Today I got this e-mail from a discontinued teacher who asked me to post here.
Disclaimer: At the time of this communication to Aimee Horowitz,
there were essentially two things that I knew. 1) Myself and my fellow teacher
were intentionally and deliberately set up. Ratings for the state and local
measurements came in towards the end of the summer (after the discontinuance)
and they were both effective. 2 I didn’t think for one second that Ms. Horowitz
would entertain my request to meet with her. I wanted this story to get the
publicity that it deserves. Aimee has demonstrated through her actions and
inactions that she cares nothing about her teachers and certainly not the
students that she represents. All she seems to be concerned about are the
numbers for the schools that she oversees.
July 19th
Dear Ms. Horowitz,
Hello Ms. Horowitz I am making
one final request that you would kindly find some time in your schedule either
this month or next where we would have the opportunity to briefly meet in your
Staten Island office and discuss my situation. If you are unwilling to meet
with me, or if I don’t hear back from you, then I’m not going to pursue this
matter. I am in the process of moving on with my life, and my career. If you
choose to ignore or discard this letter and pretend that I don’t even exist, then
that is your prerogative but be advised that I intend to make this letter
public because I think that people need to be aware of the abuses that are
taking place in our schools by administration and it’s directly affecting
people like me as well as our students. I am making this request to hopefully meet
because I am in a somewhat depressed state as I look back at the four years
that I’ve been teaching in the DOE at Richmond Hill, and all the experiences
that I’ve had. I had initially planned on spending the rest of my teaching
career in the city schools, and it’s very hard for me to accept the fact that’s
it’s ended on a note like this after only four years of service. I just got
married so it’s also been a disruption to the life of my spouse as well. In
addition to discontinuing me from probationary service, you had originally
wanted to recommend termination of my city license. For what reason I have
absolutely no idea as there absolutely nothing in my personal file that was even
remotely negative other than the four observational reports from January to
June of this past year. You then reconsidered and decided just to pursue the
discontinuance. I’m happy that you decided against the termination part, but
unfortunately that does almost nothing for me. As outraged as I am and as
egregious as your decision was, the one thing that I cannot say is that I was
surprised. I spent the last couple of months documenting conversations, saving
emails, and keeping records (including the 31 single spaced journal of all
transactions between December and May that I set you back in June.)
Ms. Horowitz as I mentioned to
you in the last email, I understand that you are/were in the unfortunate position
where you felt that you had to discontinue a certain number of teachers. I do
not believe that the high volume of candidates up for tenure and the number of
discontinuances that you had to grant and/or look over in a relatively short
time allowed you to spend adequate time evaluating each person’s portfolio and
statistics in their entirety. I’m inclined to believe that that may not ben
important to you anyway.. Ms. Horowitz I
always look for the best in people, and I hope to believe that somewhere within
you there is a decent human being that will what’s fair and proper. This is why
I believe that a visitation is so essential. Even if you are unwilling to reverse your decision on my behalf…at
least you will have all the facts.
With this letter I have attached
a letter of recommendation that Mr. Neil Ganesh wrote for me last year highly
commending me for the quality of my lessons as well as for my service and
commitment to Richmond Hill and my community. I have also attached my satisfactory
observation reports from 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 under the old “S’ and “U”
rating system. I have attached my observational ratings under the Danielson
system from last year 2013-2014. My overall score last year under this new
system was a “77” I was “effective” in all three categories of local and state
measurement. I had wanted to achieve
tenure very badly and (although most of us were granted extensions at the end
of last year) I was willing to work all the more harder this year. In addition to my ratings there’s other
information you may not have known about me and if so then you certainly should
have. I was never the subject of any investigation or inquiry. For the last
three and a half years my file was completely clean. In my portfolio and in my
personnel file there were over 24 letters of recognition commending me for my
various services to the school. Last year I was rated “highly effective” under
the domain of contributions to my school wide community, as well as growing and
developing professionally. My attendance and punctuality were immaculate. (In
the last four years I was only late once.)
