When Teachers Talk

By Rosalyn S. Schnall

From the back of the book:

“Under the protection of anonymity, hundreds of teachers talk. This book delivers a powerful message to parents and anyone who wonders why so many students are struggling and public education is failing.”

The subtitle for “When Teachers Talk” is “Principal abuse of teachers.” In order to write this book, the author surveyed 500 teachers.

In this book, those teachers discuss how they tried to instigate programs to help their students but received no support from administration. They even sometimes ended up on a list of “to be watched.”

They discuss how principals play favorites and a teacher who isn’t one of them must take a back seat.

As a parent, I put my own children through public schools. I dealt with one principal who refused to listen to issues my son was having with a bully until I threatened to talk to an attorney.

As a journalist, I’ve dealt with many teachers and principals over the years. I watched one in particular become a power monger when she moved into a position of authority and many teachers either quit or transferred to another school. Fortunately, someone finally listened and she was given another position. The district brought in a different principal and the school took on a much better atmosphere.

But, on the other hand, there are some excellent principals out there and we all need to remember that. Not all school systems are failing our kids.

What is fortunate here where I live is the school board cares about the kids and works for them and them only – not for the teachers, not for the principals, not for the parents. The students’ needs is the important issue.