Teacher contract not renewed, played fall guy for district

Join Teachers.Net

Chatboards

Recent Groups

Special Ed

MEMBERS

28 Members

+ Join Group

Pinned Posts

ALLAll Teachers

Teachers.Net LIVE CHAT Support group - Tues eve!

Featured Jobs

Full-timeMontessori Teacher

Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

TemporaryTeachers, rural schools

Peace River North School District

Full-timeHead Teacher: 2nd/3rd Grades – Mills College Children’s School

Mills College

Teaching Jobs on Teachers.Net

Featured Job special only $39!

https://teachers.net/jobs

Become a Teachers.Net sponsor!

Special Education Teachers Chatboard

Teacher contract not renewed, played fall guy for district

by Tarkio

Oct 21, 2015

Teacher contract not renewed, played fall guy for district I was a very good special education teacher. I worked 10- 12 hour days, I did everything required, on time, and my students loved me and improved.

When I was hired to the present teaching position, I had 2 years experience at another school and did an excellent job there as well. What happened?

I was not tenured and was used as a fall guy for difficult students and parents.

The school district in this small college town has 100's of applicants for every job because the university pumps out hundreds of education graduates every year, and they all want to stay here.

The district is not desperate by any means.

I was hired at the most difficult school in the district. Other people, straight out of school without experience, were hired at the "easy" special education teacher positions. Every one of them had a relative, or good friend's relative that worked in the school distri...See More

Comment

(4)

report post

sped Well, if you want to continue on in teaching, you're probably going to need to get better references. Maybe try to get a long-term sub job and make friends with administrators.

You may try moving to a locale where there is more demand. A small college town that has hundreds of applicants is not ideal. You were probably lucky to get the jo...See MoreWell, if you want to continue on in teaching, you're probably going to need to get better references. Maybe try to get a long-term sub job and make friends with administrators.

You may try moving to a locale where there is more demand. A small college town that has hundreds of applicants is not ideal. You were probably lucky to get the job in the first place.

As a sped teacher, you will probably be able to find a job somewhere, but the question is whether you're willing to go there.

Are you willing to move? If you're in a small college town flush with teachers (and probably a nice area), then it is going to be difficult. You've basically been fired twice...

You don't say where you are. Many urban districts are hurting for sped teachers, and even if you've been fired a couple of times, they will usually take you. You need to go where the jobs are...

Otherwise, look at going into another field not as disfunctional.

On 10/21/15, Tarkio wrote: > Teacher contract not renewed, played fall guy for district > > I was a very good special education teacher. I worked 10- > 12 hour days, I did everything required, on time, and my > students loved me and improved. > > When I was hired to the present teaching position, I had 2 > years experience at another school and did an excellent job > there as well. What happened? > > I was not tenured and was used as a fall guy for difficult > students and parents. > > The school district in this small college town has 100's of > applicants for every job because the university pumps out > hundreds of education graduates every year, and they all > want to stay here. > > The district is not desperate by any means. > > I was hired at the most difficult school in the district. Other > people, straight out of school without experience, were > hired at the "easy" special education teacher positions. > Every one of them had a relative, or good friend's relative > that worked in the school district. I didn't. > > In my position, I soon realized I had very hostile families, > the most difficult in the district. They were constantly at > odds with the administration before I came. > > On top of that, my principal went to church with the > previous special ed teacher and wanted her back. He took > away a full time para educator position from my class even > though I had more students than the previous teacher, and > I did not have enough help. He gave me 3 paras that had no > experience with special eduaction kids, and all had a > horrible history of insubordination to teachers they had > worked with. These paras had almost been fired 3 times, > each of them. These paras were absent @60 days out of > 180 days of the school year, usually on the same day, and > the principal did nothing. My class was in chaos because > they were always absent on the same day, on purpose. > > Trouble began when the parents of one the students began > to complain about the principal's practices of inclusion. I > was doing my best to include, but the kindergarten teacher > would not allow it. > > The principal blamed me. The parents wrote to the > superintendent of the district about my principals lack of > inclusion. He blamed me. > > He refused to come to a parent teacher conference to > protect me. I told the parent's their daughter was refusing > the music program because she displayed signs of sensory > processing disorder. The parents agreed that she did not > like loud noises, banging drums, and whiny music. > > The christmas program came upon us, and I sent an email > to reiiterate what we had talked about, how their daughter > was refusing music, and was refusing the christmas > program. I did not go into details because we had just > talked about it at the parent teacher conference. > > The parents saw this as a chance to transfer their daughter > to the school right next to their house. They threatened to > sue the school district. > > From that time on, I was treated as if I was the worst > teacher in the world. I was forced to go to meetings where > 20 people criticized me. I felt like it was the Salem Witch > Trials. > > I stuck through the year, even though my principal did his > best to force me to quit. He rode me on every detail, > believed malicious gossip of my problem paras, and gave > me a very negative evaluation (making me do it on > Valentines day when the kids are out of sorts), when I did > an excellent job. > > The principal did not renew my contract. > > Now I can't even get a job as a noon recess monitor. What > should I do? Can anyone help? Thanks for reading this.

