IN THE TRENCHES, A TEACHER FALLS
By Jennifer Solars
New York Daily News, June 24, 1999

        I was surprised to hear yesterday that Evelyn Castro, the school superintendent in East Harlem where I teach, may lose her job in Chancellor Rudy Crew's dismissals of superintendents in poor-performing school districts.

        But I'm not surprised that once again, the Board of Education is clueless as to why many of New York City's public schools are failing.

        Replacing Castro or any other superintendent won't fix crowded classes and terrible physical conditions in the schools. And it won't provide teachers with what they really need to help kids learn: the support and direct involvement of school administrators and parents.

        On Monday, the last day of classes for this school year, I'm throwing in the towel after eight years of teaching in the city's public schools.

        This isn't easy for me. I became a teacher because my mother, who pulled me out of Public School 84 in Manhattan when I was a girl because she felt I was getting an inferior education, struggled to put me through private school. I wanted to help poor children get a good free education.

        But my dreams quickly turned to feelings of frustration and horror in this city's public school system.

        I've worked in six schools and taught kindergarten through eighth grade, always in search of a better situation. I can count on one hand the number of times that a principal, assistant principal or more experienced teacher came to my classroom to observe what was going on or offer any assistance.

        Students with major behavior problems often disrupt classes daily, but nothing is done about these kids for months. When a troublesome student is finally suspended, that child eventually is allowed to return to the same class with the same disruptive behavior.

        An eighth-grade student I had a few years ago always insisted on keeping the windows open in my class. In the middle of January, this kid would stand by the windows and defy anyone, including me, to close them.

        Years of social promotion (passing a child to a higher grade when that child isn't ready to go on) also have made teaching intensely difficult. Teachers often find themselves with a classroom of 30 or more students who are at widely varying academic and grade levels. And we're given only one set of textbooks for one grade level to do the job.

        Moreover, teachers' hands are tied when students don't come to class with the books they need or their homework done. I had a fifth-grade student once who wouldn't do his homework. I contacted his mother at least 10 times about the problem, and she simply said she didn't know what to do, he enjoyed his TV programs and was too lazy to do the work. If she wasn't interested in helping to make her son a better student, what chance did I have with him?

        Another problem that plagues the schools is that maintenance men earn the same starting salary as teachers. How much of an incentive is that to put forth your best effort to teach?

        There's a maintenance man at my school who reeks of alcohol every day. Students have even asked me why he's always drunk and why he hasn't been fired.

        You think that's intolerable? Many of the school buildings in this city are in dire need of repairs. On several occasions, I've torn my clothing on chairs that are falling apart and on the corners of broken tables.

        During the summer, the temperature in classrooms can climb into the 90s. With more students than ever expected to attend summer school this year, and very few schools air-conditioned, how well do you expect kids to concentrate and learn?

        It has been said before that it takes a whole village to raise a child and that's true. Replacing a superintendent here and there isn't going to improve our schools. Until we all get involved teachers, principals, superintendents and parents nothing will change.

        The Center for Education Reform is a national, independent, non-profit advocacy organization founded in 1993 to provide support and guidance to individuals, community and civic groups, policymakers and others who are working to bring fundamental reforms to their schools.

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