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Past Issues December 2005 Resistance News: California parents and teachers oppose purge of teachers critical of NCLB
| Resistance News: California parents and teachers oppose purge of teachers critical of NCLB |
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By Pete Farruggi and Marilyn Langlois
Two days after word got out that the West Contra Costa Unified School District in Richmond CA intended to involuntarily transfer two courageous and highly regarded teacher from Downer, those same teachers received a standing ovation at the School Board meeting by throngs of supporters that included parents, students, teachers and community members from their school and beyond. As parent leader Diana Ponce put it, “These teachers should be receiving flowers, and not transfer notices or letters of reprimand”, whereupon two first-graders presented Elizabeth Jaeger and Lina Prairie each with a big colorful bouquet. What grievous offense did these two women commit? It’s hard to say, as no reason has yet been given for the intent to imminently transfer these two veteran teachers (25 and 35 years respectively) away from the school where they’ve consistently demonstrated leadership, dedication and passion for bringing out the best in their students.
What is known is that Jaeger and Prairie, along with colleagues Eduardo Martinez, Mike McDonald and Thomas Prather — “The Downer Five” — have all received letters of reprimand from the district, prompted, it appears, because they had the nerve to take the Board President and Superintendent seriously when they proclaimed last August: “The days of top-down management in our district are over.” On October 5, 2005, inspired by a speech given by Jonathan Kozol, the five teachers wrote and distributed a letter addressed to the staff at Downer Elementary (see below). The gist of this letter was an offer to assist with school programs such as Student Study Teams and for an end to harmful practices related, in part, to the high stakes accountability practices of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Before writing this letter, these teachers had become known and respected for their school reform activities. For example, Eduardo Martinez, Mike McDonald and Thomas Prather are co-founders of March4Education, a grass roots group of local education activists that led a 70-mile march to the State Capitol in Sacramento to demand full and equitable funding for schools and has held several community forums on the impact of NCLB. Elizabeth Jaeger is an adjunct faculty member at St. Mary’s College; she’s had an article published in The Reading Teacher and a forthcoming one in Language Arts, two nationally circulated language arts journals. The WCCUSD’s heavy-handed clamp-down on the free speech rights of employees who dare to criticize its policies is consistent with the top-down, “test and punish” spirit of NCLB and the statewide high stakes accountability system, and wholly inconsistent with the district1s alleged commitment to replacing top-down management with a more collaborative approach. The irony is that Downer has the potential to be a model in the district of participatory decision making and collaborative education. There is a great deal of cohesion, longevity and mutual support among the faculty and parents. The Downer “family” is multi-generational (key organizer Jorge Rueda has three great-grandchildren at the school) and influential (San Pablo Mayor Genoveva Calloway lives a block away and is a member of the School Site Council). Downer folks are well-informed, active and outspoken in advocating for their children’s needs. So why is Downer viewed as a thorn in the side of the district administration? Why has the school had a new principal each year for the last three years? Instead of “taming” the Downer community and “silencing” their strong teachers, why doesn’t the district welcome them to the table, listen to them, work with them and celebrate them? In recent years, WCCUSD, like most low income school districts, has been taken over by the corporate standardistas through the use of “one size fits all” teaching and scripted curricula, the marketing of predatory SES providers, the elimination of teachers’ rights and responsibilities to exercise their professional judgement, and the increasing militarization of poor children of color. These are the very practices documented in Kozol’s new book, “The Shame of a Nation”, which is an indictment of the wrong-headed direction of US education as mandated by NCLB.
