Recordings of all board meetings are available to the public here.
The first two videos show GCISD students discussing their experiences with racism and discrimination.
The first two videos show GCISD students discussing their experiences with racism and discrimination.
GCISD Teacher and Staff Testimony
An important message from Emily Ramser, the teacher featured in the Grapevine podcast:
As some of you know, I left what was supposed to be my dream job recently. I’d dreamed of working in GCISD’s ASPIRE program since I was 19, and I had planned to spend my professional life at that school and even retire from there. However, that became untenable this year after a parent took to the news and accused me of indoctrinating her child into being trans and then the community took to the internet calling for me to be fired, to be jailed, and to get monkeypox and die. They called me “filth” and a groomer. They posted my contact information in their Facebook groups and signed me up for porn lists. I had pamphlets saying I’d been marked by the devil shoved in my flower pots and started receiving hate mail in my mailbox.
All of the anger and lies directed towards me made me become half of the person I was. I isolated myself. I became a bad teacher, a bad friend, a bad partner, a bad child to my parents. Their actions made me begin to hate myself, made me become small and voiceless. I couldn’t speak without crying and either couldn’t sleep or slept too much. I didn’t know how to ask for help or even tell anyone what was happening as I was told at work that this was my fault and what I needed to expect as a public servant.
Over the past three years I experienced consistent harassment by the GCISD community in regards to my curriculum, my teaching, and my personhood—all because I did my job as an English teacher, which amounts to presenting students with texts from a variety of perspectives and encouraging students to read. At least that’s what I like to tell myself, but, really, the reason they did all this is because I’m queer, and even though I’ve always been careful to avoid telling students that, these parents saw me, thought I looked a little too gay, and got scared.
Before GCISD, I knew students made assumptions in regards to my sexuality based upon my hair, my clothes, my lack of make-up and so on. In particular, they always clocked my pants as being both quirky and queer, which used to bring me a lot of joy.
And frankly, I was okay with being seen as queer because I’d always believed and been taught that students deserved the chance to see themselves reflected in their teachers and the adults around them. I had a student in one of the first classes I ever worked with write me a letter at the end of the term in which she said, “until now, I never had a queer role model to look up to.” She told me she had never met an adult happy queer person before and she thought that meant that she would never be able to be happy, that she was destined to a life of sadness and an eventual lonely death, as that’s all she’d ever seen.
Even still, I was terrified to ever come out to students, in part cause I like some healthy distance from the kids and in part cause I was terrified of the repercussions of being openly out--I’d seen too many teachers threatened and too many teachers fired, too many. I’d been told my whole life to keep that private.
So, when I first got to GCISD, I pretended to be straight, but I still looked a little gay—at least according to others. I was told, in fact, that I didn’t look like a GCISD teacher: I didn’t have the hair, the outfits, the eyelashes, and, in particular, the nails—something that many women within the district either get them done at the same salons or start side businesses selling press-on nails to one another to supplement their inadequate teaching salaries. I couldn’t help it; I looked different than the rest of the teachers without meaning to or trying to.
When I was in graduate school, I had the opportunity to help work on a collection of papers written by Dr. Edra Bogle, one of the first three openly gay professors in the state of Texas. In that collection there was a letter that Dr. Bogle wrote to a local newspaper editor in 1977: “Last winter I was walking down the hall at work. No one was around. I realized I was feeling very relaxed because no one was watching, and I didn’t have to be careful how I walked or what I looked at. “How wonderful it would be,” I thought, “To feel this way all the time.” Can you imagine being guarded all the time, choosing your clothes for how well they will delude other people, and watching your conversation nearly every minute of your life?…I’m sick of feeling watched and judged every minute!”
The longer I worked in GCISD, the more watched I felt, and I changed as a result. I can see the change in my yearbook photos as my hair grew out, my clothes became more feminine, and my eyes got more tired. At some point, I stopped recognizing myself both in those photos and in the mirror.
When I was working on Dr. Bogle’s collection, I also found a collection of newspaper articles from the 70s that called for the firing of gay teachers by different superintendents in the DFW area. It read like a horror story, a witch-hunt for anyone who even looked a little bit gay. When I was working on the collection, I struggled to believe that that had happened because I couldn’t imagine people doing that today.
Yet, last summer, one of the GCISD school board trustees, Tammy Nakamura, attended a Republican school board forum at which she publicly said that she has a list of teachers who need to be removed from the classroom because they're "poison" to the district. Nakamura suggested the reason these teachers were “poison” was because they were “activists,” but in reality, it was just that they are different from her and the picture GCISD likes to paint of its teachers--the one of teachers who dress a certain way, wear their nails and hair a certain way, vote a certain way, and practice religion a certain way.
I had numerous conversations with colleagues, and administrators about how likely it was that I was on this list because I was different, because I looked a little gay, because I taught students to think critically, because I taught a variety of books, because I didn’t fit into their mold. It’s funny in some ways that the history I studied in grad school has become my own horrific reality.
When that article came out about me last year, someone left a comment on the newspaper’s website saying that one of the things they learned in my class was the value of considering and incorporating multiple different perspectives in their writing. They said you can’t have a successful argument without considering multiple different sides. In the same vein, we can’t have a good society without having multiple different kinds of people. Without differences, we become a hateful and stagnant echo chamber.
In graduate school, I also learned how the places we come from, the things we believe in, and the identities we claim influence how we engage with the world, our content, and our students. This laid the basis for my teaching philosophy, writing philosophy, and, funnily enough, my writing bios. I used to write that I was a “queer activist-teacher-scholar-poet” when publishing poetry because those were all parts of me that informed my writing. It was that bit of my bio that that article quoted as evidence that I was indoctrinating students.
The reason I listed “activist,” however, had little to do with my teaching (though I am a staunch advocate for my students’ right to an education). In fact, it had to do a lot more with my mom. She raised me to stand up for what I believe is right, even when it is terrifying to do so. She even took me to my first protest when I was in middle school because I had a firm belief in something and she wanted to help me share my voice.
Growing up during the fight around Prop 8 in California & Amendment 1 in North Carolina shaped who I was. I saw first hand how much people hated queer people. These people hated my mom, the woman who loved her dogs almost more than me and always took me for 7/11 slushies when it was too hot out or when I was having a bad day. They hated my mom because of the fact that she was a lesbian, something that was just a part of her. And, I couldn’t get behind people hating my mom or her friends just because of who they were.
I became an “activist” because I got scared that one day I would get a call saying my mom had been murdered by some guys who were scared of gay people. Of course, that fear of someone getting hurt or killed because they’re queer or trans has now grown to include myself, other family members, my friends, my colleagues, and even some of my students--anyone I know who is LGBTQIA+. If you attend enough Trans Day of Remembrance events, it’s hard for that fear to ever go away.
However, I kept that activism outside the classroom. After all, an activist, according to the dictionary, is “a person who campaigns to bring about political or social change,” and I wasn’t doing any campaigning in the classroom in GCISD. In fact, all I was doing was teaching and teaching my heart out at that.
During my time at GCISD, I did everything they wanted me to from getting students published in a book with the New York Times, to helping students get into Harvard, to getting high test scores (including a 90% 5 rate for one of my AP courses), to helping 40+ students win awards with the Scholastic Art and Writing program, to even winning a teaching award from the Church of the Latter Day Saints for being a student’s most influential educator.
All the while, the district continued to change and ban my curriculum and move the goalposts, making teaching ever more difficult. There were days students showed up that I didn’t even have an approved curriculum to teach from. On a book approval form, a parent left a note about me, saying that some teachers just shouldn’t be allowed to teach certain books, and then that book, House on Mango Street, disappeared from my class without the district giving any reason or acknowledgement as to why it was removed.
