Happy news!

Here\'s the backstory. My husband Scott is a teacher and has taught for 20 years, but only in college or in private programs. But this year he got a job offer from a high school that he couldn\'t turn down. So he\'s teaching freshman science. And in Kentucky, new teachers in the public schools have an intern year. It\'s a relatively new program but he\'s supposed to have a mentor and supposed to have a lot of training and then more intensive evaluations. Well, his mentor is very nice but this is her first year mentoring and the program is so new that no one knows it well. She\'s been spending dozens of hours just trying to find out what he\'ll be evaluated on. Yep. It\'s that stupid. The training never happened either. So what he\'s left with is a lot of intensive evaluations by his mentor, his principal, and someone from the state. Plus paperwork. He has at least 200 pages of stuff that he\'s filled out that\'s completely useless. Things like: list every use you\'ve made of technology for the entire school year and document it. Ummm.... document every time he\'s used a computer or a telephone or an overhead projector or a calculator? That is ONE page of the 200 pages he\'s supposed to fill out. He\'s spent so much time on this that he\'s having to slap together lessons for his students because he doesn\'t have time to prepare for class. Thank God he has 20 years experience teaching the subject.

Anyhow, this past week and this week are his final round of evaluations and when all the paperwork is due. If he doesn\'t pass, he may be fired or even if he keeps his job he\'d have to repeat his internship PLUS he\'d be paid less. And then he got laryngitis. All weekend he could barely squeak out a word. He can\'t take the day off because the state guy was coming today. He stayed up all night trying to finish the paperwork, but he knew that if anyone looked close they\'d find holes. After all, how can you document every moment of your work for the past 8 months and not make a mistake? Plus he was really worried about how the class would go. He could barely speak because of his throat. And if the kids misbehaved, it\'s almost an automatic failure because he\'s not exhibiting control of the classroom. So his job is resting on 14-year olds resisting the urge to goof off. And the kids KNOW this. And some of them don\'t like him because he\'s gotten them in trouble for things like cheating or trying to feel up a girl in class (against her wishes, too). So he was really scared some of them would act out in order to get him fired. He was not looking forward to going to school this morning. And I have been praying really hard that he could just do his best and be the teacher that he usually is. He\'s a GOOD teacher.

So... he just called me. The state guy came first thing this morning. Scott hadn\'t talked all night so he had a rough voice but he could speak. Class went perfect. The kids behaved (which they never do). And the state guy gave him a perfect score.

That's great!! I am so glad for him! It's so nice to have something good happen once in a while!

The title had me coming to say when are you due? LMAO

LOL! Not that! But this is very, very good news for us.

It's not quite all over. But the principal hasn't evaluated him yet. Scott already knows that his mentor gave him a great evaluation. But for some reason the principal's been giving Scott worse marks than anyone else. I'm just going to keep praying. But at this point, even if the principal tanks him Scott could appeal it. The other scores are so high, and the state guy's carries the most weight.

OK. We are off to McDonalds to play on the slides and celebrate.

I too was expecting to ask when you were due...LOL

Congrats to him!

That's wonderful! Hopefully the principal gives him the high marks that he deserves!

Great news! Good luck on the next evaluation!

wonderful!!

I will send up a prayer for you and him

That's great news!! Congrats!

thebigscott wrote:Here\'s the backstory. My husband Scott is a teacher and has taught for 20 years, but only in college or in private programs. But this year he got a job offer from a high school that he couldn\'t turn down. So he\'s teaching freshman science. And in Kentucky, new teachers in the public schools have an intern year. It\'s a relatively new program but he\'s supposed to have a mentor and supposed to have a lot of training and then more intensive evaluations. Well, his mentor is very nice but this is her first year mentoring and the program is so new that no one knows it well. She\'s been spending dozens of hours just trying to find out what he\'ll be evaluated on. Yep. It\'s that stupid. The training never happened either. So what he\'s left with is a lot of intensive evaluations by his mentor, his principal, and someone from the state. Plus paperwork. He has at least 200 pages of stuff that he\'s filled out that\'s completely useless. Things like: list every use you\'ve made of technology for the entire school year and document it. Ummm.... document every time he\'s used a computer or a telephone or an overhead projector or a calculator? That is ONE page of the 200 pages he\'s supposed to fill out. He\'s spent so much time on this that he\'s having to slap together lessons for his students because he doesn\'t have time to prepare for class. Thank God he has 20 years experience teaching the subject.

Anyhow, this past week and this week are his final round of evaluations and when all the paperwork is due. If he doesn\'t pass, he may be fired or even if he keeps his job he\'d have to repeat his internship PLUS he\'d be paid less. And then he got laryngitis. All weekend he could barely squeak out a word. He can\'t take the day off because the state guy was coming today. He stayed up all night trying to finish the paperwork, but he knew that if anyone looked close they\'d find holes. After all, how can you document every moment of your work for the past 8 months and not make a mistake? Plus he was really worried about how the class would go. He could barely speak because of his throat. And if the kids misbehaved, it\'s almost an automatic failure because he\'s not exhibiting control of the classroom. So his job is resting on 14-year olds resisting the urge to goof off. And the kids KNOW this. And some of them don\'t like him because he\'s gotten them in trouble for things like cheating or trying to feel up a girl in class (against her wishes, too). So he was really scared some of them would act out in order to get him fired. He was not looking forward to going to school this morning. And I have been praying really hard that he could just do his best and be the teacher that he usually is. He\'s a GOOD teacher.

So... he just called me. The state guy came first thing this morning. Scott hadn\'t talked all night so he had a rough voice but he could speak. Class went perfect. The kids behaved (which they never do). And the state guy gave him a perfect score.

CONGRATS to you and your family!
Luv ya,
Barbie
wtr27513

Congratulations to Scott!

But how sad is the education system that someone thought those questions were a good idea to help them evaluate a teacher, and even sadder that others agreed and they made it mandatory. What a bunch of bullsh*t. Way to mandate busy work.