Tynan Never Giving Up on the Boston Public School System

An inconvenient truth is that West Roxbury residents often move to Norwood, Westwood and other suburbs to get out of the Boston Public School system. The same truth, but not as widely announced, is that teachers often look to leave the BPS system.

West Roxbury resident Kelly Tynan, a Boston Public Schools product, hasn’t sought the suburbs for her teaching career, even after having her contracts not renewed two years in a row, only to be rehired.

A Boston Latin School product, the former executive director of is teaching in her third Boston Public School in three years. She was given word of her BPS contract not being renewed in March of this year, just like many young teachers who hear the same things every year from BPS who are then rehired, oftentimes by other BPS schools.

“Luckily for me, I had it happen to me twice,” said Tynan from her office at the UP Academy Charter School of Boston – the first in-district public charter school in Massachusetts. “[For] the people who it has happened to them for the first time and didn’t know what to do there’s that question of ‘how?’ ‘Where’s my next paycheck? How am I going to pay my bills? For me, I’m a single woman with a mortgage that I have to pay. I don’t have anyone else in my household. It was a major concern.”

Tynan also faced and met very trying on-the-job issues. During the course of her teaching career, without disclosing the school, she explained, “Like many Boston Public School teachers, I have been assaulted. When you are assaulted, you’re thinking of your own safety. You’re always prioritizing the children ahead of your own needs.” She was assaulted multiple times, but did not want to elaborate.

“What got me was the support of my colleagues," she added. "I’ve worked with some amazing teachers.”

Ever the optimist, Tynan still wanted to work in the school district that she graduated from. Approximately 4,500 applicants from all around the country applied for 57 positions at UP, said Scott Given, CEO, of Unlocking Potential – the U and P in the UP Academy. Walking through the halls of the school, the teachers look more like an MTV reality show with the majority of the staff being attractive and in their 20s.

Tynan started her teaching career in ’09-’10 at the George Conley School in Roslindale as a fourth-grade teacher. Last school year she taught fourth grade at the Oliver Wendell Holmes School in Dorchester.

She wanted to continue working at the Conley School – “Absolutely," she said. "The staff, and principal showed such an overwhelming support… I found (my contract wasn’t being renewed) in March of that year [2010]. March is when [BPS] make the decision of who will not stay.  I was not dual-certified [special education or ESL]. Now I’m tri-certified… Because of school closings they have to bump out provisional teachers. Last one in, first one out…”

Tynan spoke briefly about the Holmes School. “My time at the Holmes? I had a very challenging time at the Holmes. And I wished that I had a second year with my new teacher developer, who was a phenomenal resource for me.”

This year Tynan is co-teaching seventh- and eighth-graders in an out-of-class resource room teacher after becoming licensed in special education for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. She also became licensed in ESL (English as a second language learner) in pre-kindergarten to 12^th grade.

“I wanted to make sure I had the education to teach a diverse learning population. In Boston you have many students with different abilities and students who speak different languages,” said Tynan, who came in second in last year’s state representative race to .

Currently Tynan is in the Educational Leadership Program at Simmons College, in hope of becoming a teacher leader, i.e. principal or headmaster. “The experience has been so supportive and friendly and very structured," she said. "Having taught students and babysat many children - children need structure. It’s very important to providing them with academic success – and [UP Academy] is going to provide children with stability with joy and rigor.”

She’s also working for 18 months with Teach Plus as a 2011 Boston Policy Fellow, one of 25 in the Greater Boston working on educational policy issues, so she can advocate at the state and municipal level for education.

With a bright smile, Tynan, said she is excited about her first year at UP, and is looking forward to spending several years at the charter school.

So is Given, who was previously a principal at the Excel Academy in Easton Boston.

Said Given, “We need to make sure to do everything in our power to give every teacher what they need to be successful and that to me, more time is to collaborate, have more professional development, and more coaching. It means having a school environment where everyone is focused on the same mission.

“When you have those positive conditions teachers in turn are inspired to work even harder to advance the achievement of their students.”