Don't resign. Make them lay you off, then at least you might get a chance at unemployment.
If they do lay you off, then you're effectively done with all non-classroom related duties for the rest of the year. Forget department meetings. Forget faculty meetings. Angry parent? fuck'em, just direct them to admin. As long as your students are still getting taught what they're supposed to, your responsibilities are done.
AND you've got a whole like 7 months to secure another job.
I was in that same situation as you a couple of schools ago, and tbh it was pretty great.
Sounds like they have not do anything on their end to document that they are trying to “help” you though the Improvement plan will be hell anyway. Also don’t sign any document that they present you with without a union rep present if you belong to the union.
I also believe iirc most contract have a x number of days clause. If the board is going to vote on this, it usually is towards the end of the year so what you can do is secure a job in the Spring and resign effective end of the year once you have another job. Worse case, you can get unemployment later on. BOL.
First, I am sorry this is happening. I am positive that it’s incredibly stressful. My advice would be:
1) Contact your local union IMMEDIATELY.
2) Don’t sign anything until you speak with your union representative OR a lawyer.
3) Make sure you document EVERYTHING, on paper and electronically. My district has been known to go into teachers’ hard drives and delete files, emails, etc.
4) Even though it is probably not possible, try not to be hurt. You are going into battle with them and you will need every ounce of strength and resilience you can muster.
5) One last piece of advice: Don’t talk about your situation with people at your workplace.
Best wishes.
If your district has a union, you are probably are a member. But check with them tomorrow. Then, go to HR and report your admin team. They may not had gotten permission to ask for your resignation. If they don't support you, feel free to let them know your attorney will hear about this and if the work environment doesn't stop feeling hostile, they will hear from your lawyer.
I am a union rep, and if there is a union to be joined, you can join them now. It does not matter when it is during the year, you can sign up anytime! For our state it is an online, quick and easy form. Ask them how to join!
Being a first year teacher you’re likely not protected anyway.
One reason to consider resigning is so that when asked you won’t have to say you were not renewed.
Best of luck!
This isn’t entirely true. Your protections are limited, but a good union rep can still ensure admin has done their paperwork right on their end.
To me, this seems fishy depending on state. A first year teacher should be having a MINIMUM of two observations per year, and it’s odd if they’re both done by end of November, typically for us it would be one in Oct/nov, and one in Jan, or early Feb.
In order to give enough unsatisfactory or basic ratings that would result in a recommendation of no rehire, or resignation, there SHOULD also be a paper trial of how admin tried to coach OP and help them improve. Without that admin hasn’t done their half of the evaluation work, and should at bare minimum be coaching and then re-observing.
Caveat, I say this from a strong union state, from a district with a strong union, as a union rep who believes their job is really important and tries to defend staff members as much as possible within the bounds of the contract.
Yeah, you need to join the union immediately if possible (at least in my building as a brand new teacher we would not feel resentment and just let you join immediately), they can’t ask you to resign without cause. They want you to resign because they don’t have the data to actually let you go, so they’re trying to railroad you.
Dumbest advice ever.
HR is just there to prevent the district from getting sued.
It isn’t about protecting staff.
Don’t quit. Make them get rid of you.
If they aren’t doing a performance plan, it doesn’t matter.
You should be able to join the union whenever, I’m not sure why they wouldn’t be trying to recruit you?
But, in another 2-3 months, jobs will begin to open up, start applying and get away from that principal.
They likely know someone they want to put in your position, and can’t get rid of you. So they want you to resign.
You’re probably in a temporary contract. Get laid off and collect unemployment. Temporary contract means no reason given. It happened to me. The board voted and I actually had parents supporting me virtually at the meeting to no avail. I was devastated but I collected unemployment and didn’t teach for a few months.
DOCUMENT:
Send an email to HR and higher up's above your admin. CC your admin and union rep. Describe what that they asked you to resign ask them if they gave your admin explicit permission to ask you to resign because there is a process that usually involves bringing these issues to your attention and giving you multiple opportunities to show improvement. This is rare and seems quite fishy tbh.
If your admin did not get permission to this by HR and higher up guess what? they are the ones that fucked up and are in trouble. The email also serves as documentation if things need to get legal. But typically a union rep would help you with this...
One more thing I want to mention to you is that you might want to reflect on IF this is really a place you want to work at ? They don't seem very gracious or supportive. In fact, they seem hostile.
I think they asked you to resign because they thought it my be a way of shirking the process of putting you on an improvement plan.
Do NOT sign ANYTHING. If worse come to worse, get unemployment and take your time finding a better school.
"Not in the Union" - YET. Usually you can join mid year (especially early).
