I was introduced last night to an interesting organization and an awesome advocate, Karen Horwitz and the National Association for Prevention of Teacher Abuse (NAPTA). Ms. Horwitz is a teacher whose life work has become to assist other teachers in speaking out about abuse. Her personal story of harassment, retaliation and abuse is akin to the stories of many parents I know who are facing similar situations.
Through the NAPTA organization, Karen is collecting stories of retaliation and abuse, primarily administrators abusing teachers, but she’s also collecting parent stories. As the evidence increases, NAPTA is seeking the attention of someone in power to do something about this pervasive problem in our school.
I totally agree with Karen on some of her basic premises – especially that administrations are designed to “divide and conquer” the two people most concerned about the students…parents and teachers. In many cases the system is set up to keep the two groups from communicating directly with each other and to suspect each other at all cost. Teachers are told that parents not only don’t know or understand what children need educationally, but are often poor parents from whom the child needs to be “saved”. Parents are often told that the teacher is at fault for not providing what the child needs (never mind that the teacher isn’t given the tools, is totally unsupported and is being set up for failure…parents don’t get to see this part).
I’ve had classroom teachers ask me if I would contact a parent and broach the subject that their child might have a disability, because the teachers are observing signs of difficulties in the classroom, but “aren’t allowed” to mention these to the parent – because the school would be obligated to provide services to address these difficulties if the parent agreed. GEEZ, what happened to being concerned about the child.
So, the question I pose to you, dear readers, is What Can WE do About It? I invite you all to check out NAPTA’s website and consider joining (the membership price is right…it’s free) and sharing your story. But beyond that I’m game for other ideas as well. We are each fighting our own isolated battle, but the goal is to work smarter, not harder.
It was fascinating to me that Karen chronicled how incompetent and unqualified many administrators are.
With an inability to compete in the business world where people seeking money usually venture, being able to manipulate teachers gives administrators an automatic advantage; there is little challenge compared to manipulating people in the business world. Very few administrators could manage a business. Administrators may have doctorates, but they are usually EdD’s significantly easier to earn than PhD’s from almost any other field; education schools are notoriously dumbed-down – very few administrators could have earned a MBA, the degree of choice in business.
Yet superintendents earn well over $100,000 and receive multiple perks including cars, extra insurance, and retirement packages with which they are set for life. Principals earn substantially more than teachers. It is an institution ripe for malfeasance. It is just too easy.
Those of us who refused to partake in this duplicity have been slaughtered individually, with no one to support us. With NAPTA things will change slowly.We believe that with the support and information from others, teachers and parents can make wiser choices when dealing with our schools. We believe people need to know the differences between business and education so they can judge them accordingly. Schools have been given a free ride inadvertently beyond what Finn describes.
SCHOOLS ARE LESS SCRUTINIZED.
We also believe that by leveling the playing field, so that teachers have a voice, our schools will become focused on what children need.
It is a fact that teachers with integrity are targeted by this system because it can only flourish undercover. Administrations are operating above the law, using public relations and other tactics to hide the covert agenda, and silencing teachers so parents won’t know that decisions are not theirs. Integrity poses a direct threat to underhanded operations.
My friend who is being retaliated against asked me how the school system could be so stupid to have incriminating things in her child’s file. She asked me if I thought they were stupid. I agree that many school administrators make what appear to be dumb moves, contradicting what’s in the files or misquoting regulations. But the truth is that they know they are above the law. After all, who would believe that schools (an institution held dear by the majority of Americans) would be capable of such things?
If you have ideas on how WE can make a difference, post them here or email me at julieb@adoptionblogs.com