I have been teaching photography for 10 years. It is at the point that my students have no idea that I did not begin my tenure at this place as the photography teacher. So, I thought I would tell the story.
In the winter of 2006, I was called into the principal's (JW) office. I was told I would be teaching photography the next school year (2006-2007). Reasons given were that they wanted to re-vamp the program, move it from the Business and Technology Department to the Art Department, and I was the only person in the Art Department with a good amount of photography experience. A non-administrator was involved in this decision, but that was not put in writing. I was hired by this school to teach Sculpture and Yearbook. This was my fourth year doing so. School districts have "right of assignment" meaning you teach what they tell you to teach, as long as you are qualified. I was also asked to not say anything to the current photo teacher or anyone else at all. The impression I was given was that he was retiring and we didn't want to push him out the door.
I complied.
My photo experience was this: Two college level photo courses, Assistant Photo Editor at a television magazine in NYC, research and photo library maintenance for a paparazzo and a major league sport organization. Yes, I did have the most photo experience in my department. Yet, I had not been in a darkroom for 10 years and the last time I worked on Photoshop was on an ancient version. I needed to refresh my knowledge. Coincidentally, my sister was leaving a photo job for a general art teaching job so we traded resources. My district was not going to pay to help me train and refresh. I spent the following months doing that on my own.
I was excited at the prospect of change. Most teachers are not excited when told they are teaching something else. It is usually a punishment. I rarely sit still and have hopped around a lot in my life. We moved a lot when I was growing up. I switched schools a lot. This did not feel like a punishment to me. It felt like a gift. My breathing was getting worse due to the refusal of the custodians to change the filters in my air filtration system in room 105. I was getting sick of smelling like clay and being covered in dust all the time. I mean, I wear nothing but dark colours. This was not working! I love the smell of chemicals. What a match.
Then some things started happening. My department head - who I had a wonderful relationship with - was kept in the dark. When he found out, he was hurt that I "hid" it from him. I had to tell him I was following orders and thought he knew. Then the rest of the department found out. One was involved in the decision - more on that once I leave the district. One thought s/he was the head of the department and was angry with me because s/he was not involved in the decision. Note s/he was not mad at the individual who was involved in the decision. The rest were happy for me.
Then I found out the photo teacher was not retiring. This was the superintendent's (VJ) way of trying to push him out. JW and VJ had not liked this man for a long time. Coincidentally, he was cruising and not putting effort into the program. However, like typical administrators, they couldn't be bothered to create the paper trail to justify firing him. Photography shrank to one period they had trouble filling. The combination of the two situations - as well as an Art Department situation that will be told about another time - made for an easy solution. They took away the program and moved me downstairs, away from anyone else in my department. The guy dug in his heels and refused to leave. He told them they would have to carry him out of there on a stretcher. He was also led to believe by VJ, JW, and others that I went after the program. And we would be sharing the room next year. At no point did any of the involved parties make any effort to tell the photo teacher that the decision was made administratively and I was just following orders. For the next few years I walked the halls with people talking about how I deceived people and stole the program from someone.
To be continued....
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