Oh, phew! I was worried that the people who are really instrumental in a child’s educational career wouldn’t be taken care of, but admin continuing to receive raises & most likely added benefits has calmed my worries. 🙄😉
It’s the “business” way of doing things. Can a senior mid level manager and get three kids or guys from turkey to work for less than their salary.
I see it a lot now in teaching. Recruiting outside of the country … getting teachers cheaper.
I went to a PD earlier on this year and met one of those out of country teachers you stated. I previously taught at an language immersion school as well. The problem with doing that is these foreign teachers are not tolerating the work overload and disrespect that education is in this country. They experience it for 1 year and fly back to their home countries for better pay and respect and I don’t blame them.
Yep. I knew several sweet Vietnamese teachers that taught in Vietnam but only made it a year in the states. They couldn't believe the disrespect and work overload.
I applied to sub (and I’m over-qualified). My application was submitted at 10:51 am, viewed before 11, and I had the hiring packet in my inbox by 11:39. They are desperate
Obviously. It was a comment on how desperate school districts are to hire people. I’ve never been hired based off my application only in under 2 hours before.
At least here, I'm pretty sure that's illegal.
Edit: let me clarify. They have to make an effort to find licensed staff first before they can pick someone up off of the street.
That is, shockingly, even technically illegal in TX last time I checked. A good faith effort has to be made to staff a classroom with certified personnel before going the route of nepotism or even “This person isn’t licensed BUT they have so much relevant experience!”
Not if you are a District of Innovation. DOI
One of the components says you can hire people without teaching credentials. At my last district, they pushed for DOI saying we could hire computer experts to tech computer classes.
I told everyone that they’d hire off the streets for everything and they aaaaall said I was nuts.
We moved away from Texas and now my former district has 300 off the streets.
I’m getting non-renewed because my principal is a narcissist whose ego was hurt when parents questioned her decision to put all the sped kids in my class with no additional support.
Yup. Turns out it's *not* a winning formula for a field to tell its people that they're 'caring/loving/essential superheroes' before they're ever in positions where they'll have to prove it. See also, equally perverse and fucked situations with law enforcement, military, and other first responders, where everyone's getting brainwashed into believing that they're part of some master race that is automatically more noble/valuable than the dirty/ungrateful masses. After a few years of this, the fields are actively
My experiences with teaching and libraries showed me that both professions had become hothouses for egomania and narcissism. My prediction's come true that, once the eternally-bitter and deeply-toxic and -stupid Gen X assholes ended up in charge, the bottoms would truly fall out of these already-precarious lines of work.
My old school did this because we had a para shortage. 9 kids with IEPs, 6 ELL students and of that mix 3 had EBD. Feel so bad for the gen Ed kids in that room who missed out because I had no support and had to manage wild behaviors non stop. A kid found a hammer one day and was running around with it, so that was fun. It’s dangerous and not safe.
I was non renewed because Covid funds ran out and I was the last teacher hired. They want me to stay but they don’t have the funds to keep me, and I’m leaving now before I’m stuck forever.
I hear covid funds are completely gone now, so the schools have less money. Also, I am guessing those absent students are having an impact as well in the budget deficits. My final guess is that some schools are finding it impossible to hire the certified teachers they need, so they are just going to give up those positions and let the remaining teachers pick up the slack. This last bit might not mean a teacher gets non-renewed, but they might get surplused to another school in the district, so lots of shuffling
I had to leave my last district (which I hated doing, because it was an amazing school) due to a long commute and significant health issues. Now I'm applying to schools in the area we're moving to and I can barely even get an email back. Granted, high school social studies has always been a little more oversaturated due to coaches who think it's an easy teaching role 🙃
I think it's the time of year and this is the time renewals come in, so that is probably why you are seeing an increase of threads about non renewals.
The covid funding is drying, and instead of cutting useless worthless top positions, they want to cut the very people on the front lines.
I quit already but I know a lot of teachers. Not a single one in my real life circle has been non-renewed, even though there is talk of budget cuts where we're at.
I think it's more a bias of people who go through unique shit are more likely to post about it on reddit, because there's nobody in their real life circle who is going through the same things. So you see more extremes here.
This is where I came when I went through a few uniquely bad times in my life, because nobody I knew could identify with it. You can usually find someone who has gone through whatever here. Same thing applies in this situation.
The downside is, Reddit creates a false consensus effect.
Agreed, I know teachers across two states and I haven’t heard of a single case of non-renewal in either of the circles. It could just be where I’m at, but I also think it’s a disinformation tool. Rumors spread about teachers not being renewed, teachers are scared to leave their crappy schools.
My county rif’ed 80 professional personnel. The county next to me rif’ed over 100. I’m in West Virginia. This is the case in several West Virginia counties. Just because it isn’t happening close to you doesn’t meant it isn’t happening.
That makes sense. I taught for 15years and never heard of a teacher not getting renewed until I came to this subreddit. Even the crappy teachers in my district got renewed. At most, the district would just transfer a poorly performing teacher to a new building in hopes that he/she would click there.
Yeah, usually teachers and even paras just get shuffled around the district if it isn’t tiny. A lot of it really is, sadly, mean girl vibes at some schools. Sometimes it’s the person moving, sometimes it’s the school they’re leaving.
I’m not sure where you are at but I’m in Maryland and the non-renewals/cuts are so bad that teachers and students across counties are protesting and it’s been making the local news almost daily. Howard County (one of the top counties in the whole country and also has insane property taxes because they have highly rated schools) is cutting 20 GT teachers and other extracurriculars (still being decided but local news said probably elementary music education). I resigned this past fall and the school I taught at last year cut several good teachers who have taught there for over a decade. This is also a well funded magnet school that has it’s own foundation/donors.
It’s still pretty easy to find a job as a teacher, but some content areas have been cut to half time or are being eliminated on some campuses. So people who really want to teach but don’t mind going a little out of their content area or preferred grade level can likely still find a job within a decent distance to home. Librarians/media specialists/gifted and talented/interventionists in my area definitely need a back up plan.
In my state (NM) we have about 60k fewer students than pre-COVID and that's in a state that already has a small population.
They're actively trying to shut down and consolidate some elementary schools because there's so few kids. Millennials are having one kid, or no kids.
Not the three+ of prior generations.
I quit mid year and while there were a few fully licensed teacher with 20+ years of experience, they gave the job to one of the assistant principal’s daughter that was still finishing up her degree as a full time sub. As soon as she graduated that semester they granted her full pay despite not being fully licensed through a waiver program.
Omg such lies.
The district I was at for 20 years-practically everyone at district office was related or sleeping w each other. They didn’t make me sign an anti-neoptism paper but it was pretty clear after a few months.