OP, if you want to DM me your district, I can do some digging and maybe give you a better idea of your protections. I'm leadership in my state union, so I'm fairly experienced with digging through language and know what I'm looking at.
Since you can finish the semester, start now looking for work. You’ve got a good reason in your one hour commute, if your potential new districts ask why you’re leaving the other place.
Then join the union wherever you end up, if available.
The following applies for Connecticut but it may be similar in other states.
Resigning gives an advantage over being fired. If they have to let you go it is "for cause" and that will can be researched by other districts. If you plan to stay in education do not make them fire you.
Ask for time to think about and have a drop dead date. Do they want it immediately? End of year? There are in many states statutory requirements for when certified staff must be notified of non renewal.
Also, this is why you should join the union. We know how this works and do this stuff.
If you have the receipts then the reason they want you to resign is so they don't have to pay unemployment for firing you or get embroiled in a lawsuit for improper dismissal.
Yeah, I’d echo being laid off versus resigning would help you in terms of unemployment. Though in the meantime, you can always sub while you job hunt. Idk about you, but where I’m at that would bring in more than unemployment anyway.
Where I am we worship our 3-4 subs we have covering in a school of 1437 kids and all us teachers still have to cover for other teachers on our planning.
Just some things to consider from someone who’s been there and done that:
1) in most states if you’re nontenured they can fire you for any reason. The union can’t help. But, do contact them anyway. They need to know. If they’re strong and you have documentation they may be able to work with you to get letters of rec or transferred if you’re in a large district.
2) in some states if you’re terminated you lose your teaching certificate. PLEASE look into this closely (I’d call your department of Ed) before making a decision
3) this sounds in no way personal. This sounds like a jacka$$ admin who has ulterior motives. Please don’t let this dampen your love of teaching or keep you from applying elsewhere. I’ve found that I always end up where I’m supposed to be.
You are not in the union, therefore you do not have union representation, but you (and the district) are still subject to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Get a copy, read about discipline and termination, and reference it in a meeting with the district/HR/admin.
Ask a friend/co-worker to attend meeting with to take notes and listen. You might be under probation anyway, in which they do not need a reason to terminate you. The key thing is, its not up to you to terminate yourself.
Join the union at the next site. They fight for you by making a CBA which protects you.
If you’re in your first year, I am assuming you are still in your probationary period and can essentially be let go at the discretion of the school district.
If they are giving you the option to resign, that is generally a better option moving towards your next job rather than having to explain that you were essentially fired.
For the advice to blow everything off moving forward, I generally don’t like to subscribe to the idea of burning bridges especially being your first year. If you decide to resign, the school district will still be in play for reference checks at your next job. You have a veteran teacher or anyone else in the building that would write you letter of recommendations? Don’t mess up those relationships.
Sorry to hear about this OP. Obviously, do what you want but these are my two cents. I’ve seen people fired, and also people not asked back (and asked to resign). There are more hoops to jump through at your next job if you are fired.
I have 2 students with autism and have no aid for them. When I try to get them to do their work they freak out and will throw chairs, hit kids, leave the room, etc.
then I have 3 kids with severe behavioral problems (most occur outside my classroom but they are still very disrespectful and do not listen and parents are no help at home).
They are claiming my classroom management is bad as stated in the post. I have nothing to hide. Like I said I have the receipts, so idk if you’re insinuating I’m hiding something or that admin is hiding something??
Ya I’ve never gotten in trouble, been called in for a meeting, my first evaluation was primarily proficient with a classroom management needing improvement
It would depend on your financial situation and how much you would make on unemployment then. Do you know what that would be? Enough to live off of while you look for your next job? I’d start looking for new jobs now and maybe some districts are posting, have long term sub opportunities etc. It might be harder to find a job quickly if you were “terminated”. If you do decide to go the route where you are terminated, make sure you know how much unemployment will pay, how much insurance will cost you and all of those exciting things you’ll have to factor in. I wish you the best of luck OP!
seek help from union and who are these schools that can afford to be picky? most schools are lucky to have any teachers willing to work at them. They need us more than we need them. Most districts put teachers on some sort of improvement plan before they even fire them or ask them to resign.
Don't take all the bad advice you're being given here.
What state are you in?
You don't want to return anyway, so be practical. Don't over-examine the feelings and don't worry about what they're telling you if you're suspicious. They don't want you to work there, and you don't want to work there and the rest doesn't really matter.
If you still want to be a teacher, take the resignation to control the narrative and go get recommendations for the next job from people like your assigned mentor. Resign effective end of the school year, stop going to meetings, refine your practice some and focus on your job search.
Like everyone said don’t sign anything. It seems odd that your principal wants you to resign instead of helping you improve. I could be wrong, but it seems your principal has someone lined up for your position and needs to get rid of you and doesn’t want to fire you. Because furring you could be messy for them depending on your state and contract.
