What can I keep private while applying for a NYS teaching position?
May 5, 2018 2:19 PM Subscribe
This year was my first year employed teaching at a NY City Public Junior High School, and I was forced to resign early. I was targeted for administrative abuse by an Assistant Principal, to the point where I was vomiting from anxiety every morning, and myself and another new math teacher both quit before the end of the year. If I am applying to teach next year at a school in New York State, but NOT in NYC, what am I obligated to divulge?
Here’s the context in brief: At my school, the AP was trying to get the Principal ousted. Because myself and the other new math teacher were hired by the principal directly, the AP decided to make Principal look bad by portraying us as ineffective, and by refusing to do anything about violence in the classroom. I had students punch, bite and stab each other, and each time it was going to be handled “in-house”, (i.e. by the AP and their friend the dean) those students remained in my classroom. For example: one student threw food in class, broke a school laptop and dug her nails into my arm when I took it away from her, but was only disciplined two weeks later because the dean caught her running in the halls.
The final straw came when the AP began openly soliciting for the students -- including the foodthrower from the example above -- to make up stories about me. “If [Anonymous Poster] does anything in class, let us know and we’ll write him up”... egging them on to the point where the discipline hardcases were so eager to make stuff up about me, that she collected contradictory student lies and concluded they represented “corporal punishment” on my part. By March, I was targeted by four of these “corporal punishment” complaints within the space of six weeks. At that point, my UFT rep told me “It’s clear they want to call you ineffective and fire you at the end of the year. You don’t have tenure, they can do this for the rest of the year. The longer you stay, the more time you give them to manufacture a fifth complaint, a sixth, etc. I don’t see a good ending for you if you stay.”
So I left. The only good news is that my principal accepted my resignation for personal health reasons, meaning I left without getting “problem coding”.
Which brings us to today. I still want to apply for teaching positions next year at public schools in New York STATE, and stay away from the City for at least next school year. But the applications have sensitive questions like:
"Have you ever received an unsatisfactory rating in conjunction with any pedagogical employment?"
Well, technically no. Because I quit before I could get any official ratings besides two informal observations.
"Have you ever been discharged or required to resign from any position (other than staff reduction layoffs)?"
“Have you ever resigned as an alternative to facing charges or dismissal?”
Again, technically no, because I resigned voluntarily before I could be fired for any official reason.
Am I going to get in trouble if I answer No to these questions? Am I playing too close to a lie? Do the schools outside the City District ever get to see my records from this awful junior high school? I would appreciate anyone who works/worked as a teacher/admin in a NY State (not City) public school, or someone with NYSUT experience, to give me some pointers in how to not have the last few years pursuing my Education Master’s go down in flames because I started off in a shit school.
Here’s the context in brief: At my school, the AP was trying to get the Principal ousted. Because myself and the other new math teacher were hired by the principal directly, the AP decided to make Principal look bad by portraying us as ineffective, and by refusing to do anything about violence in the classroom. I had students punch, bite and stab each other, and each time it was going to be handled “in-house”, (i.e. by the AP and their friend the dean) those students remained in my classroom. For example: one student threw food in class, broke a school laptop and dug her nails into my arm when I took it away from her, but was only disciplined two weeks later because the dean caught her running in the halls.
The final straw came when the AP began openly soliciting for the students -- including the foodthrower from the example above -- to make up stories about me. “If [Anonymous Poster] does anything in class, let us know and we’ll write him up”... egging them on to the point where the discipline hardcases were so eager to make stuff up about me, that she collected contradictory student lies and concluded they represented “corporal punishment” on my part. By March, I was targeted by four of these “corporal punishment” complaints within the space of six weeks. At that point, my UFT rep told me “It’s clear they want to call you ineffective and fire you at the end of the year. You don’t have tenure, they can do this for the rest of the year. The longer you stay, the more time you give them to manufacture a fifth complaint, a sixth, etc. I don’t see a good ending for you if you stay.”
So I left. The only good news is that my principal accepted my resignation for personal health reasons, meaning I left without getting “problem coding”.
Which brings us to today. I still want to apply for teaching positions next year at public schools in New York STATE, and stay away from the City for at least next school year. But the applications have sensitive questions like:
"Have you ever received an unsatisfactory rating in conjunction with any pedagogical employment?"
Well, technically no. Because I quit before I could get any official ratings besides two informal observations.
"Have you ever been discharged or required to resign from any position (other than staff reduction layoffs)?"
“Have you ever resigned as an alternative to facing charges or dismissal?”
Again, technically no, because I resigned voluntarily before I could be fired for any official reason.
Am I going to get in trouble if I answer No to these questions? Am I playing too close to a lie? Do the schools outside the City District ever get to see my records from this awful junior high school? I would appreciate anyone who works/worked as a teacher/admin in a NY State (not City) public school, or someone with NYSUT experience, to give me some pointers in how to not have the last few years pursuing my Education Master’s go down in flames because I started off in a shit school.
In non-education jobs a technical 'no' is all that counts. You should have zip-zero ethical qualms about saying "no, I was not fired". Bad fits and bad jobs abound, sometimes it's entirely your fault, sometimes it's entirely not, more often it's in the middle -- but a bad fit is a far cry from doing something so bad you are immediately escorted off the premises for misconduct. That's what the questions are meant to tease out.
posted by so fucking future at 5:12 PM on May 5, 2018
posted by so fucking future at 5:12 PM on May 5, 2018
I am also not a teacher, but I would have no qualms about answering "no" to any of those questions in your situation. You were probably smart to get out before you got put in a position where you would have to answer "yes." Definitely sounds like it was heading in that direction, but you cut your losses in time.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:39 AM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:39 AM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
The whole reason you quit when you did was precisely to avoid getting in a situation where you would have to answer "Yes" to questions like this.
I would answer No to all, absolutely.
I would also start thinking about how you are going to answer questions about why you left your last job. Lots of advice online about this type of thing--just one askmefi example here.
posted by flug at 11:11 AM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
I would answer No to all, absolutely.
I would also start thinking about how you are going to answer questions about why you left your last job. Lots of advice online about this type of thing--just one askmefi example here.
posted by flug at 11:11 AM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
I agree that you can answer no-but also you need to do some thinking about what might come through in reference checks.
posted by purenitrous at 4:09 PM on May 6, 2018
posted by purenitrous at 4:09 PM on May 6, 2018
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posted by the twistinside at 2:21 PM on May 5, 2018