Here are a couple of NGs that you might like to visit.

Kathy,

Quite a URL, but it worked! Surfed through it kind of quickly, but this one caught my eye and attention. At first blush, it is of interest, because it appears to be a teacher trying to stand up to administration bs. Imagine, it’s not just the parents who have to put up with the abuse, lies and frustrations.

Part of what he says would/could have a negative impact on parents/children, but the thrust and final outcome would be holding administrators to task; and he has some great ideas! The only negative impact I see is the teacher getting up and leaving a meeting as soon as the time clock ticks work is over. Parents pay to attend the meetings (taxes), they are not on the clock, they tend to work for a living outside of the district time zone. Therefore, parents will often request for meetings to be after standard work hours; thus the dilema.

I suppose this is one point where administrations work towards building up animosity between parents and teachers so their smoke and mirrors parlor game can get underway.

A parent is not paid at all to attend the meetings. Parents pay taxes for the FAPE that is assured to all by law.

Now, as opposed to focusing on the child and the IEP, a parent could get offended when a teacher gets up and walks out, and then the administrator would/may work at taking the focus off the child and stoke the fire of parent/teacher dispute (not the goal of either party).

Anyway, I think much good can be taken from his writings here, considering that much of the documentation instructions and other RULES OF ENGAGEMENT would work well for parents as well.

Thanks for the interesting lead.

Andy

Message 1 in thread
From: Samuel Waters ([email protected])
Subject: TEACHERS! TAKE ACTION AGAINST EVIL ADMIN!
Newsgroups: misc.education
View complete thread (7 articles)
Date: 2001-03-11 01:44:04 PST

(Everyone has my full permission to copy this in any amount and post it
anywhere, especially in the teacher’s lounge. Contributors to this list give
the same permission by their action contribution unless they say otherwise)

TEACHERS! you will wait till hell freezes over waiting for the BOE and the
Admin to do the right thing for you and your students. Remember this truism:

FREEDOM IS TAKEN, NOT GIVEN!

You have the power being in that classroom. Never leave that classroom for an
admin job that deals with staff and students directly. TEACHERS! You are the
most powerful persons in your school! All you have to do is stand up for
yourselves. Stop being meek and afraid.

This list is to be used against Admin that treats teachers abusively in any
form or fashion as part of their MO and who shove a program down your throat
while refusing to listen to your goodwill questions and complaints. Good
Admin caught in the same sorry system with the teachers should think about
using this list for ideas to fight for their teachers and children.

Go the passive aggressive route. Don’t question the “program” or the demands
that the “program” asks of you. Jump right into the “program” with both feet.
All you need is about 5 staff members to make your point, but one brave soul
can bring things to a head. The more teachers you have involved the lower the
initial costs will be. Here’s how it goes.

1. Stop spending your money on classroom supplies or school activities.

2. Remove all material from the classroom you own.

3. Arrive at school at exactly the time you are supposed to arrive +1minute.
Hang out in your car and grade papers or whatever. Don’t congregate in front
of the building. Walk in on time just like it was all normal for you to do
this.

4. Leave your school grounds exactly one time. This means leaving staff
meetings that go over the contracted time. If the admin has a fit as you get
up to walk out the door, say,” time’s up, send me a memo.” Then ask for an
e-mail memo from the staff admin and CC to all his/her higher ups.

4.1 Leave ALL meeting—even parent teacher meetings—when the contracted school
day is over. That’s right. When the minute hand hits the right number, you
politely get up; inform everybody that you are no longer being paid for this
time, and leave.

4.2. All IEPs require that ALL teachers of a child have a hand in writing
the IEP for a student. Request IEPs for all your students. If your input is
not on an IEP, request (not demand, keep everything very polite) to have a new
IEP meeting for all students with IEPs. CC to the head of Special Education in
your system. Again, keep mum.

