Climate change has come to East Haddam Schools

On Monday evening, a 161 page school climate survey was presented to the Board of Education in East Haddam.  This survey was sent to all 117 teachers in the district.  101 teachers responded.  To quote from the executive summary of that survey:

“The East Haddam School district appears to have a significant teacher morale problem.  Overall, 93% of teachers district wide report low morale.  The source appears to be the overwhelming level of work, the chaotic management of the curriculum writing process as well as the mismanagement of other organizational initiatives, and a low level of confidence between teachers and the district administration.  We are in the business of education.  If, in any given classroom, 93% of the students reported low morale, 95% considered the work overwhelming and stressful, 92% said the teachers was disorganized, and 75% said the teacher had little confidence in them, that teacher, at the very least, would be required to create an intervention plan that would be managed closely by their supervisor.”

As a parent of a high school student, I can attest first hand that these kids are under an enormous amount of stress, more so than the last couple of years.  They are working very hard to complete their assignments under the standards of the new Common Core Curriculum, stressed over the promise of a new bell schedule that they do not want nor feel is in their best interest, and dealing with a new grading policy that only uses tests and quizzes as a final assessment.  On top of all of this, our teachers are at a breaking point, which I’m sure is showing up in the classroom, even if it is not intentional. 

One of the comments in the survey resonated with many of us.  It reads as follows:

“We as teachers believe that our job is to create strong-willed, independent and creative thinkers. It is difficult to do this with all of the district implementations.  We are exhausted, stressed out, and do not feel that we can give our all to our students….curriculum is not the heart of a student’s school career. When I look back on my schooling, I don’t say ‘wow, that assessment and note templates really helped me prepare for college’.  Instead, I say ‘that teacher really helped me through this course by being patient and kind’ or ‘I loved that teacher!  They were so fun in class and I learned a lot’ or ‘that teacher truly inspired me!  They helped me become confident’….we have it all wrong.  We need to go back to looking at the student as a whole person, not just someone sitting in our room that we have to teach certain curriculum to.  Students need our support and kindness, not our stress an aggravation.  If we do not fix it, we will soon begin to fail our children”.

I would be happy to share this survey with anyone who asks for it.  Email me at climatesurvey2014@gmail.com  It is time that ALL taxpayers of East Haddam become involved in what is happening at our schools.  If we continue down this path, and don’t step up to support our teachers, enrollment will continue to decline, families will no longer look to move into our little town, and people will leave. And that, my friends, affects us all.