On the same day a majority of the Tucson Unified School District governing board — Adelita Grijalva, Kristel Foster and Mark Stegeman — voted to RIF more than 160 teachers, librarians and support staff to help close in on the district’s $17 million deficit, teachers got a nice love note from Superintendent John Pedicone via email.
Maybe free bottles of Bactine would have been better—at least it says on the package that it won’t sting:
From: Bynum, Karen On Behalf Of Pedicone, John
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2013 1:30 PM
Subject: Letter to Staff 05.07.13John J. Pedicone, Ph.D.
Superintendent
May 7, 2013
Dear Faculty and Staff:
This letter is constructed out of respect for those who do the work that the rest of us support…the 3000 classroom teachers who serve our children in Tucson Unified School District. Today is identified as Teacher Appreciation Day. I do not know who makes these days up or why today, of all days, has been chosen for this recognition, but I will go with it because it does give us a chance to honor each of you who opens your hearts and minds to children from three to 22 in our schools and classrooms.
I went on-line to read what some have said about teachers, just to see if what I feel has been said before and how people tend to view the role of the teacher. I am sure most of you have read this statement:
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry Adams
Obviously, this was written at a time when to use the general reference “he” was accepted. While that convention might have changed, arguably the sentiments are still accurate.
Another somewhat more esoteric expression was penned by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Turkish and roughly translated as:
“A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others.”
Unfortunately, based on the way Arizona funds teachers’ salaries, this statement takes on more than just the intended meaning.
I came across a quote which was undoubtedly written by a teacher somewhere in America probably during the month of April or early May who simply stated:
“When all else fails, pray for a fire drill.” – Author Unknown
Any further commentary is probably unnecessary.
Then I happened across this description that I feel hits the mark a bit more directly:
“If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn’t want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher’s job.” ~Donald D. Quinn
Well, the list of quotes goes on and the meaning behind them is clear. When anyone takes the time to consider the work that you do and the lives that you touch each day; when anyone visits a kindergarten or first grade classroom and watches the magic that takes place by looking into the eyes of the children whose trust and hope, joy and innocence are given focus by a teacher who cherishes the reality that she holds so much of their futures in her hands; and when one takes the time to go to a graduation ceremony and see that same 5 year-old at eighteen, knowing that they are who they are because along the way you demanded that the hope they held at five became the power they possess at eighteen, no words can truly express how much you mean to so many. So, rather than struggle for other ways to describe the deep regard I have for you and the work you do, I will simply say:
Thank you…
John Pedicone
“Delivering Excellence in Education Every Day”
Grow…Reach…Succeed
This article appears in May 2-8, 2013.
Basic management principles require confidence in employees that they have simple job security.
Temps know the deal, and are willing to work under unstable conditions until they’ve earned the right,
by skill, luck and stay with-it-ness, to get a full time job. There has to be a core of highly qualified, dedicated worker-leaders that have their lives in order so they can remain the anchors the whole process clings to in bad times. Don’t see that here. Would not begin a career that has this instability built in. Feel for these people, it’s not their fault. Feel for the kids, it’s not theirs either. Fault lies in the instability government causes by non-funded mandates. Or, mandates at all. We need to bring the design of education back to the community level. This situation destroys the integrity of the community. It’s a grass roots issue. Here’s where the needs are, that’s where control belongs. Sad situation.
IMHO – Mammey
Despite telling the community throughout the “visioning process” that school closures would NOT be a slash and burn move, when the RIF was being discussed by board members the other night, Dr. Pedicone, looking somewhat exasperated, noted that (paraphrasing here) personnel/teacher layoffs and reductions are the major way TO save money…which kind of tells me that the talk of “if we had closed more schools we wouldn’t have to lay people off” was just another way of laying blame on the community. Whenever TUSD folks talk about its bad reputation in town, they talk about “better advertising”. I love the schools, teachers and kids, but it takes a whole lot of advertising to drown out ongoing labor instability and disrespect for the workers who make it all happen. How ’bout changing THAT?!
Huh? When Pedicone writes, “Today is identified as Teacher Appreciation Day. I do not know who makes these days up or why today, of all days, has been chosen for this recognition, but I will go with it . . .” . . . it sounds kinda clueless, and that he doesn’t really want to celebrate the day, but “go with it.” Then he talks about surfing the internet to find out what folks are saying about teachers. Too bad he doesn’t have much experience visiting teachers in Arizona and the schools that were closed, just parrots what he’s heard folks on the world wide web say. Really!?
Pedicone was clueless about the schools he was going to close down, he and his gophers didn’t even know where one of them was.
Good-bye Pedicone, glad to see this guy go as he still continue to blame Arizona voters for not approving the increase budget for TUSD, which I believe around 50% would have gone to administration. I voted for it, and other parents of students probably did, but that probably wasn’t enough given that the bill wasn’t written properly.
Here are some crimes TUSD has committed against Tucson parents/students:
1. Decades of busing which haven’t improved education/results for minorities, but has belched diesel and lead all over the city and wrecked the environment.
2. An administration 1010, which doesn’t care as much about eastside schools as westside schools. D rated schools like Ochoa which are half-full were “saved” by wind bags like Danny Eckstrom, while more eastside schools were shutdown. I don’t have a problem with west schools, but obviously Pedicone *hates* a lot of people in this town, and I think it is the eastside which said NO! when they tried to close down Sewell a grade B which is a great community school.
3. Crappy food for decades. I am a product of TUSD and the food was horrible, though it has improved some.
4. Lack of science and math education. I am still devastated and upset that I didn’t go to Booth Fickett, which was a science/math magnet back in the day *over two decades ago*, start giving students choice and make sure forced busing never comes back.
The letter did nothing to make me feel more secure, nor did I get a warm and fuzzy feeling, even when I attempted to read between the lines. Like many of us “on the front lines”, I was added (yet again) to the “Spring Process” list…a nice way to say laid-off, or district-transferred roster. I am at a dual-language school, a risky move on my part as a “mainstream” teacher, when I applied 2 years ago, although I was assured then that the school would always need at least one “mainstream” teacher per grade level. My student data fluctuated, the school enrollment dropped, the school lost some of its budget, and “voila”…I was kicked to the curb.
Last time, it was under the previous superintendent (the one who cut-and-ran), for much the same reason…closed schools, budget cuts, data. I left in frustration for a charter school, did a year out-of-district 35 miles away from town. I re-applied at TUSD, hoping for redemption under Pedicone. Everything seemed great at first, (even though, at 5 years experience, TUSD put me back to year one), I attended every possible professional development to update my skills.
But under the impending conditions, the tenuous nature of life and work with the district had its way with the students and the teachers. Students coming and going, no stability in the school, no stability in our jobs. What do they expect? Now, they are throwing us into a competitive pool, offering up a job fair on the 18th with no other information other than “by invitation, if your application is approved”. Meanwhile, I took a summer camp job that wants to hold their orientation…on the same damn day! Do you think the Universe is trying to tell me something?
I was hoping to leave teaching for greener pastures, if and when I decided to leave. That choice has been taken from me, and many others in my position. Are we ALL “bad teachers”? I doubt it. I worked my ass off for years, for all of my students, some responded, some did not. I do not think the state of education, in Arizona or the country for that matter, is conducive to a “positive learning environment”. You want quality educators, and quality education? Try valuing teachers, and giving a damn about the students and the communities they live in. This is all so pitiful…