4.3. Make a formal spoken and written request for the IEPs of all IEP students
in your class. If you never get them, and a parent complains that you are not
fulfilling the IWP for your child AND you have never received the IEP and/or
even been informed, then keep the copy of the request memo with a copy of the
RETURN RECIET (yes, send the memo and all memos of this type by certified mail
with real return receipt and keep them AT HOME! Admin is known for taking all
file cabinets out of your classroom and desks claiming all material as employee
work product. They are really hunting for the stuff you have on them and when
you demand your “personal” materials returned, the evidence you HAD will be
missing and the Admin will claim they never saw any such items.

5. Complain in a memo to the admin and cc to all higher ups that you are not
receiving information that will allow you to “be onboard” and “with the
program.”

6. When, during a meeting, it becomes obvious that money will be needed for
the program, DON’T SAY A WORD. After the meeting, if contracted time still
exists or the next morning, submit requisition requests to the appropriate
personnel. CC to admin and all higher ups. Say, “we need this money or supply
so that we can successfully implement the program. We think its a wonderful
program and we want it to work.”

6.1. When the admin have a fit and refuse the requests, call up your personnel
department for a review of your personnel record. Use your rights to have the
request and denial put in your file. Check your file every 2 months. Repeat
additions as needed.

6.2. Always be nice and respectful to the admin. Say nice things about the
program they are ramming down your throat.

6.3. Politely refuse any extra duties that are not in the contract. Withdraw
from duties not in your contract. Make excuses that your
husband/wife/children/elderly aunt needs more home care and you can’t afford to
pay for that care or whatever similar story that makes them look like an ayhole
for trying to push new duties on you.

7. When directly ordered to do a duty that you know is not required of you, DO
NOT ARGUE at that time (do not argue ever!). Politely say okay and go to that
duty, then at your next convenience file a grievance. NEVER SHOW YOUR HAND!
NEVER SAY WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO!

8. Get you a good pocket tape recorder. Record every meeting. You cannot be
legally forced to not tape record your meetings. Be very polite even when
threatened with action if you don’t stop. Let the admin try and punish you in
any way. You will have the union in this at this point. Tell the UniServ rep
that if the union does not take the contracted legal action to stop, then you
and your group will move to get an employment law attorney (you already did
before you dropped this bomb on your UniServ rep). If you have noticed, unions
tend to back management. If the union does not move, take legal action on your
own. Make sure the board is served with a summons at he next board meeting on
which you have reserved time to speak. Talk about BS so that your submitted
speech is accepted. Keep to the speech and do not deviate from it while you
have your process servers drop serve the BOE.

7. If the admin berates you, calls you names, says they are going to get
you, etc. you will make a full complaint with the tape to your employment
attorney. DO NOT TELL YOUR UNION! When you have the formal meeting with your
admin’s superiors, let the admin person who behaved badly or threatened you
lie. LET THEM LIE. DO NOT SHOW YOUR HAND until the bad admin person has
repeatedly lied. Then pull out the recorder, and ask the person directing the
meeting to listen to the tape that will impeach the bad admin guy’s statements.
Give the bad Admin guy a chance to change his story or play it showing him to
be a liar. With your best professional voice inform the superiors that they
are now *ON NOTICE* that the bad admin guy will lie to his superiors. Use the
words *ON NOTICE* they have very specific legal meanings and consequences.

8.1. If the union did not take any action for you, cut them out of the loop.
DO NOT INFORM THE UNION WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO! They WILL tell the BOE.

8.2. You have your employment attorney (who will now more than likely take
your group’s case on contingency fee basis) sue the union for failure to
perform it fiduciary and legal duties. Upon a hearing, the court will more
than likely give your group a summary judgment for your legal costs.

8.3. The union may demand to take presidency over any other legal actions your
group wants to take. Let them. Keep you employment attorney informed of the
actions they take. Have you employment attorney tell them in a formal letter
what the actions are they are supposed to take and that he will take over from
them WITHOUT NOTICE if they do not follow the proper responses to admin
actions.

