On sunny July 6th, I had an opportunity to meet with a first-year teacher of the District of Columbia Public School system (DCPS) as part of my series, DC Teachers Speak Out.
As we sat outside Barnes and Noble, we enjoyed the weather and discussed a most important topic to both of us—the teaching experience. She asked to speak on condition of anonymity, for she feared reprisal for constructively expressing criticism of DCPS and her administrator. Her name has been changed to “Bailey,” and no school or DC region has been mentioned.
While she might have preferred to shield her identity, her courage is identifiable and distinct. In her late twenties, she spoke of being a school leader, yet she thought she needed more experience. Expressing respectful disappointment in her leaders, she remained hopeful about one concept—the equal application of excellence. She believed all should be excellent—teachers, administrators, the central office, students and parents.
Unfortunately, our conversation typified the internal conflict plaguing teachers across the nation. That is, how do we go on teaching when there is so much “stuff” that we have to put up with? This teacher is no nine-to-fiver. She is a certified teacher with a master’s degree in education who describes herself as one who goes above and beyond the call of duty—even to buying sanitary napkins for students who did not have the maternal nurturing at home and to bringing some of her troubled students to the pool and to lunch.
With such passion and commitment to her students, juxtaposed to the unprofessional environment she sees, she contemplates her future.
As is my custom, there will be no post-interview comments. She gets the last word.
The interview is as follows: 
TS: If you had a wish list for the District of Columbia Public School System, what would you like to see addressed before you walk back in those doors in the fall?
Bailey: More materials and actual planning time and break for teachers—every day.
TS: What do you mean an “actual” planning time and break?
Bailey: There are a lot of days that I would have 30 minutes to eat and that includes taking my students down to recess or lunch and picking them up. And, for days when I don’t have a set planning period, I would have to ask either a fellow colleague or call down to the office to have someone cover my class so I could get a bathroom break.
TS: But, aren’t you supposed to have a break?
Bailey: That doesn’t always happen.
TS: Why doesn’t it always happen?
Bailey: If a teacher is absent who is supposed to take my class, then I’ll have to hold the class. Or, if that teacher is pulled to do other things, then I’ll hold the class. Therefore, I won’t get a planning period for that day.
TS: Really? And, this, of course, is not legal.
Bailey: Of course not. I think you’re supposed to work four hours and then have thirty minutes.
TS: So, why haven’t you just decided to walk out and leave the kids unattended?
Bailey: Well, there are days where I’ll say something to the teacher across the hall or next door—“Keep an eye on my class. I have to go to the bathroom right now”—and I will. And they’ll stand in between classes so they can watch their class and watch my class also.
TS: Anything else you wish to have addressed?
Bailey: For central administration to be more professional. As a teacher, I am expected to teach with excellence, to not give excuses—“Oh, I have too many students, I can’t accomplish this”—those things aren’t acceptable. You know, you are expected—regardless of what you have in your class, no matter how many students you have—you’re expected to meet AYP [Annual Yearly Progress]. You’re expected to move them forward. You’re expected to teach them. You’re expected to have good classroom management. Those are the expectations as a teacher, and excuses are not accepted for us.
She reflects, and pointedly shares . . .
Bailey: But, it took three months before I had healthcare. I had been teaching for three months, and my healthcare still had not been processed. I called. I emailed. I left messages, and there was no progress made. So, I took a day off—from work—and went downtown to address the issue. It still took two more weeks for me to have healthcare. I shouldn’t have to take off from work because somebody didn’t do their job—downtown.
TS: When you went down there, did they give you an explanation for the delay? I mean is that typical?
Bailey: Well, when I told other teachers about it, they said, “Well, that’s HR for you,” or, “That’s downtown; that’s central office.” They told me they were in a transition with the benefits office. So, that was the only explanation that they gave me.
TS: How did it make you feel that for three months your job did not provide healthcare for you?
Bailey: I felt disrespected. You know, I try to be a professional. I go to work. I do what I am supposed to do—personally, I think I go above and beyond in terms of trying to meet the needs of my students—but yet I can’t get healthcare. That doesn’t make sense to me.
TS: Has this soured your idea about teaching at all—this new profession that you’ve taken?
She paused and let out a slightly mischievous laugh.
Bailey: To be honest, this was a challenging year for me. There would be days that I would come home and I would get on the computer and search for jobs in corporate America.
At this, we both laugh, sharing the familiarity of this secret confession.
