by Dick Hall-Sizemore
I learned recently from a friend that his wife, after more than 15 years of teaching, will not be going back to the classroom next year. She teaches in one of the school divisions in the Richmond area. The reasons for her leaving are myriad. However, they did not include students and behavior problems, as Jim Bacon often cites. Rather they include parents and administrators. One of the last straws was the objection by a parent or two to a book she had assigned her eleventh-grade advanced English class to read. I won’t identify the book, but it is one of those that has made the American Library Association list of banned books over the years. Having to deal with those parents in finding a book to which they did not object was frustrating and time-consuming. To add to her frustration, there is the prospect of more standardized testing, in addition to the SOLs, next year. Finally, due to staffing shortages, particularly substitute teachers, she has had to take on more duties this year.
She is not the only one. Of all the teachers in her department, all but one have indicated they will not be returning next year.
If driving out the teachers currently in the schools was the intent of the vocal parents demanding to have more say in how schools are run and what teachers teach, they, along with administrators relying on standardized tests, are succeeding. One wonders where they are going to find the replacements for those who flee.