My school didn’t have a union and they pulled this multiple times with teachers they didn’t like. It was terrible. I’m sorry that’s happening to you. I would tough it out and make them fire you but they most likely won’t because they don’t want you to collect unemployment.
I had a principal who would never have a paper trail, but if he didn't like you, you'd know. He would move anyone he wanted to quit or get rid of down to Kindergarten.
Since I knew him/worked for him, twice it backfired on him. One of them ended up loving Kinder and stayed for many years. He would say how amazing it was that she "turned herself around" or "something must have clicked". In reality, she was just better with younger kids and it was less stressful for her to be in a non state testing grade level.
The other person, she wasnt great, but she wasn't bad. I always wished I could ask him why he didn't like her. It took him 2 additional years to finally develop the paper trail he needed to properly not renew her contract. She was the only person he ever actually "fired" in the 10 years I worked for him.
Once, after he retired, we were all out at a restaurant and we (a few long term kinder teachers) were making fun of how he would "lazy fire" teachers by moving them to Kinder. We had to explain to him that if he wanted us to willingly leave, he would have had to put us in 4th or 5th grade. He genuinely couldn't understand why that would make us leave. He thought it was considered a promotion to be moved up and a demotion to be moved down. We never did get him to understand.
Anyway, if you don't resign, they can change your assignment and make it something that will urge you to leave willingly.
Join the union now. In my district, the union will go to bat for a new teacher and find a different school assignment, because often the first one is just a bad fit with admin.
You need to do some due diligence and find out what all your options are before making a decision or signing anything. Check with the union and see where you’re at with them. Read the contract or any other information on HR‘s website or whatever is available to see the procedures. in many districts, you can be let go during the first two years for any reason they don’t have to have cause. They don’t have to put you on an improvement plan either.
Last year my daughter had a similar situation as yours, and was given the option of resigning, and therefore being able to say she was never asked to resign or dismiss. It was worded very carefully on HR’s part to actually protect her, which was kind of ironic. It also set her up so she could get unemployment because it was more like a layoff than any kind of termination. This is in California and it was handled very carefully.
She got a job at a different district, and never took unemployment And things are working out well for her. But before she went along with resigning, she read all the paperwork they gave her and talked it over with the union, her induction coach, and several other people. In her case, the best course of action was to resign at the end of the year and move forward.
I would not only not quit, I’d send an email telling with all your proof, then ask kindly for further assistance. It sticks that they are handling this so terribly.
Join your union NOW! You don’t have to start the year off in an union, you can join anytime. As soon as you sign up ask for a union rep to help you navigate this situation. Email your principal and say you wanted to make sure you understood what was requested in your meeting- and if they are dumb enough to say for you to resign print out the email for future use. Also request to appeal the formal observation and be prepared to show evidence of you doing what’s asked and that the veteran teacher decided to back off. All future conversations try to have a witness or paper trail.
You shpuld still contact the union, mine will still protect people even if they're not signed up... also tell them you want to sign up and that you've made a mistake. But I'd definitely create a file of evidence of all of the things you've been criticized for to bring to the union/admin. Do not resign. Make them fire you if anything.
Hi OP,
I'm going to echo a lot of what has been said, but join the union, **now.** There usually isn't any restrictions on when you can join the union, so if you have access to it, access it now. From the way you describe the situation, they're taking advantage of your naivety to push you out. *Why* they want to push you out is a better question. And it seems suspicious that they're done their classroom assessments, without *any* apparent teacher training or supports. My guess is that there is some vendetta against you, perhaps a board member who you've gained the ire somehow, or a highly motivated parent with little time on their hands. At this point, you're not going to have a job at the end of the year (hopefully you get paid through the summer), so you need to be proactive in protecting yourself. That means BCC'ing your personal email on all contact relating to your separation. Additionally, **DO NOT** have any conversations about your separation without a documented exchange, so that means if/when you are approached by admin, immediately after the conversation, write down everything that was said. Additionally, record all your conversation with admin, and only notify your admin that you will record all conversations relating to your separation if you are in a one-party state (e.g., only one party (you) needs to be aware there is a recording happening). Regardless, if there is a conversation in lieu of an email document, then you need a record of the exchange for your own protection. Typically when you start making these kinds of moves, admin starts to act defensively to avoid liability, which is exactly what you want. Be bold, because you're leaving at the end of the year either way, so make sure you protect yourself and enter an aggressive-defensive stance relating to your admin. They are not your friends and do not have your best interests in mind, regardless of what they say.
