Monday, March 12, 2007

Memos From Suit

Punishment was severe. If a plantation
owner beat an Irish slave to death, the
only penalty was the value of the slaves
financial loss.
(indentured servitude)

Please include a "Do Now" assignment in every lesson. You might want to consider grading the assignment or granting contribution towards a student's grade for the marking period.


Now, I don't know where Principal Suit has been for the past 30 years, but these "Do Now" assignments are something that has been done since the beginning of time. Marking them, now, that is a different story. Aside from the time it takes to mark them (most teachers do want to spend at least 5 minutes quality time at home with their families), it takes too much class time to collect them and then distribute them again. This is not something I am willing or capable of doing.

Teacher volunteers will be needed for this effort (hall sweeps) and your participation will be greatly appreciated.


My participation will be appreciated? Will it be appreciated enough to let me leave a period early to make a doctor's appointment without having to pay back the coverage? Will it be appreciated enough so Suit will reconsider asking me to transfer? Will it be appreciated enough to release me from my C-6 assignment once a week? I think not!

The NYC Police Department and School Safety Division will be given a presentation....We are requesting you attend this presentation during one of the above periods if you have a non-teaching period or non assignment time....It is imperative that all of us be informed as to how to protect...


If it is so important for me to attend this meeting, why can't I go during a professional period? Isn't this meeting a professional topic? I already know how to secure my property, so it must be school property they are worried about. I, for one, am not going. I will not sacrifice my lunch or prep. It's a shame that lots of teachers will show up.

I'm tired of being treated like an indentured servant. It's time that we all start sticking up for our rights. Only when we all stop going along with these non-ending requests will something get done about them.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would bet that a lot of the theft are not necessarily the kids. The school is so overcrowded that there is morning school, afternoon school, late afternoon school, and evening school, and there are so many kids and staff that it becomes overwhelming. These are crimes of opportunity. If they really wanted us to not be victims and truly wanted us informed, this meeting would be a faculty or staff development meeting, not yet another professional obligation. They would have to pay me to attend this meeting.

As for their "hall sweeps" you bet I won't be "sweeping". Again, pay me or relieve me of my C6. They certainly are treating us like the "hired help". The administration lost its ability to relate to our everday world long ago, replaced by arrogance and condescension. Anyway, why didn't they schedule "hall sweeps" in October, not the middle of March, when the school year is 2/3 over? The only "sweeping" that has been done up till now was the sweeping under the rug of serious offenses, such as brazen blatant test theft and cheating by an individual student, and how about knife possession that also was swept under the bureaucratic rug! I'm sure there's a lot more winking and nodding going on that we really don't want to know about since the blood can boil.

Pissedoffteacher said...

I love you POP!!!!

Anonymous said...

Love you too, POD!! And your new door too!!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like something that should be on a faculty conference agenda. I wouldn't give up a period either, especially when "asked" like that.

Anonymous said...

I'm tired of being treated like an indentured servant. It's time that we all start sticking up for our rights.
Ahem, that's what unions are for, otherwise you're just a non-networked voice in the wilderness, and management's golden rule is "divide and conquer".

Another thing that boggles my mind about your country is how completely unions have been stigmatized and how so few people realize in who's interest it really is for there to be no unions. This could only happen where people are completely ignorant of their own industrial history.

This blog and no doubt your own network of pissed-off teachers prove there is solidarity, but if it's not organized, there is nothing to stop the powers that be from treating you as an indentured servant. So you don't like it; why should anyone listen to you? Proof: you have to threaten or bribe to get a door hung for $1 and 15 mins of labour.

CaliforniaTeacherGuy said...

Bravo for you for sticking up for your rights. You are not an indentured servant, you are a professional, and you deserve to be treated like one.