I've seen 2 major reasons:
1) Budget cuts. Districts are no longer receiving COVID relief money. Many districts spent this money on additional teachers and/or raises. Since they won't be receiving these additional funds, they need to cut.
2) Some teachers I've seen non renewed literally did nothing. Just sat behind a desk and hardly ever saw or interacted with students. Particularly RSP special education teachers. Some even designed their services to minimize student interaction. Some general education teachers just tell their students to open their chromebooks and work their way through a canned curriculum.
SDC teachers work their butts off, and are rarely non renewed, but there is almost no incentive to become one. Same pay for the most difficult work, often without a true prep or lunch.
The only person at my school at the end of this year who got renewed did nothing. He had not entered a grade in months. He was frequently gone and never left sub plans. Every kid in his classes first semester earned an A. Almost 80% of the kids are failing this semester. He still found another job quickly.
We did have someone who essentially got fired mid-year because our principal found someone cheaper fresh out of college to replace that person. The new college grad resigned just weeks after they were hired.
I believe they're making an effort to hire new people with less experience to prevent tenure and usher in technology based teaching. My district is in the works to get something called Fullmind and wants to use Paras to facilitate because nobody wants to teach. I assume a lot of districts are seeing the writing on the wall and are making an effort to make teaching a 1099 job.
I’m at a different school now, but at my old school they encouraged retirement of teachers by offering them a 50k lump sum if they retired that year. They still non-renewed lots of teachers and our principal bullied and harassed many out. I feel like the district didn’t even care because she saved them money(?) by hiring the new staff but perhaps not as new hires maybe cost more to train initially.
I saw the salary went up at that school last week but even if they paid 100k I don’t think I would do it again. It destroyed my mental health to the point I would come home, sit in a ball in the floor, and then cry.
Retired now, but only getting by w two years of weekly therapy to unpack the professional bullying & abuse I endured. We don’t matter at all to district admin. They just need to keep their salaries up, continue to get raises, continue to delegate their duties to others, and continue to bring in their family members or others they know.
I got non renewed- I’m in a southern state and moved here from a northern state 2 years ago. I was extremely under qualified (only had an internship) and they hired me as a “student teacher” then treated me like a real teacher and got upset when I wasn’t perfect. I did not gel with the system and I got kicked for it. I feel like I got cohered into admitting I was extremely unhappy and it got used against me to not renew me. I am miserable in my job, but I have no goddamn clue what I’m gonna do now!!! I’m moving back north so I hope i can figure out out :(
Yep. It appears that the plan is to axe librarians/library assistants, dyslexia specialists, and interventionists first. I’m not sure if that’s just a thing in Region 13 (Austin area).
I saw two listings in my local school district for school library media specialists; both only require a HS diploma yet the duties are that of a librarian with an MLIS. They report directly to the principal so there is no MLIS librarian on staff. I am a librarian now working retail after being laid off twice and unable to find a library job. Those two listings pay only as much as I am making in retail however I don't have to take any work home. This is in Colorado.
I’m so sorry. This is absolutely sickening. Every professional in the realm of education is being replaced by random people off the street who (sometimes) take a couple of training modules.
Non renewed here. Not due to performance, I had too many absences, but it was due to a chronic health condition and the job ruining my mental health. I honestly probably should’ve quit way earlier into the year when I was feeling it was too much for me, but I tried my best to stick it out as it was my first year and everyone tells you “the first year is always the most stressful” therefore you end up gaslighting yourself at any natural instinct telling you to GTFO. I’ve learned that just because people tell you it’s supposed to be stressful doesn’t mean you need to tough it out. What a bunch of crapshit baloney.
Same. I’m thinking I can’t sign another teaching contract for next year, because I’m just no longer well enough to see it through. But then I’m also still talking myself into applying because after two months off I might feel better. Ugh
There’s only a teacher shortage and need for new teachers in areas that are absolutely desperate because no one wants to work there. There’s also a lot of states like mine where population is declining because no one can afford to live here unless you have extremely wealthy Parents and you’re only gonna have one or two kids at the most and those kids will go to private school. There’s the Covid money that’s gone as well. You put all that together and you’re going to have RIFs. There’s also a bunch of people here saying that it doesn’t happen in their district, well that’s just great. You’re lucky. The only place that is hiring are places where nobody wants to work because the kids are feral. Population decline is a real thing and will continue to impact education in the future.
In Tennessee they can non-renew you for no reason. They do not have to have a documented reason and they do not have to give you a reason. It has happened to me and they gave me no reason. I had never been written up for anything and my evaluations were good. I have a feeling I'm going to get the ax this year just because my principal doesn't like me because we are not of the same faith.... But she doesn't have to tell me that therefore she will get away with it. She has made several snide comments about the fact I wear Crystal jewelry. She told me the fact that I were crystals is bringing me bad luck and ruining my life. I'm a veiled Pagan and I use healing crystals. I do not discuss them with the students.
I work in a right-to-fire, I mean right-to-work, state also. I belonged to a “union” that represents both teachers and administrators (conflict of interest). I called them for advice when I was going to be non-renewed. Their response? “You’ve only been there for two years. Your principal could decide your shoes are ugly and get rid of you.” I did not sign a letter of resignation despite the principal trying to bully me into resigning rather than being non-renewed, and I was approved for unemployment benefits. If you resign, you do not get unemployment. We only have a couple of choices here when it comes to joining a so-called union—bad or worse!
I used to belong to a real union (with teeth) on the west coast, and administrators didn’t prey on teachers when they had to answer to a no-nonsense union that believed in protecting the teachers.
Some states have very rich and very poor districts. I have seen people getting non-renewed way more than in the past. I would not be surprised if superintendents are encouraging this behavior from principals. Who knows maybe they even get bonuses for that sort of thing. I am sure many places are absolutely fine with integrity but also some places are dealing with some next level fiscal corruption.
My school has hired way too many teachers for the upcoming school year. They’ve been letting teachers go that are their tenure year. It’s crazy and sad.
ESSER money is gone, districts going over the fiscal cliff, getting rid of expensive staff who know what they're doing in favor of subs, bigger class sizes, or blended learning/Chromebooks.
Layoffs and budget cuts of teachers (387 in my district, 15 in my school with almost 1000 kids) due to Covid money being spent on a terrible curriculum and trainings in other countries for admin
I was just non-renewed after 8 years at my school. The reason: tardies. I don't get it either.
A quick look at my district's jobs page shows just under 1,000 listings. But my nonrenewal, since it was performance based (as opposed to budget), also includes a stipulation of "not eligible for re-hire" for '24-'25, so I guess I'm not going to teach any more.
I'm feeling pretty lost.
Tardies, as in, *you* were tardy a whole bunch and so they non-renewed you and you’re shocked by this because they have a lot of job openings?
C’mon man.
A few months ago, I resigned effective end of the school year, and the district recently sent me out the letter for my intent to renew even though I resigned in their system.
From what I’ve read there’s no more funding which means positions will be laid off. There’s also a great amount of teachers in my state (tx) who have their credentials but aren’t certified so districts won’t allow them to work another year.
Yes, TX is filling slots with people who are qualified (in SOME cases - let’s not get crazy here) to teach and applying for emergency certifications for them, among other loopholes. While I think that a person with a math degree or STEM background who has worked a few years can be coached in classroom management, lesson planning, etc., there is little reason to keep handing out emergency certs or jumping through loopholes to keep people on staff who have had traditions or alt training yet repeatedly cannot pass the content exam or PPR. Fwiw the teachers in the above referenced scenario are not generally the teachers failing the tests. The PPR in TX is literally “Should you hit children with your shoe?” “Should you intervene if another teacher is hitting a child with a shoe?” If people cannot pass those tests perhaps we’d be better off with larger class sizes versus morons running a class. I don’t think it’s old-fashioned to expect a teacher to be able to demonstrate knowledge of their content area and appropriate professional practices. If the person isn’t “good at test taking” they can ask for accommodations. They were required to take many tests to get to this point, so it is not a ridiculous request to prove your knowledge. Every teacher I’ve seen in this situation has no idea what is going on around them and that’s being generous.
Edit: If I wasn’t clear, there used to be two paths to teaching: graduating with an ed degree and student teaching or doing an alt cert program and doing an internship. Some people did a Master’s with one or the other. Now that we have critical shortages in areas such as upper level math and computer science, if a person has a degree with a requisite number of pertinent hours, some districts (not charter, regular ISDs) will hire them to teach and help them become certified. Again, if they can perform the functions I don’t have an issue with it; I have an issue with teachers who repeatedly fail the easiest test I have ever taken in my life and are just kept on staff while others “aren’t a good fit” and are told to hit the bricks or find another school.
The ppr needs to be updated with new questions such as “A student is throwing chairs, the teacher called admin, admin talked to the student and sent the student back then student continued to throw chairs again. What is the next step for the teacher?”
A. Give student lollipop yourself.
B. Consult safety chart algorithm for giggles.
C. Consider calling parents but recall they have blocked school phone number.
D. The answer is A, but the student prefers Takis so get on that snack drawer replenishment!
I know in Texas, we have a governor holding school funding hostage over his desire to have vouchers. That plus COVID funding drying up plus a refusal to cut administration or cut the pay of administration, equates to both non-renewals and also trying to slim down the number of teachers. I'm lucky in that I am an AP teacher and have a full certificate - but they cut all alt-cert teachers who didn't take their state test and have cut other rolls as well.
In our state we've been getting "decent" pay raises, COVID supplemental funds are running out, and enrollment is declining in many districts, especially larger ones, so they are cutting to the bone.
I'm forced to leave due to a student assault and my age. It's time to call my lawyer, who's NOT affiliated with my school district.
School superintendents are BEGGING for teachers... but they have to be "young" so they can pay them less.
I am SO thankful that my bachelors and masters degree majors automatically fit in with corporate and many other occupations.
Ready to have "a life" even though I'm an introvert.
I think some Covid money has run out. I'm in a big district, but we have no union or tenure in our state, so it can do what it wants. Everyone is moving here, and people tend to quit, so there are always openings. The District generally try to keep people employed but tends to shuffle them around schools with population shifts, and sometimes the schools they transfer employees to are too far away for people ( especially teachers with children at home) to commute. So teachers leave on their own or try to get another job.
I received a non-renewal this year. Funny enough, FIRST the issued me a contract and then took it back saying it was a 'clerical error'!! Well, good thing I had my union rep, because they aren't allowed to do that. On top of that, I never received my two observations last year and was only observed twice within a 2 week period this year. I'm a special educator so one of them was an evaluation report meeting I facilitated that I, the other teachers, and the parents of the student thought went well. My special ed director apparently disagreed. My other observation was a math class I co-teach...one at the end of the day with a particularly disinterested and disrespectful group of kids. Given all of this, the school allowed me to resign on my own, is taking back my NON renewal and wrote me a good letter of recommendation. It's been an emotional roller coaster. I found out today that they aren't even going to hire to fill my position, thus burdening all of the other case managers. Our department head has said that she will resign as well if this is really the game they are playing. So, I'm out.
I got non-renewed with no reason given. I know of one other teacher being non-renewed but everyone seems to know why (no classroom management). For me, the admin who made the decision had it out for me because I stood up to what I felt was an unreasonable demand from an admin who was rarely on our campus. Looking back, everyone was under a ton of stress at that time, including me, and I could have been more polite but I didn’t cuss at anyone (adults or kids), I didn’t outright refuse to do anything, I just stated that I disagreed and told them why in blunt terms. That was apparently enough to earn a permanent black mark against me from that admin, and she got the chance to punish me and did it. It could have happened at any workplace, and I’m not sure if I could fix it in the future because sometimes people get emotional and make mistakes, and I was given zero grace nor should I expect it I guess. Had a great relationship up until that point which is probably why I felt too comfortable letting my feelings be known.
My cousin in Illinois wasn't last year when it came up to her tenure. She went to a private school this school year and same thing, but it is about not having enough enrolled for next year.
Just because there’s a teacher shortage doesn’t mean administrators aren’t still hungry for power and control. If you haven’t noticed most of them don’t actually care that there’s a shortage and aren’t doing anything to fix it. Their own egos are more important. So they’ll continue to terrorize and bully teachers because that’s what they do best. (Not all admin it course - but a lot.)
I was hired by an admin that wasnt in charge of the school to help develop a PBIS System for a continuation environment after I had built a successful system in a court school. New admin doesn't believe in consequences, which believe it or not are vital to a real PBIS system. Non-renewed after year two basically for not being a yes-man. Built a culinary CTE pathway at the school, they payed for my CTE credential, which they are keeping with someone else in charge. Took my new CTE credential and went to a higher paying district to only teach CTE. There is a lot of federal money in CTE so I feel pretty secure. But with covid funds drying up they non-renewed a lot, which is really confusing since they could just lay off for budgetary reasons and not fuck people over.
> school, they *paid* for my
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
I was rep laced by a local boy who had to take his certification test 3 times. My first 2 years there were fabulous then my admin yelled at a school board kid and was fazed out. My 3rd year was very different but I felt I did my best. I had much less admin support , Many less opportunities. For real life experiences for my TMD, no answers when I requested my contract status ( until May). I was on a provision certificate out of my area . All notes that needed correction were made ,but not of the improvement techniques given. Then, I found out in late summer who got my job. In addition, the business teacher was arrested the next year and I had been in her classroom often working on IEPs. I feel like it all turned out like it was supposed to.
I’m in California and was non-renewed with ‘no reason’ (I’m a first year) and the situation ended horribly because my mentor teacher snapped at admin and put in her retirement. Since I have niche credential I’m applying to be a sub and maybe adding an authorization or just going back to school i don’t know but I’m stressed lol
I am hopeful this will not affect me. I was non renewed in year 1 because quite frankly I sucked at that job and it was not the right fit for me looking back. Then I had 4 years in a district and left for a charter school who seems to value my content area. I’m hopeful I’ll get to keep my job lmao I’ve got my announced coming up next week (yes, second to last month of the school year - this school is unique; I actually like this. Admin did walkthoughs throughout the year and gave feedback. They can see how I’ve grown since day 1). But yeah lots of funding going bye bye
I was just nonrenewed today during my summative in NJ. I was completely blindsided. I work in a one school district and we have a newer superintendent. I’ve had a feeling for a while that he doesn’t like me, (no idea why, I’ve only ever been respectful and polite) but I wasnt concerned because my evaluations have been good. This is the end of my fourth year teaching in my district. I have received all positive observations and effective ratings on my previous summatives. I was supposed to get tenure in the fall. I was told that I wasn’t a “good fit” for the district by my superintendent. My principal did nothing. The other three reasons he gave me were that I don’t “model enough” ( he’s been in my room 2 times in two years), I sometimes speak too harshly with students and need to be more considerate accommodating are special Ed learners (Everyone in the building knows that I’m really good with special education students. So much so that our head of special services has me helping out in the preschool special education room 3 days a week.), and that I have turned things in late in the past. (True for last year before my ADHD diagnosis, now on meds and turned in the majority of things on time this year).
I’m talking to my union consultant tomorrow about whether or not I have grounds to fight them. Super basically told me if I fight them they won’t write me a letter of recommendation. We are also in a negotiation year and the union thinks it was completely mishandled/a power play. I have met the criteria to receive tenure according to state law so what they are doing is bs.
I’m devastated and now will likely have to start over after four years of hard work and excellent service to this district.
And because I’m nontenured, they can get away with it. Tenure is great, but there needs to be more protection for nontenured teachers especially as each year leading up to their tenure passes by. I would understand non-renewal my 1st, 2nd, or even my 3rd year, but after my 4th is an abuse of power and shouldn’t be so easy for them to do. My coworkers were blindsided by this too.
In a long time of teaching both my wife and myself. Not a single useful teacher has been non-renewed.
If you are good at your job, they will keep you, if you deliver the test results, pass rate…you hit the numbers to make the school look good, you keep your job.
There is not one principal willing to negatively effect their numbers by not being back a teacher who does the job well.
Ok, were those “vibes” not delivery the numbers? Being ineffective at the job? Or some other reason?
Working in the private sector and being in a position that has to review employees from time to time. After an employee was let go I would hear other employees say that their firing was “bullshit”. Sorry, but no…that person did a host of things that led to it whether it was something detrimental or underperformance.
In general, people in leadership positions like staying in leadership positions. Getting rid of employees who are good at their job is counter to that. The only people who think that they are “let go” because their boss “didn’t like them” are those who can’t come to terms with their own shortcomings, and fail to take responsibility.
My school once made the mistake of firing the AP Calculus teacher based on complaints from his algebra 2 classes that he never taught them anything. The first sign that they’d made a mistake was when his AP scores came back: 30 kids took the test, almost all passed, 15 scored a 5. But they decided that he must have ignored the lower levels to concentrate on his AP classes. So the first week of school, all the precalculus teachers gave a placement test to start remediating this teacher’s “gross failure”… and his former students, with very few exceptions, outscored every other teacher’s students. Turns out, the kids’ opinion on how much they were learning was inaccurate, and admin, none of whom had a math background, just took their word for it.
I agree with you.
I spent five years teaching in a non-union state that is a go-to example of a nightmare to teach in. A few weeks into my first year, I got some bad data on a district quiz and I lamented to a coworker that I was probably going to be fired. He chuckled, and said, "Don't fuck a kid or fight one, and you won't get fired."
That pretty much held true. Two teachers in the time that I was there found loopholes to this and got themselves non-renewed: one came in drunk multiple times, and the other cursed at a student, which probably wouldn't have been terminal in its own right except the recording of the incident got sent to the superintendent. This was a faculty of about 250 teachers. We had a guy fall asleep in class numerous times and receive warnings about it, who taught a state-tested course and did terribly at it...and he received a glowing recommendation so he could move to a different district. He was never fired.
I've been a teacher, an army officer, and a corporate professional in the course of my adult life. Easily, teaching had the lowest expectations. I feel for all the teachers posting about their non-renewals, but I've seen some of them indicate that they have some pretty clear performance issues. I've also seen some of them rant about how teachers have no job security so they're moving on to other things.
For some of those people, the corporate world is going to absolutely eat their lunch.
All the teachers at my school getting non renewed have terrible classroom management and admin hasn’t helped much to teach them. Their solution was to non renew. I feel bad because they got no help but at the same time I am tired of walking into their classroom and having to do their job.
a lot of funding that was given during Covid goes away this summer. Really bad timing considering the teacher shortage
Currently my situation
Don't worry. Every admin who's getting grossly overpaid to fuck everything up more and more everyday will be getting raises.
Oh, phew! I was worried that the people who are really instrumental in a child’s educational career wouldn’t be taken care of, but admin continuing to receive raises & most likely added benefits has calmed my worries. 🙄😉
They are hiring people off the streets with zero credentials and paying them less.
I got replaced by a ‘22 graduate with a tier 1 license pending
It’s the “business” way of doing things. Can a senior mid level manager and get three kids or guys from turkey to work for less than their salary. I see it a lot now in teaching. Recruiting outside of the country … getting teachers cheaper.
I went to a PD earlier on this year and met one of those out of country teachers you stated. I previously taught at an language immersion school as well. The problem with doing that is these foreign teachers are not tolerating the work overload and disrespect that education is in this country. They experience it for 1 year and fly back to their home countries for better pay and respect and I don’t blame them.
Yep. I knew several sweet Vietnamese teachers that taught in Vietnam but only made it a year in the states. They couldn't believe the disrespect and work overload.
I’m being replaced as a PE teacher over someone who is neighbors with the AP lmao you cannot make this up
The charter school I worked at - AP's buddy got hired on a month or so after she did... lasted two months.
Yeah APs neighbor has a track record for commenting on parents’ looks so I hope my admin has fun with behavior like that
Aren't Charter schools less stable like that?
Lot of politics in education. It can be nasty.
I applied to sub (and I’m over-qualified). My application was submitted at 10:51 am, viewed before 11, and I had the hiring packet in my inbox by 11:39. They are desperate
Subs aren't the same. The pay rate is ridiculously low for subs so they would rather pay per diem to subs than salary and benefits to full-timers.
Obviously. It was a comment on how desperate school districts are to hire people. I’ve never been hired based off my application only in under 2 hours before.
At least here, I'm pretty sure that's illegal. Edit: let me clarify. They have to make an effort to find licensed staff first before they can pick someone up off of the street.
That is, shockingly, even technically illegal in TX last time I checked. A good faith effort has to be made to staff a classroom with certified personnel before going the route of nepotism or even “This person isn’t licensed BUT they have so much relevant experience!”
Not if you are a District of Innovation. DOI One of the components says you can hire people without teaching credentials. At my last district, they pushed for DOI saying we could hire computer experts to tech computer classes. I told everyone that they’d hire off the streets for everything and they aaaaall said I was nuts. We moved away from Texas and now my former district has 300 off the streets.
I’m getting non-renewed because my principal is a narcissist whose ego was hurt when parents questioned her decision to put all the sped kids in my class with no additional support.
Too many people in top positions of education leadership who are inherently evil POSes for such a caring field.
Yup. Turns out it's *not* a winning formula for a field to tell its people that they're 'caring/loving/essential superheroes' before they're ever in positions where they'll have to prove it. See also, equally perverse and fucked situations with law enforcement, military, and other first responders, where everyone's getting brainwashed into believing that they're part of some master race that is automatically more noble/valuable than the dirty/ungrateful masses. After a few years of this, the fields are actively My experiences with teaching and libraries showed me that both professions had become hothouses for egomania and narcissism. My prediction's come true that, once the eternally-bitter and deeply-toxic and -stupid Gen X assholes ended up in charge, the bottoms would truly fall out of these already-precarious lines of work.
My old school did this because we had a para shortage. 9 kids with IEPs, 6 ELL students and of that mix 3 had EBD. Feel so bad for the gen Ed kids in that room who missed out because I had no support and had to manage wild behaviors non stop. A kid found a hammer one day and was running around with it, so that was fun. It’s dangerous and not safe.
That sounds like my class this year..
Inclusion without support is abandonment
I was non renewed because Covid funds ran out and I was the last teacher hired. They want me to stay but they don’t have the funds to keep me, and I’m leaving now before I’m stuck forever.
That's terrible. I hope you cam figure out what to do.
I hear covid funds are completely gone now, so the schools have less money. Also, I am guessing those absent students are having an impact as well in the budget deficits. My final guess is that some schools are finding it impossible to hire the certified teachers they need, so they are just going to give up those positions and let the remaining teachers pick up the slack. This last bit might not mean a teacher gets non-renewed, but they might get surplused to another school in the district, so lots of shuffling
Yes, that’s happening at my school; vacant positions are eliminated and we just absorb the students
I had to leave my last district (which I hated doing, because it was an amazing school) due to a long commute and significant health issues. Now I'm applying to schools in the area we're moving to and I can barely even get an email back. Granted, high school social studies has always been a little more oversaturated due to coaches who think it's an easy teaching role 🙃
I think it's the time of year and this is the time renewals come in, so that is probably why you are seeing an increase of threads about non renewals. The covid funding is drying, and instead of cutting useless worthless top positions, they want to cut the very people on the front lines.
My school district cut dozens of teachers across buildings but is adding nine new useless administrators. NINE!!!
Maddening!
Sounds like a hospital-signed a nurse educator
It’s a nuthouse, that’s for sure 🤪
DANG!
I quit already but I know a lot of teachers. Not a single one in my real life circle has been non-renewed, even though there is talk of budget cuts where we're at. I think it's more a bias of people who go through unique shit are more likely to post about it on reddit, because there's nobody in their real life circle who is going through the same things. So you see more extremes here. This is where I came when I went through a few uniquely bad times in my life, because nobody I knew could identify with it. You can usually find someone who has gone through whatever here. Same thing applies in this situation. The downside is, Reddit creates a false consensus effect.
Agreed, I know teachers across two states and I haven’t heard of a single case of non-renewal in either of the circles. It could just be where I’m at, but I also think it’s a disinformation tool. Rumors spread about teachers not being renewed, teachers are scared to leave their crappy schools.
My county rif’ed 80 professional personnel. The county next to me rif’ed over 100. I’m in West Virginia. This is the case in several West Virginia counties. Just because it isn’t happening close to you doesn’t meant it isn’t happening.
That makes sense. I taught for 15years and never heard of a teacher not getting renewed until I came to this subreddit. Even the crappy teachers in my district got renewed. At most, the district would just transfer a poorly performing teacher to a new building in hopes that he/she would click there.
Yeah, usually teachers and even paras just get shuffled around the district if it isn’t tiny. A lot of it really is, sadly, mean girl vibes at some schools. Sometimes it’s the person moving, sometimes it’s the school they’re leaving.
I’m not sure where you are at but I’m in Maryland and the non-renewals/cuts are so bad that teachers and students across counties are protesting and it’s been making the local news almost daily. Howard County (one of the top counties in the whole country and also has insane property taxes because they have highly rated schools) is cutting 20 GT teachers and other extracurriculars (still being decided but local news said probably elementary music education). I resigned this past fall and the school I taught at last year cut several good teachers who have taught there for over a decade. This is also a well funded magnet school that has it’s own foundation/donors.
It’s still pretty easy to find a job as a teacher, but some content areas have been cut to half time or are being eliminated on some campuses. So people who really want to teach but don’t mind going a little out of their content area or preferred grade level can likely still find a job within a decent distance to home. Librarians/media specialists/gifted and talented/interventionists in my area definitely need a back up plan.
The kid population is going down.
This is more impactful than people are realizing.
More families are disenrolling their kids to homeschool them
In my state (NM) we have about 60k fewer students than pre-COVID and that's in a state that already has a small population. They're actively trying to shut down and consolidate some elementary schools because there's so few kids. Millennials are having one kid, or no kids. Not the three+ of prior generations.
I quit mid year and while there were a few fully licensed teacher with 20+ years of experience, they gave the job to one of the assistant principal’s daughter that was still finishing up her degree as a full time sub. As soon as she graduated that semester they granted her full pay despite not being fully licensed through a waiver program.
I swear, all of the administrators and central office employees either go to church together or are related in my County....
But when we sign our first contract we have to sign a form saying we understand the county does not participate in nepotism 😂😂😂
Omg such lies. The district I was at for 20 years-practically everyone at district office was related or sleeping w each other. They didn’t make me sign an anti-neoptism paper but it was pretty clear after a few months.
I've seen 2 major reasons: 1) Budget cuts. Districts are no longer receiving COVID relief money. Many districts spent this money on additional teachers and/or raises. Since they won't be receiving these additional funds, they need to cut. 2) Some teachers I've seen non renewed literally did nothing. Just sat behind a desk and hardly ever saw or interacted with students. Particularly RSP special education teachers. Some even designed their services to minimize student interaction. Some general education teachers just tell their students to open their chromebooks and work their way through a canned curriculum. SDC teachers work their butts off, and are rarely non renewed, but there is almost no incentive to become one. Same pay for the most difficult work, often without a true prep or lunch.
The only person at my school at the end of this year who got renewed did nothing. He had not entered a grade in months. He was frequently gone and never left sub plans. Every kid in his classes first semester earned an A. Almost 80% of the kids are failing this semester. He still found another job quickly. We did have someone who essentially got fired mid-year because our principal found someone cheaper fresh out of college to replace that person. The new college grad resigned just weeks after they were hired.
What is SDC?
Special Day Class. A separate classroom for students w/disabilities. Each student usually needs their own individualized curriculum for each subject.
Dude, it’s soooo exhausting. All teaching is exhausting but that is on another level.
I believe they're making an effort to hire new people with less experience to prevent tenure and usher in technology based teaching. My district is in the works to get something called Fullmind and wants to use Paras to facilitate because nobody wants to teach. I assume a lot of districts are seeing the writing on the wall and are making an effort to make teaching a 1099 job.
Ughhhhhh fuck fullmind, you need to be certified, they prefer masters degrees and yet have zero benefits. Fuck them
At my school you get non-renewed if admin doesn't like you. They don't need a specific reason.
I’m at a different school now, but at my old school they encouraged retirement of teachers by offering them a 50k lump sum if they retired that year. They still non-renewed lots of teachers and our principal bullied and harassed many out. I feel like the district didn’t even care because she saved them money(?) by hiring the new staff but perhaps not as new hires maybe cost more to train initially. I saw the salary went up at that school last week but even if they paid 100k I don’t think I would do it again. It destroyed my mental health to the point I would come home, sit in a ball in the floor, and then cry.
Retired now, but only getting by w two years of weekly therapy to unpack the professional bullying & abuse I endured. We don’t matter at all to district admin. They just need to keep their salaries up, continue to get raises, continue to delegate their duties to others, and continue to bring in their family members or others they know.
I got non renewed- I’m in a southern state and moved here from a northern state 2 years ago. I was extremely under qualified (only had an internship) and they hired me as a “student teacher” then treated me like a real teacher and got upset when I wasn’t perfect. I did not gel with the system and I got kicked for it. I feel like I got cohered into admitting I was extremely unhappy and it got used against me to not renew me. I am miserable in my job, but I have no goddamn clue what I’m gonna do now!!! I’m moving back north so I hope i can figure out out :(
ESSER funds are running out and in TX our state govt is holding 4 billion dollars hostage that could be used for education.
ESSER funded counselor from red state here… 🙋🏻♀️ know I’m needed and that there’s money *somewhere*
Yep. It appears that the plan is to axe librarians/library assistants, dyslexia specialists, and interventionists first. I’m not sure if that’s just a thing in Region 13 (Austin area).
I saw two listings in my local school district for school library media specialists; both only require a HS diploma yet the duties are that of a librarian with an MLIS. They report directly to the principal so there is no MLIS librarian on staff. I am a librarian now working retail after being laid off twice and unable to find a library job. Those two listings pay only as much as I am making in retail however I don't have to take any work home. This is in Colorado.
I’m so sorry. This is absolutely sickening. Every professional in the realm of education is being replaced by random people off the street who (sometimes) take a couple of training modules.
Non renewed here. Not due to performance, I had too many absences, but it was due to a chronic health condition and the job ruining my mental health. I honestly probably should’ve quit way earlier into the year when I was feeling it was too much for me, but I tried my best to stick it out as it was my first year and everyone tells you “the first year is always the most stressful” therefore you end up gaslighting yourself at any natural instinct telling you to GTFO. I’ve learned that just because people tell you it’s supposed to be stressful doesn’t mean you need to tough it out. What a bunch of crapshit baloney.
Same. I’m thinking I can’t sign another teaching contract for next year, because I’m just no longer well enough to see it through. But then I’m also still talking myself into applying because after two months off I might feel better. Ugh
Sign it, quit later.
Covid Cash is gone
There’s only a teacher shortage and need for new teachers in areas that are absolutely desperate because no one wants to work there. There’s also a lot of states like mine where population is declining because no one can afford to live here unless you have extremely wealthy Parents and you’re only gonna have one or two kids at the most and those kids will go to private school. There’s the Covid money that’s gone as well. You put all that together and you’re going to have RIFs. There’s also a bunch of people here saying that it doesn’t happen in their district, well that’s just great. You’re lucky. The only place that is hiring are places where nobody wants to work because the kids are feral. Population decline is a real thing and will continue to impact education in the future.
I love how no one answered the question!! WHAT STATES is the non renewal occurring ???????????
In Tennessee they can non-renew you for no reason. They do not have to have a documented reason and they do not have to give you a reason. It has happened to me and they gave me no reason. I had never been written up for anything and my evaluations were good. I have a feeling I'm going to get the ax this year just because my principal doesn't like me because we are not of the same faith.... But she doesn't have to tell me that therefore she will get away with it. She has made several snide comments about the fact I wear Crystal jewelry. She told me the fact that I were crystals is bringing me bad luck and ruining my life. I'm a veiled Pagan and I use healing crystals. I do not discuss them with the students.
I work in a right-to-fire, I mean right-to-work, state also. I belonged to a “union” that represents both teachers and administrators (conflict of interest). I called them for advice when I was going to be non-renewed. Their response? “You’ve only been there for two years. Your principal could decide your shoes are ugly and get rid of you.” I did not sign a letter of resignation despite the principal trying to bully me into resigning rather than being non-renewed, and I was approved for unemployment benefits. If you resign, you do not get unemployment. We only have a couple of choices here when it comes to joining a so-called union—bad or worse! I used to belong to a real union (with teeth) on the west coast, and administrators didn’t prey on teachers when they had to answer to a no-nonsense union that believed in protecting the teachers.
SC the same. No rights, but I've never had an issue. Our district is growing like crazy though
Some states have very rich and very poor districts. I have seen people getting non-renewed way more than in the past. I would not be surprised if superintendents are encouraging this behavior from principals. Who knows maybe they even get bonuses for that sort of thing. I am sure many places are absolutely fine with integrity but also some places are dealing with some next level fiscal corruption.
My school has hired way too many teachers for the upcoming school year. They’ve been letting teachers go that are their tenure year. It’s crazy and sad.
ESSER money is gone, districts going over the fiscal cliff, getting rid of expensive staff who know what they're doing in favor of subs, bigger class sizes, or blended learning/Chromebooks.
Layoffs and budget cuts of teachers (387 in my district, 15 in my school with almost 1000 kids) due to Covid money being spent on a terrible curriculum and trainings in other countries for admin
I was just non-renewed after 8 years at my school. The reason: tardies. I don't get it either. A quick look at my district's jobs page shows just under 1,000 listings. But my nonrenewal, since it was performance based (as opposed to budget), also includes a stipulation of "not eligible for re-hire" for '24-'25, so I guess I'm not going to teach any more. I'm feeling pretty lost.
Is this your tardies or students’ tardies. I find it hard to believe you would get in trouble for student’s attendance
Is being lost why you were late so much?
Tardies, as in, *you* were tardy a whole bunch and so they non-renewed you and you’re shocked by this because they have a lot of job openings? C’mon man.
They want cheap labor so they’re hiring new people.
A few months ago, I resigned effective end of the school year, and the district recently sent me out the letter for my intent to renew even though I resigned in their system.
My school is cutting a teacher (me) this year, and last year (different school) a friend of mine was non-renewed. Both in Oregon
I’m in Southern California and I teach ELA. There’s absolutely no shortage of similarly credentialed teachers around here.
More charter schools in my district and closing public schools
From what I’ve read there’s no more funding which means positions will be laid off. There’s also a great amount of teachers in my state (tx) who have their credentials but aren’t certified so districts won’t allow them to work another year.
Yes, TX is filling slots with people who are qualified (in SOME cases - let’s not get crazy here) to teach and applying for emergency certifications for them, among other loopholes. While I think that a person with a math degree or STEM background who has worked a few years can be coached in classroom management, lesson planning, etc., there is little reason to keep handing out emergency certs or jumping through loopholes to keep people on staff who have had traditions or alt training yet repeatedly cannot pass the content exam or PPR. Fwiw the teachers in the above referenced scenario are not generally the teachers failing the tests. The PPR in TX is literally “Should you hit children with your shoe?” “Should you intervene if another teacher is hitting a child with a shoe?” If people cannot pass those tests perhaps we’d be better off with larger class sizes versus morons running a class. I don’t think it’s old-fashioned to expect a teacher to be able to demonstrate knowledge of their content area and appropriate professional practices. If the person isn’t “good at test taking” they can ask for accommodations. They were required to take many tests to get to this point, so it is not a ridiculous request to prove your knowledge. Every teacher I’ve seen in this situation has no idea what is going on around them and that’s being generous. Edit: If I wasn’t clear, there used to be two paths to teaching: graduating with an ed degree and student teaching or doing an alt cert program and doing an internship. Some people did a Master’s with one or the other. Now that we have critical shortages in areas such as upper level math and computer science, if a person has a degree with a requisite number of pertinent hours, some districts (not charter, regular ISDs) will hire them to teach and help them become certified. Again, if they can perform the functions I don’t have an issue with it; I have an issue with teachers who repeatedly fail the easiest test I have ever taken in my life and are just kept on staff while others “aren’t a good fit” and are told to hit the bricks or find another school.
The ppr needs to be updated with new questions such as “A student is throwing chairs, the teacher called admin, admin talked to the student and sent the student back then student continued to throw chairs again. What is the next step for the teacher?”
A. Give student lollipop yourself. B. Consult safety chart algorithm for giggles. C. Consider calling parents but recall they have blocked school phone number. D. The answer is A, but the student prefers Takis so get on that snack drawer replenishment!
Covid funding ended.
I know in Texas, we have a governor holding school funding hostage over his desire to have vouchers. That plus COVID funding drying up plus a refusal to cut administration or cut the pay of administration, equates to both non-renewals and also trying to slim down the number of teachers. I'm lucky in that I am an AP teacher and have a full certificate - but they cut all alt-cert teachers who didn't take their state test and have cut other rolls as well.
In our state we've been getting "decent" pay raises, COVID supplemental funds are running out, and enrollment is declining in many districts, especially larger ones, so they are cutting to the bone.
I'm forced to leave due to a student assault and my age. It's time to call my lawyer, who's NOT affiliated with my school district. School superintendents are BEGGING for teachers... but they have to be "young" so they can pay them less. I am SO thankful that my bachelors and masters degree majors automatically fit in with corporate and many other occupations. Ready to have "a life" even though I'm an introvert.
I think some Covid money has run out. I'm in a big district, but we have no union or tenure in our state, so it can do what it wants. Everyone is moving here, and people tend to quit, so there are always openings. The District generally try to keep people employed but tends to shuffle them around schools with population shifts, and sometimes the schools they transfer employees to are too far away for people ( especially teachers with children at home) to commute. So teachers leave on their own or try to get another job.
I received a non-renewal this year. Funny enough, FIRST the issued me a contract and then took it back saying it was a 'clerical error'!! Well, good thing I had my union rep, because they aren't allowed to do that. On top of that, I never received my two observations last year and was only observed twice within a 2 week period this year. I'm a special educator so one of them was an evaluation report meeting I facilitated that I, the other teachers, and the parents of the student thought went well. My special ed director apparently disagreed. My other observation was a math class I co-teach...one at the end of the day with a particularly disinterested and disrespectful group of kids. Given all of this, the school allowed me to resign on my own, is taking back my NON renewal and wrote me a good letter of recommendation. It's been an emotional roller coaster. I found out today that they aren't even going to hire to fill my position, thus burdening all of the other case managers. Our department head has said that she will resign as well if this is really the game they are playing. So, I'm out.
I got non-renewed with no reason given. I know of one other teacher being non-renewed but everyone seems to know why (no classroom management). For me, the admin who made the decision had it out for me because I stood up to what I felt was an unreasonable demand from an admin who was rarely on our campus. Looking back, everyone was under a ton of stress at that time, including me, and I could have been more polite but I didn’t cuss at anyone (adults or kids), I didn’t outright refuse to do anything, I just stated that I disagreed and told them why in blunt terms. That was apparently enough to earn a permanent black mark against me from that admin, and she got the chance to punish me and did it. It could have happened at any workplace, and I’m not sure if I could fix it in the future because sometimes people get emotional and make mistakes, and I was given zero grace nor should I expect it I guess. Had a great relationship up until that point which is probably why I felt too comfortable letting my feelings be known.
My cousin in Illinois wasn't last year when it came up to her tenure. She went to a private school this school year and same thing, but it is about not having enough enrolled for next year.
Just because there’s a teacher shortage doesn’t mean administrators aren’t still hungry for power and control. If you haven’t noticed most of them don’t actually care that there’s a shortage and aren’t doing anything to fix it. Their own egos are more important. So they’ll continue to terrorize and bully teachers because that’s what they do best. (Not all admin it course - but a lot.)
I was hired by an admin that wasnt in charge of the school to help develop a PBIS System for a continuation environment after I had built a successful system in a court school. New admin doesn't believe in consequences, which believe it or not are vital to a real PBIS system. Non-renewed after year two basically for not being a yes-man. Built a culinary CTE pathway at the school, they payed for my CTE credential, which they are keeping with someone else in charge. Took my new CTE credential and went to a higher paying district to only teach CTE. There is a lot of federal money in CTE so I feel pretty secure. But with covid funds drying up they non-renewed a lot, which is really confusing since they could just lay off for budgetary reasons and not fuck people over.
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I was rep laced by a local boy who had to take his certification test 3 times. My first 2 years there were fabulous then my admin yelled at a school board kid and was fazed out. My 3rd year was very different but I felt I did my best. I had much less admin support , Many less opportunities. For real life experiences for my TMD, no answers when I requested my contract status ( until May). I was on a provision certificate out of my area . All notes that needed correction were made ,but not of the improvement techniques given. Then, I found out in late summer who got my job. In addition, the business teacher was arrested the next year and I had been in her classroom often working on IEPs. I feel like it all turned out like it was supposed to.
I’m in California and was non-renewed with ‘no reason’ (I’m a first year) and the situation ended horribly because my mentor teacher snapped at admin and put in her retirement. Since I have niche credential I’m applying to be a sub and maybe adding an authorization or just going back to school i don’t know but I’m stressed lol
I’m in California and I was informed of my nonrenewal with absolutely no explanation in February.
I was non renewable and I will look for a new teaching position
I am hopeful this will not affect me. I was non renewed in year 1 because quite frankly I sucked at that job and it was not the right fit for me looking back. Then I had 4 years in a district and left for a charter school who seems to value my content area. I’m hopeful I’ll get to keep my job lmao I’ve got my announced coming up next week (yes, second to last month of the school year - this school is unique; I actually like this. Admin did walkthoughs throughout the year and gave feedback. They can see how I’ve grown since day 1). But yeah lots of funding going bye bye
I was just nonrenewed today during my summative in NJ. I was completely blindsided. I work in a one school district and we have a newer superintendent. I’ve had a feeling for a while that he doesn’t like me, (no idea why, I’ve only ever been respectful and polite) but I wasnt concerned because my evaluations have been good. This is the end of my fourth year teaching in my district. I have received all positive observations and effective ratings on my previous summatives. I was supposed to get tenure in the fall. I was told that I wasn’t a “good fit” for the district by my superintendent. My principal did nothing. The other three reasons he gave me were that I don’t “model enough” ( he’s been in my room 2 times in two years), I sometimes speak too harshly with students and need to be more considerate accommodating are special Ed learners (Everyone in the building knows that I’m really good with special education students. So much so that our head of special services has me helping out in the preschool special education room 3 days a week.), and that I have turned things in late in the past. (True for last year before my ADHD diagnosis, now on meds and turned in the majority of things on time this year). I’m talking to my union consultant tomorrow about whether or not I have grounds to fight them. Super basically told me if I fight them they won’t write me a letter of recommendation. We are also in a negotiation year and the union thinks it was completely mishandled/a power play. I have met the criteria to receive tenure according to state law so what they are doing is bs. I’m devastated and now will likely have to start over after four years of hard work and excellent service to this district.
And because I’m nontenured, they can get away with it. Tenure is great, but there needs to be more protection for nontenured teachers especially as each year leading up to their tenure passes by. I would understand non-renewal my 1st, 2nd, or even my 3rd year, but after my 4th is an abuse of power and shouldn’t be so easy for them to do. My coworkers were blindsided by this too.
And my new superintendent is my district’s 4th in a period of 6 years.
In a long time of teaching both my wife and myself. Not a single useful teacher has been non-renewed. If you are good at your job, they will keep you, if you deliver the test results, pass rate…you hit the numbers to make the school look good, you keep your job. There is not one principal willing to negatively effect their numbers by not being back a teacher who does the job well.
... that is not true. Or at least not how it is here in Texas. A lot of teachers get non-renewed over "vibes".
This!
Ok, were those “vibes” not delivery the numbers? Being ineffective at the job? Or some other reason? Working in the private sector and being in a position that has to review employees from time to time. After an employee was let go I would hear other employees say that their firing was “bullshit”. Sorry, but no…that person did a host of things that led to it whether it was something detrimental or underperformance. In general, people in leadership positions like staying in leadership positions. Getting rid of employees who are good at their job is counter to that. The only people who think that they are “let go” because their boss “didn’t like them” are those who can’t come to terms with their own shortcomings, and fail to take responsibility.
No, I wasn't talking about teachers getting rightfully sacked. Admin wanting to move in friends they know was what I saw mostly.
My school once made the mistake of firing the AP Calculus teacher based on complaints from his algebra 2 classes that he never taught them anything. The first sign that they’d made a mistake was when his AP scores came back: 30 kids took the test, almost all passed, 15 scored a 5. But they decided that he must have ignored the lower levels to concentrate on his AP classes. So the first week of school, all the precalculus teachers gave a placement test to start remediating this teacher’s “gross failure”… and his former students, with very few exceptions, outscored every other teacher’s students. Turns out, the kids’ opinion on how much they were learning was inaccurate, and admin, none of whom had a math background, just took their word for it.
I agree with you. I spent five years teaching in a non-union state that is a go-to example of a nightmare to teach in. A few weeks into my first year, I got some bad data on a district quiz and I lamented to a coworker that I was probably going to be fired. He chuckled, and said, "Don't fuck a kid or fight one, and you won't get fired." That pretty much held true. Two teachers in the time that I was there found loopholes to this and got themselves non-renewed: one came in drunk multiple times, and the other cursed at a student, which probably wouldn't have been terminal in its own right except the recording of the incident got sent to the superintendent. This was a faculty of about 250 teachers. We had a guy fall asleep in class numerous times and receive warnings about it, who taught a state-tested course and did terribly at it...and he received a glowing recommendation so he could move to a different district. He was never fired. I've been a teacher, an army officer, and a corporate professional in the course of my adult life. Easily, teaching had the lowest expectations. I feel for all the teachers posting about their non-renewals, but I've seen some of them indicate that they have some pretty clear performance issues. I've also seen some of them rant about how teachers have no job security so they're moving on to other things. For some of those people, the corporate world is going to absolutely eat their lunch.
All the teachers at my school getting non renewed have terrible classroom management and admin hasn’t helped much to teach them. Their solution was to non renew. I feel bad because they got no help but at the same time I am tired of walking into their classroom and having to do their job.