This May I won an award for being one of the top 12 best humanities teachers in the state of Texas, but this didn’t matter to the district, its parents, or even its students.
A lot of people have told me I brought all of this upon myself by choosing to be a teacher or choosing to be queer to choosing to exist at all. I was told this is what it means to be a public servant and that I couldn’t complain for as long as I was on.
So I quit.
And now I can finally speak out.
This is not me trying to defame the district or say that people shouldn’t work there (though I do fear for those queer and trans teachers who remain there). Rather this is simply an acknowledgement of what happened and what teachers across the country are facing.
I have a lot of people in my circles who either do not stay up to date with what’s going on in education (and other political things) or simply choose not to vote or get otherwise involved in their community. I get the desire to do both; it’s exhausting to keep up with what is going on in the world and voting often feels pointless. After all, I held a socratic seminar with my juniors last year and with an overwhelming majority, they said that voting doesn’t accomplish anything.
Yet, elections are ending up with smaller and smaller margins. One of the GCISD board members won only by 499 votes with a majority of those eligible to vote abstaining from doing so. And, to be frank, we cannot afford people to not try. When you don’t try to get involved, people like me suffer.
I had so many parents reach out when things were going on to vocalize their support in private, but who refused to acknowledge anything in public. I had other parents tell me they knew I was too much of a professional to ever acknowledge what had happened, something that felt more and more like a threat with each new event. Those parents remained safe and silent while I was threatened and forced into leaving my dream job before it killed me.
This past year, I have often been reminded of Elie Wiesel’s 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:
“And then I explained to him how naive we were, that the world did know and remain silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe.”
I do not think many of my students or their parents are overly familiar with the speech given how minimally the Holocaust is taught currently given that teachers have been told to teach “both sides” of the Holocaust. But his words still resonate with me as actions, even silence, have consequences.
I allowed myself to stay silent for far too long, and even when I ended up in the news, I was still too scared to acknowledge it. However, this community took away my ability to not have my name attached to any of this. They thrust me in the limelight as a part of their political maneuvering and took away my safety and my love of teaching. I’ll never be able to go back; my life is irrevocably changed.
Just before ending the letter I mentioned above, Dr. Bogle wrote that “It is not in the best interests of society in general, let alone of these young people to make them feel they must be less than their potential allows.”
I’ve always tried to help my students reach their potential, regardless of if they are gay or straight, Christian, Buddhist, or Agnostic, interested in STEM or interested in English, on their phone during class or attentive, annoying or kind. The removal of LGBTQIA+ teachers will only prevent students from reaching their potential as it’s not just going to drive queer and trans people out of education. Other people will and are leaving under the broader demonization of educators as radicals and groomers.
One of my students spoke at the recent board meeting to tell the board to “Be better, [and] do better.” Those words hold a striking similarity to ones I heard at the memorial service for Dr. Katie McWain, one of my graduate professors. A student said that Dr. McWain had taught her to “Be good and do good.”
I try to embody both mentalities as a way to honor the teacher I lost, the students who have come into my classroom for however short a time, and to be the kind of person my mom is proud of. I never wanted to teach students to be queer, be trans, be straight, be cisgender, be a Democrat, be a Republican or anything but how to read and how to write, and maybe the importance of being good, doing good, and always striving to do better— whatever that meant to them and their families.
When that article came out, I had a student send me an email saying that I taught him it was okay to ask for help and that it was his turn to tell me that it was okay to ask for help.
So this is me asking for help: your teacher friends can’t keep going on like this, your queer and trans friends can’t keep going on like this.
I’ve known too many people, teachers and LGBTQIA+ folk alike, who have left the education profession, who have fled the state, who have fled the country, who have died by suicide, who have died by violence--all due to the harassment and fear they’re experiencing for who they are.
We need people to stop being silent and start doing something.
As some of you know, I left what was supposed to be my dream job recently. I’d dreamed of working in GCISD’s ASPIRE program since I was 19, and I had planned to spend my professional life at that school and even retire from there. However, that became untenable this year after a parent took to the news and accused me of indoctrinating her child into being trans and then the community took to the internet calling for me to be fired, to be jailed, and to get monkeypox and die. They called me “filth” and a groomer. They posted my contact information in their Facebook groups and signed me up for porn lists. I had pamphlets saying I’d been marked by the devil shoved in my flower pots and started receiving hate mail in my mailbox.
All of the anger and lies directed towards me made me become half of the person I was. I isolated myself. I became a bad teacher, a bad friend, a bad partner, a bad child to my parents. Their actions made me begin to hate myself, made me become small and voiceless. I couldn’t speak without crying and either couldn’t sleep or slept too much. I didn’t know how to ask for help or even tell anyone what was happening as I was told at work that this was my fault and what I needed to expect as a public servant.
Over the past three years I experienced consistent harassment by the GCISD community in regards to my curriculum, my teaching, and my personhood—all because I did my job as an English teacher, which amounts to presenting students with texts from a variety of perspectives and encouraging students to read. At least that’s what I like to tell myself, but, really, the reason they did all this is because I’m queer, and even though I’ve always been careful to avoid telling students that, these parents saw me, thought I looked a little too gay, and got scared.
Before GCISD, I knew students made assumptions in regards to my sexuality based upon my hair, my clothes, my lack of make-up and so on. In particular, they always clocked my pants as being both quirky and queer, which used to bring me a lot of joy.
And frankly, I was okay with being seen as queer because I’d always believed and been taught that students deserved the chance to see themselves reflected in their teachers and the adults around them. I had a student in one of the first classes I ever worked with write me a letter at the end of the term in which she said, “until now, I never had a queer role model to look up to.” She told me she had never met an adult happy queer person before and she thought that meant that she would never be able to be happy, that she was destined to a life of sadness and an eventual lonely death, as that’s all she’d ever seen.
Even still, I was terrified to ever come out to students, in part cause I like some healthy distance from the kids and in part cause I was terrified of the repercussions of being openly out--I’d seen too many teachers threatened and too many teachers fired, too many. I’d been told my whole life to keep that private.
So, when I first got to GCISD, I pretended to be straight, but I still looked a little gay—at least according to others. I was told, in fact, that I didn’t look like a GCISD teacher: I didn’t have the hair, the outfits, the eyelashes, and, in particular, the nails—something that many women within the district either get them done at the same salons or start side businesses selling press-on nails to one another to supplement their inadequate teaching salaries. I couldn’t help it; I looked different than the rest of the teachers without meaning to or trying to.
When I was in graduate school, I had the opportunity to help work on a collection of papers written by Dr. Edra Bogle, one of the first three openly gay professors in the state of Texas. In that collection there was a letter that Dr. Bogle wrote to a local newspaper editor in 1977: “Last winter I was walking down the hall at work. No one was around. I realized I was feeling very relaxed because no one was watching, and I didn’t have to be careful how I walked or what I looked at. “How wonderful it would be,” I thought, “To feel this way all the time.” Can you imagine being guarded all the time, choosing your clothes for how well they will delude other people, and watching your conversation nearly every minute of your life?…I’m sick of feeling watched and judged every minute!”
The longer I worked in GCISD, the more watched I felt, and I changed as a result. I can see the change in my yearbook photos as my hair grew out, my clothes became more feminine, and my eyes got more tired. At some point, I stopped recognizing myself both in those photos and in the mirror.
