Education Town Hall -Speak Up for Better Working and Learning Conditions


“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” MLK
Silence is too often the message we choose to send. Silence can be the message of choice because of fear, apathy or submission. This is not a time for teachers to be silent, and certainly not the time for Orange County Public School teachers to be silent.
We have protested the actions of policymakers in Tallahassee who have written laws that are intended to act as wrecking balls to public education and teacher unions. We have spoken out against the laws that divert public funds from public education. It is time now to protest and speak up against the District’s actions and decisions that are diverting the most valuable educational resource away from our profession –teachers.
This past week some OCPS teachers have made their voices heard locally and nationally. They publicly decried the unbearable working and learning conditions in Orange County Public Schools, and explained how those conditions forced their resignations.
An OCPS teacher's heartfelt resignation letter was published by The Washington Post last week. The former teacher spoke about the forced uniformity and the loss of autonomy. She spoke about the disconnect between the goals promoted by OCPS, and the practices and directives they enforce upon teachers that run counter to those goals.
She wrote, “Children are not data points. Teachers are not cattle herders. The majority of you at the top should feel a deep sense of shame for placing your political gains above the intrinsic aims of public education.”
The letter also touched upon a sore spot for many OCPS teachers –the idea of viewing children as products. The OCPS Vision statement is: “To be the top producer of successful students in the nation.” She wrote, “Speaking of ills, you should feel equally shameful that you’ve so clearly targeted children as a product, as a data point, as a metaphorical trophy.”
She spoke of Florida’s alarming attrition rate of 40% for teachers in their first five years of teaching. She talked about teachers speaking up, and being met by those in power with closed doors and deaf ears. Who among us cannot relate to that?
Another teacher spoke up about her resignation last week to FOX 35 News. Rosemary DeGracia, an active OCCTA member and beloved and respected teacher, made the decision to resign for many of the same reasons as were cited in The Washington Post letter. Rosemary spoke up because to be silent is to accept the dangerous direction that OCPS has charted for teachers and students. She stated, “I think people are just tired of fighting. We want the best for our students and families, and we're not able to do that.”
Still another teacher sent an email to his peers before he shut the classroom door for the last time last week. He wrote, “Relating to OCPS, we are all more than a Marzano rating. It is ridiculous that we put so much effort into such unimportant things that are in no way objective. Our lives as teachers should not be judged by a rubric or student test scores and data that is mostly out of our control. Our lives as teachers should be judged by the joy that we bring to our students lives and the appreciation of their parents. Learning gains are obviously important and why we teach but the harder we have to force things, the worse we probably do.
I became a teacher after changing careers . . . I went through the OCPS Alternative Certification Program. Every class touched on students being divergent learners however the county offers very little room for us to be divergent teachers which then fosters a poor environment of student convergence. We teach most effectively when we are allowed to be ourselves and to bring our own individuality to our teaching.”
I know of several other OCPS teachers who closed the doors of their classrooms last week.  A teacher who was visiting the union hall when the reporter was there, told her that two teachers at her school would spend their last day teaching that week. More than a handful of teachers commented on CTA’s Facebook posts that they too had resigned because of the detrimental working and learning conditions.
OCPS teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate. Yet, the District’s response to the FOX 35 news story demonstrates they cannot hear us. The District’s statement was, “While we can't comment on every individual situation, we are proud that our teacher retention rates have increased over the prior year and are among the highest in the country when compared to other urban districts.”
Really? It is sad the district refuses to acknowledge this crisis. That refusal means those in power will continue to ignore the pleas of the teachers, fail to take corrective actions, and refuse to earnestly work to stop this exodus.
I am asking you to join me in speaking up. Let’s take every opportunity to demand change for the sake of teachers, our profession, and most importantly, for our students.
Please join me at the Education Town Hall tomorrow night.

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