‘I have had enough’ – veteran teacher tells school board
Here is a powerful letter that a veteran teacher wrote and read to the Lafayette Parish School Board, explaining why she is sadly leaving the profession. It sums up many of the complaints teachers have with a school reform agenda that they believe is unfairly targeting them and hurting students too. This was written and tearfully read to the school board by Abby Breaux, who has taught for 25 years in Lafayette Parish in Louisiana. Since she gave the speech, she has been inundated with expressions of support from other teachers.Here’s her letter:
I feel that we as teachers have really had enough, and that someone needs to finally speak up. My name is Abby Breaux and I have been teaching for 25 years in Lafayette Parish, yet no one in this room knows me because no one here has ever come to the schools in which I’ve taught and just asked me, “What do you as a teacher think?”
I keep hearing statements that only ineffective teachers are leaving the system. This upsets me. Many, and I mean many, teachers like me who have been evaluated as effective and highly effective for many years by their administration are leaving the public schools. These are teachers that have been elected Teacher of the Year, LEF