When I was working on Dr. Bogle’s collection, I also found a collection of newspaper articles from the 70s that called for the firing of gay teachers by different superintendents in the DFW area. It read like a horror story, a witch-hunt for anyone who even looked a little bit gay. When I was working on the collection, I struggled to believe that that had happened because I couldn’t imagine people doing that today.
Yet, last summer, one of the GCISD school board trustees, Tammy Nakamura, attended a Republican school board forum at which she publicly said that she has a list of teachers who need to be removed from the classroom because they're "poison" to the district. Nakamura suggested the reason these teachers were “poison” was because they were “activists,” but in reality, it was just that they are different from her and the picture GCISD likes to paint of its teachers--the one of teachers who dress a certain way, wear their nails and hair a certain way, vote a certain way, and practice religion a certain way.
I had numerous conversations with colleagues, and administrators about how likely it was that I was on this list because I was different, because I looked a little gay, because I taught students to think critically, because I taught a variety of books, because I didn’t fit into their mold. It’s funny in some ways that the history I studied in grad school has become my own horrific reality.
When that article came out about me last year, someone left a comment on the newspaper’s website saying that one of the things they learned in my class was the value of considering and incorporating multiple different perspectives in their writing. They said you can’t have a successful argument without considering multiple different sides. In the same vein, we can’t have a good society without having multiple different kinds of people. Without differences, we become a hateful and stagnant echo chamber.
In graduate school, I also learned how the places we come from, the things we believe in, and the identities we claim influence how we engage with the world, our content, and our students. This laid the basis for my teaching philosophy, writing philosophy, and, funnily enough, my writing bios. I used to write that I was a “queer activist-teacher-scholar-poet” when publishing poetry because those were all parts of me that informed my writing. It was that bit of my bio that that article quoted as evidence that I was indoctrinating students.
The reason I listed “activist,” however, had little to do with my teaching (though I am a staunch advocate for my students’ right to an education). In fact, it had to do a lot more with my mom. She raised me to stand up for what I believe is right, even when it is terrifying to do so. She even took me to my first protest when I was in middle school because I had a firm belief in something and she wanted to help me share my voice.
Growing up during the fight around Prop 8 in California & Amendment 1 in North Carolina shaped who I was. I saw first hand how much people hated queer people. These people hated my mom, the woman who loved her dogs almost more than me and always took me for 7/11 slushies when it was too hot out or when I was having a bad day. They hated my mom because of the fact that she was a lesbian, something that was just a part of her. And, I couldn’t get behind people hating my mom or her friends just because of who they were.
I became an “activist” because I got scared that one day I would get a call saying my mom had been murdered by some guys who were scared of gay people. Of course, that fear of someone getting hurt or killed because they’re queer or trans has now grown to include myself, other family members, my friends, my colleagues, and even some of my students--anyone I know who is LGBTQIA+. If you attend enough Trans Day of Remembrance events, it’s hard for that fear to ever go away.
However, I kept that activism outside the classroom. After all, an activist, according to the dictionary, is “a person who campaigns to bring about political or social change,” and I wasn’t doing any campaigning in the classroom in GCISD. In fact, all I was doing was teaching and teaching my heart out at that.
During my time at GCISD, I did everything they wanted me to from getting students published in a book with the New York Times, to helping students get into Harvard, to getting high test scores (including a 90% 5 rate for one of my AP courses), to helping 40+ students win awards with the Scholastic Art and Writing program, to even winning a teaching award from the Church of the Latter Day Saints for being a student’s most influential educator.
All the while, the district continued to change and ban my curriculum and move the goalposts, making teaching ever more difficult. There were days students showed up that I didn’t even have an approved curriculum to teach from. On a book approval form, a parent left a note about me, saying that some teachers just shouldn’t be allowed to teach certain books, and then that book, House on Mango Street, disappeared from my class without the district giving any reason or acknowledgement as to why it was removed.
This May I won an award for being one of the top 12 best humanities teachers in the state of Texas, but this didn’t matter to the district, its parents, or even its students.
A lot of people have told me I brought all of this upon myself by choosing to be a teacher or choosing to be queer to choosing to exist at all. I was told this is what it means to be a public servant and that I couldn’t complain for as long as I was on.
So I quit.
And now I can finally speak out.
This is not me trying to defame the district or say that people shouldn’t work there (though I do fear for those queer and trans teachers who remain there). Rather this is simply an acknowledgement of what happened and what teachers across the country are facing.
I have a lot of people in my circles who either do not stay up to date with what’s going on in education (and other political things) or simply choose not to vote or get otherwise involved in their community. I get the desire to do both; it’s exhausting to keep up with what is going on in the world and voting often feels pointless. After all, I held a socratic seminar with my juniors last year and with an overwhelming majority, they said that voting doesn’t accomplish anything.
Yet, elections are ending up with smaller and smaller margins. One of the GCISD board members won only by 499 votes with a majority of those eligible to vote abstaining from doing so. And, to be frank, we cannot afford people to not try. When you don’t try to get involved, people like me suffer.
I had so many parents reach out when things were going on to vocalize their support in private, but who refused to acknowledge anything in public. I had other parents tell me they knew I was too much of a professional to ever acknowledge what had happened, something that felt more and more like a threat with each new event. Those parents remained safe and silent while I was threatened and forced into leaving my dream job before it killed me.
This past year, I have often been reminded of Elie Wiesel’s 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:
“And then I explained to him how naive we were, that the world did know and remain silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe.”
I do not think many of my students or their parents are overly familiar with the speech given how minimally the Holocaust is taught currently given that teachers have been told to teach “both sides” of the Holocaust. But his words still resonate with me as actions, even silence, have consequences.
I allowed myself to stay silent for far too long, and even when I ended up in the news, I was still too scared to acknowledge it. However, this community took away my ability to not have my name attached to any of this. They thrust me in the limelight as a part of their political maneuvering and took away my safety and my love of teaching. I’ll never be able to go back; my life is irrevocably changed.
Just before ending the letter I mentioned above, Dr. Bogle wrote that “It is not in the best interests of society in general, let alone of these young people to make them feel they must be less than their potential allows.”
I’ve always tried to help my students reach their potential, regardless of if they are gay or straight, Christian, Buddhist, or Agnostic, interested in STEM or interested in English, on their phone during class or attentive, annoying or kind. The removal of LGBTQIA+ teachers will only prevent students from reaching their potential as it’s not just going to drive queer and trans people out of education. Other people will and are leaving under the broader demonization of educators as radicals and groomers.
One of my students spoke at the recent board meeting to tell the board to “Be better, [and] do better.” Those words hold a striking similarity to ones I heard at the memorial service for Dr. Katie McWain, one of my graduate professors. A student said that Dr. McWain had taught her to “Be good and do good.”
I try to embody both mentalities as a way to honor the teacher I lost, the students who have come into my classroom for however short a time, and to be the kind of person my mom is proud of. I never wanted to teach students to be queer, be trans, be straight, be cisgender, be a Democrat, be a Republican or anything but how to read and how to write, and maybe the importance of being good, doing good, and always striving to do better— whatever that meant to them and their families.
When that article came out, I had a student send me an email saying that I taught him it was okay to ask for help and that it was his turn to tell me that it was okay to ask for help.
So this is me asking for help: your teacher friends can’t keep going on like this, your queer and trans friends can’t keep going on like this.
I’ve known too many people, teachers and LGBTQIA+ folk alike, who have left the education profession, who have fled the state, who have fled the country, who have died by suicide, who have died by violence--all due to the harassment and fear they’re experiencing for who they are.
We need people to stop being silent and start doing something.
