BTW--my husband and I believe I am the teacher he is referring to. No one was ever allowed to question anything. And, for the record, I only complained about being given the royal screw with a program once. Thanks to a little work behind his back, I was able to fix part of it. Guess that still hurts.
Dear all:
Attached, please find the department program for the Fall term. I advice you not to open it if you will complain in any ways or fashion. You are on vacation and so am I. Well, actually, I am still in the office. So, do not check your email if you believe you will find bad news.
I do not mean to be nasty, but a few years ago, a math teacher accused me of behaviors unbecoming of an assistant principal because I harassed her by emailing her in the summer. What happened was that she had the lowest passing percentage on the Regents exam of all the people who taught the course. If you believe you might operate or react the same way as that teacher, I sincerely suggest that you do not open this email or my emails to the department during the months of July and August. I will be sending you the Regents and course grade analysis during the summer.
Have a great summer! I am sorry I had to run out and did not have a chance to say goodbye to everyone individually. But we are a great department because we have great teachers who know how to get students to do the work.
Thank you for your understanding. I believe I am the only AP in our building who has completed the teacher program for next year. I just have to work on rooms.
Sincerely,
The Best AP in the city
PS. I do want to know if I give you only four classes, six classes, etc. Those errors I will fix. I will not engage in a conversation about the classes your did not get or someone else got, number of preps., or the session you are on (remember, most people have two preps or one. There is only one person with two and half preps). If you want a different session, then your classes will change. I refuse to make someone else program worse because another person complained.(Radish picture from Union Square farmer's market. The radishes represent NYC high school graduates and the education they got under the Bloomberg administration)
1 comment:
Let's set aside the fact "The Best AP in the city" is, judging from his many errors in grammar and syntax, functionally illiterate. And let's also set aside the implications of putting an illiterate man in charge of the education of others. Instead, let's focus of the murky mess of illogical thought both conveyed and implied by this email.
Let's start with the question of opening the email. First he is sending an email, in which he requests that his should not be opened. This is a paradox, unless the subject line is “Do not open this until September.” Obviously there was an attachment to the email, that again, the AP requests not to be opened, but then, in the post script, he specifically requests it should be opened so errors can be brought to his attention and fixed. Which one is it? Do you want the file opened or not? If the answer is negative, why send it in the first place? If the answer is positive, then why say not to open it?
Now on to the issue of complaining. “The Best AP in the city” does indeed have a problem with professionalism, because none of what he wrote with regards to his teachers complaining about their schedules is appropriate for a civilized adult. It's more of what I'd expect from a 17 year-old girl. “The Best AP in the city” isn't a teenaged girl, is he? No, didn't think so.
Okay, I can understand listening to teachers carp about their assignments is not the most fun part of the job, but guess what “The Best AP in the city”? That's why you get paid the big bucks. You also get big bucks for patiently listening, nodding, smiling and sympathizing. You also get big bucks for calmly and rationally explaining why Teacher X received those specific classes and how you must balance the needs and resources of the department. It's called diplomacy. It's called tact. And when Miss Friday, one of the least tactful people on earth, calls you out for your lack of same, you know when your in trouble.
“The Best AP in the city?” That's a joke, right? 'Cause my house cats think more logically than you do. They also have better grammar and syntax. Oh, and they're much more polite too.
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