Its deja vu all over again...

Rummaging through old files I came across this letter to the editor that I wrote in response to another letter that appeared in the local paper. I don't recall the gist of the letter that prompted my response but I think you get the gist from my rambling response. Those were bleak times. Teacher bashing was the rage (not sure that if it ever went out of style). The government of Mike Harris was leading the charge in making teachers and other members of the public service the scapegoats for a bloated fiscal deficit. And while our backs were turned and focused on overpaid and lazy teachers, doctors, nurses, etc. they ensured that tax cuts went to their corporate cronies.

A few days past, our school learned that 17 teachers were losing their jobs. In my department alone we are losing 6 full-time math teachers. My hope is that in the coming weeks or months that this loss will be minimized. But that is as likely as the Leafs making it to the second round in some playoff series in some season in some year in some future. The government has announced an Attrition Protection Allocation which sounds interesting but I still cannot fathom how an increase in class sizes cannot decrease the number of full time teachers needed. I cannot express how much of an impact this will have on my department, on our math program and most importantly on OUR STUDENTS. These are teachers who were coaching teams, running clubs, attending professional development, providing extra help and just doing an amazing job. In all my years of teaching I haven't seen a group of young teachers as talented as the group that joined my department. And with the stroke of an idiot's pen, poof. They are pulled from a department and a vocation that they are committed to more so than any of the those that signed the documents resulting in this job loss. It was just two days after the news had been delivered to these teachers that ALL 6 sat with me at a professional development session on exploring issues surrounding math and black students. I am not sure I would have had the stomach had I been in their place but they were there. This is what we are losing. And apparently this is just the start. Next year will bring more!

The letter and the news of recent weeks have provided a pause for reflection on what the heck is going on. Each time it crosses my mind I come to the same conclusion and that conclusion is that Doug Ford (like Mike Harris back in the day of the letter above) is an IDIOT. This is going to sound like a rant from Howard Beale in the classic movie Network (if you haven't seen it...check it out) and so my apologies but I am tired of candy coating what is an obvious conclusion from the facts presented. I am tired of being polite and genteel about this. I am tired of being the punching bag for whoever thinks I have it made in the shade. I am tired of decision making based on justification such as what is good for other jurisdictions should be good for us. We have a world class education system in our province because we have forged our own path and not followed the hyper-testing, charter school, increased class size, squeeze more out of less mindsets of other education systems. Based on the decisions of the government of the day, led by Mr. Ford, there is no other way to put it. He is an idiot.