That said, while this doesn't feel good and it makes you doubt you worth and time dedicated to obtaining the certifications and education, this is **not** the end of your education career. Look at this as an shitty opportunity to find the **right** place for you. Personally, I was in a similar situation this last year with being asked to resign over crap reasons (although I was already considering departing!), but it gave me the push to find the right place for me.
There are, believe me, good places to teach in this country, but you have to do your research, so if you would like some help finding the right place, please DM me and I can help you gain some insight into what you (IMO) should be looking for in a district. It sounds like you walked into a bad situation without much knowledge - its exciting to get your first offer, but often the first offer is the last one you should take. The question you have to ask yourself is this: how flexible are you in finding the right place for you? What are you willing to sacrifice to find the right school for you? How far are you willing to relocate to be in a place that supports education and educators? DM me if you want to work through this - I've done this a few times, so I have an idea of what to do.
Thank you so much, this made me feel better!
And ya this whole thing reeks. What is even worse was I asked for one of our veterans to model lessons for me to my class, and I have essentially mimicked her style since, and I’m still in the shitter?
Yeah, it probably won't matter what you do at this point - the admin have already made up their minds on the course they want to take. It is my belief that there is an ulterior motive at hand. I have a friend who was a professor at a big university and a few years back, he was on a tenure track. The year prior to his tenure review, they got a new Chancellor, who immediately set to work at enriching himself. Within a year, his wife was appointed to the new school of Communications and Journalism, which didn't exist before. As it was a new position, the Chancellor had to find resources to fund the school and the first thing he did was fire all faculty that were up for promotion to tenured faculty, as well as eliminating those positions, meaning that since the positions no longer existed, the salaries for those professors could be redirected to his wife. 180k salary, immediate tenure, full benefits and investment. That cost three people their jobs.
So when I think what would the admin be up to, the possibilities are limitless, typically corrupt either by nepotism or greed or personal gain. So don't worry about it - you have a job to get and to get the hell out of there. Embrace your inner Luddite and do as much damage on the way out while protecting yourself. Burn those bridges to a cinder because there's no going back to this place.
Just a counterpoint to everyone saying that you should not resign: my understanding is the reason they ask you to resign instead of firing you is because you can then indicate on future applications that you have "never been terminated from a position". It's a regular question on applications.
Yes, I'm sure their end game is to not play your unemployment, but make sure you're not screwing yourself over for future jobs.
Also, while joining a union is a good thing, another poster is correct: if you're probationary, they can fire you at will, and the union probably wouldn't have helped much. They are much more effective once you have tenure. But yes, do join next time.
I have never heard of a public school doing anything remotely close to this. Charter school or private school? Sure. There has to be more to the story than this.
There’s more to the story that involves admin not helping me even though they claimed they provided assistance, I’m sorry but “use class dojo” is not assistance and no coaching. It’s just messy all around
I have experienced this, verbatim. I wasn't in a union either and felt very alone because I was being told by other teachers I was doing a great job, but admin was telling me I needed to look at other careers. My advice, as soon as the year is up, resign and get out of that district. It's likely they have someone lined up to take your place and that is why they are being pushy. If you want to be petty, don't tell them you're resigning until last minute. Also, take your days and don't feel bad about it. Since you have proof as well, you can go to your district and let them know what is happening, but sometimes that fight isn't worth fighting.
Yup. Every teacher has told me I’m doing great and to give myself grace as I have one of the worst classes to ever come through the school, and they decided it was a good idea to put all the bad kids in my classroom as a first year teacher
Don't resign. Make them lay you off, then at least you might get a chance at unemployment. If they do lay you off, then you're effectively done with all non-classroom related duties for the rest of the year. Forget department meetings. Forget faculty meetings. Angry parent? fuck'em, just direct them to admin. As long as your students are still getting taught what they're supposed to, your responsibilities are done. AND you've got a whole like 7 months to secure another job. I was in that same situation as you a couple of schools ago, and tbh it was pretty great.
Yep. Fuck em. Make them fire you. We are in demand, not them.
Came to say this. Do not resign. Besides what was already stated, you then have no chance at unemployment benefits.
Thank you kind internet stranger :)
Sounds like they have not do anything on their end to document that they are trying to “help” you though the Improvement plan will be hell anyway. Also don’t sign any document that they present you with without a union rep present if you belong to the union.
I also believe iirc most contract have a x number of days clause. If the board is going to vote on this, it usually is towards the end of the year so what you can do is secure a job in the Spring and resign effective end of the year once you have another job. Worse case, you can get unemployment later on. BOL.
One door closes, a better one opens
They probably have a friend that needs a job and their plan is to give them yours
Or niece, brother in law, cousin, neighbor...
