Comments on: Why it’s so hard to fire bad teachers

By: Kurisi

Kurisi — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 02:29:43 +0000

Rachel,
I think it is highly in appropriate that you make an annonymous posting regarding a teacher, whom you name and give a working location for. This action consititues defamation of character and is immoral. Rightly, teachers are constantly in the public spotlight because we work with a highly influential and vulnerable sector of the public, children. We are also public servants. If you have a problem with a specific teacher, I suggest you contact the school board or school trustee in the appropriate jurisdiction and air your concern there, privately, where the teacher has a chance to respond. Do not do it on a public forum. By providing the comment above, you have shown yourself as a person of weak character and, if the allegations you make are true, you have trivialized a sensitive situations.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 07:54:38 +0000

Ms. Laseur a teacher at Davie Jones Elementary in Maple Ridge B.C. is entering tenure in 2011. For years I have been at the school I have heard students complain about her constantly yelling and screaching at them. We can all hear her doing this, yet no one does anything about it. Students have been scared of her for years! An average A-B student that goes into her class at the begining of the year leaves with a C grade from stress! She shows signs of dementia and the students notice too. Why does the principal do nothing? Other teachers keep it a dirty secret! The students are being abused!

By: Caroline

Caroline — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 01:34:56 +0000

I agree with the writer of this blog:

http://www.stopdestroyingeducation.blogspot.com

Check out the entry on teacher vampires.

By: khalid bozai

khalid bozai — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:21:51 +0000

my comment to is I have done Teacher complain to the Ontario Teachers Collage is been unresonly delay in I have provid the evdince it sees to me so teachers are allowed as the invesigation officer were explaining to me.
this not a full comment to explain if you can contact me on my cell 416-887-9178 or email the right source to contact.
kind regerds

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:31:14 +0000

Every thing Jason said about TOC’s holds true in Ontario too. We have gained some rights for TOC’s but the hiring of teachers for contract positions is corrupt as it gets! Nepotism rules. Of course if you complain, you get black-listed. I love teaching and enjoy the students so much…but I’ve been trying for seven years and am ready to quit. Today I went into the classroom of a gentleman who was recently hired on contract. He had also automatically been given full year long terms for the last several years. He also just happens to be married to one of the superintendents. It was a poor excuse for a classroom…barren and sparse..no student work on display, no activites for students…And the lesson he left for me to teach was a joke. I just wanted to come home and cry. I’m so frustrated. My wife is starting to doubt me…but as Lynda said..its not you..its the system. The unions listen sympathetically but never seem to have the guts to do anything about the system. Be patient….good things come to those who wait… 7 years of supply, countless hours of university courses, AQ teacher’s courses, coaching and starting clubs at schools I have had long terms at, endless workshops…I don’t know how much longer I can wait. My marriage will probably soon be over. These are publically funded institutions. If any other publically funded instution had this much neoptism and cronyism there would be massive public outrage and an investigation. Some people tell me ..well that’s just the way of the world..I should just accept it. But that’s probably the same thing they used to say about slavery!

By: bigdaveinchina

bigdaveinchina — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:18:26 +0000

About 12 years ago the OCDSB actually did fire a teacher.She was excellent in her field but highly manipulative,using inflated marks to get her way and poor ones to prevent students from exercising their independence.I became embroiled in a situation that I couldn’t ignore and things played out in circumstances I had never seen before.
I was the teacher of some students that this teacher and I had in common.They were university bound and discovered that the rug was being pulled out from under their feet.My approaching the school’s administration led to the principal guaranteeing their fair treatment and no marks whimsically reduced.It ought to have ended there.But,as the woman was a friend of mine,she viewed me as the villain of the piece.
The next thing I knew,I was to be interviewed by four OSSTF heayweights who were flying in from Toronto to investigate her allegations of my professional misconduct.As it turned out I never met them over an expense-account lunch or at any location.The Board in Ottawa was contemplating firing her and I had to deal with their lawyers instead.
In an unexpected turn of events,the woman sued various students for “defamation of character.”At this point in time the school year had ended but in a remarkable display of networking,the accused students located all over Canada filed depositions of their own.This was front-page stuff and the Board wasted no time in offering her a cash settlement to resign.The legal battle continued in spite of the Board’s somewhat slow decision to release her.Because she no longer worked for the OCDSB,I had to obligation to deal with the Federation people.
I was more or less free of any legal consequences but the emotional wear and tear on the students was extreme,even though they had successfully graduated.The principal made it clear that his career would end if she was ever reinstated.She never was.But details about the legal settlement are still pending due to certain technicalities regarding procedures followed.
Blessed with tremendous presence,personality and language ability,she would have made any serious challenge to her teaching expertise look highly unsound.Her Achilles’ heel lay in her being a “confrontation junkie” that had never tasted defeat.Complete faith in oneself is admirable,perhaps,until it needs fresh opponents-even students-to destroy.
We so often have a stereotype of the “bad” or “incompetent” teacher as a person who doesn’t belong in the field of public education.She was probably the second least boring teacher I’ve ever encountered.But when you discover there is no bottom to someone’s lethal capacity,you realise you’re in bigger trouble than that which is defined by boredom or personal inadequacy.Meeting one such person in a lifetime is enough.

