Here is the e-mail I sent to Yvonne (edited) about this, because I am too lazy to type up sumtin' new!!
I went through nearly 5 hours of interviews on 2 separate days with EC Director, EC transition facilitator, principal, head of personnel, testing coordinator, and curriculum coordinator.
I told them I wanted to have everything on testing out front and decided before they offered me a job or took the job. I tried to talk them into letting me have other duties during testing. The said that they could not do that as it would not be fair to give me special treatment.
After interviews, EC Director said she really wanted to hire me and that there was no objections from anyone else. I told her that I would have to think about whether I could agree to that, as I felt some responsibility to all the parents and educators who had expressed support and told me they were glad someone finally stood up to the NCLB and testing bull puckey-but that if I agreed to take the job, I would agree to do the testing.
It was a difficult decision as I felt like to agree to to the testing would be 'selling out'. After much prayer, meditation, and critical thinking I decided that I had done my part. I had done what no one else in the state and only a couple of people in the country had done by my civil disobedience.
The testing issue was thrust on me this year due to the blatant unfairness and injustice of making me give my students a test they were guaranteed to fail just so the state could show the feds a bell curve. My passion and focus of Master's research and projects and participation on panels at the university has been on inclusion.
This setting would put me in a dream job as compared to my old job as far as having the chance to desegregate children with severe disabilities. I feel inclusion is an important way to fight the revolution. Teaching kids to be open and understanding to people who look or act drastically different and compassionate to those less fortunate is an important part to teaching the next generation that it is not OK to imprison, discriminate, or "bomb the (bleep) out of" a group of people because they have a different skin color, dress different, or are a different ethnicity, nationality or religion!!!!!
I also feel that my stand far exceeded the impact I was hoping for! Parents now realize most other parents and educators feel the same way about the ridiculousness of NCLB and of using end of year standardized testing as the primary assessment tool!! I also now have a parent of a former student on the State Advisory Board for the adapted test I refused to give, and that I will not have to deal with the extreme issues in regards to testing as I did last year.
So, the board approved my hire and I am getting a chance to do what I love-TEACHING!!! And now after doing something that would have gotten me fired pretty much anywhere, I still am able to get another job with a better opportunity to use my passion and knowledge for inclusion. So, I got a month paid vacation, got fired from a job I was burned out anyway, and got a new job in a much better environment for me and.....here's the kicker.....I'm going to make about 4 grand more than I would have in my old school!!! Heh heh heh...that'll learn me to do as I'm told!!!!
I also think this will help others to realize that to make a strong stand and practice civil disobedience can actually end up being a positive for your life and/or career if that is the Way of your Path!!!!
I told them I wanted to have everything on testing out front and decided before they offered me a job or took the job. I tried to talk them into letting me have other duties during testing. The said that they could not do that as it would not be fair to give me special treatment.
After interviews, EC Director said she really wanted to hire me and that there was no objections from anyone else. I told her that I would have to think about whether I could agree to that, as I felt some responsibility to all the parents and educators who had expressed support and told me they were glad someone finally stood up to the NCLB and testing bull puckey-but that if I agreed to take the job, I would agree to do the testing.
It was a difficult decision as I felt like to agree to to the testing would be 'selling out'. After much prayer, meditation, and critical thinking I decided that I had done my part. I had done what no one else in the state and only a couple of people in the country had done by my civil disobedience.
The testing issue was thrust on me this year due to the blatant unfairness and injustice of making me give my students a test they were guaranteed to fail just so the state could show the feds a bell curve. My passion and focus of Master's research and projects and participation on panels at the university has been on inclusion.
This setting would put me in a dream job as compared to my old job as far as having the chance to desegregate children with severe disabilities. I feel inclusion is an important way to fight the revolution. Teaching kids to be open and understanding to people who look or act drastically different and compassionate to those less fortunate is an important part to teaching the next generation that it is not OK to imprison, discriminate, or "bomb the (bleep) out of" a group of people because they have a different skin color, dress different, or are a different ethnicity, nationality or religion!!!!!
I also feel that my stand far exceeded the impact I was hoping for! Parents now realize most other parents and educators feel the same way about the ridiculousness of NCLB and of using end of year standardized testing as the primary assessment tool!! I also now have a parent of a former student on the State Advisory Board for the adapted test I refused to give, and that I will not have to deal with the extreme issues in regards to testing as I did last year.
So, the board approved my hire and I am getting a chance to do what I love-TEACHING!!! And now after doing something that would have gotten me fired pretty much anywhere, I still am able to get another job with a better opportunity to use my passion and knowledge for inclusion. So, I got a month paid vacation, got fired from a job I was burned out anyway, and got a new job in a much better environment for me and.....here's the kicker.....I'm going to make about 4 grand more than I would have in my old school!!! Heh heh heh...that'll learn me to do as I'm told!!!!
I also think this will help others to realize that to make a strong stand and practice civil disobedience can actually end up being a positive for your life and/or career if that is the Way of your Path!!!!
