The Plight of the Newbie

     Many veteran teachers, and most ATRs rarely consider the plight of the newbie. The young guy or gal that replaced us when we were excessed and turned into babysitters for the sin of making too much money. Most balk at being with them in class and I understand that. It can be humiliating being seen as a ‘Sub’ with little or no education and experience by the brand new newbie and then being asked or sometimes told  (many young teachers are not big on manners or respecting those that have been continually identified as inferior - ATRs). I had my problems with a young 25 year old male teacher (with no teaching experience or Masters - I had 27 years teaching experience and 2 Masters) I was paired with for a year teaching afternoon physical education classes. I’m a licensed CTE teacher, so I didn’t mind taking direction in a field I knew very little about. From day one, he immediately started barking orders at me. I told him over and over again,  I’d be happy to help him, but he’d have to voice his bark in the form of a question. He eventually learned, but I often found myself slowly simmering. We grew to respect one other and even though he was young Black man, in the boogie down Bronx  - he was a lot Whiter than me. He came from a private high school, college and his parents were middle class professionals from an upscale neighborhood. I grew up in the Bronx, one of five kids from a single mother - everything was a struggle. This guy had a great work ethic. He also loved heavy metal music. The kids, especially the overaged entitled seniors, despised him. The stricter he got, the worse they got. They used to curse him out in the most profane manner - one kid actually pulled out his penis for a couple of seconds and told him to suck it. His AP wanted to know how the teacher caused that! The AP then started listening to the students complaints like they were gospel truth, documenting them and he started receiving ineffectives. He was now being cursed out continuously and with many kids flatly refusing to follow any of his directions. He did the only thing left to him, he started failing them. Effectively stopping them from graduating. That’s when it was really over for him. He then started getting continual observations.

    Now, it was towards the end of June and we had been together since September. We were working out with heavy weights frequently at lunchtime. To be honest, I started thinking of him as a nephew. He came to me for advice. In September, when he first signed up with the UFT he was a very proud, arrogant pain in the butt. He now told me he was very worried about getting an Ineffective. He asked me what to do - I told him he had to switch schools to save his career. That afternoon, I called the UFT and asked them to explain what protections they had for untenured teachers. ‘Well, we’re always here to guide them through the tenure process’ ;  I asked, ‘What workplace protections do they have?’ ; ‘The exact same as yours, sir’. Ok, that sounded good. ‘ So let me ask you, if my nephew comes in, smiles crooked and gets an ineffective - what do you guys do?’  ‘Sir, an ineffective means nothing - he’s going to have two more years, even if he gets an ineffective for this year, to pull it off. Stop worrying and tell your nephew to start kissing some ass.’ Nice, right? The newbies membership dollars at work.

      I must add, this was an excellent school with an adequate Chapter Leader, great principal and fantastic APO. It was a great place to finish out my career. Most of us only worry about ourselves, but these new teachers need guidance, career protections and stability. The UFT is wholly remiss in its duties toward these new teachers, even more so than it is towards its veterans and ATRs (at least we have some recourse).

     I believe this is a subtle design to ensure many new teachers do not get tenure. No big deal for the schools or the UFT. Always a new crop waiting to experience the joys of NYC. The newbies that require consequences and grade fairly, will not make it. Those that go along to get along are the only new teachers that have a marginal chance. None of them, however, will make it to retirement. Tier 6 makes that impossible. That’s for another post.