By: bigdaveinchina

bigdaveinchina — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:07:52 +0000

An administrator I worked with in Ontario some years ago became a V.P. but admitted privately it had been a great mistake to leave behind the pleasurable nature of the classroom.That was the way so many of us felt in spite of the lures of promotion with its variety of perks.
Now schools are in the business of marketing themselves to a more aware public and potential teachers are obliged to do the same.
I was intrigued by Jason’s remarks at the beginning of his submission.A fine GPA doesn’t really count for much in determining just how much you know or how to use it.Time teaches you the “how.” Your popularity with students,yes,that’s important, assuming you don’t give 100% to all of them following a bout of lithium-induced affection.As for written assessments,I’d be inclined to pay little attention to them–after all,you’re in the very early part of creating a reputation for yourself.
Our school was a good one to start in.You were given freedom to be yourself,to develop as you decided to develop,and to pay as much attention to Ministry of Education Documents as you thought they deserved.Our Dept. Head was a firm believer in a teacher finding his own comfort zone and discovering a personality which he could call his own rather than trying to absorb a tone that wasn’t suited to everyone.
Jason reminds me of a friend’s daughter in Ontario who quit after two years working at a very good school.She would have been excellent,I think,except for her disillusionment over the various intrusions of bureaucracy.Both of her parents had been teachers and had set extraordinarily high standards for themselves.She remarked several months ago about how everyone seemed anxious and unwilling to laugh and that she was not prepared to adapt to such conditions.
You have to adapt constantly these days or at least give that impression.People are not concerned about your opinion;they are concerned much more about the way you present yourself.
I’ve always thought that time spent on self-presentation wasn’t a waste.So,Jason,I spent my first 2 or 3 years doing my own watching and assessing,with a view to surviving,learning,and dealing with ambivalence.Teachers tend to be followers and overcautious.You have a lot more freedom than you might realise.You can choose to minimise the inevitable irritations by not worrying about them.

A good administrator understands that a really outstanding teacher,a guy who’s a “keeper,” isn’t the kind of person who’s going to let policies stifle his independence and that such a person is vital to the student community in having valuable,creative energy.
Grade 12 I spent at school in England as my father had sabbatical leave.The teachers were excellent,highly competent and eccentric,and totally committed even though a couple of them had poor health.Canada seemed to offer stale air,stale platitudes,stale commuters trapped by the same old destination.
The job in Canada today,as it always has,offers surprise and reciprocity–even adventure.I don’t think it’s worth giving those up for anything.But that’s just me.Jason and others might look back at their decision to find different employment and say “Thank God.”Or they might subscribe to the idea “it makes{me} wonder.”Best of luck wherever you end up….

By: bigdaveinchina

bigdaveinchina — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:04:57 +0000

I didn’t find that the age of a teacher mattered very much…I will stick with that.I did find that “when” you taught made a difference.The further back you go,the less you were imposed upon and urged to assume so many unrelated responsibilities….

Years ago,an education professor said to us beginners that the best teachers disappear after a year or two.Now his words make sense–if you’re working for a system(rather than for yourself)the process loses its appeal.It became apparent that teachers developed a great sense of importance even though they didn’t possess extraordinary credentials.Students are lucky to meet just 2 of them on their way through school.I was fairly outspoken in commenting on my colleagues but I got tired of defending them,listening to them and having to co-operate with them.

I’m going back 50 years.Things have changed in many ways but the teachers with limited ability and unpleasant temperaments are still there–they come and go and slowly kill our enthusiasm.Classroom education all over the country is placed in the hands of “C” adults who would have you believe otherwise.At least it’s a four-year process before the next stage begins.

By: R Mc Mann

R Mc Mann — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:44:48 +0000

I was a TOC beginning in 1990. The problem for TOC’s existed back then just as it does now. In 1991 I was encouraged to relocate to SD 57. In July of 1991 the head H/R asked me personally to come up from Burnaby, BC and start subbing in Sept… Meanwhile, in June 1991 (a month earlier) the SD 57 board of education had already made the decision to eliminate its elementary music program entirely, along with 2 full time secondary music positions. As a music ed. teacher, I had no knowledge of this decision, and I assumed the district never had an elementary music program to begin with. I found out about this crap months later. I subbed for 8 years in that district. It almost drove crazy. There was never a chance of getting an FTE. But H/R was quite content to sucker people from anywhere so they could waste their careers away. Nothing has really changed.

By: Lynda

Lynda — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:41:47 +0000

Bravo to you Jason! I feel for you. I completed my education degree 6 yeats ago after taking time out to marry, work in an office and then raise a family It was a wonderful accomplishment for an over 40 year old woman. I was extremely happy to be going into a profession to which I had been told time and time again that I was a natural. But like you, I have met poverty head on and have struggled for the last 6 years. Being a French teacher makes it even harder trying to explain to people that it isn’t me, it is the system. People not knowing the true facts about what is really happening out there figure that I am making excuses or perhaps I am not getting the work due to some problem with me. I feel it. It infuriates me to find out that my children in French Immersion do not have French subs and I can’t get on the TOC list in any public school. Even more so, that retired teachers are being brought back to TOC. I feel I am struggling with not only what you have said but also ageism. I am normally a very positive person but when teaching is what you are trained to do amd I am 48 years old now without anything else to fall back on for a living but part time work.( maybe 15 hours a week for $15-$20 hour), it just makes me ill. I have even had people suggest that the university needs to have a class action suit against them for adding to their coffers when they know that most of the people who complete their studies will be living in poverty. I still teach but if I were younger like you Jason, yes I would have dropped teaching after banging my head against the wall enough times. Good luck to you in your new endeavors.