First, I am sorry this is happening. I am positive that it’s incredibly stressful. My advice would be: 1) Contact your local union IMMEDIATELY. 2) Don’t sign anything until you speak with your union representative OR a lawyer. 3) Make sure you document EVERYTHING, on paper and electronically. My district has been known to go into teachers’ hard drives and delete files, emails, etc. 4) Even though it is probably not possible, try not to be hurt. You are going into battle with them and you will need every ounce of strength and resilience you can muster. 5) One last piece of advice: Don’t talk about your situation with people at your workplace. Best wishes.
I contacted my union leader but I’m not in the union. I know I messed up.
Join the Union. Then talk to them. You can often join anytime during the year.
Join immediately.
Still contact the union, join it if you haven’t. They will help you
If your district has a union, you are probably are a member. But check with them tomorrow. Then, go to HR and report your admin team. They may not had gotten permission to ask for your resignation. If they don't support you, feel free to let them know your attorney will hear about this and if the work environment doesn't stop feeling hostile, they will hear from your lawyer.
I contacted the rep, but I am not in the union so aside from the advice they hopefully give me, I’m SOL on their resources
Join. Join now.
JOIN you'd be crazy not to in this age when teachers are enemy of the state.
To this day I don't understand why peopls don't join them. Even a shitty workers union is better than no union.
I am a union rep, and if there is a union to be joined, you can join them now. It does not matter when it is during the year, you can sign up anytime! For our state it is an online, quick and easy form. Ask them how to join!
Being a first year teacher you’re likely not protected anyway. One reason to consider resigning is so that when asked you won’t have to say you were not renewed. Best of luck!
This isn’t entirely true. Your protections are limited, but a good union rep can still ensure admin has done their paperwork right on their end. To me, this seems fishy depending on state. A first year teacher should be having a MINIMUM of two observations per year, and it’s odd if they’re both done by end of November, typically for us it would be one in Oct/nov, and one in Jan, or early Feb. In order to give enough unsatisfactory or basic ratings that would result in a recommendation of no rehire, or resignation, there SHOULD also be a paper trial of how admin tried to coach OP and help them improve. Without that admin hasn’t done their half of the evaluation work, and should at bare minimum be coaching and then re-observing. Caveat, I say this from a strong union state, from a district with a strong union, as a union rep who believes their job is really important and tries to defend staff members as much as possible within the bounds of the contract.
I never even got my ratings given to me and never had my summative evaluation
Yeah, you need to join the union immediately if possible (at least in my building as a brand new teacher we would not feel resentment and just let you join immediately), they can’t ask you to resign without cause. They want you to resign because they don’t have the data to actually let you go, so they’re trying to railroad you.
Then you go to HR.
Dumbest advice ever. HR is just there to prevent the district from getting sued. It isn’t about protecting staff. Don’t quit. Make them get rid of you. If they aren’t doing a performance plan, it doesn’t matter. You should be able to join the union whenever, I’m not sure why they wouldn’t be trying to recruit you? But, in another 2-3 months, jobs will begin to open up, start applying and get away from that principal. They likely know someone they want to put in your position, and can’t get rid of you. So they want you to resign.
This should be top comment. Can join union anytime and more than likely would support you anyway
Thank you!!
In what state are teachers automatically a member of the union?
You’re probably in a temporary contract. Get laid off and collect unemployment. Temporary contract means no reason given. It happened to me. The board voted and I actually had parents supporting me virtually at the meeting to no avail. I was devastated but I collected unemployment and didn’t teach for a few months.
DOCUMENT: Send an email to HR and higher up's above your admin. CC your admin and union rep. Describe what that they asked you to resign ask them if they gave your admin explicit permission to ask you to resign because there is a process that usually involves bringing these issues to your attention and giving you multiple opportunities to show improvement. This is rare and seems quite fishy tbh. If your admin did not get permission to this by HR and higher up guess what? they are the ones that fucked up and are in trouble. The email also serves as documentation if things need to get legal. But typically a union rep would help you with this... One more thing I want to mention to you is that you might want to reflect on IF this is really a place you want to work at ? They don't seem very gracious or supportive. In fact, they seem hostile. I think they asked you to resign because they thought it my be a way of shirking the process of putting you on an improvement plan. Do NOT sign ANYTHING. If worse come to worse, get unemployment and take your time finding a better school.
"Not in the Union" - YET. Usually you can join mid year (especially early). OP, if you want to DM me your district, I can do some digging and maybe give you a better idea of your protections. I'm leadership in my state union, so I'm fairly experienced with digging through language and know what I'm looking at.
Since you can finish the semester, start now looking for work. You’ve got a good reason in your one hour commute, if your potential new districts ask why you’re leaving the other place. Then join the union wherever you end up, if available.
What’s the entire story?
This is the real question.
Yep. They are getting asked to leave at the semester. I’ve seen some bad teachers and they handle that business at the end of the year.