Ms. Horowitz, the final piece of
documentation that I have attached is my initial rating from this year where I
scored a “2” out of “60” points. Ms. Horowitz with all due respect you must
have questioned the gross gross inconsistency and believability of
this score when evaluating my performance this year as compared to the last
three years as something would appear seriously wrong. The last three years
aside, that score all by itself should be enough to raise eyebrows as
Ms. Horowitz at this point in
time I have nothing to gain or lose by being truthful about my situation, and I
am not going to misrepresent the facts or tell somebody simply what they want
to hear. It is my very strong opinion and the opinion of others as well that
this year Mr. Ganesh felt that he needed to give a certain number of teachers
poor ratings in order to artificially manipulate the school’s statistics favorable
to him..as well as for the protection of his own job security due the political
circumstances surrounding Richmond Hill. Whatever the case may be, my colleague
and I were chosen as teachers to be targeted with poor ratings consequently leading
up to both of our discontinuances. This was not an accident or a coincidental.
It was very apparent that this was planned ahead of time and done very
deliberately. Mr. Ganesh made that very obvious to us and others through his
actions and through conversations that were had. (Just like me, my colleague was
also an effective teacher with a previously unblemished pedagogical record
prior to the arrival of Ms. Christine Peterson.) On numerous occasions Mr.
Ganesh and Ms. Peterson were dishonest in their accounts of what took place in
my classroom during the observations. (I can very easily substantiate this
claim by offering numerous sources of evidence.) Between my colleague and I we
both hold several graduate degrees and have been teaching for over a combined
decade. In the DOE alone between the two of us there were over five years of
solid effective teaching experience without any adverse ratings.
*I also want to make the point
that I am not seeking to vilify or chastise people solely for the sake of doing
so. Nor am I somebody that is oppositional to negative feedback. Perhaps one of my greatest strengths that I
have always valued is being able to grow and self-evaluate based on collaboration
and support from staff and supervisors. Unfortunately it was extremely obvious
to me and everybody else who was aware of my situation that neither Mr. Ganesh
nor Ms. Peterson had any intention of offering that support since their agenda
seemed to be focused in precisely doing the opposite as they were very fixated
and intent on getting rid of us.
My next point goes to the heart of my initial argument. *Even if Mr. Ganesh were to see my situation
differently which I’m sure would be his first line of defense, then may I offer that there was absolutely
no support whatsoever that was initiated by Ganesh and offered to my colleague
and I this year.
If Mr. Ganesh truly was of the
opinion and had a good faith basis to believe that under very peculiar and mysterious
circumstances, two of his former teachers in a high need area with several
years of very effective teaching practices/observations went 180 degrees from
being these “dedicated, outstanding and fabulous teachers” in which he wrote a
glorifying letter of recommendation for..to suddenly mysteriously turning into
these incompetent ineffective teachers….than what measure of support has he
offered? The answer is none.
*At no point this year was I ever questioned or conferenced in a
meeting initiated by Mr. Ganesh regarding “his” perception of the drastic turn
that the quality of my lessons were allegedly taking. *There was never any discussion had between
myself and Mr. Ganesh over the possibility of a discontinuance. There was never
any improvement plan that was implemented or even talked about. *Every email I
sent him addressing my concerns pertaining to my observations was completely
ignored by him. *When I complained about the lack of support that I was
receiving, and the way that I was being treated by Ms. Peterson, Mr. Ganesh did
absolutely nothing nor even acknowledged that he got my complaint. *Other than
observations, there was never any classroom visitations conducted by Mr. Ganesh
or Ms. Peterson for the purpose of improving instruction. *There was never any
modeling or demonstrations done by either of them despite the fact that I asked
for this many times throughout the year. *Mr. Ganesh was hardly in my classroom
this year. He spent a total of approximately 35 minutes in my classroom this
entire year for two observations (one formal and one informal.) *For the formal observation he spent a total
of 15 minutes out of the 47 minutes of the period that he was in my classroom.
Yet he spent the entire 47-65 minute period in the classroom for other teachers
when their formals were conducted. When he was in my room he was very
disengaged in the lesson and what was going on in the classroom and instead was
busy on his blackberry.