Posted at end of 2023:
Sorry in advance for the length of this post, but please know, I’m using my TEACHER voice!
Last school year, we were told, due to budgetary constraints, our high schools would be moving away from block and to an 8 period day. Staff would be reduced and teachers would be required to teach 7 sections of classes versus 6 sections, with a 45 minute planning period every day versus a 90 minute planning period every day. Picking up an extra class period of kids pretty much ensures every teacher will have a minimum of 2-3 different classes to teach, 25-30 extra rostered kids and less time to plan and prep per day.
As predicted, we lost a considerable amount of teachers on both campuses. People moved closer to home, those that could retire did, people found other opportunities at other districts, if you aren’t personally vested (live in district, have kids in district, grew up in district, long-time employee) why would you stay? I think many members of our community forget that very few of our teachers can actually afford to live in the district. Most of our teachers commute from surrounding areas, NRH, Keller, Roanoke, etc and have a 30-45 minute commute that involves passing plenty of other schools at which they can work, on their way to GCISD.
I think many that stayed were hopeful they could weather the storm of this year and that a better solution would be found going into the 24-25 school year. On Wednesday an email was sent to our high school staff letting us know there would be no changes and that teachers will be working under the same bell schedule for the 24-25 school year with the same 7 section expectation. Disappointing for sure, given we’ve had so much time to look for and consider solutions. Teachers were given surveys to take, asking about scheduling preference, given bell schedule drafts to consider, just to find out it was all for naught, but instead we were invited to participate in a committee for 25-26 considerations.
I decided to take a look at what's going on at other adjacent districts to see if we are the only ones solving our budgeting problem by squeezing our high school teachers, knowing these are the very same districts many of our teachers drive THROUGH to get to their jobs at GCISD schools. Here’s what I found when I did some googling, teacher websites are no longer public facing so I did my best to verify what I could as I worked through figuring all this out:
ISDs that pay thousands more per year (note- teachers with masters in GCISD is an extra 1,000/year on top of annual salary):
Taking a step back, I predict another mass exodus of staff at our two high schools. We currently have a teacher shortage, our teachers have options, we can’t take that for granted. Our high school teachers are tired, especially at CHHS (our kids are also tired, everyday is like you’re sprinting a marathon). Teachers are trying to balance their teaching jobs and sometimes second jobs), their families and other obligations all while being asked to work harder with less time. Not to mention the extra responsibilities many teachers take on by sponsoring clubs and organizations, I haven’t even mentioned our coaches and what they are being tasked with.
If you’ve been in the community for a while and have high school students, please take a moment to ask them how many of their favorite teachers from last year are still on campus this year. Ask them how their new teachers are faring and who they think will be back next year. As a community, we should demand more. Our kids deserve quality teachers and our policies are pretty much guaranteeing the good ones will leave, after all, what is the incentive to stay?
Sorry in advance for the length of this post, but please know, I’m using my TEACHER voice!
Last school year, we were told, due to budgetary constraints, our high schools would be moving away from block and to an 8 period day. Staff would be reduced and teachers would be required to teach 7 sections of classes versus 6 sections, with a 45 minute planning period every day versus a 90 minute planning period every day. Picking up an extra class period of kids pretty much ensures every teacher will have a minimum of 2-3 different classes to teach, 25-30 extra rostered kids and less time to plan and prep per day.
As predicted, we lost a considerable amount of teachers on both campuses. People moved closer to home, those that could retire did, people found other opportunities at other districts, if you aren’t personally vested (live in district, have kids in district, grew up in district, long-time employee) why would you stay? I think many members of our community forget that very few of our teachers can actually afford to live in the district. Most of our teachers commute from surrounding areas, NRH, Keller, Roanoke, etc and have a 30-45 minute commute that involves passing plenty of other schools at which they can work, on their way to GCISD.
I think many that stayed were hopeful they could weather the storm of this year and that a better solution would be found going into the 24-25 school year. On Wednesday an email was sent to our high school staff letting us know there would be no changes and that teachers will be working under the same bell schedule for the 24-25 school year with the same 7 section expectation. Disappointing for sure, given we’ve had so much time to look for and consider solutions. Teachers were given surveys to take, asking about scheduling preference, given bell schedule drafts to consider, just to find out it was all for naught, but instead we were invited to participate in a committee for 25-26 considerations.
I decided to take a look at what's going on at other adjacent districts to see if we are the only ones solving our budgeting problem by squeezing our high school teachers, knowing these are the very same districts many of our teachers drive THROUGH to get to their jobs at GCISD schools. Here’s what I found when I did some googling, teacher websites are no longer public facing so I did my best to verify what I could as I worked through figuring all this out:
ISDs that pay thousands more per year (note- teachers with masters in GCISD is an extra 1,000/year on top of annual salary):
- HEB ISD- 3,000 more per year, extra 2,000 for teachers w/masters. Students are on a trimester. Students experience a 5 period day, 85 minute classes. Teachers have four sections and one 85 minute planning period per day.
- Coppell ISD- 4,000 more per year and almost an extra 4,000 for teacher w/masters. Students are on traditional A/B block. Unsure if teachers get a conference per day or every other day from my online search.
- Lewisville ISD (including Flower Mound Schools)- 3,000 more per year, increase for masters comparable to GCISD. Students are on an accelerated block, 4 classes per semester. Teachers would teach 3 and get 1 conference per day on this plan.
- Frisco ISD- 2,000 more per year, comparable masters. Like LISD, accelerated block four classes that are 85 minutes each with, what looks to be advisory and a power hour of some kind that is undefined per the websites.
- Carroll ISD- pay slightly less, students/teachers on a true block schedule with 4 classes per day. I was unable to find any posted teacher schedules but I would assume teachers teach 6 sections with a conference period every day.
- Northwest ISD- pay slightly less, students/teachers on an 8 period day. Students take 7 classes, 45 minutes in length with a 45 minute lunch and daily advisory. Teachers would teach 6 sections and have lunch the same length as a conference.
- Keller ISD- pay slightly more, they look to be running a modified block similar to last year's GCISD high school schedule. Unable to verify teacher conferences/number of sections.
Taking a step back, I predict another mass exodus of staff at our two high schools. We currently have a teacher shortage, our teachers have options, we can’t take that for granted. Our high school teachers are tired, especially at CHHS (our kids are also tired, everyday is like you’re sprinting a marathon). Teachers are trying to balance their teaching jobs and sometimes second jobs), their families and other obligations all while being asked to work harder with less time. Not to mention the extra responsibilities many teachers take on by sponsoring clubs and organizations, I haven’t even mentioned our coaches and what they are being tasked with.
If you’ve been in the community for a while and have high school students, please take a moment to ask them how many of their favorite teachers from last year are still on campus this year. Ask them how their new teachers are faring and who they think will be back next year. As a community, we should demand more. Our kids deserve quality teachers and our policies are pretty much guaranteeing the good ones will leave, after all, what is the incentive to stay?
This year, GCISD moved the high schools off of their modified block schedule (it's complicated--don't ask) to an 8 period day where classes are 45 minutes. Teachers teach 7 periods a day with one conference period. While I know many of my friends have been getting the bare minimum of conference/planning time, we are really struggling with this loss of time.
This loss of time has led some of my colleagues to arriving as early as 7 AM (me many days) and not leaving until 7 PM (not me, but 5:15 PM is the earliest I have left this week and that was to go to volleyball). We have no down time during class any more to get a little bit of grading done, talk to a student about missing work, or some of the other ten million other things that we used to be able to do.
