I recently retired after 30 years of teaching in the Clark County School District. During that time, I was at six different elementary and middle schools and had the pleasure of working with so many great teachers and office staff. They were all hardworking, selfless, flexible and kind people who made the job great.
I also had my fair share of administrators. Some were very supportive with the students’ best interests in mind and were a pleasure to work for. Others were more interested in keeping the parents happy and making themselves look good, with no thought of what was best for the students. Unfortunately, this was the case my last four years at a local middle school as a seventh-grade math teacher.
The school is a Title 1 campus in North Las Vegas, meaning it receives federal funds to help economically disadvantaged kids. We had two kinds of students: those who had some parental support, tried and did some of their work, and the majority group of students that had little to no support and never even tried. These latter students refused to turn in any assigned work and would leave every test completely blank — even with the use of a calculator and notes. My tests were the exact same questions as the assigned work, but it never mattered.
I was told by my principal after the first quarter of teaching there that too many students were failing, and it didn’t look good for the school. I told him the situation and asked for suggestions about what could be done. He didn’t offer any advice and simply moved the students to another teacher’s class if there was a parental complaint. These moves happened at least 30 to 40 times a year, with no parent conference of any kind. When I asked him about this, he said he didn’t want to deal with parents going to the area superintendents or higher because it would look bad.
I was confused because I never received any unsatisfactory evaluations, and my test scores and student learning growth rate were some of the highest in the school. During those four years, I tried everything to help the students succeed in the classroom. I offered free unpaid tutoring four days a week after school for an hour. I also offered help every day for the first 26 minutes during homeroom. I spent my own non-contracted time after tutoring contacting parents via emails or phone calls almost daily with usually no response.
When grades were due, I would spend countless hours giving the students who actually did something extra “bonus” points to help them pass. These students should have failed, according to the standards set by the district curriculum, but I was trying to keep too many from failing, as my principal requested.
But even after trying to make sure my failure rates “looked good,” my principal would go in — without letting me know — and change my grades so that every student who had failed would get a passing mark. I would find out this had happened only by looking back a few days after submitting my grades. When I questioned this, I was told all four years that a principal is allowed to change grades. When I talked to other teachers, I found out that the principal did this to them as well.
After researching this and going to the teacher’s union, I learned that, according to district policy, principals have the right to change a grade only if there are extenuating circumstances and they have consulted the teacher. I was never told of these grade changes.
I have never wanted to fail a student. If he or she tries to do something and puts some effort into it, even if it’s difficult, that should be rewarded. If the student chooses to do nothing, there should be a consequence such as summer school or retaking the class. I thought one of the most important things about education was to teach students about responsibility, accountability and hard work. Instead, they are learning that all they have to do is show up, and they will pass even if they do nothing.
They also are learning to have their parents complain so they will be allowed to change classes when things get difficult or they get in trouble.
It would be very easy for me to just enjoy my retirement and not say anything. After 30 years of hard work and dedication to the students and district, however, I feel this “pass everyone” policy is detrimental to education. It is not only hurting the students, it hurts the teachers and the feeder high schools that are receiving them.
Joe Stanley writes from Las Vegas.
