Finally, Catholic School Teachers Fight Back!!!!
The story has been getting sparse publicity, but it has been covered by some major news stations. Apparently, the Catholic school teachers are threatening to strike… and it’s about frigging time.
See, I have a confession to make; I worked as a Catholic school teacher. I was employed by the diocese for about a month before I quit; but it left enough of a significant impact to make me write this post.
Working as a Catholic school teacher not only caused me to stop going to church-I wouldn’t even step into a classroom for two years. Let me tell you why.
When I was getting ready to graduate from college, we were required to attend a job seminar. Hundreds of perspective teachers gathered in a small conference room at our university.
The “employment expert” stood at the front of the room, notes in hand. We waited for her to speak.
“Well,” she began. “I have some good news and some bad news.”
(That’s never a good sign, is it?)
“The bad news is that you are living in the worst possible place to get a teaching job.”
I remember thinking to myself, “You’re telling me this now?”
“The Northeast has been hit very hard by the recession.” (It was the late 1980’s) She continued, “Teachers here cannot afford to retire. Jobs in the public schools will be very hard to find.”
We all became very quiet.
“The good news is…”
We waited breathlessly.
“Teachers are in huge demand in places like Nevada and Arizona.”
I sat back in my seat, alarmed. Nevada? Arizona? I didn’t want to go to those places. (Remember, I was very young. )
She continued to talk about ways that we could apply for jobs in other regions of the country. I didn’t listen. I was going to get a job in New York! I was talented! I had good grades! I had made the Dean’s List! I had an academic scholarship!
Oh, please. I was naive.
She continued to describe what we could do if we were still determined to find a job in the New York area. Substitute in a school district that you were interested in. Call principals and introduce yourself. Use any connections that you had…
I sent thousands of resumes and made hundreds of phone calls to school districts. I remember getting the little postcards in the mail that would say something like, “Thank you for your interest in the Such and Such School District.” I didn’t get any interviews though.
Most of my friends with whom I graduated were starting to give up; they took jobs in other fields; but I didn’t want another job. I wanted to teach. A couple of my friends had taken jobs in New York City. They kept urging me to drive to 65 Court Street and fill out the application. I didn’t want to go to “the city” though. I had taken a part time job in a test-preparation company. The owners were former New York City Teachers. They had warned me; “Whatever you do, don’t work in New York City. The salaries stink and they treat the teachers like dirt.” I really respected them and took their advice to heart.
The truth is, that I didn’t really have any connections in the education field. I was the first in my circle to enter this profession. I wracked my brains to think of any connections that I might have; and then I thought of it. The Church! I have connections in the church. My family was very involved in the local parish and I started asking around. I was able to arrange an interview for a position in a small Catholic school. I was thrilled.
The principal was conducting interviews out of his home. I should have realized that this was strange, but I was so excited to finally get a chance. He was an odd little man with a nervous twitch. He apparently held some kind of an important position within the diocese in addition to being the principal. I left with a really bad feeling, but also, with a job. I was going to be making 12,500 dollars a year. This was a pretty pitiful salary even twenty years ago, but hey, it was a salary. I waited nervously for the school year to start.
I was pretty anxious on my first day. The principal was conducting a meeting and explaining the way that things worked in the school. He began with the following statement:
“I don’t want to hear anyone complain about the salaries here. Teaching in a Catholic School is not a job-it is a vocation.”
As young as I was, I was bothered by his remark. It sounded a little bit like something that the head of a cult would say to its members before sending them out to pander for money or something. I pictured myself shaving my head and banging a tambourine.
He continued to explain our schedules. We would each teach six different periods. In addition, we would each have a morning homeroom and an afternoon bus duty. We were also required to run at least one club after school. I didn’t know that much about teacher schedules, but it seemed like a bit much for twelve thousand dollars. Still, I was going to teach!!! Or so I thought.
Contrary to popular belief, the classes were not smaller in the school. My classes were filled to well over 30 students per class. I was a little overwhelmed to say the least. My department consisted of two other women who decided that the best way to break me in would be to completely ignore me-and they did just that. Any time I asked them a question, they would reply with, “Well, I guess you’re going to have to figure that out, aren’t you?” Very Christian of them wouldn’t you say?
The Principal’s method of supervision was really odd as well. He would walk into the classroom and announce, “Miss SoandSo. You’re shades are completely uneven. I want you to go into Mrs. Teacher’s room and see they way that hers are pulled down.” He was a lunatic.
He didn’t like the way that my classroom was set up either. I was trained to create a student centered environment. He hated it. I called in sick one day because I thought I was going to have a breakdown. When I came back the next day, he had rearranged everything; took down any posters and signs, rearranged the furniture, and even went into my desk to change things around. I knew it was only a matter of time before I left.
I could go on and on. The reality is that the he had created a miserable and neurotic atmosphere. We were required to submit every quiz or exam to him both before and after it had been administered. He would write notes on the tests; “Do not allow the students to use a nickname. His name is Nicholas, not Nick. Margins should be 1 and 1/4 inch on the left. Make sure your students have rulers.” The weird thing is that he never commented on curriculum or content. It was always about the format.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with teaching children to be disciplined. I’ve seen first hand what happens when students aren’t. It was just that I got the impression that he had no idea about anything other than clean desks and neat handwriting.
We had faculty meetings every week at which we discussed who was responsible for cleaning the teachers’ room and other important items. One week, however, he decided to discuss co-operative learning. I was excited-this was something I knew about. He wanted all teachers using this method. Great!
The next day, I set up a lesson in which my students would be working cooperatively. I had spent a lot of time on the preparation. The kids also seemed pretty excited. He walked into my room in the middle of an activity. He looked around, frowned and signaled for me to walk over. “Why are the students sitting in groups?” He was pretty angry.
“It’s a cooperative learning activity,” I began to explain.
He was disgusted. “Co-operative Learning does not mean that the students work in groups. Put them back into rows immediately.”
I turned in my resignation the next day.
I am not suggesting that all Catholic Schools are run in this way. I am sure that there are some great principals who know what they are doing. What frightened me was that this guy held a really important position within a very large diocese in New York. If you don’t know about the way that the Catholic Church is organized, a diocese is the main unit of local governance. You could compare it to a school district, but much, much larger. It’s almost like a region.
After I resigned, I called the New York State Teachers’ Union to report everything that had happened. They were sympathetic but explained that the teachers themselves would have to request that they be part of a union. If they didn’t complain, then there was nothing that they could do to help.
Truthfully, who was going to complain when they were told that they were involved in a vocation? Complaining about the job was akin to being a bad Catholic.
This was a long time ago, and I’m not sure how things work now. I know that some schools are part of a “Catholic School Teachers Union.” Good for them!
I refused to enter a classroom for about two years after that. Friends kept telling me not to give up. It wasn’t like that in other places. I just happened to find a lunatic, they would explain. It was a tough sell.
Eventually, I missed being in a classroom and tried again. I started working in New York City and loved every second of it. I still do. No matter how bizarre the DOE can be, nothing will compare to my first teaching experience.
The sad thing is, I wonder how many other young teachers that principal has driven out of the profession in the name of religious service?
What a disgrace.
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[...] against efforts at organizing for collective bargaining, especially among teachers ref. here, here, here and a very interesting legal perspective in Some Reflections on Labor and Employment Ramifications [...]