*Most incomprehensible of all was that in the middle of January (three
months before my discontinuance.) which was right around the time that all of
this was going on, he agreed to write me a second letter of recommendation for
the purpose of switching doctoral programs reaffirming my outstandingness and
his own personal philosophy that he is always eager to support those seeking to
strive in their mission for success. I soon realized that he had no intention
of keeping his word as I was one of the people being targeted.
*None of the conversations or questions that should have been had or
asked were. Every single action and inaction that we’ve all witnessed of Mr.
Ganesh and his AP this past year would be a direct contradiction to their
contention that we suddenly became ineffective ineffective teachers.
Most importantly, the timing of
the observations and lack of feedback in a timely manner was a serious issue
this year. When you started reviewing our portfolios towards the end of April
there were only two observations that were conducted at that time for most
people. For me and just about everybody else in my department, the observations
themselves only started being conducted in the second half of the school year
beginning in the late part of December and concluding by mid- May. The first observation was written up
as entirely “ineffective” but then feedback was given one month later. The
second observation which was the formal was conducted at the very end of March
and the feedback was again given to me about a month later. The patterns of
allowing so much time to elapse absent teacher support in which Ms. Peterson
and Mr. Ganesh chose to conduct these observations were in my view extremely
unprofessional and non- conducive to any form of growth. *This of course
assuming that their opinion about the quality of my lessons is correct.
The last and final point that I
wish to make is the working relationship that the ISS department had with Ms.
Peterson this past year. I do not wish to sound slanderous or make any personal
attacks, but Ms. Peterson’s attitude towards her staff, lack of knowledge, and
unprofessionalism revealed to us all somebody who was highly unqualified to
serve in her respective position as AP of ISS.
Ms. Peterson has left a lasting impression on her department as well as
the school in the very short time that she has been the head of ISS at Richmond
Hill. Her substantial lack of knowledge of special education, vindictive
nature, and her lack of empathy and abrasiveness towards her staff became the
subject of great discussion amongst many staff members as well as students.
Richmond Hill has its’ share of problems and the department was/is in need
proper and professional leadership to ensure that we “as one” progress in a
forward direction. (Not regress.) I say that because you might as well know
that half the department is leaving specifically because of her. And the ISS
department was a rather large one with close to 20 people. It was of very poor
discretion of Mr. Ganesh to appoint her as AP when she had no immediate
experience as AP of ISS prior to her appointment which was quite evident to us
all in seeing how the department was being so severely mismanaged.
What really hurts the most about
this whole experience is the length that both supervisors were willing to stoop
down to when creating this false case against my colleague and me. Never was
there any single moment in time this year when either Mr. Ganesh or Ms.
Peterson offered any sort of support or guidance. As responsible and dedicated
teachers we were the ones who attempted to go to them for support and it
absolutely sickens me that our efforts were used against us by them.
Both Ms. Peterson and Mr. Ganesh
were well aware of the consistent initiatives that my colleague and I often
took when seeking to get support, and right after my first “ineffective”
observation that was conducted in December, I became extremely concerned over
the arbitrariness and dis-alignment to Danielson that the initial observation
contained. Nevertheless I “initiated” weekly support meetings with Ms. Peterson
for two purposes. Number 1: to cover my basis, and number 2: to improve
instruction. Ms. Peterson ignored my request for several weeks and then finally
one month later up until the end of the school year we met for a total of 9
times. I became concerned because despite the arranged visitations there was no
feedback of substance being given, and the “ineffectives” just continued
coming. I find it unlikely that the
support sessions would have even been offered to us if we had not requested
them in the first place considering how late in the year and sporadic the
observations were when they were given. Perhaps if we hadn’t made this request,
then the discontinuance would have been harder to grant.
It was absolutely disgusting to
me beyond believe when I saw attached with the discontinuance letter Ms. Peterson’s log sheet detailing “her”
version of what took place at the meetings which was riddled with inaccuracies
and misleading claims (which can easily be substantiated by me) used as
evidence against me by her and Mr. Ganesh making it appear as though they
offered support but we were just so horrible that their effort was in vein. *My
colleague and I both had several years of nothing but positive records and
observational reports. We suddenly and unexpectedly started receiving nothing
but ineffective ratings. As far as I know my colleague and I were the only
two teachers in the entire ISS department who made arrangements to get weekly
support. Despite our weekly visitations we were continuously and
consistently rated “ineffective” and subsequently were the only two teachers in
the department to be discontinued.
