If a Teacher Speaks Out
What happens when a teacher dares to speak out against the principal? I’ll tell you.
On Sept. 2, my Letter to the Editor was published in the Los Angeles Times. The letter was recently published in total in the UTLA paper.
On Oct. 8, I received a “request” from my principal to “meet with (an assistant principal, the UTLA chair) and me, Thursday, Oct. 10, at 9:10 to respond to your latest notes, memos, and letters.” Signed by the principal.
I arrived only to be greeted with a stack of copies of open letters I sent to the newspaper, the members of the Board of Education and the superintendent of schools.
(By the way, only one member of the board, Mark Slavkin, responded directly to me and another, Roberta Weintraub had her secretary call, but several had taken the time to send copies to the principal. And he denies that there is an “Old Boys Club.”)
We then spent an hour while he went through my correspondence line by line. The objective appeared to be a desire on his part to “chill the fervor of my outspokenness.”
When I suggested he write a rebuttal to the newspaper, he said that he preferred the forum he set up. Since one hour was not enough for him, he scheduled a second meeting for Friday at 9:10 a.m. and another after that if he is not finished. Not willing to subject myself to another hour of grilling while also trying to add a bit of the education of 160 students, and keeping my cool in the 90-degree-plus temperature of my classroom, I called a UTLA official.
Sometime before our scheduled Friday meeting, UTLA contacted my principal and advised him that he was out of line discussing anything other than school business.
They told him this in clear, precise terms.
Our second meeting had a very different tone. My letters were set aside completely, and we dealt with school business for 15 minutes. I have no doubt that without the intervention of the union, the principal would have continued to harass and interrogate me at his leisure.
I believe that he will avoid any confrontations with me in the future, because I dared to speak out.
I also firmly believe that principals regularly, and effectively, use techniques designed to intimidate teachers. Mark Slavkin, member of the LAUSD Board of Education, said in a letter to me: “Until we find a way to work together with one voice in Sacramento, I fear that the district is destined to take out the frustration internally and to tear itself apart.”
I respond by saying that until the district cleans its own house, works only on behalf of the student with power plays and political posturing set aside, our school district will continue to be viewed by the public and the politicians to be unworthy of additional funds.
ADRIENNE MACK
Sylmar High School