Bailey: Not too long ago, I was actually on line looking for jobs, and I found an HR receptionist position available that paid $8,000 a year more that what I make. And, that’s not to take away anything from receptionists because they do a lot—you know, businesses couldn’t function if they did not have receptionists and secretaries. If their employers know their value and are paying them $8000 more to answer phones and to file and make sure things are running smoothly to set up meetings, then why doesn’t my employer understand my value? Schools can’t run without the teachers. You know we may be at the bottom but a very important piece at the bottom.
~At this, I wanted to stop her and ask if she really felt that—“we may be at the bottom”—but I held back. She was flowing, and I didn’t want to interrupt. I wish I hadn’t, for I wonder how many teachers feel this in either their conscious or non-conscious estimation of their “rank” in the school’s stratified system.
She continued. . .
Bailey: . . . And, I’m gonna be honest: I applied for the job!
As we guffawed, she perforates our laughter with. . .
Bailey: I did. I applied for the job. I certainly did.
TS: Okay, so you didn’t take the job to be a receptionist, but you shared with me that you applied to teach summer school for the District.
Bailey: I went on-line, filled out an application and received an email saying, “Please come to the interviews.” So, I am a professional and want to be treated as such. So, I put on my suit and my heels, put my portfolio together—you know, made updates—and took my resume in (I’m ready). So, I get to the interviews—which was at a DC high school—and it’s hot this day. And, I look and people are lined up down the block and around the corner for interviews. So, I stood out in the hot sun—in my heels—in my suit so I could get an interview to be a summer school teacher. The security guard of the school comes down, writes on a piece of paper—a number—tears it off and starts handing it to people. And, I was number one hundred and ninety-something. So, I stood out in the hot sun for a few hours, and when I got to the door, my purse was checked—for security purposes. My ID was checked—for security purposes—to go into the interview. So, I go into the interview and received another number and waited another hour or so. People were standing. There were not enough chairs. It was unorganized. So, finally, my opportunity came. I went in to be interviewed. My curls are gone by this time. I’m hot and sweaty, and I am offered a job.
~While she got the job teaching summer school, Bailey recounts tons of confusion and disorganization before she even walks in the classroom (including dealing with folks with bad attitudes along the way—the same folks who are confused and disorganized, by the way). It all boils down to her being assigned to teach a course for which she is not certified. She takes it because, as she said, “I have bills to pay and student loans.”
TS: Share with me your experience dealing with children with special education challenges.
Bailey: I received a student this year who could not read, but as a teacher I am expected to perform with excellence regardless of what the circumstances are. And I was expected to make sure that my class made AYP, but yet I had a child who could not read a Dr. Seuss book—to be honest.
TS: What grade was this?
Bailey: Fifth grade. I had to take time away from my other students who also aren’t on a fifth-grade reading level—maybe a third grade, second grade level—to teach him how to blend his sounds. We had to start from scratch. You know, how to take “c” and “h” and make the “ch” sound. So, this is what I am doing with a fifth-grader, and I am expected to make sure that my kids are proficient in reading and math.
TS: Is blending sounds on the CAS?
Bailey: No. But, how can you read a passage and comprehend, when you can’t blend and read a word?
TS: So essentially, you are preparing them to prepare them for you to teach?
Bailey: Um, hmm. I am expected to perform miracles. Basically.
TS: Did you receive a special educator to help you in your room?
Bailey: I did not have an aide. They were pulled out a certain amount of hours by the special education teacher, but I didn’t receive any assistance in the class. But, how do you teach a fifth grader to summarize when the fifth grader can’t read the passage? You can’t get to summarizing unless they can actually read the passage. That was a challenge.
TS: How does it make you feel as an educator when you have been given someone with those deficits? It sounds like only one students.
Bailey: I feel bad for the students. I was probably angry, but I had to deal with that issue. I am not a kindergarten teacher. I am not a first grade teacher. I am a fifth grade teacher, and as a fifth grade teacher I am expected to work on fifth grade skills. I had to help that student. It wasn’t right not to help that student, but in helping that student learning how to blend and start reading, I was taking away from the other students who, most of them were not on a fifth reading level, so they needed help also to be brought up to their grade level.
~She pauses, and says something that sadly proves she is a quick learner.
Bailey: I understand why I received that student because that is the system. So, he’s going to middle school learning how to blend now but not able to comprehend and function independently in a middle school classroom.
TS: How do you feel about the fact that he is now going to be in the sixth grade?