What are the chances of that happening?
I’m sure Ms. Horowitz that you
can appreciate our perception in that there was clearly an ulterior motive had
here, and that we see something seriously wrong with what took place this year.
I personally am having a tremendously (tremendous is a gross understatement) hard
time believing that the actions of Mr. Ganesh and Ms. Peterson were undertaken
in good faith.
I’ll even entertain the benefit
of the doubt for a moment. Even if there was no wrong doing here, perhaps our
scenarios are a testament to and speak volumes about the levels of incompetence
displayed and inability in the proper coaching and mentorship of those in need
exhibited by Mr. Ganesh and Ms. Peterson this entire year that just passed.
The way that my colleague and I
were treated by Ganesh and Peterson this year (as well as many other teachers
and students in the building) was absolutely disgusting. Because of his inactions and wrong actions Mr.
Ganesh lost all respect this year not only from my colleague and I, but also from
many of his other staff members as well as his students, the parents of his
students, and members of the community. His approval ratings amongst his staff
is significantly lower that the citywide average. Mr. Ganesh has not earned the respect amongst his staff and community
that he serves. The following websites videos would certainly indicate that
that sentiment is shared by many:
You know what’s really sad and
ironic about this whole experience superintendent Horowitz? Aside from our own
personal tragedies, the most unfortunate thing about this whole experience is
that my colleague and were only trying to help and do what’s best for our
students. We were both dedicated teachers in the extreme and have been
extremely active in effectively fulfilling our respective roles at Richmond
Hill. Your discontinuing of us is not helping the school in the least, in fact
I see it as being entirely counter-productive as we are likely to be replaced
by somebody far less experienced or perhaps even less altruistic. My colleague
and I hold more than one graduate degree and have been teaching for a combined
decade. We’ve taught for a combined total of eight years in the DOE. Five of
those eight years were completely effective. We were both highly effective in
domains dealing with service to the school and taking on the responsibility of
assuming leadership roles.
Ms. Horowitz, in conclusion I
just want to mention that despite this very bad year, my experiences in my
school have been positive for the vast majority of the time in the last four
years that I’ve been there. I have had the pleasure of working with very good
people. I have a tremendous respect for the majority of those in my line of
work who are genuinely interested in changing the lives and minds of young
people. Although my experience this year was not good, I am absolutely
convinced that I consistently acted and displayed a level of professionalism,
dedication, willingness to learn and grow, and deep commitment to my students
and staff of whom I work with. Unfortunately this was not reciprocated. I have
absolutely nothing to apologize about as I have done nothing that I am ashamed
of or embarrassed about. Of course I feel that my rating this year should be
erased from my record (I am presently fighting to have that happen) and I
should be re-appointed with tenure. Assuming that’s not going to me case, I
would like to at least be granted another year of probation. This will make the
process of leaving Richmond Hill and securing a position elsewhere exponentially
easier. I also think that there should be at minimum an inquiry directed at Mr.
Ganesh for his role and compliance in this situation. When examining all of the
evidence we all just can’t help but believe that Mr. Ganesh knowingly and
deliberately violated his position of power by intentionally misusing the
Danielson framework to achieve personal gain. Ms. Peterson was complicit in his
act. What has me deeply concerned, is that if he was willing and able to do
this to us, then I see no reason why they’re not willing to do it to other
teachers in the future. Both individuals in my estimation are completely
unworthy of their respective positions, and should be removed promptly as they
are only dragging Richmond Hill deeper into the muck that it now finds itself.
If none of the above happen, than
I may as well mention that my conscience is absolutely clear in knowing that I
was discontinued due to circumstances beyond my immediate control and that I
did absolutely everything that I possibility could to protect myself in such
unfortunate times. I am happy to report that I have the love and support of
those who knew of my situation, and unfortunately I was in the wrong place at
the wrong time. Ms. Horowtiz, I
sincerely hope that you are able to say the same.
Thank you for your time in
reading my letter,