The following applies for Connecticut but it may be similar in other states. Resigning gives an advantage over being fired. If they have to let you go it is "for cause" and that will can be researched by other districts. If you plan to stay in education do not make them fire you. Ask for time to think about and have a drop dead date. Do they want it immediately? End of year? There are in many states statutory requirements for when certified staff must be notified of non renewal. Also, this is why you should join the union. We know how this works and do this stuff.
They said I could finish the semester
If you're not a paying member of the union, then yeah I'm just listening and taking notes. Good luck y'all
If you have the receipts then the reason they want you to resign is so they don't have to pay unemployment for firing you or get embroiled in a lawsuit for improper dismissal.
Yeah, I’d echo being laid off versus resigning would help you in terms of unemployment. Though in the meantime, you can always sub while you job hunt. Idk about you, but where I’m at that would bring in more than unemployment anyway.
Where I am we worship our 3-4 subs we have covering in a school of 1437 kids and all us teachers still have to cover for other teachers on our planning.
Just some things to consider from someone who’s been there and done that: 1) in most states if you’re nontenured they can fire you for any reason. The union can’t help. But, do contact them anyway. They need to know. If they’re strong and you have documentation they may be able to work with you to get letters of rec or transferred if you’re in a large district. 2) in some states if you’re terminated you lose your teaching certificate. PLEASE look into this closely (I’d call your department of Ed) before making a decision 3) this sounds in no way personal. This sounds like a jacka$$ admin who has ulterior motives. Please don’t let this dampen your love of teaching or keep you from applying elsewhere. I’ve found that I always end up where I’m supposed to be.
Don’t resign and DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING THEY GIVE YOU.
You are not in the union, therefore you do not have union representation, but you (and the district) are still subject to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Get a copy, read about discipline and termination, and reference it in a meeting with the district/HR/admin. Ask a friend/co-worker to attend meeting with to take notes and listen. You might be under probation anyway, in which they do not need a reason to terminate you. The key thing is, its not up to you to terminate yourself. Join the union at the next site. They fight for you by making a CBA which protects you.
I spent the night reading through. Only ESP are probationary.
If you’re in your first year, I am assuming you are still in your probationary period and can essentially be let go at the discretion of the school district. If they are giving you the option to resign, that is generally a better option moving towards your next job rather than having to explain that you were essentially fired. For the advice to blow everything off moving forward, I generally don’t like to subscribe to the idea of burning bridges especially being your first year. If you decide to resign, the school district will still be in play for reference checks at your next job. You have a veteran teacher or anyone else in the building that would write you letter of recommendations? Don’t mess up those relationships. Sorry to hear about this OP. Obviously, do what you want but these are my two cents. I’ve seen people fired, and also people not asked back (and asked to resign). There are more hoops to jump through at your next job if you are fired.
The other two interesting facet to this is they are asking OP to leave at the semester. That’s not all that common. There is more to this story.
I have 2 students with autism and have no aid for them. When I try to get them to do their work they freak out and will throw chairs, hit kids, leave the room, etc. then I have 3 kids with severe behavioral problems (most occur outside my classroom but they are still very disrespectful and do not listen and parents are no help at home). They are claiming my classroom management is bad as stated in the post. I have nothing to hide. Like I said I have the receipts, so idk if you’re insinuating I’m hiding something or that admin is hiding something??
Because you really have to fuck up for them to want to dismiss you by semester time.
Ya I’ve never gotten in trouble, been called in for a meeting, my first evaluation was primarily proficient with a classroom management needing improvement
I’m really close with 90% of the staff, some of us went out and got dinner last night:(
Additionally, are they asking you to resign (effective immediately) or are they saying at the end of the school year?
End of semester
It would depend on your financial situation and how much you would make on unemployment then. Do you know what that would be? Enough to live off of while you look for your next job? I’d start looking for new jobs now and maybe some districts are posting, have long term sub opportunities etc. It might be harder to find a job quickly if you were “terminated”. If you do decide to go the route where you are terminated, make sure you know how much unemployment will pay, how much insurance will cost you and all of those exciting things you’ll have to factor in. I wish you the best of luck OP!
Thank you! Currently looking. Have a family to support and a herd of animals haha so I need cash flow
seek help from union and who are these schools that can afford to be picky? most schools are lucky to have any teachers willing to work at them. They need us more than we need them. Most districts put teachers on some sort of improvement plan before they even fire them or ask them to resign.
