Tomorrow is D-Day for teachers in the School District of Philadelphia (SDP). While we are all very excited and happy that all-day kindergarten has been restored, some 1,498 teachers are going to be receiving pink slips tomorrow.
Of course the potential of losing my job is horrible and I am dreading going into work on Monday morning, but what is hurting me more is the thought the the exact people we need to ensure a bright educational future for our students are being cut. Now, I am the first person to explain that veteran teachers are the most valuable asset educators have - they are experienced, knowledgeable of the systems in place, and can be great guides/mentors. That being said, without the new blood coming in, when those veterans retire, who is going to replace them?
Every school district should maintain a wide variety of educators - new, veteran, and in the middle - in order to maintain the institutional knowledge of our schools. Since most schools seem not to have a policy manual to help new teachers - or such a manual would be silly because policies change so often - we need the veteran to explain the changes and the consistencies to our new folk. We also need the new teachers to energize the veterans and show them the new tools that can be used and how to use them. Without this dialogic process, our students are the ones who suffer.
I believe that "children come first," just like Dr. Ackerman does. But if we want to prove that, we need to seriously re-think what is about to happen tomorrow.
Of course the potential of losing my job is horrible and I am dreading going into work on Monday morning, but what is hurting me more is the thought the the exact people we need to ensure a bright educational future for our students are being cut. Now, I am the first person to explain that veteran teachers are the most valuable asset educators have - they are experienced, knowledgeable of the systems in place, and can be great guides/mentors. That being said, without the new blood coming in, when those veterans retire, who is going to replace them?
Every school district should maintain a wide variety of educators - new, veteran, and in the middle - in order to maintain the institutional knowledge of our schools. Since most schools seem not to have a policy manual to help new teachers - or such a manual would be silly because policies change so often - we need the veteran to explain the changes and the consistencies to our new folk. We also need the new teachers to energize the veterans and show them the new tools that can be used and how to use them. Without this dialogic process, our students are the ones who suffer.
I believe that "children come first," just like Dr. Ackerman does. But if we want to prove that, we need to seriously re-think what is about to happen tomorrow.
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