Where Have All The Teachers Gone ?

Answer: Rhee has fired everyone

I received the email below from a concerned insider about Sousa Middle School's high turnover rate of teachers and staff under the helm of Principal Dwan Jordan. Sousa is located at 3650 Ely Place, SE Washington, DC. Little has been reported by the mainstream media about the impact DC teacher/principal firings and high staff attrition rates will have on returning students come August. The Washington Post has limited coverage on teacher terminations and no reports to date on the recent principal terminations and staff attrition rates. Little wonder why given that The Washington Post has a proclivity for covering up the news rather than reporting the news.

Soon I imagine that we will be singing the song - Where have all the teachers gone ? (to the music of Pete Seeger's -Where have all the flowers gone ?)

Where have all the teachers gone ?
Long time passing
Where have all the teachers gone ?
long time ago
Rhee has fired everyone.
When will she ever learn ?
When will she ever learn ?

Dear Candi

"Sousa Middle School has experienced the highest teacher and staff turnover rate in its' history, under one year of leadership with Principal Dwan Jordon. Dwan Jordon terminated 8 teachers that he placed on the 90-Day Plan; however, more than 30 additional staff members have either transferred, resigned, or left in the past 10 months Principal Jordon has been on the job. To have more than 30 people (including janitors) voluntarily leave a brand-new, 20 million dollar plus, state-of-the-art- middle school should be very telling about Mr. Jordon's treatment of teachers and staff.

Students, parents and community leaders are outraged at this high turn-over rate as it will effect the human ecology of their neighborhood. As such, they have signed petitions, and have called for Principal Dwan Jordon's termination to Chancellor Rhee. On Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 3:00 p.m., students, parents, and community members met at headquarters with CHANCELLOR RHEE and presented compelling evidence as to why Principal Dwan Jordon is not a good fit for Sousa. They presented CHANCELLOR RHEE with all the names of the teachers and staff members who were no longer at Sousa. Also, they provided personal testimony regarding their experiences at Sousa.

THIS WAS THE RESPONSE OF CHANCELLOR RHEE TO THE SOUSA MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS, PARENTS, AND COMMUNITY LEADERS ABOUT PRINCIPAL DWAN JORDON:
"Well, I will investigate the various allegations that you have brought against Mr. Jordon. However, I feel that Mr. Jordon is an awesome, awesome, principal who sets very high standards for his teachers and staff. Therefore, I do not agree with terminating Mr. Jordon. At the very least, Mr. Jordon deserves another school year as Sousa Middle School's principal."

Can all the teachers and staff-members be wrong? Can all the teachers and staff-members who accuse Principal Jordon of being mean-spirited, uncaring and a tyrant be incorrect? What is going to happen to all the students who are returning to Sousa in August when they realize that only 5 teachers out of the original 24 will be back? Also, how will the students respond to 19 new teachers who don't know anything about the neighborhood or its' student body ?

Posted by The Washington Teacher

Chancellor 'Terminator' Rhee Fires 8 DC Teachers At Sousa Middle School

I received this email from a DC Teacher who was terminated from Sousa middle school where Dwan Jordan is a new principal. Sousa is located at 3650 Ely Place, SE in Washington, DC. I have removed the names of teachers who write me in order to protect their right to confidentiality.

Given that Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee signs off on all of these teacher terminations, it is concerning that there is no right of appeal. What if the principal was wrong in his/her assessment of the teacher and the teacher is not ineffective ? Who bears the responsibility for any errors that are being made ? What would you do if you were wrongly terminated ?

Here are some of the details regarding what happened to the teachers at Sousa. More details will be provided to you as they come in.

Hi Candi:

"I had been teaching at Sousa and never received a bad rating in all my ten years working in DC Public Schools. However, I was placed on the 90 day plan and have been terminated also. I was wondering if you could add this update of factual information to your blog.

The principal Dwan Jordon is a first-year principal, formerly an Assistant Principal from PG County, who placed 8 veteran teachers on the 90-day plan and terminated all of them. Interestingly enough, early reports are rumored that Sousa made some of the highest middle school gains with the DC-CAS, so how can all of our teachers be ineffective? Sousa has less than a total of 25 teachers so a third of them were terminated."

Posted by The Washington Teacher.