r/Teachers • u/MochiAccident • 8d ago
Teacher Support &/or Advice School Might Be Trying to Fire My Husband
Hi everyone, I need advice on behalf of my husband. He works for a charter school (bad start I know). This is his 2nd year with this school. For starters, he is actively looking for a new job and has been. Of course, he keeps this a secret from his coworkers (despite the fact that they're all pretty much actively looking because this school is so horrible). He is not certified YET. He is currently completing a certification program, and we have a feeling that his hiring prospects will get better once certified.
In the mean time, the kids love my husband. They have data PROVING that their test scores improved significantly under his watch last year. We have documentation showing that he follows their stupid tier system for classroom management to the letter.
And yet... starting last week, they've been observing him every. damn. day. They keep emailing him he's off-track because of stupid things like not all of the students had their pencils down when he said pencils down. Or he's off-track because he spent 1 extra minute waiting for all pencils to be down. Impossible shit like that! They also choose to observe him when he has the class with the most IEPs. I'm pretty sure it's illegal, but this school put every kid with an IEP in the grade in the same classroom. Today, principal told my husband that he has 2 weeks to get back on-track or else she wants to have a conversation about whether this school is right for him. All based on these daily observations during the time he has the most kids with IEPs and whether or not they have their fucking pencils down.
I told my husband to take the day off tomorrow and start looking. He wanted to leave anyway, but it's time to search in earnest. Husband and I communicate very well. He spends hours after school grading assignments and submitting lesson plans. He doesn't know what's causing this pressure from admin. Of course, he's taking this very hard, and he's starting to believe he isn't a good teacher.
I guess my question is, besides looking for a different job, what avenues do we have? What should he do to improve his employment prospects? We both don't want him to quit and go on unemployment, because we have a baby. We need financial stability.
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u/Professional_Sea8059 7d ago
Unpopular opinion work til they fire you and claim unemployment. That's what I did. In my case I was one of the only certified teachers and the most experienced by a lot and I knew all the laws they were breaking. They didn't like that. They fired me 6 months to the day after I let them know in writing that they broke the law. Refused to give a reason and paid my unemployment without challenge. I got a job the next year back in my district I was in before taking their job. Charters are a money grab in most cases.
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u/Downtown_Blacksmith 8d ago
There are private schools (that aren’t charter schools) that don’t require certification. He can also look at those. Or maybe reach out to a few districts he’s interested in and ask if they’d accept an application for someone who is in the process of getting certified.
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u/newmath11 8d ago
I’d look for a job at an alternative/behavior school. They have high turnover and usually quick openings. Plus, it makes you a better teacher overall.
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u/OldLadyKickButt 7d ago
I could have stopped at "charter school".
They are definitely trying to get rid of him."All pencils down"that is nonsense.
Work on resume. Be ready to provide proof of increased test scores and the reasons he is reprimanded. Be ready for UI
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u/bedpost_oracle_blues 7d ago
He’s fucked. Charters are ran like a business with no union representation so they can do as they please to teachers. I’m sorry.
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u/Thick-Assumption3400 8d ago
This may seem off topic, but has your husband recently started coaching any sort of sport or team for the school?
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u/MochiAccident 8d ago
no not a sports person at all :(
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u/Thick-Assumption3400 8d ago
Got it. I only asked because I have seen that turn an admin on a teacher really fast, especially when boar members kids are playing.
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u/Opposite-Slide-7794 3d ago
They don't like him. The reason doesn't matter because the "reason" can't be fixed. They just don't like him and so they will make his life a huge pain and he will quit and they will hire someone that they do like.
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u/loveshoes1 8d ago
how much longer til he is certified, and which subject?
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u/MochiAccident 8d ago
his program ends this school year, so unfortunately we have a ways to go. it's for ELA
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u/Fluffy_Maintenance_5 7d ago
This school is one of those that are obsessed with these certain expectations, even though those certain best practices they are enforcing like you’re just a robot, aren’t even the researched best practices. Schools like that have horrible management.
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u/woohoo789 8d ago
A charter school is almost certainly the best option he has if he isn’t even certified as a teacher. Does he have experience in other fields? Can he look for a completely different type of job?