Oct 21, 2015

report post

AM Just so you know I am a parent and I can tell you the word that used to tee me off was when a teacher kept saying my child refused blah blah. If they cannot do as a result of their disability they are not refusing to do it, they can't. You might want to pay attention to how you word things. Perhaps you were verbalizing things to school personal tha...See MoreJust so you know I am a parent and I can tell you the word that used to tee me off was when a teacher kept saying my child refused blah blah. If they cannot do as a result of their disability they are not refusing to do it, they can't. You might want to pay attention to how you word things. Perhaps you were verbalizing things to school personal that had the same effect on them.

When the world is against you sometimes you need to look in your own backyard first.

If it is truly a town of nepotism preventing your success then you might want to move someplace else. Doing it while you are young is much easier than later.

On 10/21/15, sped wrote: > Well, if you want to continue on in teaching, you're probably > going to need to get better references. Maybe try to get a > long-term sub job and make friends with administrators. > > You may try moving to a locale where there is more demand. A > small college town that has hundreds of applicants is not > ideal. You were probably lucky to get the job in the first > place. > > As a sped teacher, you will probably be able to find a job > somewhere, but the question is whether you're willing to go > there. > > Are you willing to move? If you're in a small college town > flush with teachers (and probably a nice area), then it is > going to be difficult. You've basically been fired twice... > > You don't say where you are. Many urban districts are hurting > for sped teachers, and even if you've been fired a couple of > times, they will usually take you. You need to go where the > jobs are... > > Otherwise, look at going into another field not as disfunctional. > > On 10/21/15, Tarkio wrote: >> Teacher contract not renewed, played fall guy for district >> >> I was a very good special education teacher. I worked 10- >> 12 hour days, I did everything required, on time, and my >> students loved me and improved. >> >> When I was hired to the present teaching position, I had 2 >> years experience at another school and did an excellent job >> there as well. What happened? >> >> I was not tenured and was used as a fall guy for difficult >> students and parents. >> >> The school district in this small college town has 100's of >> applicants for every job because the university pumps out >> hundreds of education graduates every year, and they all >> want to stay here. >> >> The district is not desperate by any means. >> >> I was hired at the most difficult school in the district. Other >> people, straight out of school without experience, were >> hired at the "easy" special education teacher positions. >> Every one of them had a relative, or good friend's relative >> that worked in the school district. I didn't. >> >> In my position, I soon realized I had very hostile families, >> the most difficult in the district. They were constantly at >> odds with the administration before I came. >> >> On top of that, my principal went to church with the >> previous special ed teacher and wanted her back. He took >> away a full time para educator position from my class even >> though I had more students than the previous teacher, and >> I did not have enough help. He gave me 3 paras that had no >> experience with special eduaction kids, and all had a >> horrible history of insubordination to teachers they had >> worked with. These paras had almost been fired 3 times, >> each of them. These paras were absent @60 days out of >> 180 days of the school year, usually on the same day, and >> the principal did nothing. My class was in chaos because >> they were always absent on the same day, on purpose. >> >> Trouble began when the parents of one the students began >> to complain about the principal's practices of inclusion. I >> was doing my best to include, but the kindergarten teacher >> would not allow it. >> >> The principal blamed me. The parents wrote to the >> superintendent of the district about my principals lack of >> inclusion. He blamed me. >> >> He refused to come to a parent teacher conference to >> protect me. I told the parent's their daughter was refusing >> the music program because she displayed signs of sensory >> processing disorder. The parents agreed that she did not >> like loud noises, banging drums, and whiny music. >> >> The christmas program came upon us, and I sent an email >> to reiiterate what we had talked about, how their daughter >> was refusing music, and was refusing the christmas >> program. I did not go into details because we had just >> talked about it at the parent teacher conference. >> >> The parents saw this as a chance to transfer their daughter >> to the school right next to their house. They threatened to >> sue the school district. >> >> From that time on, I was treated as if I was the worst >> teacher in the world. I was forced to go to meetings where >> 20 people criticized me. I felt like it was the Salem Witch >> Trials. >> >> I stuck through the year, even though my principal did his >> best to force me to quit. He rode me on every detail, >> believed malicious gossip of my problem paras, and gave >> me a very negative evaluation (making me do it on >> Valentines day when the kids are out of sorts), when I did >> an excellent job. >> >> The principal did not renew my contract. >> >> Now I can't even get a job as a noon recess monitor. What >> should I do? Can anyone help? Thanks for reading this.

