Two months ago, I was a teacher at a public middle school. I was good at my job, like really good. My kids, their parents, and my colleagues loved (still love) me. And, I loved (love) them more than words can express. I had only taught there for two years, but I already had a reputation and I didn't mind the things that were said about me. However, for most of this past school year; I had a horrible feeling in the bit of my stomach that my administration was not going to ask me to come back this next year. I kept telling my colleagues that I was closest to that I was going to be fired at the end of the term. They just kept telling me that I was crazy and that I was such a great teacher and that would never happen. But, I knew. I knew it was coming.
The first sign was about three months into school when I was placed on a PIP (Profession Improvement Plan). My administration said that they were placing me on this plan because of something that had happened in my classroom a couple of weeks prior. What had happened was two boys had gotten into a shoving match as we were lining up to leave for the day. There were 3 other teachers in the classroom besides myself and there was nothing that any of us could have done to prevent it from happening. However, I went above and beyond protocol by taking the boys aside and talking to them separately about what had happened, reporting the incident to the office, and by calling the parents and explain it to them. The boys made up, the parents understood, and the next thing I know; I'm put on a PIP. As part of the PIP, I had to observe three other teachers and write an essay about their classroom management skills. I also had to meet with the administration every month to talk about my progress. I did this, without argument. When I emailed my essays to my principle, I even got an email saying that I had done a good job. Every meeting I had with them even went well as far as I could tell. However, I still felt uneasy.
The second sign that things weren't going well was that my observations that I was getting from my administrators were not great either. They would come and watch me teach and when they left I would think to myself, "Yes, nailed it". Then, I would get their comments and be completely floored. It just did not make sense. My kids were learning, they were attentive in class, I had every required, common core ,state hoop jumping through nonsense posted in my room and they still were not happy.
Someone once told me that a teacher should keep and document everything. I did this and when I started to figure out that my job was not safe; I began to do it more. I saved every email, assignment, hall pass, and proof of everything that I did for the whole year, but it didn't matter.
The final sign that I wouldn't be teaching at my school any longer came the last few weeks of school. We started getting our year end evaluations. Everyone was talking about theirs, everyone but me. I was the last person in the building to get theirs. They literally gave me as little of time as possible to respond as possible. So, I finally get my evaluation and it is ridiculous how untrue and off-point it was. I immediately respond via email to my administration and they tell me to bring any proof that I have my year end meeting with them. So, I get all my proof together. I take my plan book, emails, letters from parents and students thanking me for teaching, lesson plans, and the list goes on. I am ready for that meeting.
So, I wait...and wait....and wait some more. I wait 4 days to get called in for this meeting. Finally, at 3 o'clock (quitting time) on the last day of school I get asked into the office. By now, I know without a doubt that it isn't good. I even tell me friend on my way to the meeting, "see you later, I'm going to get fired." So, I get in there and sit down with my stack of documentation and the principle looks as me and tells me how sorry he is for making me wait so long and how he thinks so much of me, but he isn't going to ask me back for next school year. By now, I have accepted this because I knew what was coming, but I still want to know his reasoning. So, I ask him why. His response was, "We just want to go in a different direction". To which I say, "So, this documentation and all of this proof about how I actually do I good job doesn't matter. You aren't even going to look at it?" He says no that the choice has already been made. But, as a favor he is letting me resign so that it looks better for me.
So, I do resign. I quit a job that I love and that I am amazing at and for what? Do you want to know why? Because I actually do know why even though he wouldn't tell me. I was FORCED to quit a job that I love because my school needed a basketball coach and the guy that they wanted needed a teaching position. And he teaches what I do. So, the "different direction" they decided to go in was to choose athletics over education and to do it in a very dirty way.
I'm not surprised that they wanted to fire me to get a coach. That happens all of the time in small town America where sports shut down the entire town on a Friday night, but its how it was done that pisses me off so much. The PIP and the bad observations were lies and they could follow me for the rest of my career. That is horrible. Thankfully, I do live in a small town and I was good at what I do because I know that the people who know me will back me up as I begin to look for a new position, but it takes a really horrible person to potentially ruin someone's life in order to get a basketball coach and that's the Decent Truth. I am just glad that my kids, their parents, and my fellow teachers still love and respect me because that means the world to me.
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