Perseverance at a Newark school following midyear teacher turnover
NEWARK — The first teacher to go was grieving over the death of a loved one. Those who followed gave reasons more directly tied to frustrations at the school: long hours taking a toll on family life, the minimal pay increase when the academic day was extended in January, feeling discounted in curricular decisions.
One after another, they kept leaving. Between December and February, five teachers at Quitman Street Renew School quit, including the entire staff for middle school science and math, subjects now staffed by long-term substitutes.
Two of those who resigned had disciplinary charges pending against them, and Principal Erskine Glover had to rehire them in September to give them a legally required opportunity to improve. No one was shocked that they didn’t last the year. But the other three teachers were among those Glover carefully handpicked after an entire summer conducting interviews. More than half the instructional staff of 66 was new in the fall at Quitman, a long-struggling school in Newark’s impoverished Central Ward. Administrators and families alike were counting on the overhaul to finally turn things around.
The departures dealt a major psychological blow to the school community. Students felt hurt, angry and confused. Teacher reaction ranged from heightened determination to heartbreak to defeatism. Glover spent sleepless nights agonizing over what he could have done differently.
In the wake of the turnover, he had to restructure intensive intervention classes for a challenging group of eighth-grade boys and cut the added time at the end of the day for all seventh and eighth graders. While kindergarten through sixth grade still dismiss at 3:55 p.m., the older children now leave at 3:10, with targeted students
One after another, they kept leaving. Between December and February, five teachers at Quitman Street Renew School quit, including the entire staff for middle school science and math, subjects now staffed by long-term substitutes.
Second-grade teacher Alicia Wiltshire has exceeded Principal Erskine Glover’s expectations with a strong work ethic and passion compensating for lack of experience. (For NJSPOTLIGHT/Amanda Brown)
Two of those who resigned had disciplinary charges pending against them, and Principal Erskine Glover had to rehire them in September to give them a legally required opportunity to improve. No one was shocked that they didn’t last the year. But the other three teachers were among those Glover carefully handpicked after an entire summer conducting interviews. More than half the instructional staff of 66 was new in the fall at Quitman, a long-struggling school in Newark’s impoverished Central Ward. Administrators and families alike were counting on the overhaul to finally turn things around.The departures dealt a major psychological blow to the school community. Students felt hurt, angry and confused. Teacher reaction ranged from heightened determination to heartbreak to defeatism. Glover spent sleepless nights agonizing over what he could have done differently.
In the wake of the turnover, he had to restructure intensive intervention classes for a challenging group of eighth-grade boys and cut the added time at the end of the day for all seventh and eighth graders. While kindergarten through sixth grade still dismiss at 3:55 p.m., the older children now leave at 3:10, with targeted students
