Superintendent tells teacher to quit when she asks question at public forum

[proud2BlibKansan]

When the young teacher attending a panel discussion about men of color and education stood up to tell Superintendent Arlene Ackerman that the School District’s constant bureaucratic requirements impeded her ability to teach, she hardly expected what happened next.

Ackerman blew up at her and, in essence, told her to quit.

“What we need are teachers who don’t make excuses,” said Ackerman. “I don’t want to hear about bureaucracy. We have always had bureaucracies…. We are looking for people who say ‘I can teach a rock to read.’… If it is not the right place for you then you should find another place to go.”

The audience of about 400 people was stunned.

more . . . http://www.thenotebook.org/blog/113256/tfa-teacher-gets-angry-response-ackerman

[Fumesucker]

1. Don't question my authoritah..

[Starry Messenger]

2. Whoa.

"I can teach a rock to read"?? So she wants to hire liars?

[provis99]

3. wanna bet the Superintendent is a Christian fundamentalist Republican too?

[burnsei sensei]

5. She's obviously used to

getting everything she wants when she wants it.
A real entitlement mentality there, and likely a conservative.

[loudsue]

6. Teabagger, for sure. You can tell by the tirade.

They are the most hateful people on the planet.

[somone]

7. Her bio:

http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/ceo/ackerman/biography.html

[mzteris]

15. I like this part:

"Dr. Ackerman holds a Doctorate and Master’s Degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, a Master’s Degree in Education Administration and Policy from Washington University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Harris Stowe State College."

Not to mention she's African American. How many African Americans do you know who are "teabaggers"?


I, like so many parents, am tired of hearing excuses. If you can't do the job, maybe you belong in another field. You don't get to pick who your students are. You're supposed to TEACH ALL OF THEM!

[Hello_Kitty]

20. I'm tired of shitty parents expecting everyone else to raise their kids.

But we don't get to hold them accountable, do we?

"Most important job in the world" but any shit-for-brains can do it. And many are.

[mzteris]

39. I'm a former foster mom

- I was "expected to raise their kids"...

you don't get a pass from doing your job. Sorry.

[Starry Messenger]

12. You'd lose that bet. nt

[WinkyDink]

21. Nah. Just an egotistical product of some Ed. Degree mill.

I speak as one who HAS a degree from one in eastern PA.

[dems_rightnow]

36. Thanks for the knee-jerk

And completely wrong premise.

[burnsei sensei]

4. Bureaucratic compliance is not the same

as professional competence.
I must say that here, the Supt. called herself out into the limelight. Her remark shows an unreasonable approach to her subordinates and objectives.
And it is not unreasonable, ergo, to assume that the Supt. might be incompetent.

[Davis_X_Machina]

9. She was hired...

...like nearly all superintendents, not to manage what amounts to a large business well, or to provide educational leadership, but to bust teacher ass.

If you're the mandatory teachers' union rep on the school district's superintendent search committee, you find that out in a hurry.

[Davis_X_Machina]

8. This is why there's teacher tenure, and teachers' unions.

It's not about money, or protecting the incompetent, or the pensions, or the health insurance.

It's all about protection from arbitrary dismissal,
From being on the receiving end of principals practicing squeaky-wheel management,
From being fired for failing to protect the football team,
From being punished for having to be the first person to tell a near-adult, 16 or 17 years old, 'No. That's not good enough. That's incorrect."
Or for teaching evolution.
Or being gay, or trying to protect gay kids.
Or a thousand other things.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. A+

[Better Believe It]

10. I can teach a rock to read and speak! Am I hired?

"We are looking for people who say ‘I can teach a rock to read.’"

[HereSince1628]

11. that's what I want running my schools...

a superintendent who thinks the kids in his districts classrooms are dumb as rocks.

Somebody ought to be leaving the district and it ain't a young teacher...

