Snowflake Schools: Not Your Average Joes

By now, public schools have made staffing decisions for next year, based on state law which requires that teachers who will not be returning be informed at least 45 days before the last day of class.  Hinsdale High School District #86 (whose staffing plans were analyzed in an essay which can be found here) chose to keep two more teachers than they’d discussed previously, but did eliminate the requirement for more highly trained certified school nurses, using less qualified and cheaper registered nurses.  But you can read about the problems with District 86’s school board in that previously mentioned article (or this one).  This time, we need to focus on how less obvious but also significant losses can impact public schools.

A couple of guys named Joe won’t be teaching at Hinsdale South next year, and that’s too bad.  Joe Ryan and Joe Voss both contributed positively to the Special Education and English Departments (respectively) in which they worked over several years.  Joe Ryan will be leaving at the end of this school year, while Joe Voss wasn’t rehired at the beginning of the 2013-14 school year and currently teaches at Montini Catholic High School in Lombard.

Both these young men were extremely valuable in many ways to South.  Teaching is the most important skill by which we should judge educators, and each of them excelled.  Voss took on any assignment he was given in his role as fill-in for teachers on maternity leave, so he demonstrated his talents with all ability levels and ages.  Hard-working and smart, he established rapport with his students while holding them to a high standard at the same time.  He also showed skill in working with his colleagues, both accepting their help and contributing his own ideas.  In the department office, he was respectful without being a doormat and was able to get along with all of the personalities which abound in English departments, a feat I never achieved in twenty-five years at South. 

Ryan had an equally challenging assignment in serving as a special education teacher who would work with students who had been included in math and science teachers’ classrooms.  Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) mandate that schools make adaptations for special needs students while teaching them in the “least restrictive environment,” which is typically a regular classroom.  So instead of special education sections, most schools now scatter these students throughout average classes.  While socially less stigmatizing, this arrangement strains limited teacher resources as the students on a special education teacher’s case load will be in many more different classrooms.  Ryan had to assist a few students per class in many different places, necessitating constant communication and consultation with the subject teachers who ran those classes. 

So in addition to having to master a variety of teachers’ material, styles, and expectations; he also had to keep track of all the assignments his students were doing while making appropriate adaptations to keep his students challenged without being overwhelmed.  (And you do NOT want to know about the incredible amounts of time any special education teacher has to spend on filling out forms and writing evaluations/recommendations/adaptations.  I wanted to call that “paperwork,” but almost all of this is now done by computer—guess how old I am).  His ability to cut this Gordian knot became well-known throughout South, not to mention the camaraderie he was able to establish with both his students and the teachers with whom he worked.  Most teachers are independent, take-charge people who have strong views on what their students should be doing, but Ryan walked that fine line between enabling and frustrating both students and teachers with ease and good humor. 

Both Joes did much more than shine at teaching their students and working well with their colleagues.  Athletics play a huge part in many high school students’ lives, but the extra time and effort required to coach those sports can sap the energy of staff members to the point where it’s difficult to find teachers willing to accept these assignments.  Enter our Joes who were eager to take on any challenge and were phenomenal in mentoring young people. 

Voss coached three sports—meaning he was in season all school year long—with the same vitality and commitment he devoted to teaching his classes.  Basically, he spent all of his waking hours at the school, but he never complained or gave less than his utmost to make sure that his kids were being given every opportunity to succeed.  There were plenty of applicants for his English teaching position, but it took many different people to take over all his coaching and extra-curricular responsibilities.

Ryan had the patience and enthusiasm to coach special needs students in basketball and swimming, and two of his swimmers qualified for the Illinois Special Olympics state meet this year.  Despite working with special education students all day long—a task which can burn out anyone—Ryan donated extra time so his kids could feel even better about themselves through opportunities to shine in out-of-school activities.  His extra-curricular skills will be sorely missed, especially by his athletes.

And there are many other things these two generous guys did for the school that wouldn’t be well known to those who don’t work there.  Chaperoning, controlling crowds at sporting events, organizing social activities within departments, and helping out with drama productions are just a few of the “small” things these two did.  But my personal favorite was their contribution to the Hinsdale High School Teachers Association’s (HHSTA) annual faculty variety show, which has been raising student scholarships funds for South graduates for the past nine years (my daughters and I were emcees for the show’s first seven years).  Voss gave it his all, and truly dazzled when he did an unforgettable dance from the movie Napoleon Dynamite (if you’ve never seen this scene, you can catch it here).  Ryan was even more involved in the show, playing a variety of parts in many skits, several of which he wrote himself.  Tops on my list were his portrayals of a thuggishly surly dancer who would audition for the Hornet dance line with legendary Pamn Baker.   

So why aren’t these two superior educators still part of South’s faculty?  This is where things get complicated.  Non-educational reasons and departmental politics often come into play in personnel decisions.  Should an extra-curricular specialization need be more important than a quality individual who has demonstrated loyalty and service?  Are some in positions of authority threatened by the obvious talents of an underling?  Does the allure of hiring someone new (and thus more beholden to the boss) trump the clear value of the current employee?  Does familiarity lead to taking the low-key but highly skilled person for granted?  The official reasons given when people don’t return to their positions don’t always reveal all facets of the story, with the truth buried in psychological, personal, and/or territorial battles that seem speculative and are even more difficult to prove.  Without violating anyone’s confidentiality or advancing what would appear to be wild theories, however, I know a place could have been found for Voss if his true value and exceptional character had been better appreciated, and I’m even more certain that Ryan’s resignation didn’t have to happen. 

It’s important to emphasize that I’m not suggesting some district-wide conspiracy against these two teachers or to impugn the quality of those who have or will be hired in their stead.  My point is to help those unfamiliar with how schools work or with these two exceptional individuals to be aware that large bureaucracies regularly have a difficult time recognizing superior teachers already in place, and can let proven outstanding people wind up in other places.  And had I been writing this blog in years’ past, you could have included the names of Tara Jewell and Judy McLaughlin (Rossignulo-Rice), who both substituted for me during absences, to this list of remarkable teachers who, for whatever reasons, didn’t become permanent parts of South’s faculty, and who would have made it a better place.  All these people have contributed and will contribute to other districts, and the students in those different schools are also deserving of the high-level instruction, coaching, and character these people possess.  It’s just too bad for District #86 that Hinsdale South couldn’t have been that school longer than it was.  Joes, you will be missed.