Displacement

I teach my Physics students that displacement is the straight-line distance between two points. After this Friday, another definition of the word displacement was made real to me. I received a call in my classroom toward the end of the day when my students were finishing up their work. "You're needed in the main office. Another teacher is coming to watch your students so you can come down." I felt a little worried about what it could be about. Earlier that day, the stand-in principal interrogated me after hearing from one of my students that I was giving my final a week earlier than the last week of school when the district schedules finals. I convinced her that this was just another exam, and I'm still giving them their final on the scheduled date. (I will give them a "final" test on the prescribed date in the last week of school, but it's going to be something easy since I'm giving their real final the week before because I want my students to see/respond/celebrate their results). I thought maybe she wasn't convinced and wanted to chew me out for breaking a stupid rule. But I quickly found out this wasn't the case.

My supervising assistant principal was in the office with the stand-in executive principal, and they started off with, "You know with the loss of federal funding and the budget cuts the district has made, every school has to severely reduce the number of teachers." I knew what they were talking about, of course. There had been a lot of buzz for the past few months about the coming reductions, but I thought I was immune somehow. I was told that reductions like this happen about every year. Based on projected enrollment for the following year, teachers are kind of shuffled around the district to meet the subject area needs. As a Teach for America teacher that is producing the best results out of any science teacher at the school, I thought I would be one of the last teachers to go. I also thought my 2-yr contract with TFA might keep me at the same school for those 2 yrs at least. I found I was mistaken though when they told me, "Based on seniority, you're being displaced. You'll need to attend the displaced teachers fair next Wednesday to look for a position at another school."

I was kind of caught off guard. A ton of questions began pouring into my head with mixed feelings. Initially, I took it as if I were being fired, and I felt like my principal was telling me that I wasn't good enough and wanted me to go. Even though I was suspicious at the time, she told me that purely based on seniority, they were asked by the district to cut a certain number of teachers per subject area (18 total). And I believe her. I don't think she really wanted to let me go. She's always been very encouraging and impressed with my work this year. However, I can actually see a lot of good that can come out of this for me. There were many points throughout the year where I wished I were somewhere else. I definitely did not have a very pleasant year, and situations at the school only seem to be getting worse. I might be able to take advantage of this opportunity and find a good school where I can be better supported to make a greater impact on students. But the more I've thought about the consequences of my displacement and what it means for my kids at this school, I've felt more sad about missing out on seeing how my students grow next year.

I feel sad that the students at this school might be failed next year by getting a tenured science teacher that doesn't care whether their students go on to do great things as long as they get paid. The two students that I helped get into the St. Thomas Science Scholars Program next year won't have me directly available to guide them to help make their opportunity valuable and beneficial for them, and I won't get to talk to them about their experiences through the program. Even though I've been hard on myself and I know that this year could have been done so much better if I was more experienced, I'm aware now more than ever before that the fact is: the alternative to me is most likely much worse. I'm sad for the students next year that might end up with a paycheck teacher.

I don't really know if they'll be getting any new science teachers though since this isn't really a replacement but a staff reduction. But the other freshman science teacher is voluntarily leaving, so I don't know how they're going to manage that. Supposedly to save money, they are going to reduce the number of teachers at each school according to the projected enrollment for next year. Some will be the first to be hired at other schools where they have openings, but I'm assuming some will not have a position next year since the whole point is to not pay as many teachers. With TFA though, I have other options outside of the district to look into, so I'm not really worried about not being hired. And if I don't, then I'll be a lab tech or work in a hospital. But obviously, while I'm in TFA I want to serve my purpose which is to provide a transformational education for my students.

I'm very confused about this process and why the district does things like this as you may be too reading this. One result of this process is that class sizes across the district are going to sky-rocket from 25 to like 40. Some schools will be affected more than others probably, and my current school will probably get the shaft like it usually has in the past as I've learned. Another consequence I see is the inconsistency among teachers in schools that this upholds within the district. If they do this every year, how are we supposed to foster "small learning communities" that the district is pushing where teachers form relationships with their students and follow them through their 4 years of high school. It keeps different teachers moving in and out, and with a population that my school serves, consistency and continuity are really important for these kids to feel valued because they don't ever have consistency or continuity at home.

I'm not really sure if this happens, but I bet these displacements can also be used by principals to get rid of teachers that they don't want to a certain extent. The movie, Waiting for Superman, called it the "Dance of the Lemons". Since the tenured or professional licensed teachers are pretty much guaranteed a job after being displaced, one school will pass their lemons on to another school and vice versa. But if that's happening at my school, there's a very obvious lemon that teaches down the hall from me that's not being displaced to my knowledge. I think this is one of the most frustrating things. The teacher that passes all his kids no matter the amount of work they do let alone mastering the content; the teacher that is always late in the morning and leaves his students waiting outside his locked classroom door; the teacher that I routinely see roaming the hallways during his class leaving his students unsupervised; this teacher is staying at the school because he has tenure and seniority while I'm leaving.

I'll definitely update when I find out anything about my next placement. I'm hopeful that I can find a better place that I might enjoy a little more. I'm going to a displaced teachers fair this coming Wednesday to interview with principals, so pray that I'll hit it off with the right person and that it'll be a place I can be happier. What's funny is that I think I'm one of maybe 2 or 3 TFA teachers that are being displaced. I was told by other TFA corps members that their principals are under the assumption that TFA teachers can't be displaced. I guess my school isn't under that assumption.

By the way, I mentioned earlier the "stand-in" principal for my school. Let me explain that. My executive principal was basically terminated a couple weeks ago after an incident where she was accused of hitting a girl on the head with a water bottle while trying to break up a fight. Yeah, crazy stuff happens here. So the PE teacher's mother came in to replace her for the time being. So she is the stand-in principal. I have no idea what's going to happen at this school for next year.