want him to drop out. Teachers: We have to stop passing students along. I have students on wildly different levels. Admin: It’s okay, you can differentiate. Teachers: It’s impossible to differentiate for 30 kids across 10 levels. Can you come show me how? Admin: (After a 10-minute walk-through) Email: Try discovery-based learning and really focus on student discourse. Also your objective was not written on the board. Admin: We have a lot of open positions on campus. Please be prepared to cover classes during your conference period if we can’t find long term subs. Also, make sure your lesson plans are uploaded, 504/SPED accommodations are documented, parent contact logs are updated, and grades are posted in a timely manner. Schools: We don’t know why there is a teacher shortage.” —High School Math/SPED Teacher in the United States
    • “Many of the reasons I left public education after 10 years. This is unsustainable.” —Retired Special Education Teacher
    • “THIS!! All of this. I got to 20 years with a Masters degree and WALKED! The system was literally going in a sub zero direction and has only gotten worse since!” —Retired Teacher in Louisiana