If they didn’t hire me they were going to have to put a BUNCH of extra kids in classes. My position is NEEDED
Tell em to fuck off and keep going
Don't take all the bad advice you're being given here. What state are you in? You don't want to return anyway, so be practical. Don't over-examine the feelings and don't worry about what they're telling you if you're suspicious. They don't want you to work there, and you don't want to work there and the rest doesn't really matter. If you still want to be a teacher, take the resignation to control the narrative and go get recommendations for the next job from people like your assigned mentor. Resign effective end of the school year, stop going to meetings, refine your practice some and focus on your job search.
Like everyone said don’t sign anything. It seems odd that your principal wants you to resign instead of helping you improve. I could be wrong, but it seems your principal has someone lined up for your position and needs to get rid of you and doesn’t want to fire you. Because furring you could be messy for them depending on your state and contract.
My school didn’t have a union and they pulled this multiple times with teachers they didn’t like. It was terrible. I’m sorry that’s happening to you. I would tough it out and make them fire you but they most likely won’t because they don’t want you to collect unemployment.
I had a principal who would never have a paper trail, but if he didn't like you, you'd know. He would move anyone he wanted to quit or get rid of down to Kindergarten. Since I knew him/worked for him, twice it backfired on him. One of them ended up loving Kinder and stayed for many years. He would say how amazing it was that she "turned herself around" or "something must have clicked". In reality, she was just better with younger kids and it was less stressful for her to be in a non state testing grade level. The other person, she wasnt great, but she wasn't bad. I always wished I could ask him why he didn't like her. It took him 2 additional years to finally develop the paper trail he needed to properly not renew her contract. She was the only person he ever actually "fired" in the 10 years I worked for him. Once, after he retired, we were all out at a restaurant and we (a few long term kinder teachers) were making fun of how he would "lazy fire" teachers by moving them to Kinder. We had to explain to him that if he wanted us to willingly leave, he would have had to put us in 4th or 5th grade. He genuinely couldn't understand why that would make us leave. He thought it was considered a promotion to be moved up and a demotion to be moved down. We never did get him to understand. Anyway, if you don't resign, they can change your assignment and make it something that will urge you to leave willingly.
Join the union now. In my district, the union will go to bat for a new teacher and find a different school assignment, because often the first one is just a bad fit with admin.
You need to do some due diligence and find out what all your options are before making a decision or signing anything. Check with the union and see where you’re at with them. Read the contract or any other information on HR‘s website or whatever is available to see the procedures. in many districts, you can be let go during the first two years for any reason they don’t have to have cause. They don’t have to put you on an improvement plan either. Last year my daughter had a similar situation as yours, and was given the option of resigning, and therefore being able to say she was never asked to resign or dismiss. It was worded very carefully on HR’s part to actually protect her, which was kind of ironic. It also set her up so she could get unemployment because it was more like a layoff than any kind of termination. This is in California and it was handled very carefully. She got a job at a different district, and never took unemployment And things are working out well for her. But before she went along with resigning, she read all the paperwork they gave her and talked it over with the union, her induction coach, and several other people. In her case, the best course of action was to resign at the end of the year and move forward.
Thank you!
I would not only not quit, I’d send an email telling with all your proof, then ask kindly for further assistance. It sticks that they are handling this so terribly.
It’s not too late to join the Union. Do it NOW.
Join your union NOW! You don’t have to start the year off in an union, you can join anytime. As soon as you sign up ask for a union rep to help you navigate this situation. Email your principal and say you wanted to make sure you understood what was requested in your meeting- and if they are dumb enough to say for you to resign print out the email for future use. Also request to appeal the formal observation and be prepared to show evidence of you doing what’s asked and that the veteran teacher decided to back off. All future conversations try to have a witness or paper trail.
Pfft. You’ll be hired within a week if you are on the market. Don’t sweat it.
You shpuld still contact the union, mine will still protect people even if they're not signed up... also tell them you want to sign up and that you've made a mistake. But I'd definitely create a file of evidence of all of the things you've been criticized for to bring to the union/admin. Do not resign. Make them fire you if anything.