This year, while we got a $2500 raise, there are problems here:
1) it's at the midpoint level which means that I am actually making less than I should be if we are talking percentages.
2) while I am lucky that I don't have to take health care through the school district, there are many that do, and, in addition to still being awful, it went up in cost.
3) last year, a class was worth about $11,000 for me before taxes, etc. This year, it's about $9500.
4) I am also taking a $7000 hit by having no more extra duty by either having zero hour or working in the book room.
5) My work load went up 16% while my salary went down by almost 11%.
I have had friends tell me what I knew what I was getting into. Fifteen years ago, I agreed. Today, this is not the job that many of us expected. We expected for pay to be a little low, but we are now seeing that teachers are possibly paid 25% less than our counterparts in the "real world" who have the same level of education. I have friends who are either single teachers or part of a two teacher household who are struggling mightily to make ends meet. They are leaving the classroom, where they truly shine, to get certifications in administration just to try to make more money. I am one of the "lucky ones" whose spouse is not in education, but I am having to make cuts as well. For many years, I have self-funded many supplies throughout the school year after the Amazon Wish List supplies ran out, bought textbooks for my AP students when the district refused, yes! refused!, to buy them, subscriptions for software applications to "gamefy" learning and review. Just last week, I canceled my subscription to one of these applications because the yearly fee was going to be $150.
But a lot of this could be forgiven if we didn't have people accusing us indoctrination, grooming children, and for "teaching the children so that the parents could go to work", you know: babysitting.
Our educational system is not perfect. Every teacher is not perfect. But neither is our judicial system and the police, or our healthcare system and doctors and nurses.
I have so many wonderful people in my corner, and I am so appreciative. You've taken care of me during some of the hardest times a person can go through. Please consider joining me in Austin on Saturday Oct. 7th to help support public education in Texas. You would be supporting people like me and ensuring that public education in our great state is there for generations to come.
This loss of time has led some of my colleagues to arriving as early as 7 AM (me many days) and not leaving until 7 PM (not me, but 5:15 PM is the earliest I have left this week and that was to go to volleyball). We have no down time during class any more to get a little bit of grading done, talk to a student about missing work, or some of the other ten million other things that we used to be able to do.
This year, while we got a $2500 raise, there are problems here:
1) it's at the midpoint level which means that I am actually making less than I should be if we are talking percentages.
2) while I am lucky that I don't have to take health care through the school district, there are many that do, and, in addition to still being awful, it went up in cost.
3) last year, a class was worth about $11,000 for me before taxes, etc. This year, it's about $9500.
4) I am also taking a $7000 hit by having no more extra duty by either having zero hour or working in the book room.
5) My work load went up 16% while my salary went down by almost 11%.
I have had friends tell me what I knew what I was getting into. Fifteen years ago, I agreed. Today, this is not the job that many of us expected. We expected for pay to be a little low, but we are now seeing that teachers are possibly paid 25% less than our counterparts in the "real world" who have the same level of education. I have friends who are either single teachers or part of a two teacher household who are struggling mightily to make ends meet. They are leaving the classroom, where they truly shine, to get certifications in administration just to try to make more money. I am one of the "lucky ones" whose spouse is not in education, but I am having to make cuts as well. For many years, I have self-funded many supplies throughout the school year after the Amazon Wish List supplies ran out, bought textbooks for my AP students when the district refused, yes! refused!, to buy them, subscriptions for software applications to "gamefy" learning and review. Just last week, I canceled my subscription to one of these applications because the yearly fee was going to be $150.
But a lot of this could be forgiven if we didn't have people accusing us indoctrination, grooming children, and for "teaching the children so that the parents could go to work", you know: babysitting.
Our educational system is not perfect. Every teacher is not perfect. But neither is our judicial system and the police, or our healthcare system and doctors and nurses.
I have so many wonderful people in my corner, and I am so appreciative. You've taken care of me during some of the hardest times a person can go through. Please consider joining me in Austin on Saturday Oct. 7th to help support public education in Texas. You would be supporting people like me and ensuring that public education in our great state is there for generations to come.
From May 2023, right after the election:
Many staff of GCISD today are struggling. We don’t know how we can endure a school board like this for another school year, let alone a few years.
A huge chunk of our community calls us groomers and indoctrinators. They claim that rather than being professionals, we put forth our own agenda in the classroom. They tell us how our job should be done, while we sit here with a degree in our field…or even double/triple degreed. They make us fearful that we will be slandered in the community, even if we’ve done nothing wrong.
People at admin are doing jobs that used to take two or more people. Teachers who need help planning, talking through ideas, or an extra set of hands to gather lab supplies, no longer have that support. Responsibilities in our district go on unfulfilled because there is simply no one left to do the job. We are being told we’ve received the largest raise in GCISD history (which our paystubs beg to differ), while at the same time being expected to work 55+ hours or more a week just to get all the things that need to be done finished.
Two weeks ago we were sent our contracts for next year. With last night’s results, expect several to leave…many leaving the profession entirely. Our students will suffer. All so we can “get back to basics.”
If all of the educators in the district could have voted in our school board elections, none of these people dismantling our district would even be elected. I don’t know a single educator in our district who hasn’t felt disrespected and disposable through all of this. If we all had a voice (vote) in how our district was run, we would move mountains. We would be a beautiful force of good to be reckoned with.
Instead, we are watching a district we loved implode while trying to hold the pieces together so our students still have the ”best.”
Many staff of GCISD today are struggling. We don’t know how we can endure a school board like this for another school year, let alone a few years.
A huge chunk of our community calls us groomers and indoctrinators. They claim that rather than being professionals, we put forth our own agenda in the classroom. They tell us how our job should be done, while we sit here with a degree in our field…or even double/triple degreed. They make us fearful that we will be slandered in the community, even if we’ve done nothing wrong.
People at admin are doing jobs that used to take two or more people. Teachers who need help planning, talking through ideas, or an extra set of hands to gather lab supplies, no longer have that support. Responsibilities in our district go on unfulfilled because there is simply no one left to do the job. We are being told we’ve received the largest raise in GCISD history (which our paystubs beg to differ), while at the same time being expected to work 55+ hours or more a week just to get all the things that need to be done finished.
Two weeks ago we were sent our contracts for next year. With last night’s results, expect several to leave…many leaving the profession entirely. Our students will suffer. All so we can “get back to basics.”
If all of the educators in the district could have voted in our school board elections, none of these people dismantling our district would even be elected. I don’t know a single educator in our district who hasn’t felt disrespected and disposable through all of this. If we all had a voice (vote) in how our district was run, we would move mountains. We would be a beautiful force of good to be reckoned with.
Instead, we are watching a district we loved implode while trying to hold the pieces together so our students still have the ”best.”
Please pray for us teachers.
We are scared.
We are being micromanaged beyond reason.
We are being banned from buying BOOKS to read to our STUDENTS. PICTURE books.
We are being treated like this is Salem in 1692.
We are tired before the year has begun.
We want to give up.
We have never felt this insulted, belittled and abused.
We are scared.
We are being micromanaged beyond reason.
We are being banned from buying BOOKS to read to our STUDENTS. PICTURE books.
We are being treated like this is Salem in 1692.
We are tired before the year has begun.
We want to give up.
We have never felt this insulted, belittled and abused.
If this administration and this community is waiting for teachers to come forward -they will not. Teachers are absolutely scared of the repercussions and ramifications for speaking out about the horrible things that are going on in this district right now. When we hear that there are “lists” of teachers that are being targeted we are afraid to be a part of the solution. Make no mistake – there is a problem in GCISD. Sadly, teachers feel that they must be silent or they will be punished.