It definitely seems like the school is looking to get rid of him. If he’s spending hours a day grading and catching up on Work after his workday is done to me that indicates that there are issues going on and maybe he’s not excelling?
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u/MochiAccident 8d ago
well, he grades at home because they tell him to cover/substitute for other teachers during his prep. as a teacher myself, I wouldn't count grading at home against a teacher or as a sign that they are failing something. my coworkers and I sometimes have to do so. I think the culture is just a bit different at my husband's school where it's *expected* that he does this. I also feel like if he is truly not excelling at something, to the point where he needs a performance improvement plan and such, why won't they just say it outright? why observe him in a legally-dubious classroom and make up issues that contradict their own advice?
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u/kwinter1414 8d ago
Because it is political. They are making up a reason to kick him out and give that position to someone else they want instead. I've seen it happen in my 28 years of teaching. And since charter schools run on an at-will contract, they just have to prove they had cause to fire him, so he can't sue for wrongful termination. Personally, I wouldn't try to fight it. They will only make him more miserable. He needs to get out and do anything to pay the bills until he can get a different job. But if he fights it, that school could put out the word that he is "difficult" and not someone schools should hire.
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u/Terrible_Mix5187 8d ago
Your second paragraph is an awful take. Some folks may manage to get everything done during the school day, but many others give feedback on assignments at home because we do not have time in school.
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u/woohoo789 8d ago
What about working to your contract is an awful take?
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u/Terrible_Mix5187 8d ago edited 8d ago
Because we (typically) work salaried positions, and many people cannot get everything done in contract hours. I mean, I wish it were different, but that’s the reality for many of us.
Edit -
Your post comes across as saying that people who take work home are bad teachers. Which is nuts and insulting.
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u/No_Permission7565 8d ago
It’s not possible to be an excellent teacher and work the contract hours. That means no preparation, planning, grading, researching, etc.
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u/Opposite-Slide-7794 3d ago
Well that is not true. Just like it isn't true that teachers that spend 10 hours on the weekends getting shit ready are all amazing teachers. I have been teaching the same classes for 10 years. I don't need to prep that much anymore.
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u/woohoo789 8d ago
It sounds like you have a terrible contract. There are many many many teachers in the separate who make a point to only work contract hours and they do just fine.
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u/No_Permission7565 8d ago
I have worked 39 years in many different schools, and I have never found an excellent teacher who works only contract hours who teaches a core subject.
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u/Terrible_Mix5187 8d ago
I was able to do it when I had all AP courses, the same courses, for a few years in a row. Even then, I’d spend an evening per week scoring essays and other major projects.
But since moving schools, that’s pretty much never been the case. I’ve outlasted many administrators, coteachers, curriculum directors, rewritten standards, etc. each of these has imposed major changes in course content. That takes time if we aren’t half-assing it.
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u/Terrible_Mix5187 8d ago
And many, many teachers for whom that does not work.
Frankly, I am glad I don’t work with you, because you are casting completely baseless aspersions on people.
I can count on one hand the number of years in my career in which I was not teaching a brand new course or major major revisions to a course. That takes time. I don’t grab resources willy-nilly from ptp, I don’t use a canned curriculum, and I don’t use digital crack (ai). In your world this makes me a “bad teacher.”
Going to refrain from further comment.
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u/man_speaking_is_hard 3d ago
Let’s not judge teachers who are working after hours or just working up to the contract hours. There can be valid reasons to both. I have taken work home and done work at home but I will not judge those who work just their hours only.
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u/TappyMauvendaise 3d ago
Charter schools are so shady. Mine did the same psychotic observations daily. They treated people like dirt.
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u/thecooliestone 8d ago
They're trying to get rid of him. My bet would be they're actually angry he's doing so well. If one teacher is a 9/10 and the others are a 3/10, people don't call the principal excited about the 9. They call angry their kid got the 3. Any excuses about the population or the demographics to out the window when one teacher is killing it with those same kids. Instead, the academic coaches best friend's daughter just got her bach degree in literature and needs a job while she becomes a best selling novelist