DATE: Monday, August 11, 1997               TAG: 9708090010

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: OPINION 

SOURCE: BY MELODY COPPER 

                                            LENGTH:   84 lines

TEACHER TRANSFERS ARE NOT GOOD EDUCATION POLICY

The editorial ``Wise inaction'' (July 17) presented one view of the Virginia Beach School Board's decision not to act on the administration's transfer of teachers for reasons other than changes in student enrollment.

It stated, ``They are merely being moved.'' Apparently no one heard the parents, students and colleagues who addressed the School Board on Tuesday, July 15. Schools are not ordinary work sites. Schools are environments created by the relationships established between students, parents and all educational employees.

When I was a child, I attended school in a small rural community. I attended the same elementary, junior high and high schools as my siblings. As the youngest in the family, I knew all of my teachers before setting foot in the classes, and they knew me. To my dismay, my parents already knew my teachers as well.

Virginia Beach is a large school division, but the same atmosphere of my small rural community lives here, as illustrated by teachers who stay multiple years in a building despite leadership changes. Relationships with parents are nurtured as a sibling, in another year, learns with the same teacher. Parents are more comfortable becoming involved in school programs when a familiar face is there to greet them at the door.

Clearly, the parents at Pembroke and Glenwood Elementary who spoke to the School Board recognized the contributions made by their teachers to their school's educational programs. One of many specifically pointed out was the Glenwood music teacher. Will parents continue to volunteer to assist the music program at that school when it is not Liama Dean who calls and asks? Will parents continue to volunteer at Pembroke when it is not Georgia Dinsmore who calls and asks? Perhaps they will, but the answer may not come as readily. Teachers ``merely being moved'' tears apart established relationships which promote parental involvement in our schools.

``Merely being moved'' eliminates educational programs. How is it educationally sound to lose years of grade-level expertise as teachers must accept positions at new schools at a different grade level? How is it educationally sound to transfer teachers who have just been awarded grant funds for projects in a building, to separate teachers from collaborative teaching partnerships, to extinguish relationships among students, parents and teachers? Were these questions asked before teachers were involuntarily transferred?

Another excuse given for the transfers, as quoted from your editorial, is that these teachers created ``power blocs. . . which would make it difficult for a new administration to move in and make a fresh start.'' But a new leader can restructure a school by building on the skills of the leaders at that site.

Evidence of that is the Virginia Beach Education Association Climate Survey administered yearly. One school was rated next to last in one year, and the teachers rallied together to improve the leadership at their school. The following year, with the same staff but a new leader at the helm, that school's rating shot to third from the top. That is one example among many.

Never before have teachers who have spoken out and identified weak administrators been thought to be power blocs; then, even with promises of no reprisals for their actions, been transferred for the good of the system. The freedom of employees to join together and express their views regarding legitimate educational concerns overrides the need to protect weak administrators from the constructive criticism of employees.

Involuntary transfers do have to occur when there are changes in the number of students attending a school. Very specific guidelines ensure those transfers are made in a fair and consistent manner. The transfers at Glenwood and Pembroke do not follow established guidelines, and no explanations have been given to the teachers other than restructuring the school division. I must question restructuring with blatant disregard to the educational impact.

In the end of your editorial, you state, ``. . . it's time to focus on providing a quality education for these children.'' I could not agree more, and I question whether the administration's decision to restructure our school division by involuntarily transferring teachers is providing a quality education. In fact, these decisions weaken the quality learning environments established at Glenwood and Pembroke Elementary schools.

The School Board chose not to override the decision to involuntarily transfer teachers who spoke up against practices that degraded the instructional programs at their schools. However, the School Board is obligated to thoroughly investigate the circumstances that led up to the decision. If members discover that the decisions were based upon poor judgment and inaccurate information, it would be appropriate to ask the superintendent to reconsider the decision. MEMO: Melody Copper is president of the Virginia Beach Education

Association.

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