I am a 20+ year teacher in GCISD. My children went through GCISD. Let me start by saying that it’s a sad day here in this community when I have to have this read anonymously. I am questioning some members of the board…is it your agenda to put fear in us? To silence us? If you stumble across my social media and find I have a gay son am I then placed on your “list” because now I’m deemed poisonous? When do we get to see this “list” we know it’s there. It came straight from a board members mouth. Please do better. Please support your teachers please make them want to work for GCISD (yes, we still work even when we have students absent) Guess why teachers left?? Because of some of you!! Do you see all of the positions still needing to be filled!?? We are making headlines and not the kind that draw teachers to want to work for this district. Lastly, thank you to the board members whom we feel safe and supported by. We see you and we appreciate you.
While there are a multitude of concerns heading into this coming school year, I can only focus on what I need to know to be a successful educator. In an attempt to be on the same page and understand GCISD’s mission, I have a few questions I would like each board member to answer.
It’s been noted that at least one school board member mentioned an interest in classically-based education. Do you intend to push forward a classical educational paradigm for the entire district? Or is the idea to make it a campus specialty, like the STEM school? If so, how does that fit with Lead 2.0. Will Lead 2.0 be retired? How would that educational system fit with federal and state mandates? Is the goal to by-pass federal and state mandates?
Have you had any experience traveling abroad? If so, how has it influenced your thinking with preparing students to compete and cooperate in a global world and economy?
An election platform was presented by many members of the board in regards to “parents taking back their child’s education”. What do you foresee as the parent role and accountability in their child’s education? Will the parents have an expectation to assure their child’s daily preparedness and on-task work ethic? What will the accountability piece for the parent look like?
Do you or do you not support the implementation of a charter school? If so, are you aware that charter schools are not required to follow state mandated guidelines such as class size limitations as well as administration and financial accountability? How would that be addressed?
At a time when our challenges and struggles are significantly great in regards to helping students reach their potential, what cooperative initiatives for unity between the teachers, students, parents and the community are you interested in implementing?
Teacher pay and incentives in GCISD are abysmal. Is there a short-term and a lonng-term plan to retain and attract quality staff and administration?
The platform many of you ran on was one of dissatisfaction with the current status of GCISD. It is easy to criticize and teardown a system, yet very difficult to create and implement a new one. Do you have a strategic plan to share on how to build the GCISD you envision?
If you are unsuccessful in your attempts to better GCISD and at the end of your term, Grapevine-Colleyville is left with an empty-shelled abandoned warehouse of an education system, will you be ok with your name being permanently attached to this result?
Am I on your poison teacher list?
It’s been noted that at least one school board member mentioned an interest in classically-based education. Do you intend to push forward a classical educational paradigm for the entire district? Or is the idea to make it a campus specialty, like the STEM school? If so, how does that fit with Lead 2.0. Will Lead 2.0 be retired? How would that educational system fit with federal and state mandates? Is the goal to by-pass federal and state mandates?
Have you had any experience traveling abroad? If so, how has it influenced your thinking with preparing students to compete and cooperate in a global world and economy?
An election platform was presented by many members of the board in regards to “parents taking back their child’s education”. What do you foresee as the parent role and accountability in their child’s education? Will the parents have an expectation to assure their child’s daily preparedness and on-task work ethic? What will the accountability piece for the parent look like?
Do you or do you not support the implementation of a charter school? If so, are you aware that charter schools are not required to follow state mandated guidelines such as class size limitations as well as administration and financial accountability? How would that be addressed?
At a time when our challenges and struggles are significantly great in regards to helping students reach their potential, what cooperative initiatives for unity between the teachers, students, parents and the community are you interested in implementing?
Teacher pay and incentives in GCISD are abysmal. Is there a short-term and a lonng-term plan to retain and attract quality staff and administration?
The platform many of you ran on was one of dissatisfaction with the current status of GCISD. It is easy to criticize and teardown a system, yet very difficult to create and implement a new one. Do you have a strategic plan to share on how to build the GCISD you envision?
If you are unsuccessful in your attempts to better GCISD and at the end of your term, Grapevine-Colleyville is left with an empty-shelled abandoned warehouse of an education system, will you be ok with your name being permanently attached to this result?
Am I on your poison teacher list?
Years of profesional development and knowledge have been pushed out the door with this new majority and the force fake balance budget and forced staff reductions. It will take years if even possible to get the level of knowledge lost back in the distirct. Even when the last scores released showed things increasing it will all be lost.
Para in the district. According to recent infromation the "new" lawyer makes $400 an hour. The past board meetings run atleast 6 hours so that would be $2,400 . That one night amount is more then 90% of paras in the district make in a month. You know the group of employees the board decided do not deserve a raise like teachers. Under valued and over worked as the board pushes staff cuts , however hire an attorney that in one night or board meeting will make more then a para will in an entire month of work. Thanks for the support board.
I worked in GCISD for over 20 years. I left the district in May because the new members of this board do not appear to value teachers. A 2% raise is the lowest in the area. The last few years in education have been very hard! The expectation of our time, the way we are directed to teach, the more student voice we are instructed to collect, the new technology and learning platforms we have to use is very difficult! Students are very different since the pandemic started in March of 2020, yet no one acknowledged that they lost months of instruction. I chose to resign because I see this getting worse with the newly elected board members. Very sad that we have people making decisions for our students in GCISD who currently do not even have children in our schools! I do have children in this district and I am very concerned about their future. Please express to the board that the teachers in GCISD need to be supported not questioned. There are so many great educators who have left the district and many more who are planning to leave. What has the board done to show that they value teachers or any GCISD employee?
This school board has lost my trust. Certain members have created a hostile environment which invites fear of retaliation for simply teaching the curriculum. When I hear comments about having a list of teachers that have to go, I wonder how you could do that when you’ve never even been in our classrooms long enough to know us. I also question the legality of having a “target” list as well. There is more I could say, but perhaps you should simply look at the mass exodus of teachers that have already left because of the, to use one of your owns words, “poison” from this school board. If this continues more good teachers will leave and the only ones that will suffer are the students. Hold yourselves accountable for the mess that you’ve created and then take actionable steps and fix it. Earn our trust back.
I resigned from GCISD in June. A major reason was due to the change in the district’s climate and culture since last summer. The tension is palpable. Teachers and staff are already asked to do so much, but when you add the constant feeling of being targeted in social media and board meetings it became too much. The decimation of the Curriculum & Instruction department has taken away invaluable, necessary support and training, as well as removed many opportunities for professional growth and promotion that helps keep the best in our district. The new board members have created a toxic “gotcha” culture where the amazing teachers and staff of GCISD are no longer respected and is demoralizing. There has been a mass exodus from GCISD this year. Why should we stay when you obviously don’t want us here?
It’s all just too much. People are looking for reasons to hate teachers (“we need to pull the voting records of our kids’ teacher to see what primaries they vote in to make sure they vote like us, see if they are the kind of Christians we, and we need to do a deep dive on all their social media. Teachers must present a squeaky clean Christian moral image and lifestyle that we approve of. If we don’t like what we find we need to publicly ruin them!”) We are getting in trouble for teaching the approved history TEKS that we are supposed to teach (“that’s CRT you socialist wack job and you should be fired!”). We get in trouble for saying that we are anti racist (“that’s reverse racism against white people and you should be fired”). We are getting in trouble for promoting kindness/being a good person (“well that’s obviously SEL you bleeding heart liberal and you should be fired!”). We are getting in trouble for doing the legally required hearing and vision screeners (“how dare you take away my role as a parent you Marxist and you should be fired!”).
