The Great Big Show

 

Last week, the school where I teach was paid a visit by the Los Angeles Unified School District and will be visited by the California Department of Education (CDE).  Why such an honor you ask?  Well, it’s review time of course.  These great visits, which occur roughly every four years, is to make sure that the school and staff are in compliance with local and state standards and for the big wigs to make sure that we’re doing things by the book.

Hold on.  I’m laughing so hard right now, I think I’m going to cry and wet my pants . . . at the same time.

So many things have taken place over the last month or so, in anticipation of these big events, I don’t know where to begin.  For starters, we, meaning staff, have basically been coached on what to say, how to dress, and heaven knows what else for this site review, which will take place over the course of a few days.  The Exective Director has sent out an e-mail telling us to be “at our peak performance” on those days and her last e-mail prior to the LAUSD visit told us all to “dress professionally” and to “remember that first impressions are often lasting and bias some people’s perceptions, so dress nicely.”  Thank you mommy for that reminder.

In addition, we have formed committees to create clubs and programs that, at this very moment, do not exist.

But guess what folks?  Evidently we put on one hell of show.  The LAUSD reviewers sung the praises of the Executive Director who was featured in a Los Angeles area newspaper (not the L.A. Times) a month or so ago, with pictures of her spending one on one time with kids.  The kids laughed when they read this paper, which the ED had distributed to all the rooms.  When she does walk into a classroom, it’s usually to show someone (with some influence, deep pockets or both) around.  Even then she rarely, if ever, speaks to the students or the staff.

What the LAUSD reps don’t know and didn’t get a chance to see is how terribly understaffed we are, how most of the staff is looking to leave as soon as they get a chance because the morale is so low and none of the administrators seem care as long as the students (meaning money) keep coming in.  What they don’t know is that I, aloing with a couple of other teachers, started off the school year without an aide (with a roomful of gang members and other juvenile delinquents).  When I did get one, the DoE (Director of Education) picked on him about his shoes inspite of more pressing concerns and he along with another aide quit about two weeks ago.  I’ve since gotten a new aide, much to my surprise and now they want to move her!  District officials don’t know and didn’t get a chance to see that most of us teachers don’t get our legally mandated lunch breaks and have to find a way to use the restroom throughout the day (I’ve gone all day without going on more occasions than I care to remember).  What the district officials don’t know is that we aren’t given planning periods and therefore must take home most of our work because there is no way to get it done during the day. They probably don’t know that I’ve been threatened, cursed out, screamed at, hit and kicked by kids and that the Executive Director-along with her pet, the administrative manager-routinely talk down to, and even yell (the administrative manager does this frequently) at other staff members.   They can be worse than the kids!  But most importantly, what the district reps don’t know is that what they saw when they arrived was all a facade.  It is NOT how the school normally operates.  It’s a petty and poisonous, gossipy and backstabbing environment to the point where many of the students can see this.   What’s worse, is that the state officials most likely won’t know or see any of this as well when they arrive in a few weeks. 

It’s all a bunch of smoke.  Fake, fake, fake.  But, I guess that what you get here in Southern California, home to Hollywood and everything else that isn’t real.