SEA, the Seattle Education Association, Recommends to the School Board Not To Extend Superintendent Dr. Goodloe-Johnson’s Contract.

Press release from SEA:

With the growing number of schools taking no confidence votes in Seattle Public Schools’ Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson, over one hundred elected association representatives for the Seattle Education Association (SEA) debated the merits of taking a no confidence vote as a body at their monthly business meeting tonight.  The SEA representatives decided to postpone a vote of no confidence until they hold an SEA General Membership meeting at the start of the school year.  The general membership meeting will be held to ratify or reject a tentative negotiated agreement.  SEA President, Olga Addae stated, “The representatives decided they wanted to see how the superintendent manages the negotiation process this summer.  They also want to have more of our members involved in the decision of whether we support the superintendent or if we have no confidence in her.”

The association representatives did vote to recommend to the school board that they not extend the superintendent’s contract at this time.  The members felt that just as they are being held accountable to show growth when their performance needs improvement, the superintendent should prove that she can make significant improvement in the areas that the school board has identified prior to another year extension in her contract.  “Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson currently has a contract until 2012, over two years from today.  Our representatives felt the school board can wait until improvement is made before guaranteeing her another year on the job,” Addae said.

West Seattle High School Votes “No Confidence” on the Performance of Dr. Goodloe-Johnson

That makes the tenth school so far whose teachers have voted “No Confidence”.

The vote was out of 42 ballots turned in, 4 voted to abstain, 3 voted “confidence” in the superintendent and  35 voted “No confidence” in the superintendent.”

Maybe the school board will start getting the hint soon that our supe is not measuring up.

“I just completed the absolute worst year in the classroom I have ever endured”

Below is a letter written to Diane Ravitch from Gary Groth,  a National Board Certified Teacher and Middle Childhood Generalist at Mariposa Elementary School in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

“As a classroom teacher with 30+ years experience, I just completed the absolute worst year in the classroom I have ever endured (and it was NOT the fault of my students–they were great).

“This year I was told what to teach, when to teach, how to teach, how long to teach, who to teach, who not to teach, and how often to test. My students were assessed with easily more than 120 tests of one shape or another within the first 6 months of the school year.

“My ability to make decisions about what is best for my students was taken away by an overzealous attempt to impose ‘consistency’ within my grade group. My school hired an outside consultant who threatened us with our jobs, demanded that everyone comply, and required us to submit data on test results on a weekly basis. If your class didn’t do well, you were certainly going to be in trouble.

“In addition, my class was visited at least twice a month by the consultant, two superintendents, principal, assistant principal, reading coach, math coach, and sometimes even more people. If I was not teaching exactly what they wanted to see, I was in trouble.

“My ability to have any academic freedom was completely taken away and my students were denied the best education I could provide for them. Please understand, my credentials are impeccable. I am board certified, have a masters degree in educational leadership, have been documented with the highest scores on my team, and absolutely love what I do. I want to be a teacher, but just can not continue within this toxic educational environment.

“This year I have tried to speak out against these many disgusting practices of testing, teaching to the test, or as you called it ‘institutionalized cheating.’ I have felt like a voice in the wilderness. The response has been, ‘Get used to it. It is what is coming down the pike.’

“We are in desperate need of voices like yours to bring sanity back to education. Please, please, please continue to speak out about this debacle and help us restore the focus of education back to the child and NOT the test score. I will enthusiastically share your article with fellow educators in an effort to save the future of public school education. I just wish I could do more.

“If you have any other positive suggestions as to what I can do to help, please let me know. Thank you for speaking out. Let’s hope it is not too late.”

Respectfully submitted,
Gary A. Groth
National Board Certified Teacher, Middle Childhood Generalist
Mariposa Elementary School
Port St. Lucie, FL