I Blame NCLB
Texas middle school principal John Burks is accused of threatening to kill his eighth-grade science teachers if student test scores didn't improve.
"He said if the TAKS scores were not as expected he would kill the teachers," said teacher Anita White. "He said 'I will kill you all and kill myself.' He finished the meeting that way and we were in shock. Obviously, we talked about it among ourselves. He just threatened our lives. After he threatened to kill us, he said, 'You don't know how ruthless I can be.'"
If true, Mr. Burks is unhinged and shouldn't be in charge of any school. But the Texas State Teachers Association gets to the root cause.
"It sounds like a case of TAKS tyranny taken to the extreme," claimed TSTA spokesman Joe Bean, who said teachers and administrators are often punished for disappointing test performance. "Once a principal gets a reputation as not able to get the scores that are required, that principal is virtually unemployable," he said.
Well, whatever you do, don't send him to Las Vegas.
"He said if the TAKS scores were not as expected he would kill the teachers," said teacher Anita White. "He said 'I will kill you all and kill myself.' He finished the meeting that way and we were in shock. Obviously, we talked about it among ourselves. He just threatened our lives. After he threatened to kill us, he said, 'You don't know how ruthless I can be.'"
If true, Mr. Burks is unhinged and shouldn't be in charge of any school. But the Texas State Teachers Association gets to the root cause.
"It sounds like a case of TAKS tyranny taken to the extreme," claimed TSTA spokesman Joe Bean, who said teachers and administrators are often punished for disappointing test performance. "Once a principal gets a reputation as not able to get the scores that are required, that principal is virtually unemployable," he said.
Well, whatever you do, don't send him to Las Vegas.
This story also made http://detentionslip.org! It's one of the leading sources for crazy news in public education.
Posted by
Hall_Monitor |
March 28, 2008 1:25 PM
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