Oct 21, 2015

report post

Kathy I saw this post on another special ed site and had a couple of questions there, but didn't ask. How long have you been teaching special education? You say you did well in a previous district for two years? Were you in a different position (self-contained versus resource)? Do you have documentation of all you posted? If so, did you take it to your u...See MoreI saw this post on another special ed site and had a couple of questions there, but didn't ask. How long have you been teaching special education? You say you did well in a previous district for two years? Were you in a different position (self-contained versus resource)? Do you have documentation of all you posted? If so, did you take it to your union? Did you write rebuttals on your evaluations to address administrator concerns? Did you document para absences and the fact that you had no subs? Did you document teacher conversations denying your students inclusion/mainstreaming minutes? I find this all very suspicious. One or two problems I understand. Having problems all the way from administration, down to teachers, paras, parents, and out of control students, but not taking some of the responsibility for the issues yourself sounds unbelievable. Maybe you need to look inward to see what things you could have done differently to have improved your situation. This will help in your next postion. Kathy

On 10/21/15, sped wrote: > Well, if you want to continue on in teaching, you're probably > going to need to get better references. Maybe try to get a > long-term sub job and make friends with administrators. > > You may try moving to a locale where there is more demand. A > small college town that has hundreds of applicants is not > ideal. You were probably lucky to get the job in the first > place. > > As a sped teacher, you will probably be able to find a job > somewhere, but the question is whether you're willing to go > there. > > Are you willing to move? If you're in a small college town > flush with teachers (and probably a nice area), then it is > going to be difficult. You've basically been fired twice... > > You don't say where you are. Many urban districts are hurting > for sped teachers, and even if you've been fired a couple of > times, they will usually take you. You need to go where the > jobs are... > > Otherwise, look at going into another field not as disfunctional. > > On 10/21/15, Tarkio wrote: >> Teacher contract not renewed, played fall guy for district >> >> I was a very good special education teacher. I worked 10- >> 12 hour days, I did everything required, on time, and my >> students loved me and improved. >> >> When I was hired to the present teaching position, I had 2 >> years experience at another school and did an excellent job >> there as well. What happened? >> >> I was not tenured and was used as a fall guy for difficult >> students and parents. >> >> The school district in this small college town has 100's of >> applicants for every job because the university pumps out >> hundreds of education graduates every year, and they all >> want to stay here. >> >> The district is not desperate by any means. >> >> I was hired at the most difficult school in the district. Other >> people, straight out of school without experience, were >> hired at the "easy" special education teacher positions. >> Every one of them had a relative, or good friend's