Warning to all teachers
By all accounts, Lori Grant is an exceptional teacher. Interns that I’ve worked with over the years, who graduated from Princess Margaret School, always described her as one of the best teachers in Penticton.
Several years ago, “Maggie” was chosen the No. 1 school in the province by B.C. School Sports, an independent organization. Criteria was based, not on test scores, but factors such as extra-curricular, multi-culturism, community spirit, and sense of belonging.
Yet, the longtime educator is in the headlines, not for her latest high school musical production, but for being disciplined after leaving the property for 20 minutes. (The B.C. Teachers Regulation Branch posts the results of teacher discipline on forums accessible to the public.)
In an agreed statement of facts, Grant and four other students from the school left the property to hang signs in the community promoting an upcoming musical. During that time, a fire broke out in the school and her Planning 10 class was left unattended. Nobody was hurt in the incident
Clearly, Grant shouldn’t have done that. According to the report, she fully accepts responsibility.
But, could this have been handled differently?
Without knowing any inside facts (we have not spoken to Grant, her union or any of her confidants), what coach, band leader, or theatre arts teacher hasn’t taken a phone call during school time or snuck out to run a school-related errand at least once in their career? All of us — just not teachers — have done it at least once in our careers. It’s wrong, but there are other ways of handling a situation than public shaming one of your top employees and giving them a 10-day, unpaid suspension. Internal discussion and discipline often works.
Does Princess Margaret have a sign-in, sign-out policy for all employees? If not, why not? Is there a reminder given at the beginning of each school year during staff orientation?
Grant was doing something with kids, for the benefit of extra-curricular activities.
The irony is, scanning our coverage area in the Okanagan/Similkameen/ Thompson regions, there’s one superintendent who sometimes attends spin class in the middle of the afternoon, another is permitted by the board to take vacation time while school is in session (the busiest time of the year). The pattern is inconsistent. Senior administrators might not be responsible for the safety of children, but they are responsible for the safety of every employee inside the board office.
Extracurricular activities are an extremely valuable part of a high school education, in some cases, more valuable than instructional hours. Sports, theatre arts, music and debating are done by teacher volunteers. We don’t pay our teachers to coach like they do in the United States. It’s volunteer work. School boards and the government give next to no money to extracurricular. Many teachers end up putting their own money into kids’ projects.
Incidents like these are a reminder that teachers seriously need to reconsider whether they want to get involved with extracurricular programs on their own time. When something goes wrong, you can’t count on your employer or boss to stand behind you.