This is Why We Can't Have Nice Desks

I started this blog series sharing all about how I lost my job as principal. But during those two years, I witnessed a number of things-good, bad, and ugly. From student culture to parent meetings that explained the student culture to staff meetings and meltdowns.

I've navigated expulsion hearings for drug and weapon possession, MDR meetings to determine if student behaviors were aligned to their medical diagnoses, and student re-entry meetings where I had to send students back home on the day they were scheduled to return from suspension because they weren't quite ready to be reunited with their peers. Social media shenanigans that started at home, after school hours, that manifested during the school day; parents who crossed each other in the lobby after their children were in a fight because they did not show up on time for their scheduled meetings; and of course no middle/high school would be complete without the occasional make out session under the stairwell.

In this Faculty and Fiction educational stories series, I will share stories from my leadership experience that are loosely based on true stories.

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My second year as principal, I hired a teacher who was in a teacher certification program. As a requirement for the program, the teacher had to submit videos of classroom instruction. Sounds simple enough, well, buckle up! During one video, we conducted instructional rounds. After the leader left the room, the teacher engaged in conversation with students about their feelings about being observed by the leadership team. The teacher disrespected the leader by calling the leader a b*#@h-yes-in front of students.

There are obviously so many things wrong with this setting. And I'm sure you're wondering how I found out. Our good teacher uploaded and submitted the video to the certification coach. The video included everything-yes-even the inappropriate conversation with students. Why didn't the teacher just record the next class period? Why didn't they review the video before submitting? But most importantly, why had the teacher created that type of classroom culture with students?

It was inevitable that the teacher had to be terminated and I'm not sure of their status with that program. But this caused a shift in the culture of that grade level. I had to hire multiple substitutes before there was a long term sub and a teacher wasn't hired until late spring, but things didn't get much better. That entire grade level was "on fire", students broke, rather ripped, the thermostat from the wall in once class. They tore the baseboard in another class. No matter what my team and I did, we always felt that we were playing a game of whack amole with that grade level.

One bad apple did indeed spoil that bunch...and that's why we couldn't have nice desks!

Educators, chime in. Share one of your "I can't make this up" stories in the comments.