March 19,2015 letter

March 19, 2015
Note: This is the memo I sent to my school principal, Dr. Tracy Roos, informing her of the contract violations of the assistant principal, Mrs. Alicia Fernandez during my failed teacher observation
At 9;35 AM on March 18, 2015, the assistant principal of Neva King Cooper Educational Center arrived in my classroom for my yearly observation. I was feeding a student at the time. Having no time to transition, I hurriedly presented a math lesson that I was planning on presenting later that day, using the Smartboard in my classroom to present the lesson. Mrs. Fernandez observed me for 20 minutes, departing at 10:00 A.M. This made my class late for a class on another part of campus. As my class has several wheelchairs, and as we were already late for a class on another part of campus, I hastily took some, but not all my students, leaving one student in a wheelchair and one walker (i.e. a student who can walk on his own) behind with Mrs. Green, my paraprofessional. During this time, Mrs. Green, who has a history of bladder problems, had an urgent need to urinate. Normally when this happens, Mrs. Green informs me that she needs to use the restroom and exits the classroom. However, due to the fact that I had hastily exited the classroom, Mrs. Green was not able to do so, and her need to use the restroom was urgent. We have a restroom inside of our classroom, so Mrs. Green used the restroom inside of my classroom to urinate. However, because she had two students left in the classroom, she left the restroom door open, so she could monitor the students while she urinated. She did this because a previous administrator, at a faculty meeting, told our staff that if a staff member was all alone in a classroom and had an urgent need to use the restroom, the restroom door was to remain open, so student safety could be monitored. At no time has our staff received notification that this policy has been changed. While Mrs. Green was urinating, Mrs. Fernandez, the A.P. (assistant principal) reentered the classroom, unannounced, and discovered Mrs. Green urinating.
After I escorted my class to the special areas class, I returned to my classroom. A few minutes later Mrs. Fernandez used her key to enter my classroom, stating she needed to speak to me immediately. Mrs. Fernandez was extremely agitated and in a loud voice began to berate me for Mrs. Green not closing the restroom door while urinating. When I attempted to explain Mrs. Green’s medical problems and the directive given to us by a previous administrator about leaving the restroom door open if alone with students, Mrs. Fernandez did not allow me to speak. She interrupted me and began shouting at me that Mrs. Green’s behavior was unacceptable, and that I as the teacher was responsible for Mrs. Green’s behavior. Mrs. Fernandez then shouted at me that she was far more upset with Mrs. Green’s behavior than she was about my lesson that she had observed. Mrs. Fernandez then shouted at me that I had failed my observation due to the fact that the lesson I was teaching to my class did not correspond exactly to the lesson on my lesson plans for that time period. I attempted to explain to Mrs. Fernandez that I had two reasons for presenting a lesson that I planned on presenting later that day. The first reason was that during the only faculty meeting we have had during the entire school year, (in January) Dr. Roos (the principal) stated that during her observations for reemployment purposes, she wanted teachers to use assistive technology. My second reason for using a lesson I intended to use later that day was that due to the fact that Mrs. Fernandez walked into my classroom unannounced, I was feeding breakfast to a student and had not yet set up the lesson for that time. My fear was that if I took the time to set up the lesson for that time period, Mrs. Fernandez might fail me for taking too much time to set up the lesson. The lesson I presented required very little time to set up, which is why I presented it during my observation. My schedule was also disrupted due to the fact that 3 days ago, a new student was placed into my classroom. This young man arrives at school at 9:15 AM or later and needs to be fed breakfast. I was feeding this young man breakfast when Mrs. Fernandez arrived unannounced for my yearly observation. Feeding this young man his breakfast prevented me from having a lesson set up when Mrs. Fernandez observed me. Mrs. Fernandez did NOT allow me to say this in her follow up monologue with me after she concluded her 20 -minute observation of me. (Mrs. Fernandez follow up monologue with me , following my failed observation lasted from 10:10AM to 10:30AM) Every time I attempted to speak, Mrs. Fernandez interrupted me and began shouting at me. Mrs. Fernandez interrupted me and shouted at me for 20 minutes. I literally barely got in a word, which is why I refer to her follow-up of her observation as a monologue. On 4 (FOUR) separate occasions I asked Mrs. Fernandez to 1) allow me to speak without interrupting me 2) refrain from shouting at me and speak to me with courtesy and respect. Although she briefly lowered her voice the first time I asked her to do so, the other three times she simply ignored me and continued. At 10;30 AM, after I had complained for the 4’th time that I was not being allowed to speak, Mrs. Fernandez shouted at me, “Bill, I am the one speaking now.” When I reminded her that the reason she was presently speaking was because she had just (yet again) interrupted me, she shouted “you need to understand that I am the assistant principal. This discussion is over, I will observe you again tomorrow.” She then stormed out of my classroom.