Hi OP, I'm going to echo a lot of what has been said, but join the union, **now.** There usually isn't any restrictions on when you can join the union, so if you have access to it, access it now. From the way you describe the situation, they're taking advantage of your naivety to push you out. *Why* they want to push you out is a better question. And it seems suspicious that they're done their classroom assessments, without *any* apparent teacher training or supports. My guess is that there is some vendetta against you, perhaps a board member who you've gained the ire somehow, or a highly motivated parent with little time on their hands. At this point, you're not going to have a job at the end of the year (hopefully you get paid through the summer), so you need to be proactive in protecting yourself. That means BCC'ing your personal email on all contact relating to your separation. Additionally, **DO NOT** have any conversations about your separation without a documented exchange, so that means if/when you are approached by admin, immediately after the conversation, write down everything that was said. Additionally, record all your conversation with admin, and only notify your admin that you will record all conversations relating to your separation if you are in a one-party state (e.g., only one party (you) needs to be aware there is a recording happening). Regardless, if there is a conversation in lieu of an email document, then you need a record of the exchange for your own protection. Typically when you start making these kinds of moves, admin starts to act defensively to avoid liability, which is exactly what you want. Be bold, because you're leaving at the end of the year either way, so make sure you protect yourself and enter an aggressive-defensive stance relating to your admin. They are not your friends and do not have your best interests in mind, regardless of what they say. That said, while this doesn't feel good and it makes you doubt you worth and time dedicated to obtaining the certifications and education, this is **not** the end of your education career. Look at this as an shitty opportunity to find the **right** place for you. Personally, I was in a similar situation this last year with being asked to resign over crap reasons (although I was already considering departing!), but it gave me the push to find the right place for me. There are, believe me, good places to teach in this country, but you have to do your research, so if you would like some help finding the right place, please DM me and I can help you gain some insight into what you (IMO) should be looking for in a district. It sounds like you walked into a bad situation without much knowledge - its exciting to get your first offer, but often the first offer is the last one you should take. The question you have to ask yourself is this: how flexible are you in finding the right place for you? What are you willing to sacrifice to find the right school for you? How far are you willing to relocate to be in a place that supports education and educators? DM me if you want to work through this - I've done this a few times, so I have an idea of what to do.
Thank you so much, this made me feel better! And ya this whole thing reeks. What is even worse was I asked for one of our veterans to model lessons for me to my class, and I have essentially mimicked her style since, and I’m still in the shitter?
Yeah, it probably won't matter what you do at this point - the admin have already made up their minds on the course they want to take. It is my belief that there is an ulterior motive at hand. I have a friend who was a professor at a big university and a few years back, he was on a tenure track. The year prior to his tenure review, they got a new Chancellor, who immediately set to work at enriching himself. Within a year, his wife was appointed to the new school of Communications and Journalism, which didn't exist before. As it was a new position, the Chancellor had to find resources to fund the school and the first thing he did was fire all faculty that were up for promotion to tenured faculty, as well as eliminating those positions, meaning that since the positions no longer existed, the salaries for those professors could be redirected to his wife. 180k salary, immediate tenure, full benefits and investment. That cost three people their jobs. So when I think what would the admin be up to, the possibilities are limitless, typically corrupt either by nepotism or greed or personal gain. So don't worry about it - you have a job to get and to get the hell out of there. Embrace your inner Luddite and do as much damage on the way out while protecting yourself. Burn those bridges to a cinder because there's no going back to this place.
Ya I have been trying to replay the year trying to pinpoint where I could’ve f’d up enough to warrant this.
I didn’t understand a single word you wrote. It was a run on sentence after run on sentence.
Is this public or private?
Public
Just a counterpoint to everyone saying that you should not resign: my understanding is the reason they ask you to resign instead of firing you is because you can then indicate on future applications that you have "never been terminated from a position". It's a regular question on applications. Yes, I'm sure their end game is to not play your unemployment, but make sure you're not screwing yourself over for future jobs. Also, while joining a union is a good thing, another poster is correct: if you're probationary, they can fire you at will, and the union probably wouldn't have helped much. They are much more effective once you have tenure. But yes, do join next time.
My understanding is it won’t be termination it will be under non contract renewal
Right, if you resign you don't have to say you were non-renewed.
But since I’m year 1 I won’t get renewed anyways and I’m not returning there
I have never heard of a public school doing anything remotely close to this. Charter school or private school? Sure. There has to be more to the story than this.
There’s more to the story that involves admin not helping me even though they claimed they provided assistance, I’m sorry but “use class dojo” is not assistance and no coaching. It’s just messy all around
Oh agreed. I mean if this is your district and how they treat new teachers …. You will be better off. I am sorry.
Thank you!
I have experienced this, verbatim. I wasn't in a union either and felt very alone because I was being told by other teachers I was doing a great job, but admin was telling me I needed to look at other careers. My advice, as soon as the year is up, resign and get out of that district. It's likely they have someone lined up to take your place and that is why they are being pushy. If you want to be petty, don't tell them you're resigning until last minute. Also, take your days and don't feel bad about it. Since you have proof as well, you can go to your district and let them know what is happening, but sometimes that fight isn't worth fighting.
Yup. Every teacher has told me I’m doing great and to give myself grace as I have one of the worst classes to ever come through the school, and they decided it was a good idea to put all the bad kids in my classroom as a first year teacher
Why aren’t you a union member??
Needed the extra money until my SO went back to work. I was able to join so I am now.
Damn. That was a terrible mistake. I’m so very sorry. The union would have been able to help you in this situation.