The front page of the NY Teacher this week features the story of Bimsmile, one of the new teachers who has been documenting her experiences on this blog.
She had finally learned their names: all of the many students in her high school classes. She had just organized her grade book. The brand new teacher was starting to “feel good about my lessons and teaching persona,” had figured out how to help Ralphie get his thoughts on paper and finally tamed an unruly class.
Then she was excessed.
“Bimsmile” — the blog name of this articulate young English teacher who is keeping her real name under her hat for now — felt shocked, angry and dissed.
And so did the kids.
What’s more, Bimsmile was excessed six weeks after her first day at the large comprehensive high school where she was hired, a violation of state Law 2588, which prohibits excessing after the first 15 days of a school term.
“The reason for that law is to avoid precisely what happened to this new teacher and her classes,” said UFT High Schools Vice President Frank Volpicella. “It’s supposed to limit the disruptions to students and staff. Here we are in mid-October. What is the Department of Education thinking?”
Although very happy in her new school — after a call from a union official “they welcomed me with open arms” — Bimsmile says she is still trying to untangle the bureaucratic mess that landed her at another school. Mysteriously, the name of a younger male colleague from her former school was written on top of all her attendance rosters at her new school, as if he were the teacher initially targeted for transfer to that school.
That former colleague, one of the first teachers to get a program change at her first school, “was an English teacher and they gave him Social Studies classes with one English class,” she said. “I was told that all my classes were going to be dissolved and sent up to other classes. Then I heard that he was going to be taking over my classes.”
Go figure.
If you’d like to read her diaries, they are located:
2 Comments:
1 NYC Educator
· Nov 3, 2005 at 7:03 pm
When I was excessed, no one in the UFT helped me at all. I put on a suit and ran around every high school in two boroughs till I found myself a job, and I did it three times.
Thanks to the new contract, some of my colleagues with up to 15 years will probably be doing that very soon. And who knows? Maybe I’ll be joining them soon.
Thanks, UFT.
2 redhog
· Nov 4, 2005 at 8:14 pm
Bimsmile has made a compelling and poignant contribution to the hearts of minds of all educators,parents and kids. Her report brings to life this maddening spectacle and epic of frustrated idealism,yet she maintains an unshakeable faith and dedication to bringing honor to this bleeding and scarred system. Bless her.