We get in trouble for simply having a book on our bookshelf that a student can check out if they want to (“it offends me so no one should read it, you smut peddler and we should ban these books, and maybe fire some teachers!”). We get in trouble for celebrating all the beliefs and cultures of our students that are represented in our classroom (“you are indoctrinating children with anti-American/anti-Christian thoughts and should be fired!”). We get in trouble for teaching critical thinking skills (“how dare you allow my child to have access to opposing viewpoint than those of mine! You should be fired!”). We get in trouble for encouraging (“don’t even finish your sentence because that’s CRT and you should be fired!) standing up for what they believe in even if it’s not popular (“see! It’s all BLM, CRT, and you should be fired I’ll tell them what they believe in!!”). We get in trouble for defending ourselves
All this is happening while I am just absolutely loving am my students and trying to make the world a better place for them knowing that I would LITERALLY take a bullet for them. I say that last part because every single time there is yet another school shooting I remind my husband of this “If there is ever an incident at any school I work at, as long as there is a breath in my body my kids are safe. If that means I’m not coming home that day so be it. No harm will come to my kids as long as I’m alive”.
I can’t even tell you the number of really awesome teachers that are thinking about leaving GCISD. Some teachers want to go back to their inner-city schools where they were appreciated and respected. Let that sink in for a minute. Teachers are going to leave GCISD, not for higher pay but for respect and appreciation. I completely understand. In inner-city schools, the teachers are respected by the families who came to this country for a better life so they get it. We just want to teach in a place where they are respected, trusted, and treated like the professionals we are.
We get in trouble for simply having a book on our bookshelf that a student can check out if they want to (“it offends me so no one should read it, you smut peddler and we should ban these books, and maybe fire some teachers!”). We get in trouble for celebrating all the beliefs and cultures of our students that are represented in our classroom (“you are indoctrinating children with anti-American/anti-Christian thoughts and should be fired!”). We get in trouble for teaching critical thinking skills (“how dare you allow my child to have access to opposing viewpoint than those of mine! You should be fired!”). We get in trouble for encouraging (“don’t even finish your sentence because that’s CRT and you should be fired!) standing up for what they believe in even if it’s not popular (“see! It’s all BLM, CRT, and you should be fired I’ll tell them what they believe in!!”). We get in trouble for defending ourselves
All this is happening while I am just absolutely loving am my students and trying to make the world a better place for them knowing that I would LITERALLY take a bullet for them. I say that last part because every single time there is yet another school shooting I remind my husband of this “If there is ever an incident at any school I work at, as long as there is a breath in my body my kids are safe. If that means I’m not coming home that day so be it. No harm will come to my kids as long as I’m alive”.
I can’t even tell you the number of really awesome teachers that are thinking about leaving GCISD. Some teachers want to go back to their inner-city schools where they were appreciated and respected. Let that sink in for a minute. Teachers are going to leave GCISD, not for higher pay but for respect and appreciation. I completely understand. In inner-city schools, the teachers are respected by the families who came to this country for a better life so they get it. We just want to teach in a place where they are respected, trusted, and treated like the professionals we are.
I think any vocal and actionable support we can get would be wonderful, because I’ll be honest-teacher morale is low.
Nearly all the teacher friends and acquaintances I have (across MANY districts) are questioning their future in this career. So many things have led to this.
Implementing Covid protocols last year was hard; very laborious and time-consuming for the teachers, but we all understood why it needed to happen. This year it feels like, officially, it’s been decided that Covid is done, and that has left us feeling vulnerable as well as worrying for our own students and our own children that attend school. This can largely be blamed on TEA and the state, as they have provided no support or funds to help districts mitigate Covid spread or support teachers and students who may want to continue with virtual learning.
Speaking of things to blame on TEA, not only would they like to pretend that Covid is not a thing, they would also like us to make up two years of disrupted learning in a single year. They not only want students to progress, they would like students to be performing better than ever. I have never heard more teachers say that their leadership has told them they really need to try to get EVEN more kids to score meets and masters on the STAAR test. The focus on this flawed and inequitable test, and the usage of it to label our students, teachers, and schools is absolutely ridiculous. And this isn’t just a teacher opinion; nearly every single person I have talk to in the education field from the top superintendents to the first year teachers will tell you that this test is not a good measure of the progress our students are making, yet I cannot understand why we cannot get a people-led effort out there to say NO to this thing. It feels like we are screaming into the abyss and no one in state power cares that this is hurting kids and adding stress to everyone’s lives.
Lastly comes the focus of this article. So many of our district’s teachers have advanced degrees, multiple hours of training, extra certifications, and years of experience teaching the community’s youth. Yet, a small vocal minority in our community has the power to demonize us and infantilize us at the same time. It’s laughable and exhausting at the same time.
I personally know there are so many of y’all that support us, and I appreciate it so much. We definitely need that support to be 1 million times more vocal, there really can’t be enough. I’m so concerned that come next year, if the message is sent to teachers that their lesson plans will be constantly scrutinized (with ill intent) by biased community members, that they will be forced to add new programs and state mandated “fixes” without training or anything else being taken off their already extremely overflowing plates, and that they will continue to be disrespected and unprotected as valued members of the communities, there will no longer be teachers to rally to protect.
Nearly all the teacher friends and acquaintances I have (across MANY districts) are questioning their future in this career. So many things have led to this.
Implementing Covid protocols last year was hard; very laborious and time-consuming for the teachers, but we all understood why it needed to happen. This year it feels like, officially, it’s been decided that Covid is done, and that has left us feeling vulnerable as well as worrying for our own students and our own children that attend school. This can largely be blamed on TEA and the state, as they have provided no support or funds to help districts mitigate Covid spread or support teachers and students who may want to continue with virtual learning.
Speaking of things to blame on TEA, not only would they like to pretend that Covid is not a thing, they would also like us to make up two years of disrupted learning in a single year. They not only want students to progress, they would like students to be performing better than ever. I have never heard more teachers say that their leadership has told them they really need to try to get EVEN more kids to score meets and masters on the STAAR test. The focus on this flawed and inequitable test, and the usage of it to label our students, teachers, and schools is absolutely ridiculous. And this isn’t just a teacher opinion; nearly every single person I have talk to in the education field from the top superintendents to the first year teachers will tell you that this test is not a good measure of the progress our students are making, yet I cannot understand why we cannot get a people-led effort out there to say NO to this thing. It feels like we are screaming into the abyss and no one in state power cares that this is hurting kids and adding stress to everyone’s lives.
Lastly comes the focus of this article. So many of our district’s teachers have advanced degrees, multiple hours of training, extra certifications, and years of experience teaching the community’s youth. Yet, a small vocal minority in our community has the power to demonize us and infantilize us at the same time. It’s laughable and exhausting at the same time.
I personally know there are so many of y’all that support us, and I appreciate it so much. We definitely need that support to be 1 million times more vocal, there really can’t be enough. I’m so concerned that come next year, if the message is sent to teachers that their lesson plans will be constantly scrutinized (with ill intent) by biased community members, that they will be forced to add new programs and state mandated “fixes” without training or anything else being taken off their already extremely overflowing plates, and that they will continue to be disrespected and unprotected as valued members of the communities, there will no longer be teachers to rally to protect.
How Did We Get Here?
That’s a great question recently asked by a buffoon who is about nothing but disruption. Some might think that we got here because a failed board candidate caused a stir at a board meeting in July. Others might say we got here because of True Texas Project (TTP). Still, others might even suggest we are here because of district leadership.
