Happy Retirement Henry, You Earned It

Apology before you read:  Henry never hated the kids.  It was the system that ruined them and made his life so hard.  Some of his rants mislead me.  He was a great teacher who always put kids first.

My friend Henry retired.  He has written over and over again how much he hates the kids and hates teaching but I always knew that was not true.  Today, on Facebook, he posted a beautiful note from a student, a difficult girl who was always being punished, never talked too.  Henry took the time, on his last day, to get to know her and to try to figure out a way to get through to him.

The school system took Herny's heart for teaching and ripped it out of his chest.  I feel so sad when I think of all the students who will miss out because this man is no longer in the classroom.  I feel awful when I think of all the needy students being placed in the hands of inexperienced teachers.

Henry is not the only teacher the system ripped from the students of New York.  APs, threatened by teachers older and smarter than them are pushing them out all the time.  Melanie will never again be able to help the lowest functioning special education students learn to read and Barbara will never again touch the hearts of the non diploma bound students that were in her care.  Elaine will no longer spend weekends tutoring her math students for free and Debbie will no longer spend hours helping out with college essays.

Tenure is what kept these caring teachers in the classroom.  Miserable, incompetent APs couldn't get rid of them by rating them poorly so they drove them to retirement with horrible, disgusting attitudes.  It takes at least 3 years to learn the trade and become a good teacher.  It takes longer than that to become a master teacher.  It takes a lot less time for know nothing administrators to get great teachers out of the classroom.