And so I begin another day coughing up phlegm.  At least it is solid enough to stay together to cough up.  I stayed home one day last week and I really needed another day but calling out for two days in teaching is just not feasible. I have only done it once or twice in nearly 20 years of teaching.

So some kids have come by to visit.  I like that.  But it has its drawbacks.  When I do not get out on time, I hit traffic.  I used to be able to stay until 4.30 pm with no issues.  I loved it.  The darkroom was a hive of activity.  Then a couple of years ago, kids stopped coming.  More kids have jobs that demand they get there by 3.00 pm.  That coincided with horrible construction on Route 80 in Morris County.  Leaving work late meant nearly doubling my commute time.  That has translated to completed construction with the traffic issues remaining.  I do not understand it because there is an additional lane, but maybe lots of people leave work earlier nowadays.  So now I come in by 6.05 am and the kids come in early or during their lunches. If anyone ever has an issue with my waiting by the clock out machine for a minute or two for the clock to strike 3.05, I would gently suggest they look at the time I arrive each and every day.

So in one of the visits, the person commented about how this place is "getting worse."  Yes, there are things I do not like about this place, but there is pattern here.  Every single year, the recent graduates claim the place immediately got worse after they graduated.  Well, that's not possible.  There are bumps at the beginning of every school year.  Over the past several years, we have had to deal with incoming freshmen who are not prepared for high school 0 regardless of having freshmen orientation days - and massive behavioural issues.  This is due to deficiencies in the sending districts.  No matter how much we try articulation in those towns, they will not change based on our requests or recommendations.  The mindset there will only change with hiring out-of-district.  Once we get a handle on straightening those issues out  - the growing pains of freshmen - the year goes well.  It takes a month or two.

Where does this "this place is getting worse" idea come from?  A few places.  One, we have some leadership from a nearby city.  This regional district is racially biased against that city.  Anything from there is bad in the residents' eyes.  It does not matter that when their people came here from Italy, Poland, Ireland, etc., they settled in that city first.  They then migrated here in the 1960s when the great migration North happened.  African-Americans descended from slaves moved up North to get jobs in growing industry and to escape Jim Crow laws.  White flight followed.  This is a district that is historically racist.  Those of us who have worked and lived elsewhere know what our colleagues mean when they say "This place is turning into P-------."  No it is not. Work in an inner city for once and you will know how wrong you are.  I happen to know how little work was done in this building in the 1970s and 1980s.  Drunk and high students wandering the halls all day.  Hanging out the windows.  Shall I introduce you to some of the 80s era graduates I know?  They were all white.  This is not related to race, of course.  (snark intended)

Another reason for the denigrating comments is the fact that there are changes happening.  Are all of the changes good?  No, I don't think so.  But then I am a special and teaching in a country that does not value the arts.  The focus is only ever on reading and mathematics.  And so improvement initiatives will only ever focus on them.  It is not just our school.  It is country-wide.  However, if my colleagues read anything related to education, they would know this.  Pay attention to the writing of your students.  Most of it is pathetic.  I should not be getting written work from a senior with spelling and grammatical errors that are of a middle school level.  I cringe at much of what I read, but I correct it and continue to assign reading and writing work.   In the art department, we need to teach our students how to use a ruler.  We also need to teach how to do simple calculations and measurements.  In high school.   This stems from problems at the elementary and middle school level.  I have taught in elementary and middle schools.  I might know what I am talking about.  My students at those levels did not have to be taught this stuff in art.  They came to my class knowing how to use a ruler.

As the prior interim superintendent told me in a very candid conversation, there is a lot wrong here and it goes deep.  He knew he could not even begin to change it in his brief tenure.  Many of us are trying to make this a better place.  We make our classes challenging.  We do not do the work for the kids.  We refuse to dumb it down.  We refuse to let the kids take shortcuts to get a semblance of success.  We make sure all students are welcome here, not just the Caucasian kids who are third generation residents or the athlete superstars.  Listen to us when we talk about why your complaints are misguided.  Listen to us when we talk about what we see is really wrong here.  We might know from experience.  If you keep focusing on the wrong issues, this place will not improve.  It will implode. Some of the best people are leaving or trying to get out.  You will be stuck with the colleagues who do not teach, who have relationships with students, who spend their 45 minute periods doing nothing but coaching work.  And those talented artists, musicians, thespians, and brainiacs will choose to go to another school.  You will not like what you will be stuck with.  But then again, maybe you will.  Maybe that is what you really want.  For the sake of my students, I hope not.