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. In all fairness, that's a common expression in education

At least in elementary education. A good teacher is described as one who can teach a rock (or a table or a chair - any inanimate object) to read.

It's kind of a dumb expression, but it's never meant the kids were dumb as rocks.

[teach1st]

16. There are excuses...and there are reasons

Ackerman likely had no idea if that teacher works her butt off despite the bureaucratic impediments to effective teaching, or whether the teacher uses bureaucracy as an excuse.

One thing I'm certain about: There are tons of bureaucratic impediments to teaching, and the bureaucrats need to hear about them. Thanks to the teacher for speaking out.

[MichiganVote]

17. So now its leave no rock behind?

[Starry Messenger]

24. Zing. nt

[reggie the dog]

35. they have the kids reading how to make rock in school???

thats not going to go over very well with the dare officer

[Jefferson23]

18. Nice, the Superintendent demands a no questions zone...incredible. n/t

[barbtries]

29. based on reading the article

and all of the comments following, that seems to be the gist of it. she may be gifted in many ways, but she cannot admit when she's wrong, she treats teachers with disrespect and will not take responsibility for anything negative that happens. sounds pathological to me. i wish there was a video of the meeting.

[WinkyDink]

19. As a retired teacher, I could've warned her this would be the result. DO NOT get between a Super and

her/his ways to get a salary raise!

[northernlights]

22. it's typical management these days, imho

Doesn't matter the environment education, health care, whatever. Never, ever discuss problems with systems and processes and bureaucracy. The defensiveness (in the form of attack) is stunning both in its swiftness and ferocity. Managers don't want you to identify problems, let alone come up with solutions to them. If there is a problem with a system or process, it is your fault for not working hard enough. So just put in 100 hours/week (for 37.5 hours pay) and stfu. Problem solved. :shrug:

[Sgent]

23. In most jobs she'd be fired

If I sandbagged the CEO of my company at a public forum like that, I'd be out on my ass as soon as she got to her cell phone -- and rightly so.

You don't air internal grievances in a public forum -- certainly without approaching her principal / super in private, and then you go to the school board, not a public forum.

[madfloridian]

26. We always did that when I was teaching. Most faculties did.

I am retired, and I think it has changed. But we always were treated like we had some sense. It was changing in 98 when Jeb was elected.

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. And I don't KNOW this, but my first thought was the supt had probably ignored an email

or a phone call from this teacher.

I've never worked for a superintendent who was accessible to the teachers.

[Hannah Bell]

33. teaching isn't like "most jobs". that's its merit. collegiality & democracy are -- or were --

valued to a greater degree than in "most jobs". and the forum was sponsored by her direct employer, which is not ackerman, but Teach for America.

"The event, at the University of Pennsylvania, was hosted by Teach for America and the Makuu Black Cultural Center at Penn.

The purpose of the forum was to discuss ways to improve the educational experience of men of color and entice more into the teaching profession."

The audience, about a quarter of whom were young teachers themselves, offered the teacher the longest round of applause of the night.

Then things got tense. Moderator Omari Todd – the vice president for regional operations for Teach for America – told the teacher that he’d pass the question to the panel but did not want to “lose the spirit of what we were hoping to do tonight.” At that, an audience member in a City Year uniform jumped up to interrupt.

“Excuse me, how could you not lose the spirit when there are three young Black African Americans sitting right here in front of you - since you said you were taking questions, you never called on any one of us.”

After an exchange with the City Year participant and his companions about programs for Black male students and outreach programs for men of color to enter the field of education, Ackerman responded to the young female teacher, who appeared to be of Asian descent.

The superintendent started by recalling how, when she was in school, one of her teachers had a sign on her door saying: “If my students do not learn the way I teach, then I will teach the way they learn.” Then she told the teacher to stop making excuses.

http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/2011/01/ackerman-tells-tfa-teacher-to-quit-when.html


The bureaucratic requirements the teacher spoke of are not Ackerman's. They are Arne Duncan's & Bill Gates' and the rest of the ed deform crowd.