relative >> that worked in the school district. I didn't. >> >> In my position, I soon realized I had very hostile families, >> the most difficult in the district. They were constantly at >> odds with the administration before I came. >> >> On top of that, my principal went to church with the >> previous special ed teacher and wanted her back. He took >> away a full time para educator position from my class even >> though I had more students than the previous teacher, and >> I did not have enough help. He gave me 3 paras that had no >> experience with special eduaction kids, and all had a >> horrible history of insubordination to teachers they had >> worked with. These paras had almost been fired 3 times, >> each of them. These paras were absent @60 days out of >> 180 days of the school year, usually on the same day, and >> the principal did nothing. My class was in chaos because >> they were always absent on the same day, on purpose. >> >> Trouble began when the parents of one the students began >> to complain about the principal's practices of inclusion. I >> was doing my best to include, but the kindergarten teacher >> would not allow it. >> >> The principal blamed me. The parents wrote to the >> superintendent of the district about my principals lack of >> inclusion. He blamed me. >> >> He refused to come to a parent teacher conference to >> protect me. I told the parent's their daughter was refusing >> the music program because she displayed signs of sensory >> processing disorder. The parents agreed that she did not >> like loud noises, banging drums, and whiny music. >> >> The christmas program came upon us, and I sent an email >> to reiiterate what we had talked about, how their daughter >> was refusing music, and was refusing the christmas >> program. I did not go into details because we had just >> talked about it at the parent teacher conference. >> >> The parents saw this as a chance to transfer their daughter >> to the school right next to their house. They threatened to >> sue the school district. >> >> From that time on, I was treated as if I was the worst >> teacher in the world. I was forced to go to meetings where >> 20 people criticized me. I felt like it was the Salem Witch >> Trials. >> >> I stuck through the year, even though my principal did his >> best to force me to quit. He rode me on every detail, >> believed malicious gossip of my problem paras, and gave >> me a very negative evaluation (making me do it on >> Valentines day when the kids are out of sorts), when I did >> an excellent job. >> >> The principal did not renew my contract. >> >> Now I can't even get a job as a noon recess monitor. What >> should I do? Can anyone help? Thanks for reading this.

Oct 22, 2015

report post

sped Even if he did everything you suggest Kathy, he still can be non-renewed at the end of his first year. There doesn't need to be any reason for this at all. He technically wasn't fired, after all, he was simply not offered another job the following year and he is basically working on an annual contract.

On 10/22/15, Kathy wrote: > I saw...See MoreEven if he did everything you suggest Kathy, he still can be non-renewed at the end of his first year. There doesn't need to be any reason for this at all. He technically wasn't fired, after all, he was simply not offered another job the following year and he is basically working on an annual contract.

On 10/22/15, Kathy wrote: > I saw this post on another special ed site and had a couple > of questions there, but didn't ask. How long have you been > teaching special education? You say you did well in a > previous district for two years? Were you in a different > position (self-contained versus resource)? Do you have > documentation of all you posted? If so, did you take it to > your union? Did you write rebuttals on your evaluations to > address administrator concerns? Did you document para > absences and the fact that you had no subs? Did you document > teacher conversations denying your students > inclusion/mainstreaming minutes? I find this all very > suspicious. One or two problems I understand. Having problems > all the way from administration, down to teachers, paras, > parents, and out of control students, but not taking some of > the responsibility for the issues yourself sounds > unbelievable. Maybe you need to look inward to see what > things you could have done differently to have improved your > situation. This will help in your next postion. > Kathy > > On 10/21/15, sped wrote: >> Well, if you want to continue on in teaching, you're > probably >> going to need to get better references. Maybe try to get a >> long-term sub job and make friends with administrators. >> >> You may try moving to a locale where there is more demand. > A >> small college town that has hundreds of applicants is not >> ideal. You were probably lucky to get the job in the first >> place. >> >> As a sped teacher, you will probably be able to find a job >> somewhere, but the question is whether you're willing to go >> there. >> >> Are you willing to move? If you're in a small college town >> flush with teachers (and probably a nice area), then it is >> going to be difficult. You've basically been fired twice... >> >> You don't say where you are. Many urban districts are > hurting >> for sped teachers, and even if you've been fired a couple > of >> times, they will usually take you. You need to go where the >> jobs are... >> >> Otherwise, look at going into another field not as > disfunctional. >> >> On 10/21/15, Tarkio wrote: >>> Teacher contract not renewed, played fall guy for district >>> >>> I was a very good special education teacher. I worked 10- >>> 12 hour days, I did everything required, on time, and my >>> students loved me and improved. >>> >>> When I was hired to the present teaching position, I had 2 >>> years experience at another school and did an excellent > job >>> there as well. What happened? >>> >>> I was not tenured and was used as a fall guy for difficult >>> students and parents. >>> >>> The school district in this small college town has 100's > of >>> applicants for every job because the university pumps out >>> hundreds of education graduates every year, and they all >>> want to stay here. >>> >>> The district is not desperate by any means. >>> >>> I was hired at the most difficult school in the district. > Other >>> people, straight out of school without experience, were >>> hired at the "easy" special education teacher positions. >>> Every one of them had a relative, or good friend's > relative >>> that worked in the school district. I didn't. >>> >>> In my position, I soon realized I had very hostile > families, >>> the most difficult in the district. They were constantly > at >>> odds with the administration before I came. >>> >>> On top of that, my principal went to church with the >>> previous special ed teacher and wanted her back. He took >>> away a full time para educator position from my class even >>> though I had more students than the previous teacher, and >>> I did not have enough help. He gave me 3 paras that had no >>> experience with special eduaction kids, and all had a >>> horrible history of insubordination to teachers they had >>> worked with. These paras had almost been fired 3 times, >>> each of them. These paras were absent @60 days out of >>> 180 days of the school year, usually on the same day, and >>> the principal did nothing. My class was in chaos because >>> they were always absent on the same day, on purpose. >>> >>> Trouble began when the parents of one the students began >>> to complain about the principal's practices of inclusion. > I >>> was doing my best to include, but the kindergarten teacher >>> would not allow it. >>> >>> The principal blamed me. The parents wrote to the >>> superintendent of the district about my principals lack of >>> inclusion. He blamed me. >>> >>> He refused to come to a parent teacher conference to >>> protect me. I told the parent's their daughter was > refusing >>> the music program because she displayed signs of sensory >>> processing disorder. The parents agreed that she did not >>> like loud noises, banging drums, and whiny music. >>> >>> The christmas program came upon us, and I sent an email >>> to reiiterate what we had talked about, how their daughter >>> was refusing music, and was refusing the christmas >>> program. I did not go into details because we had just >>> talked about it at the parent teacher conference. >>> >>> The parents saw this as a chance to transfer their > daughter >>> to the school right next to their house. They threatened > to >>> sue the school district. >>> >>> From that time on, I was treated as if I was the worst >>> teacher in the world. I was forced to go to meetings where >>> 20 people criticized me. I felt like it was the Salem > Witch >>> Trials. >>> >>> I stuck through the year, even though my principal did his >>> best to force me to quit. He rode me on every detail, >>> believed malicious gossip of my problem paras, and gave >>> me a very negative evaluation (making me do it on >>> Valentines day when the kids are out of sorts), when I did >>> an excellent job. >>> >>> The principal did not renew my contract. >>> >>> Now I can't even get a job as a noon recess monitor. What >>> should I do? Can anyone help? Thanks for reading this.

Oct 23, 2015

report post