Hi

Well, I am still in the teaching mode and tomorrow I will be in the hiring mode. I am losing four teachers for the coming year and can only replace three of them--budget cuts. I am thrilled to be able to rehire one of the teachers who I lost last year over certification issues and two teachers--quality and competent--who lost their positions through school closings. The hiring fair tomorrow has the joy of trying to place all of those teachers/staff members who have lost their jobs through reorganization and/or school closings. I feel for these folk but some of them should just find jobs outside of teaching. The reason some of them are where they were is because a classroom just didn't work for them. Why put them back in a place where they couldn't function to begin with? Makes me want to scream. The Peter Principle is alive and well in most school systems particularly in administration. I see it time and time again--assistant principals and principals who were never good as teachers but who seem to think that they know exactly how to deal with students because they took admin classes. Ha! This is what has happened when we made the move not to promote from within and rather hire administrators by their certification status. When I first went into teaching, principals and assistants could move up from the teacher corps and then get certified. Not now. Now you get people with degrees who maybe spent 2-3 years in a classroom and are authorities by virtue of their degree. Not that extra training isn't necessary but let it be in budget making, learning to negotiate legal issues and stuff that isn't normally dealt with by a teacher. No administrator should be allowed to become one without having spent 10 years or so in a classroom. That would be far more beneficial. Have a good weekend and wish me luck with the finding of competent teachers.