Bailey: There are student who were promoted who weren’t on a fifth grade level, but they’ll probably be okay. They’ll struggle, but they’ll be okay. They can function. But . . . I am not sure what he’s going to do next year. Seriously. I am really not sure how he will function and get through. Or, he’ll continue to be passed on.
TS: Any other thoughts?
Bailey: It just disturbs me that I am expected to do great things, but I am not treated as a professional. I am not working in an environment that allows me to produce excellence. But, excellence is expected of me. You know, not processing a person’s healthcare for three months—that’s certainly not excellence. But, I am expected to teach fifth grade students who read on a first grade level. And if I complain, then, I am not a good teacher, or I am not an effective teacher because I can’t meet the challenge. And it’s not that I don’t want to—I want to be a good teacher; I really do—but how can I perform with excellence when my teaching environment isn’t reflective of that? It’s disturbing.
TS: If you sat down right now, and you had one thing to say to Chancellor Michelle Rhee in terms of this issue of excellence, what would you say to her—just one on one, closed door?
Bailey: The issue goes way beyond just the teachers. It’s the system. It’s really the system.
TS: The issue?
Bailey: All the issues the DCPS and a lot of urban systems have. The system isn’t set up for the students to really succeed. You know, maybe I could’ve helped that student who was reading on a first grade level if I had ten kids. And, I know her efforts are to clean up the system and make sure we have really good teachers, but it goes beyond just the teachers. I have students coming to school asking me for money, “My dad said could you give us money ‘cause we don’t have money for pampers for my little brother.” That’s what I am dealing with. I am still trying to pay down my student loans and feed myself and pay my car note, but I am giving money to parents who can’t buy pampers for their kids? Or, I call home because a child hasn’t come to school for three days and the parent doesn’t give me an answer—“Oh, well, they’ll be in school tomorrow”—and they come to school tomorrow, then they’re absent the next two days and there’s no explanation as to why the student has missed three days out of a week. Or, I am dealing with. . . with a student calling me a B***ch or telling me they wish I would get shot. But, I am expected to perform with excellence and make sure all my students are proficient in reading and be an effective teacher. Yet, there are days that I don’t have time to use the bathroom. I don’t have time to sit down and eat, or I’m calling downtown to make sure that my healthcare has been processed.
~She actually loaned the money to the student for the student’s baby brother. And about the student who called her a “B” and the one who said that he wished she were shot?
Bailey: I didn’t get support the first ten times I called. Why call home for that? I continue on and teach and do the best that I can with what I have.
~Before she puts the recorder down, she stresses . . .
Bailey: I am still in teaching because I love my kids. I really, really love my kids. The rewards are few, but on days before I leave, a student may give me a hug or write me a note, “Ms. Bailey you are the best teacher.” One of my troubled students who really caused me a lot of heartache, on the promotion day, he hugged me and would not let me go. Little things like that keep me in the classroom. Dealing with parents cussing you out. Not feeling valued and respected by your administrator, but I love my students—even the ones that may curse at me.
~She laughs.
TS: So, what if you receive a call from the HR department for this job as a receptionist?
Bailey: I have a lot of thinking to do. A lot of thinking to do.
Comments
TS--Thank you for writing about teachers.
"Bailey" should know that while she loves the kids, many of us parents love our teachers.
I hope her wishes for improvements come true.
As a former parent of a DCPS student I am appaled that any teacher would be treated that way. I agree that is "DC" government for you! So did the HR department staff get repremanded for not completing something as basic as health coverage for an employee? Interesting because Mayor Fenty and Michelle Rhee wpuld certainly agree to firing a teacher for not teaching correctly. Why are the HR staff or the "downtown" office employees exempt from this? Respect is important how can you expect teachers to teach and retain excellent teachers if they have to take a day off from work just to resolve a health insurance issue that was not their responsiblity? I wonder what Michelle Rhee has to say about that?
It's not just the teachers in urban schools who are treated with so little respect and expected to perform miracles. I'm retired now, but I had similar experiences in rural and small town school systems. Teachers are an easy scapegoat for politicians who haven't a clue as to how to deal with the complexities of our dysfunctional educational system. Upper grade teachers trying to help children who can't read may find my site useful: www.AmericanEnglishDoctor.com/.
Maeve - Thank you for the website:) I will definitely take a look at it.
Summer16 - No one in HR was reprimanded. I was told the office was in a time of transition and they were sorry for the delay.
Karin - Thank you for your words of support.
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