This whole school thing in Wyandotte is a mess. The basic gist of the plan is that they are planning to close McKinley Elementary, and merge it with Monroe (my school). I understand it mathematically, but the way it is being brought about and presented to the families is all wrong. At first we were told that the entire McKinley staff and students were being brought to Monroe and any extra Monroe people would be gone, regardless of seniority. The children already in our building that are school of choice are to be moved out (en masse) to another building. In fact, our union president was actually told that they were really closing Monroe and transplanting McKinley. Talk about feeling like the ugly stepsister.
Now I completely get that losing your building is horrible. I really do understand that. But why disrupt so many more kids? The McKinley kids are moving anyway, send a group of them to another building. Why disrupt more children and families? It just makes me feel as if our staff and students are somehow not as important to the district, and that really hurts. I pour myself into my job as much as a McKinley teacher does. I understand that they have a different program, but different isn't necessarily better.
Sigh. I guess for right now, we are at the wait and see phase. The union does not plan to let the original plan regarding teachers happen, so that is a plus. And no matter what happens, my seniority is such (#120 in the district!) that I am relatively safe. The biggest decision now involves whether I want to take on the "McKinley philosophy" that I really think is going to be pushed upon me. I have been debating and praying hard, but still don't know for certain what I plan to do.
That sounds really rough. I worked for a company once where our company was hired to outsource the work for this other very large company, but the deal was all their people came to work for our company (actually they took up an entire wing, so literally hundreds of people) and it was so hard to integrate "us" with "them," esp. considering they were physically placed into their own wing of the building. Hopefully you will have good leadership to pull you through the transition.
ReplyDeleteMonica, I am responding here because there are "prying eyes" that do not know this place exists, if you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteWell, there is the looping thing, which sounds great in principal and is, if you have great kids. Problem is, McKinley hasn't done true looping in years, because of class sizes, and I looped once. I almost quit teaching because of it. If you have any kids that are "difficult" you have their difficulties for two years. (And please don't think I mean special education students or anything like that, I am basically speaking of the kids that are, well, jerks for lack of a better term. We know they all exist and quite often have parents that don't know what to do with them, perhaps because they created this monster?)
The half day every Wednesday bothers me. Ostensibly it is for the teachers to meet and collaborate, but it is also used for staff meetings and the like. Who wants to sit through all those meetings? And how can the 15-20 minutes added on the other days add up to a block of 2-3 that I am losing? I don't know how on earth they get through all of the curriculum we are required to get through.
There are no grades. K-6. There is some kind of alternate grading system that I completely do not understand. I have talked to middle school teachers that hate it because the parents come in flabbergasted because Johnnie is getting a C, that never happened in the past...
They do Interest groups (that take away more curriculum time) and basically for lack of a better term are more touchy-feely with the kids. I am all for happiness and smiles, but there is also a place for discipline and the likes of that. I know I have to be open minded and I am trying to be, really I am, but I need a LOT more information before I can make an educated decision about my future. I could have transferred into that building years ago if I had wanted to, and I didn't. We'll just see what the future holds.
Sorry, that should have stated that it sounds good in PRINCIPLE...
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, the new PRINCIPAL for us is a very nice woman, but she is the current leader at McKinley, so I hope she is willing to give up some things too.
Wow, it sounds like HUGE changes and not enough info yet. And I am probably out of the, er, loop here, but I'm surprised schools in the same system and town can have such drastic teaching and grading methods.
ReplyDeleteHalf-days on Wednesdays seems like a horrible idea all around--what about parents and child care? And like you said, how about that all the necessary curriculum??
Will you get to stay w/Bridgette?
Vent here all you like....