And I believe they all would be wrong.
While I question what has recently happened in GCISD, I recognize that I do not have all the details. Therefore, I can have an opinion, but I can’t really make factual statements about district leadership, a specific principal, or the board. We didn’t get here because of a loud-mouthed board wannabe or because of a principal who spoke out about social justice and equity. We have been getting here for a very long time - long before either of the aforementioned ever thought about GCISD.
A culture of privilege (yes, I said it) has been evident in Grapevine-Colleyville for many years, and any efforts to level the playing field for the less privileged have been met with vehement opposition.
Flashback to the late 1990s. Those who were here at that time remember Mike Snyder’s hatchet job about an insidious teaching methodology employed by GCISD. Mr. Snyder was a community member and anchor for NBC 5. The promo for the report showed dark passageways leading to what looked like some medieval torture chamber. It sucked viewers into wondering what hideous things were going on in GCISD schools. It certainly got my attention as I was a resident working in a neighboring district.
When the report finally aired, I was astonished to learn that the repulsive practice damaging our kids was cooperative learning. I was in charge of professional learning in my district at that time, and we provided extensive training in cooperative learning. Hundreds of studies provided evidence of its viability and positive impact on student achievement. So why would the district next door be vilified for doing the same thing?
Fast forward about 10 years. I am now in GCISD and working toward providing access to advanced academics for all students. It seemed like a reasonable and prudent thing to do. After all, a rising tide lifts all boats, right? Not in GCISD. The community reaction to our attempts to de-track middle school was swift and vehement. Needless to say, it didn’t happen.
How do these two incidents separated by a decade have anything to do with answering the question of how we got here? The best way I can answer that is by sharing a phone call I had with a parent who was adamantly opposed to providing equity and access to all students. After explaining the rationale for the proposed change, the parent responded with, “I’ve worked hard for my nice house and expensive car. I’ll be damned if my kids will be in class with those (kids).” She was a bit more specific about which kids, but you get the point. She obviously believed that her kids would lose if others were provided the same opportunities to win - classic scarcity mentality.
In her view, we were removing a buffer, a barrier between her kids and those kids. And that was not OK. After all, GCISD was known as a place where you could get a private school education at public school prices. Cooperative learning had the same effect. It put kids of varying ability and achievement levels together in a context in which their success was predicated on interdependence, individual accountability, collaborative skills, group autonomy, maximum peer interactions, and equal opportunity to participate. Admittedly, it takes a skilled teacher to do this well. Otherwise, it becomes group work where a few kids do all the work.
The commonality here is the concern about equity. Misguided people believe equity is a Robin Hood scheme - take from one group to give to another. A current board member even stated in a board meeting that we need to be anti-equity. Equity is about providing for student needs. Recognizing that students have varying needs causes educators to create conditions where all students can achieve at high levels. It’s not about ensuring equal outcomes. It is about leveling the playing field so all have the opportunity to achieve.
There are great examples of equity in action in GCISD. The first thing that comes to mind is ASPIRE Academy. We discovered a larger than usual percentage of students qualifying for GT as well as a number of students considered highly or exceptionally gifted. These students have the opportunity to be served through a special program that meets their unique needs. If we are anti-equity, would we abandon this program? I think we all know the answer to that question.
A culture of privilege has been growing for many years in GCISD, and there are those who will fight to the bitter end to maintain this culture. The difference between 10 or 20 years ago and today is that those battling the district now are more organized and incredibly well-funded. They may still represent a minority, but they have been successful in achieving two spots on the board and creating chaos that has resulted in advocates turning on the district. While this latest incident leaves a stain on the district, a school board with a majority of TTP-backed members will be catastrophic!
That’s a great question recently asked by a buffoon who is about nothing but disruption. Some might think that we got here because a failed board candidate caused a stir at a board meeting in July. Others might say we got here because of True Texas Project (TTP). Still, others might even suggest we are here because of district leadership.
And I believe they all would be wrong.
While I question what has recently happened in GCISD, I recognize that I do not have all the details. Therefore, I can have an opinion, but I can’t really make factual statements about district leadership, a specific principal, or the board. We didn’t get here because of a loud-mouthed board wannabe or because of a principal who spoke out about social justice and equity. We have been getting here for a very long time - long before either of the aforementioned ever thought about GCISD.
A culture of privilege (yes, I said it) has been evident in Grapevine-Colleyville for many years, and any efforts to level the playing field for the less privileged have been met with vehement opposition.
Flashback to the late 1990s. Those who were here at that time remember Mike Snyder’s hatchet job about an insidious teaching methodology employed by GCISD. Mr. Snyder was a community member and anchor for NBC 5. The promo for the report showed dark passageways leading to what looked like some medieval torture chamber. It sucked viewers into wondering what hideous things were going on in GCISD schools. It certainly got my attention as I was a resident working in a neighboring district.
When the report finally aired, I was astonished to learn that the repulsive practice damaging our kids was cooperative learning. I was in charge of professional learning in my district at that time, and we provided extensive training in cooperative learning. Hundreds of studies provided evidence of its viability and positive impact on student achievement. So why would the district next door be vilified for doing the same thing?
Fast forward about 10 years. I am now in GCISD and working toward providing access to advanced academics for all students. It seemed like a reasonable and prudent thing to do. After all, a rising tide lifts all boats, right? Not in GCISD. The community reaction to our attempts to de-track middle school was swift and vehement. Needless to say, it didn’t happen.
How do these two incidents separated by a decade have anything to do with answering the question of how we got here? The best way I can answer that is by sharing a phone call I had with a parent who was adamantly opposed to providing equity and access to all students. After explaining the rationale for the proposed change, the parent responded with, “I’ve worked hard for my nice house and expensive car. I’ll be damned if my kids will be in class with those (kids).” She was a bit more specific about which kids, but you get the point. She obviously believed that her kids would lose if others were provided the same opportunities to win - classic scarcity mentality.
In her view, we were removing a buffer, a barrier between her kids and those kids. And that was not OK. After all, GCISD was known as a place where you could get a private school education at public school prices. Cooperative learning had the same effect. It put kids of varying ability and achievement levels together in a context in which their success was predicated on interdependence, individual accountability, collaborative skills, group autonomy, maximum peer interactions, and equal opportunity to participate. Admittedly, it takes a skilled teacher to do this well. Otherwise, it becomes group work where a few kids do all the work.
The commonality here is the concern about equity. Misguided people believe equity is a Robin Hood scheme - take from one group to give to another. A current board member even stated in a board meeting that we need to be anti-equity. Equity is about providing for student needs. Recognizing that students have varying needs causes educators to create conditions where all students can achieve at high levels. It’s not about ensuring equal outcomes. It is about leveling the playing field so all have the opportunity to achieve.
There are great examples of equity in action in GCISD. The first thing that comes to mind is ASPIRE Academy. We discovered a larger than usual percentage of students qualifying for GT as well as a number of students considered highly or exceptionally gifted. These students have the opportunity to be served through a special program that meets their unique needs. If we are anti-equity, would we abandon this program? I think we all know the answer to that question.
A culture of privilege has been growing for many years in GCISD, and there are those who will fight to the bitter end to maintain this culture. The difference between 10 or 20 years ago and today is that those battling the district now are more organized and incredibly well-funded. They may still represent a minority, but they have been successful in achieving two spots on the board and creating chaos that has resulted in advocates turning on the district. While this latest incident leaves a stain on the district, a school board with a majority of TTP-backed members will be catastrophic!