If the superintendant don't want to hear criticism & discussion, she shouldn't attend forums the advertised purpose of which is criticism & discussion.

[Nevernose]

38. A superintendant is not a CEO, nor is a school district a company

And since a school district exists solely to serve the community, I believe a good argument can be made that a public forum is the MOST apprpriate place to ask officials about their policies, or to criticize them.

[Hannah Bell]

25. that's pretty much the business mentality right there. you're not supposed to criticize or make

excuses or ask questions, you're just supposed to do the task.

if you can't handle it, get out.

i've been told something similar a few times.

it selects for a certain kind of person.

[saras]

27. I can teach a rock to fly...

"that's pretty much the business mentality right there."

Precisely. Schools are not businesses, and don't work when they're run like businesses.

The proper response to 'I can teach a rock to read' is 'prove it or admit you're a liar.'

[Hannah Bell]

34. the proper response to "i can teach a rock to read" is "You *are* a liar."

The business mentality = lying.

It is so sad to see that mentality -- which was also the mentality of the soviet bureaucracy, the mentality of potemkin villages & phoney production quotas -- the mentality of power and the scramble for power & the bootlicking mentality of yes-men -- into education.

[barbtries]

28. that was a great read.

i read all the way through the comments. now, i'm wondering who's idea was it to bring in this ackerman woman when she had already been bounced out of SF, apparently because though she may be well educated, she's an asshole?

well i don't suppose you know proud, and i don't know because i am not in philly either. nor am i a teacher. is this how it is everywhere? the bushies and reaganites have won in the race to dumb down the country?

thanks for posting. really, the best read i've been glued to in some time.

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. Urban superintendents tend to hop from one district to another

Usually being fired at every stop along the way.

[Hannah Bell]

32. That was a Teach for America teacher, too. Even the naive cheap labor is questioning

education "reform".

Ackerman Tells TFA Teacher to Quit When Easy Pass Policies Questionned

When she addressed Ackerman, she said that she and other teachers are under “pressure to increase numbers in a way that isn’t necessarily meaningful - in a way that isn’t necessarily giving our kids better education.” She complained that teachers are “pressured to give make-up packets” of schoolwork so students can pass with Ds. But those Ds “don’t mean have those skills,” she said.

Ackerman responded: “We are looking for people who say ‘I can teach a rock to read.’… If it is not the right place for you then you should find another place to go.”

Approached later, the teacher said she was a Teach for America corps member in one of Ackerman’s Promise Academies. Understandably, she did not want to give her name.

“Did you see that? Did you see her tell me to quit?” she asked a friend after the panel discussion broke up, still incredulous. Other teachers encircled her in support.


http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/2011/01/ackerman-tells-tfa-teacher-to-quit-when.html

[Patiod]

37. The woman is both incompetent and racist. In over her head.

For those of you not familiar with her, this is the woman who let students at South Philadelphia High beat up Asian students, and refused pleas from their families to intervene.

I've had no interest in any of her lies or justifications since then.

She is nothing but a living, breathing example of the Peter Principal as it applies to bureaucrats. Stupid person in way over her head.

More details on Ackerman's long trail of disastrous decisions here:
http://youngphillypolitics.com/topics/arlene_ackerman

[Le Taz Hot]

40. I had the identical thing happen to me.

Policy had been enacted that would have taken, literally, hundreds of hours, in perpetuity. I raised objections and I basically got the same response. "We don't need whiners, we need doers!" I was already working 80+ hours a week. I was gone within the year.

[Enthusiast]

41. Arrogant authoritarian = Republican,

probably dominionist. Or she could just be a plain old regular asshole.

[Initech]

42. Respect my authouritah!!!!

[devilgrrl]

43. It floors me the kinds of incompetent assholes that make it into positions of authority.

:puke::nuke::puke: