Culture of Concealment - Part 2

In the last post I gave several examples demonstrating the administrative penchant for obscuring unpleasant truths. What are the effects of decisions prompted by policies of parental appeasement, avoidance, and concealment? Beyond the immediate impact of eroding student discipline and respect for rules, which makes the school less safe for everyone, there are much more insidious consequences negatively affecting the educational experience: staff demoralization, cynicism, and, in the case of impressionable younger teachers, the sense that educational principles are fluid and changeable, which, in turn, adversely affects their own judgment and development as educators. One final example will help to illustrate this.

In a specific department I will not identify, the practice existed of having a fieldtrip for the culminating task, which accounts for a certain percentage of the final mark. In this particular instance, because the students had performed so badly in the accompanying activities, the department head changed the assignment’s criteria so that everyone got at least 80%. Consequently, the teachers of students who did not go on the fieldtrip were instructed to make sure that their culminating task was designed so that those students would also achieve a minimum of 80%. Whether this perversion of education principles occurred with the knowledge and consent of the administration I cannot say, but the very fact that it happened should not be surprising, given the kind of environment and mentality arising from the weak leadership I have described here.

It would be easy for readers to dismiss each of my illustrations as isolated and insignificant events, but the truth is that most teachers have similar or worse stories to tell, but are not free to speak about them. Although boards would vehemently deny it, the pervasive organization ethos is that making things difficult or embarrassing for ‘the bosses’ is to invite, at the very least, career stagnation, and at the very worst, retribution, even dismissal. As we were often told by our local federation, criticizing your employer is grounds for dismissal. The fact that I am retired is the only reason I can bring these matters to light, and the reality is that I have presented only a highly selective version of what transpires in schools today; because I have no desire to jeopardize the careers of teachers who are still working, and the fact that some of the administrative transgressions I know of are based only on reliable second hand accounts, I have omitted much.

Without doubt, whenever misdeeds are brought to light, senior administrators and board officials will, as they always have, utter platitudes designed to placate the public, while ignoring opportunities for substantive change. The culture of concealment will, in one form or another, continue unless two things happen:

• Whistle-blower protection for teachers is enacted to spare them the retribution that normally ensues when people dare to speak out

• Board trustees begin to take back some of the responsibility for the day to day operation of schools they have abdicated to administrators and bureaucrats, both of whom often have an agenda at odds with quality education.

Unless and until there is a real desire for improvement at the top, things will, I fear, continue to deteriorate in our schools.

School Safety - Part 3

Once more, I have included in bold print the parts that seem particularly pertinent to teachers. As well, the politically expedient comments of Gerry Connelly, the Director of Education for the TDSB, have been bolded. One fact the article fails to make clear is that any criticism of your employer can be grounds for dismissal, undoubtedly another reason for the culture of fear and concealment endemic in education.

SCHOOL SAFETY: UNREPORTED ASSAULTS
Violent incidents hushed up, union says
CAROLINE ALPHONSO
January 12, 2008

Toronto's high-school teachers' union confirmed yesterday that educators are told by administrators to keep safety issues quiet for fear of damaging their schools' reputations.

Simultaneously, principals moved to tackle the hundreds of unreported violent assaults taking place on school grounds in the wake of a damning report on school safety.

Doug Jolliffe, president of the Toronto district of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, said union members are reluctant to speak out about violence because they are rarely protected by their superiors.

A culture of fear permeates the TDSB, Mr. Jolliffe said, echoing the conclusion drawn by criminal lawyer Julian Falconer, who led a high-profile investigation into the issue.

His panel heard from employees of the Toronto District School Board, who said that revealing violent incidents in schools, including robberies and sexual assaults, would be "career-limiting" because it would reflect negatively on the board.

Mr. Falconer was asked to report on school safety after 15-year-old Jordan Manners was shot to death at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute in May.

The panel's final report, made public this week, describes the country's largest school board as rife with violent attacks swept under the rug.


"The principal's argument would be if this stuff gets out, it reflects badly on the school," Mr. Jolliffe said. "If it reflects badly on the school, then we'll have fewer students here. If we have fewer students, then we're going to lose jobs here."


The union chief added: "I don't agree with that, but that's what they say to people."
Meanwhile, principals met with the TDSB's director of education, Gerry Connelly, to discuss the report. Principals were asked to speak with staff, students and parents about what can be done to rectify the problem.

"One of my main priorities is to ensure that we have a culture of trust and openness," Ms. Connelly said.

"Fear of reprisal ... was most unfortunate."

Unfortunate, but very real, Mr. Jolliffe said.

"We can't afford to do that any more. We need to figure out what we're going to do about it," he said. "We need to make our schools safer."

The Vindictive Nature of Boards

I'm sure we have all had the experience of 'peeking behind the curtain' and seeing the often petty and vindictive nature of boards and their minions, thereby offering a sharp contrast to the gentle and humane public persona they want everyone to see. Today's Globe and Mail offers such a peek in an article entitled 'Teacher faced retaliation, lawyer says.'

The story details the career consequences to a teacher who made the mistake of sending an email to the parents of her students about a massive rodent infestation that raised the allergen level in her classroom to health-threatening levels. Predictably, the board denies that their punitive actions had anything to do with the teacher's whistle blowing.