In fact, Kozol exposes the hypocrisy of the right wing populist rhetoric of “leaving no children behind” by detailing how the official policy has served to lower academic achievement and increase the dropout rate for working class children by decreasing their resources and quality learning opportunities in the public schools. It should come as no surprise that local education officials, who see themselves as enforcement officers for the test-and-punish regime, would attack those dedicated teachers, like the Downer Five, who speak out in defense of their profession and their students. It is important that all supporters of high quality public education act now to defend the five courageous teachers at Downer Elementary. Many of us in California well recall the courageous and principled stance of “The Curie 12” in Chicago a couple of years ago. Please show your support for the “Downer Five” by sending letters to: Elizabeth Jaeger, Eduardo Martinez, Mike McDonald, Lina Prairie, Thomas Prather The following letter was put out to the Downer staff on Oct. 5, 2005. It alone is the reason for the school board’s repressive actions. Dear Colleagues, Jonathan Kozol, educational author and activist, recently spoke at King Middle School in Berkeley. It was an inspiring evening and Kozol’s message was clear: particularly at a time when public education (especially for poor children of color) is under attack, we as educators have a moral obligation to look out for the best interests of our students. There are certain practices expected of us here at Downer School and across this district which do not serve our students and we will no longer go along with those practices. On the other hand, many of our students’ needs are not being met and we pledge to do what we can to provide for those needs. It is time to stand up for the children entrusted to us and it is our intention to do so at every occasion. Listed below are some of the positive actions we will take on behalf of our students: School Governance: The district administration, including the school board president and acting superintendent, have publicly stated that top-down methods of decision-making are ineffective. In a very large school with a veteran teaching staff like Downer, it is vital that decisions which affect our students be made jointly by teachers and administrators. Adjunct duty committees have now been established. These committees need to be given the power to develop proposals within their areas of expertise which can then be brought back to the full staff for approval. It is also important that the committees be given time to meet, possibly one Project Meeting per month. After School Program: The after school program should serve as a support for students who are struggling in the classroom. Crucial to the effectiveness of such a program is input from the teachers who work with these students day in and day out. Some of us hope to offer after-school classes to provide for needs which are not currently being met. Student Study Team: The Student Study Team is critical as we strive to meet the needs of all students. It is a positive step that SST slates have been chosen for morning and afternoon meetings. However, many teachers are not familiar with the SST process. We will offer assistance to those teachers as they complete paperwork and implement classroom modifications; SST meetings can then be the culmination of systematic efforts to help children and will run efficiently and effectively. In this list are some of the practices we will no longer support: Text-Based ELD Testing: With the current focus on accountability, teachers are required to administer (and students to endure) more and more testing. Most of these tests are ill-conceived, many are redundant, and all are time-consuming. The new ELD tests are all of the above. The test lacks clarity, collects information similar to that provided by CELDT and teacher observation, and severely impacts instructional time. We will not give these tests. Low-Quality In-Service Meetings: High-quality staff development is crucial as teachers seek to grow as professionals. However, much of the staff development offered by our district is of poor quality. Since our first obligation is to our students, we will no longer leave our classrooms to attend meetings (on- or off-site) which are not of benefit to us or the children we serve. Wednesday Project Meetings: Article 46, Section 2 of our contract states, “Staff development during modified Wednesdays in elementary schools shall be jointly designed by the schools’ principals and the staff except that the District may require a particular staff development activity during one Wednesday per month.” If classroom teachers were allowed to collaborate, as the contract states, Project Meetings would improve the instruction we provide for our students. District officials have recently agreed with UTR regarding this contract language. Therefore, we expect meetings to be jointly planned within the near future. If they are not, we will no longer attend. Phonics Lessons In 4th Grade: Research has shown that phonics lessons are useful for most students in grade 1 and for some students in grade 2. At the 4th grade level, it is inappropriate to spend large chunks of instructional time on phonics. Currently 4th grade teachers are expected to spend 20-25 minutes per day on these lessons. We will no longer do so. It is our sense that we are not alone in feeling as we do. We hope that you will join us. We welcome your thoughts on all of these issues – collegial dialogue is part of the strength of any successful school. If you are interested in these ideas or have questions to ask, please feel free to speak with any of us. We will hold a meeting on Monday October 10th at 3 p.m. in Rm. 505 to discuss these matters in some depth. Working together — teachers and admi istrators alike — we can continue to grow as a faculty and as a school. Eduardo Martinez, Elizabeth Jaeger, Michael McDonald, Thomas Prather, Lina Prairie |
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On Nov. 16, 2005, at 6:30 p. m. it happened again. The families of Downer Elementary school in a low-income, predominantly Latino neighborhood of San Pablo CA, packed the School Board meeting with signs, speeches and solidarity.
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