Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Friday, December 16, 2016
2nd class citizen at the Dept of Education.
Today I'm sitting in a chair off to the side as if I'm a parent waiting to be seen by the principal
These people haven't given me a space for myself nor a place to put my belongings
The GC here probably feels bad because she let me hang my coat in her closet
I sit here for 6 hrs until it's time to go home
I get paid a 6 figure salary to sit and do nothing
I've been sitting in this same spot for an entire week
The administration here has no respect for ATR/ACR's they won't even give me a bathroom key of my own they said other atrs never returned them and they only have one left so anytime I need to use the bathroom I need to ask the Secretary for the key lol really? so the custodian can't make a key? clearly they just don't have any regard for me as an employee who has the same rights and privileges as they do. #Unfuckingbelievable.
This is week one one more week on being treated like a second class citizen and then it's Christmas break. I believe I have 2 more weeks after that to be at this place. I could make a stink but I really don't even want to be bothered I have such an attitude.
How did I end up here?
How did I end up here. Life is surely confusing.
I've worked with satisfactory rating for 30 years. When I hit year 28 the school in which I worked was closed along with 30 something other schools in NYC. All under the guise of Mayor Bloomberg. I can't begin to explain the rationale for the closure of all those schools. I know for a fact that my school was a passing school. We worked very hard to improve the students academic abilities. The majority of the students were students with reading and math levels of 2 and below. So getting them to improve as high school students was no easy task. But we did it.
I truly believe that the powers that be had an agenda that we weren't privy to. Nevertheless, no matter how much protesting , parent and community outrage, The city still closed the schools. Why? Because Money talks!!! The man with the money was the billionaire business man Mayor. He controlled the puppets. Whatever he wants he gets. The school.system has now turned into a big business. It's no longer about the whole student. It's about numbers and statistics. Whose school has the best scores on standardized tests? Get those scores up by any means necessary. So now the teachers have to become cheaters or miracle workers. If the students don't reach the benchmark off with their heads. No tenure for you. As a matter of fact I think I'll fire you and get another newbie straight out of college to do the job. We all know they come eager to please and change the world. They recruit them from places like teach America. These people come from all over. The ones I've run across came from places like Wisconsin. Anyway, they usually come with great expectations of living in NYC and helping the inner city youth. Most of them end up leaving within 4 months.
Anyway, this post is supposed to be about me and my journey. Just wanted to give a little background.
I was born and raised in NYC. I was educated in the NYC public school system. I completed my masters in the City University of NY system. I say this to say that I am a product of nyc and can relate to the students of NYC. I have worked diligently to help the youth succeed in life. Help them to become better citizens , better people ,better educated so they can lead us when is their turn. Some of these students have become doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers and even teachers among other professions. My job was and is to educate the whole child. Academically, socially and mentally. And I did just that.
So now that my school was closed where do I go??? Where do any of the many principals, assistant principals, guidance counselors, teachers, secretaries and support staff go??? Thank God for the union which fought for us to keep out positions. YES, we keep our positions but where do we go? The answer is we all get placed in what they refer to as the ATR/ACR pool. Absent teacher reserve or absent counselor reserve. They use the teachers and counselors as reserves like substitutes. We are sent as a reserve to a school for 1 month. So even month you get sent to another school. I am not going to speak on other peoples experience with this because their experience is not mine. From what I hear from them it's been a nightmare. I'll let them tell it themselves.
I can only speak about my experience as an ACR. I'm a Guidance Counselor in reserve. I've been doing this for some years now. It's quite interesting and I have so many thoughts rumbling through my mind that it's making me bonkers. So I decided to blog about the day to day experience of my life as an ACR.
Stay tuned.........
I've worked with satisfactory rating for 30 years. When I hit year 28 the school in which I worked was closed along with 30 something other schools in NYC. All under the guise of Mayor Bloomberg. I can't begin to explain the rationale for the closure of all those schools. I know for a fact that my school was a passing school. We worked very hard to improve the students academic abilities. The majority of the students were students with reading and math levels of 2 and below. So getting them to improve as high school students was no easy task. But we did it.
I truly believe that the powers that be had an agenda that we weren't privy to. Nevertheless, no matter how much protesting , parent and community outrage, The city still closed the schools. Why? Because Money talks!!! The man with the money was the billionaire business man Mayor. He controlled the puppets. Whatever he wants he gets. The school.system has now turned into a big business. It's no longer about the whole student. It's about numbers and statistics. Whose school has the best scores on standardized tests? Get those scores up by any means necessary. So now the teachers have to become cheaters or miracle workers. If the students don't reach the benchmark off with their heads. No tenure for you. As a matter of fact I think I'll fire you and get another newbie straight out of college to do the job. We all know they come eager to please and change the world. They recruit them from places like teach America. These people come from all over. The ones I've run across came from places like Wisconsin. Anyway, they usually come with great expectations of living in NYC and helping the inner city youth. Most of them end up leaving within 4 months.
Anyway, this post is supposed to be about me and my journey. Just wanted to give a little background.
I was born and raised in NYC. I was educated in the NYC public school system. I completed my masters in the City University of NY system. I say this to say that I am a product of nyc and can relate to the students of NYC. I have worked diligently to help the youth succeed in life. Help them to become better citizens , better people ,better educated so they can lead us when is their turn. Some of these students have become doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers and even teachers among other professions. My job was and is to educate the whole child. Academically, socially and mentally. And I did just that.
So now that my school was closed where do I go??? Where do any of the many principals, assistant principals, guidance counselors, teachers, secretaries and support staff go??? Thank God for the union which fought for us to keep out positions. YES, we keep our positions but where do we go? The answer is we all get placed in what they refer to as the ATR/ACR pool. Absent teacher reserve or absent counselor reserve. They use the teachers and counselors as reserves like substitutes. We are sent as a reserve to a school for 1 month. So even month you get sent to another school. I am not going to speak on other peoples experience with this because their experience is not mine. From what I hear from them it's been a nightmare. I'll let them tell it themselves.
I can only speak about my experience as an ACR. I'm a Guidance Counselor in reserve. I've been doing this for some years now. It's quite interesting and I have so many thoughts rumbling through my mind that it's making me bonkers. So I decided to blog about the day to day experience of my life as an ACR.
Stay tuned.........
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