9. The admin more than likely are the people who sit in you class for
evaluations. It is very important that you have grievances file against all
admin who would likely do a formal classroom observation and who would likely
write your evaluation. You file a complaint with the union and your employment
attorney claiming a *conflict of interest* in the admin of your school doing
any evaluation of you BEFORE you get a formal write up.

10. If a student threatens you, hits you, pushes you, inform the Admin as
required. Ask for assault leave at that moment. Respectfully demand proper
emergency transport to the hospital. That very day, file criminal charges
against the student. Inform the media. DO NOT TELL THE ADMIN WHAT YOU ARE
GOING TO DO! If at all possible, have the student arrested at the school. If
the admin refused to call for emergency transport, use you cell phone to call
it yourself. Let the admin rip the phone from your hand. Do not struggle.
You have just been assaulted by admin.

10.1 A student actually has to hit, push, punch, etc. The rule is: GO DOWN
AND
STAY DOWN! Don’t do this when a student or admin just grab your arm. Use some
common sense. Have the hallway video immediately subpoenaed. If you have no
physical injury, don’t tell the doctor that you think you have PTSD, let the
doctor make that diagnosis—NOT YOU!

11. DON’T touch a student in any for or fashion. Especially male teachers.
Keep a two arms length rule as much as possible. When students approach you
tell them when to stop. When in the classroom, approach the student head on,
NOT FROM BEHIND. DO NOT stand over a student’s shoulder. When a student needs
assistance, keep one hand in your pocket and the other on your pencil as much
as possible. DO NOT EVER be alone with a student. Why?

11.1. Make sure that all the teacher’s in your group know the above. Make
sure you all are in practice for at least 4 weeks of the above. Then keep an
eye out and an ear open when on of your admin grab, pushes, shoves a student up
against the lockers (we’ve seen this, we all have). DO SAY A WORD to anyone
until you call Child Protective Services (Child Welfare here) and report an
assault and battery on a student by the offending admin person. Then go to the
guidance office and get the reporting form and write out your report that must
be sent to CPS ASAP as required by law. If you saw the incident, go to the
proper authorities and swear out a warrant.

11.2. Teachers and admin should know better than to touch children in these
ways. Male teachers should know better than to touch children at all. If you
do it, or another teacher is known to do it, you and they will be caught by
your own trap.

FREEDOM IS TAKEN, NOT GIVEN!

And the last rule always is below:

INFINITY. When the admin stops abusing teachers and begins to be truly
cooperative, do not continue in any of the actions listed above.

INFINITY+1. Allow things already in the administrative/legal pathway to
continue to work themselves out to their end. If you stop what you already
started when the admin begins to “play well with others,” they will use this as
a ploy to get you to withdraw past actions and later use your withdrawal to
make you look bad when they turn bad again.

INFINITY+2. If admin turns evil again, begin all the steps listed above. IOW,
Tit for tat.

PLEASE ADD TO THIS LIST YOU DISCOVER NEW TECHNIQUES.

FREEDOM IS TAKEN, NOT GIVEN!

The purpose of this post *is* peace. PEACE THROUGH STRENGHT.

Do it for the children.

You’re welcome. As you frequent the 2 NGs, you’ll come to discover, sadly, that the writer of the above post is HATED by just about everyone else who frequents that NG. It’s sad that such is the case.

You’ll also find people on the NG who believe that LD is an invented disability, an excuse for failure. You’ll find people who believe that special ed is not worth the extra money it takes, because special-ed kids can supposedly produce nothing of value. ( I’ve read their posts.) You’ll find people who claim that kids with ADHD are merely undisciplined kids in need of whippings. Not lately, fortunately, but there have been such postings in the past. (I’m glad to report that such people are pretty much in the minority—but those who do hold such attitudes can be pretty vocal. On the plus side, you’ll find quite a number of people—teachers included—who are enlightened about kids with LD, ADHD, and other invisible disabilities. You’ll like them.)

Yours truly,
Kathy G.