Teachers can’t forget to use good judgment

Many are ready to seize on any mistake as grounds for termination, regardless of the teacher’s intent, Maureen Downey writes.

Education professor Peter Smagorinsky peppers his University of Georgia undergraduate students with daily email compendiums of teachers-gone-wrong news stories under the heading “Don’t try this at home.”

“I share these stories any time a teacher gets in hot water due to poor judgment so my students know how teachers get in trouble,” said Smagorinsky.

This week produced two more cautionary tales for his collection, including the DeKalb music teacher who asked her middle school students to put a positive spin on an obscenity-laden verse of a rap song.

The second contender is the South Carolina teacher who assigned a work sheet to her fifth-graders that asked: “You are a member of the K.K.K. Why do you think your treatment of African-Americans is justified?”

“When you see these stories, you have to ask what in the world did this teacher have in mind,” said Smagorinsky. “It can come from making a quick decision. Especially when they are overburdened with declining resources and increasing numbers of students, teachers sometimes make decisions that look terrible in retrospect. When I was ateacher, I made some decisions that I heard about from parents, although I probably didn’t make decisions quite as bad as these.”

Today, teachers who make classroom blunders don’t just hear from parents. Social media provides a daily churn of wayward-teacher articles, and many people seem ready to seize on any mistake as grounds for termination, regardless of the teacher’s intent.

For example, teachersare now supposed to help students understand historical perspective — why did someone act this way — and that is likely what the South Carolina teacher was attempting,

albeit badly. Although they missed the mark by a wide mile, the teachers in both these instance were seeking to engage students. They are both out of the classroom now on leave.

In deciding their fate, should districts consider whether this is a first-time offense by an otherwise commendable teacher? Or whether the teacher is inexperienced and needs guidance rather than the guillotine?

“When a misstep occurs, it does not have to be termination of one’s employment,” said DeKalb Schools Superintendent Steve Green. “Every disciplinary situation is unique, and you want to be fair using due process. Depending on the circumstance, we consider other options such as focused professional development to not only assist the employee, but to serve as a teachable moment for other instructional staff.”

“We always encourage teacher creativity and allow some teacher autonomy in terms of how one presents a lesson,” said Green. “We never want to force our teachers into figurative box, because that stifles innovation and clear thinking. But this freedom is a responsibility, and requires a teacher to use sound judgment based on experience, the age group of the students, and the rigor and relevance of the lesson to our instructional standards.”

I asked other Georgia education leaders about these cases. While most districts provide curriculum guides to teachers, the guides don’t prescribe activities and materials, said Sandra Carraway, superintendent of Columbia County School District. “In the ideal school environment, teachers should have the opportunity to plan with others, so that they may share ideas and create exemplary lessons. In this kind of environment, it would be far less likely that a teacher could broach a topic or assign an activity that could be offensive.”

When a lesson goes as wrong as these did, Carraway said, “It is important to communicate with parents. If parents have confidence and trust in their child’s school, they are far more willing to accept that we’re not perfect, but we try to be, and we seek to do what is best for children.” “The lack of professional judgment here in both cases is appalling,” said former Pelham City, Ga., superintendent Jim Arnold. “When I first began teaching my principal warned me ‘never do anything that will lead to you and me getting fired.’ Still good advice, and he only had to tell me once. I applaud and encourage teacher creativity. These assignments do not meet that standard.”