My cousin took a job teaching at Central High School at the start of the current school year. He recently quit. When I asked him what happened he replied:
nothing “happened” really. i just hated it. it’s the worst run place you can imagine. i worked there for almost a month and never got a contract. the first week of school, i didn’t have enough desks. it’s was total clusterf*ck and is run by imbeciles. and the kids, while not “bad”, are totally out of control. they literally will not shut up for 1 minute. there are a handful of good ones but the out of control ones are so unmanagable that it’s miserable for everyone. my “best friend” there was this woman who’s worked there for 17 years and when i told her my decision she said, “i hate to see you go, but you made the right decision. you don’t want to work for these people (the district) and you don’t want to have to become the kind of person/teacher that being here requires you to be…”
that pisses me off and i don’t even live in KCMO.
Jason Preu 
Intercity schools are a whole differnet animal. Work for a month without a contract is completely normal and something he’s just going to have to get use to. It takes time for all those contracts to go through and when some of the funding is from local taxes some from federal and both those groups don’t move fast when it comes to handing out money. And it’s not the schools fault for not getting he a contract at all. Laura just got hers last week or the week before. He needs to not only blame the district but also his union as they are part of the slowdown also in trying to get him a raise and or benefits.
The part that bugs me the most is the “run by imbeciles”… now I would think that your cousin really don’t know what it takes to run a school… being a teacher is FAR from being in administration. And with intercity schools administration has FAR more to deal with then running the school. They, as well as the teachers, have to be educators, parents, police and counselors and all for the minimal tha teachers get paid for their 9 hour work day plus whatever they take home to work on also.
What is really going to hurt is that he quit only a month in… it’s not going to look good at all.
As you know my mom and my wife are teachers so I know just how hard it can be and neither of them worked intercity… so I can only imagine!
You have to love teaching and love the kids or you’re going to suck as a teacher and hate every minute of it.
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i don’t think it’s his lack of love for his job or helping the kids that frustrated him. my guess is that he was verbally promised a contract that was never delivered.
as for dealing with inner-city schools, he worked inner-city D.C. without much trouble. and, given what we know about the kcmo school district’s track record, his comments might be well-justified.
but the most notable thing for me isn’t my cousin’s situation at all. whether or not he acted too rashly or is off-base calling the admin imbeciles is really beside the point. it’s the comments from the teacher who’s been with the KCMO school district for 17 years that i find most upsetting. those comments are from someone who obviously loves the job and the kids and still has major issues with his/her employer.
is it difficult to run a school district? i don’t see why we should assume it’s anything but difficult. after all their years in teaching, however, would your mom or wife say about their situation what the kcmo teacher did?
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i worked for USD 500 in KCK for about a year and I was a sub in Milwaukee’s public school system Both very much inner-city schools. Yes, school administration is a cluster. and they are so removed from the students I think they lose sight of the reason they are there. I think admins often are so muddled in district politicking that they eventually get out of touch — if theyever were in touch to begin with.
i’m sad he left. i think he has a great heart and really cares abou this studetnts. but inner city schools are very much that way. DC may have been a fluke. i hope he can find a place where he feels he can do some good.
i do think it takes a very specific kind of teacher to thrive in the innner-city school system. and they seem to be few and far between.
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That’s what I was saying about a contract… as a teacher when you get the job they give you a contract… last year (Lauras first year back) she didn’t get a contract until well into the first semester and it wasn’t because of the school is was the teachers union that held them up. That’s all I was saying about that.
Well, I know that I wouldn’t recommend my work place to anyone, but I still work here and have worked here for 9 years. I know very few people who love their employer… but I would say that if she is willing to stay there 17 years, just how bad is it?
And the part that I found upsetting is that your cousin even said there are good kids there but by quiting he is just another person unwilling or unable to help those kids that need it the most out.
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He didn’t fail those kids.
It’s the teacher’s job to help the kids and the administrations job to help the teacher fullfill that duty.
When the administration fails the teacher, then they are the ones responsible for failing the kids.
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well said, scovi
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Sorry scoville as much as I would like to agree with you (and on some level I do) but I also feel that is a copout. He all ready saided there was a teacher there for 17 years… did the administration only fail J’s Cousin, I find that hard to believe. It they (admin) are the real problem how are there any teachers there at all?
If I don’t get my job done because I dont “feel” supported when others around me are getting the same support, then how can I blame my Bosses. I know my job and know what it takes to get it done… and sorry it’s my responsablity to get it done and done on time.
I do agree that one of the administrations jobs is to help teachers teach and the administration is as responsible for every kid that enters it’s walls but they aren’t the only ones to blame.
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How did I miss this post? Awesome insight into what it’s like at the ground level. I have to agree with the Vet teacher, he made the right choice.
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