Students v. pocketbooks

Had a good week at work this week!!  Even though my feet are killing me and I came home feeling like my ears were going to explode it was good.  I have definitely come to realize and embrace that my students are not the cause of my stress it is the district and their ridiculous mandates.

They ask why have your scores gone down so much in the past two years?  Because that first year I was allowed to teach.  I could teach what I wanted, when I wanted and how I wanted to teach it.  Now I have to stay on schedule or be threatened because of low test scores.  I was talking to a new teacher, like fresh out of college teacher, today and I realized that I am now faced with a new dilemma.

Now that I can say absolutely positively that it is the district officials who are idiots not my students, I am tempted to stay with them.  I know that if our school does implement grade looping (where I would teach these same students through 8 grade) They would leave middle school proficient in Math!!  I know with out a doubt we could accomplish that.  So my dilemma is do I do what is right and stay and teach these students who need me or do I do what will be easier for me and go to a district with sane individuals as leaders??!!??!!  I feel that so many of my students have been left behind and that I can catch them up and adequately prepare them for the next level but staying may make me insane also.  I have already began slacking when it comes to completing necessary district mandated paperwork because it just seems so pointless.

Here is why I call the officials idiots, I just recently found out that our superintendent has never been a teacher or principal, he was a businessman who decided he wanted to run a school district.  That's stupid for the board to elect him, not only that but at the election the candidates were asked how long do you intend to stay here in Memphis, his reply 3-4 years, the opponent answered 9-10 years.  What retards are we electing to sit on this board?

I wish I had more power or was more outspoken to get other teachers out here to protest this stupidity!!  We all agree and get upset and debate it at the lunch table but no one actually takes action.  We became teachers to help students but in this district they are not helping students they are simply trying to line their own pocketbooks.  :(