SCS teacher resigns after curt response from district
A Shelby County Schools teacher had deep concerns about how early high schools in the district start.
Bill Stegall said he spent too many mornings with glassy-eyed teenagers staring at him while he tried to teach economics at 7:15 a.m.
So he emailed Superintendent Dorsey Hopson’s office to tell him. He told Hopson it was a factor in his decision not to return to teaching next year.
He didn’t hear back, so he emailed again. On his third try, he received a response from Hopson’s office—with the link for how to resign.
“Well wishes on your future endeavors,” Senior Executive Coordinator Kimberly Harris wrote after acknowledging the office was in receipt of his email and providing the link to resign in the employee portal.
Stegall, a 10-year veteran teacher, did resign from White Station High School after the school year ended, as planned. He expressed his frustrations with several aspects of being employed by Shelby County Schools in a viral Facebook post on Friday that was shared nearly 4,000 times by Thursday.
But not having his concerns heard, or even acknowledged, seemed unusual, he said by phone. Especially in a district that was short 250 teachers two weeks before the first day of school last year.
“They should have something in place, when a teacher sends something in, I should get at least a form letter back,” Stegall said. “That’s the polite way to handle that.”
As for the response from Hopson’s
secretary, Stegall said, “There was no reason for them to send me that.”
In a statement, an SCS spokesperson said the district typically forwards emails sent to the superintendent’s office to the “appropriate district personnel.” Chief of Communications Natalia Powers said because Stegall mentioned resigning, his email was forwarded to labor relations. She could not say, however, if any department replied to him.
“We value and seek input from our teachers and staff via surveys, focus groups and open forums about a wide variety of topics including curriculum changes, school start times, budget, etc.,” the statement said.
The district also operates a 24-hour hotline for issues requiring investigation, she said.
“In addition to the Superintendent meeting regularly with various stakeholders including teacher groups, he receives hundreds of daily emails containing suggestions, compliments and concerns,” she said. “For all, we typically forward concerns needing actionable responses to the appropriate district personnel.”
Board Chairwoman Shante Avant said in a text message that all constituent complaints should receive a response.
“If this didn’t happen then we need to review our internal processes to always make sure these issues are routed to the right person for timely resolution,” she said.
‘A lot of teachers do believe they’re not being heard’
Tikeila Rucker, executive director of the United Education Association, said the union is able to advocate on behalf of teachers with concerns. Hopson, she said, has done a better job of bringing teachers to the table.
“I think it’s like the beginning of what needs to be done,” she said, noting a recent teacher town hall Hopson attended with the union.
Rucker called it “disheartening” that Stegall, whom she’d spoken to about his concerns, was “overlooked” when he “went directly to the source.”
“A lot of teachers do believe they’re not being heard,” Rucker said.
Stegall said he reached out from time to time on various issues and never received a response. He also went up the chain of command through his principal with some issues, he said, but hadn’t had much luck effecting change.
“Unlike most teachers, I really didn’t need to do it for the money,” Stegall said. “So I was able to be a voice. I felt a lot more comfortable about sending out those kinds of letters that might be difficult for others.”
He forwarded three emails regarding start times to The Commercial Appeal.
In the first one, sent in September, he notes he is leaving the district, and the early start time is “one of the reasons.” He then provided a link to a Washington Post news story detailing the benefits of starting school no earlier than 8:30 a.m.
“Frequently, I have been asked to teach according to the data,” Stegall wrote.”In response, I respectfully send you this data.”
In October, Stegall wrote again, lamenting the district’s lack of response to his first email.
“Of course, I did not expect you to change anything,” Stegall said. “Age and experience has taught me patience in dealing with an entrenched bureaucracy. However, I did expect common courtesy.”
In his third email, sent in January, Stegall notes it’s his third correspondence that school year, and he hasn’t heard back after the first two. He also makes his case again for a later start time and why it is a factor in his departure, noting he wants to keep teaching but has a “moral dilemma.”
“I cannot continue to watch my standard students perform poorly due to sleep deprivation,” he said.
Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.