A few years ago, the head custodian (at the time) of our school was called in to the principal’s office for a meeting which became very heated. Voices were raised, and the head custodian said the very same words: “This meeting is over,” and he stormed out of the principal’s office. He was written up for insubordination. To me, it does not seem contractual that a staff member can be cited for insubordination for doing exactly what Mrs. Fernandez did to me. I think administrators need to be held to the same standards they hold their staffs to. I want to also mention that at all times during Mrs. Fernandez’s monologue with me, the few words I was able to speak to her were spoken with courtesy and respect. With the exception of the 3 meetings I had with Dr. Roos this fall (regarding a PTA letter I wrote to parents I wrote at Dr. Roos request,) I have never been spoken to so rudely in my 30- year career as a teacher. With the exception of Dr. Roos and Mrs. Fernandez, school administrators have returned the courtesy and respect I have shown them.
Last fall, at the request of Dr. Roos, I wrote a letter asking parents to join our school PTA. I submitted the proposed letter to Dr. Roos, who asked me to make a few minor changes, which I did. Dr. Roos approved the letter and told me to give it to the school secretary to be typed up and be sent home with students. When this was done, Dr. Roos received an “anonymous” phone call, saying that a rule had been violated and that it was illegal for a PTA letter to bear the school letterhead. On three separate occasions, Dr. Roos convened meetings in her office with herself, Mrs. Fernandez, and myself in attendance. Dr. Roos informed me that I was the one responsible for that letter, that I was in a great deal of trouble, and that a letter would be placed in my personnel file chastising me for the PTA letter. At one of those meetings, Dr. Roos demanded to know if I communicated with the former administrators of the school (Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Mr. Henny Cristobol.) Although I felt that who I chat with in my off-duty hours had nothing to do with a PTA letter, I felt very intimidated by Dr. Roos and answered her question.
A few days later, a meeting was held off campus between Dr. Roos, Kayla Martinez, and a high- ranking official of the PTA. At this meeting, Kayla Martinez (the PTA president of our school) voiced a concern that Dr. Roos might retaliate against me. Dr. Roos gave her assurance that she would not retaliate against me. In 30 years of teaching, I have never once, (prior to today) failed an observation.
Last year, I was observed by Mrs. Fernandez, who told me my observation was a success, although she noted that I would need more goals in my lesson plans. This year, I have a new goal every week in my lesson plans. I have added several other improvements to my lesson plans. Also, last year, when Mrs. Fernandez observed me, I was giving a Unique Lesson Systems pre-test, which was not scheduled for the time listed on my lesson plans. Mrs. Fernandez stated that due to the fact that our schedules are constantly changing due to unforeseen student behaviors/unanticipated changing of diapers, etc. that this was not a problem. I am wondering why I got an acceptable rating last year when I taught a lesson that was not on that exact time slot on my lesson plans, and this year that was cited for the reason I failed my observation. My feeling is that I am being retaliated against for this and for court appearances I made after being subpoenaed.
There are two other teachers that Dr. Roos seems to be retaliating against. Those two teachers are Mr. Rick Massa and Mr. Tebilio Diaz. These two teachers and myself were subpoenaed to testify at two legal hearings. One was for Luz Morales, who was appealing her termination as a teacher at our school. The other hearing was for Dr. Alberto Fernandez and Henny Cristobol, who were appealing their dismissal as administrators from our school. Additionally, Mr. Massa took actions that resulted in an investigation at the district level of allegations of cheating by Dr. Roos on the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA). For the first time in over 25 years, Mr. Diaz has failed his yearly observation. He has been observed the last two years by Mrs. Fernandez. Last year, his observation was successful. This year, it was not. I am wondering if any retaliatory actions have been taken or will be taken against Mr. Rick Massa. It is worth noting that Mr. Rick Massa has many of the students with the most acute behavior problems in the school assigned to his class this year.
There is a widespread belief among the staff of Neva King Cooper School that for the last three years Dr. Roos has been punishing our school for our school’s attempt to investigate the possibility of converting to a charter school. Many staff members (myself included) believe that Dr. Roos’ actions over the last three years have been done with the full knowledge and approval of Mr. Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of school. Many staff members feel that Mr. Carvalho views our school as a rebellious and conquered entity that needs to be punished and made an example of, lest other public schools in the district also explore the possibility of converting to charter schools. Staff members have this belief because after Dr. Fernandez and Mr. Cristobol were removed as administrators, Mr. Carvalho made a very brief visit to Neva King Cooper. During that brief visit, Mr. Carvalho stood in the school office and in the presence of our school secretaries loudly proclaimed that if any public school wanted to convert to a charter school, they would have to go through him first.
Finally, I find it ironic that the administrators of my school have judged my performance as unsatisfactory, yet they have failed to implement three of Mr. Carvalho’s mandates. 1) There has been only one faculty meeting this entire year. 2) No administrator has visited my classroom 3) morning announcements almost never happen at my school.
I forgot to mention that several times during my observation, FOR EMPLOYMENT PURPOSES I glanced up at Mrs. Fernandez and saw her reading messages from her phone!!! To me, this is the ultimate insult.