Letter From A Laid Off Teacher
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Photo by Tyler Hester
In October of 2009, Neon Tommy profiled 26-year-old Pasadena teacher Tyler Hester and his crusade to bring books into the lives of his seventh- and eighth-grade students. At the time of the article, Hester was just starting out the year, setting classroom expectations and laying the groundwork for student achievement. His energy was high; he was excited about venturing into education policy eventually, but fairly sure he'd like to return to Blair International Baccalaureate School for a third year.
Now, the decision to return to the classroom or not is out of his hands. On Mar. 15, Hester--a graduate of Stanford, Cambridge and the highly competitive Teach for America program--was "riffed," in teacher-speak. He was handed a reduction in force notice. He was laid off.
Hester is not alone. Twenty teachers at Blair were let go, out of about 50 who make up the full-time staff. One hundred and sixty-five were laid off district-wide.
The pink slips flew in on the wings of statewide education cuts, which have left Pasadena Unified School District short $23 million. The district has said that a proposed parcel tax could patch the budget gap and save as many as 80 of the 165 jobs cut. But Hester believes that, whatever happens from this point on, the damage has been done.
"A school is the people inside of it," he said. "If you can't keep that consistent, it's really hard to create and maintain a productive learning environment."
Here's his take on the situation:
Let's start with a basic truth. Last month, President Obama noted, "The single most important factor in determining [student] achievement is not the color of their skin or where they come from. It's not who their parents are or how much money they have -- it's who their teacher is."
Next, let's consider a harsh reality. On Mar. 15, the Pasadena Unified School District made the decision to cut 165 full-time employees. Seventy-six of these employees are classroom teachers between kindergarten and sixth grade. At the secondary level, music, physical education, math and English teachers, as well as myriad others, will also be let go due to the dire budget situation in the district. At Blair International Baccalaureate Magnet School, where I teach, 20 of about 50 full-time employees were given reduction in force notices. (Full disclosure: I am one of those teachers.)
No one denies that the cuts will hurt those people for which this school system has been constructed: the district's approximately 20,000 students. The central question that we ought to be asking ourselves at this moment is the following: How can we minimize the harm that these cuts have on our students?
If we are truly most concerned with our students' achievement and well-being, our actions moving forward ought to be guided by a fact that Obama has called to our attention, a fact that has been proven repeatedly by educational research: The No. 1 factor in student achievement is the quality of the teacher. Research shows that teacher effectiveness has more impact on student achievement than any other variable at the school level. One study suggests that if minority students could have a teacher in the top 25 percent of the profession for four years in a row, the achievement gap between minority students and white students would disappear.
Despite this well-known truth, the cuts that are being administered in Pasadena Unified School District, and in all public school districts throughout California, are guided by a state law that mandates that "services of ... employees shall be terminated in the inverse of the order in which they were employed." The central criterion used in the cut of 165 teachers this past week was not their effectiveness as teachers, but their seniority. Teachers were not laid off based on their capacity to spur academic growth, but rather based on their having entered the system earlier than the unlucky number 165.
This situation would be perfectly acceptable if all teachers started at a certain level and improved equally in performance over time. We all know, however, that this is not the case. Some teachers are able to achieve outstanding outcomes in their first year in the classroom while others catalyze only middling to poor results many years into their teaching tenure. So if it's true that time in the classroom is not always predictive of effectiveness, why should we remain so wedded to seniority as the primary consideration when thinking about whom to lay off?
The reason why some insist that seniority is the "only objective criteria" that we can use when making cuts is because it is so hard to rigorously and fairly assess the quality of a teacher. Effective teaching can be measured in part by student test scores, but there are other outcome-based measures that ought to be considered, including rigorous and fair observations by principals and master teachers, independent assessment of student work, and evaluations of videotaped classes. Determinations based merely on student test scores are not sufficient. Neither, however, are determinations based solely on seniority.
The central choice that Pasadena and California face now is the choice between what is right and what is easy. The easy path is the one we find ourselves on now, the path on which we make human capital decisions based first and foremost on duration of employment. The right path, it seems to me - the path that honors our commitment to students and that treats teachers like the dedicated professionals that they are - is a messy, difficult, and contentious path. It would require us to grapple with the uncomfortable and imperfect work of carefully evaluating teachers based on their performance. It would require a great deal of time and resources, and it would not be without conflict.
In my year and a half of working in Pasadena Unified School District, however, I have been inspired by the people I have seen willing to roll up their sleeves to do what is right. I have been deeply moved by custodial workers, security staff, teachers, and administrators who have been willing to make themselves uncomfortable in order to arrive at solutions that are just and fair and that recognize that our fundamental concern is the wellbeing of our students.
As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle." I hope that, in this dark moment, the community of Pasadena, as well as the State of California, makes the choice to struggle.
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I also teach in Pasadena- this will be my 5th year- and I too was "riffed" this year.
Very nicely written- I agree with everything you said.
Quick note- last year five teachers in Pasadena received the "Teacher of Excellence" award. Last week at the lay-off hearing, I saw three of them.
We really are laying off out best teachers.
I truly hope, for our students sake, that things change and all those pink slips are rescinded in May.