The morale in Clay County Schools
is at an all-time low since I came to work here in 2005. As I write this blog,
it is March 8, 2016. We have been in school for eight months, and still we have
no teacher contract. While the arguments rage on both sides of the issue, the
teachers keep teaching the students. Although they were promised a step pay
scale when they were hired, they have not moved on this scale for five years.
Support personnel have not moved on the scale for 7 years. Additionally, medical insurance in the
district has skyrocketed, and the district has allowed the employees to bear
the entire burden of the cost increases. In some cases, where employees earn an
hourly wage of $10.00, the cost of the medical insurance (now required by law)
leaves a balance of less than four dollars for a paycheck after 60 hours of
labor. Even if one makes the argument that if that is not enough money the
employee should find another job, the fact STILL remains that the job MUST be
done in order for the system to continue, and it is doubtful that ANYONE would
find that kind of pay compensatory. Still, teachers and support personnel are hired with the promise of a step pay system, and the budget to support this is not created. People feel mislead and ill-used.
Compounding this, all teachers
hired in recent years are annual contract employees. This means that at the end
of each year they must determine whether or not they still have a job. The switch to annual contracts was made to
prevent complacency and burn out among teachers who had been in the profession
for many years and had become “tenured.” The thinking was that if there was
insecurity, there would be motivation to perform. Also, it would be a money
saving proposition—because new teachers would most likely begin at the lower
end of the step pay scale. The driving
impetus in that equation is fear.
Fear and reactivity are never solid, healthy, bases from which to operate. A workplace
culture of fear is usually found in organizations with strong hierarchical
structures. Orders emanate from the top down, with the threat of disciplinary
action if they are not followed implicitly. Another symptom of a culture of
fear is micromanagement. Supervisors and administrators are afraid that they
will be disciplined if they do not show that they are pressuring their
employees in the desired activities or behaviors. In education this takes the
form of mandatory implementations, mandatory common lessons, mandatory formats,
and everyone doing whatever is being pushed as the “flavor of the week.” Supervisors pressure administration,
administration pressures teachers, and teachers implement their lessons with fear.
Fear is communicable.
Fear inhibits learning and
performance. The students fail to perform, the teachers become more insecure,
the administration pressures the teacher to improve student performance, and
the supervisor looks critically at the administrator. It is a cycle of fear,
reactivity and blame. In the effort for self-preservation at all levels, there
is a consummate loss of integrity and accountability, with a loss of faith and
confidence in the system itself on behalf of the stakeholders. This loss of faith and confidence leads
stakeholders to move their stakes out of public education and seek a privatized
alternative. In this climate, cynical pessimism quickly becomes the daily norm
and folks focus on ways to play it safe than push the limits of their creativity.
The pessimism leads to reactivity: infighting, decreased efficiency, ad hominem
attacks, and a censorship of opposition.
This is the state of morale in Clay
District Schools. Authoritarian modes of leadership do not serve to engage
people, nor do they promote innovation or empowerment. Failure to listen, to accept feedback or
consider alternate methods is not collaborative, no matter how often you
dictate employees share or talk to one another. There is no “magic bullet” no “one
size fits all” approach to improve education. Anyone who tells you otherwise is
trying to sell something.
The first place to begin to
transform Clay District Schools into a thriving and healthy atmosphere is with
the leadership in the superintendent’s office. It is time that the person who
sits in that chair be more than a businessperson, more than a manager—but be an
educator, with experience at all levels in the k-12 system, an in-depth
understanding of curriculum and a leadership style that is thoughtful,
inclusive, and flexible. It is only with
this approach that we can begin to become a truly extraordinary school system. Our students and our families need a school
system that is consistently strong and extraordinary across the county, not
just in a few select places. We must
regard all of our communities with respect, regardless of their millage rating.
It is time to come together to provide for our educational system and
community, and to serve with a unified purpose our most important asset: our
students. That is why I am seeking
election to the office of Superintendent of Schools, Clay County. I believe
that this vision will enable us to produce extraordinary human beings, as well
as promote economic development. Please consider signing a petition for me to
be on the ballot in November. You may obtain a petition at the bottom of the first entry on this blogspot, or you may retrieve it from the campaign Facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/ShivelyforSuperintendent/ .
