Action Alert: @TeachForAmerica wants to Blow into Santa Ana Tomorrow
Are the Santa Ana winds going to blow in Teach For America tomorrow? Teach For America wants to gust into Santa Ana at a SAUSD Board meeting on 5.12.15. They want to teach special education, one of our most vulnerable exceptional populations. I received this letter from a concerned teacher and special education parent from Santa Ana.
Dear Parents, Educators and Employees of SAUSD,I am writing to regarding a Board Agenda item up for approval tomorrow night in our district, Santa Ana Unified. A motion is being made to approve a contract with Teach For America for next school year. For numerous reason, this is a ill advised move for our district. I am told that the intention is to place these minimally trained college graduates (Recent research by Jameson Brewer has found that TFA teachers only spend 18 hours in classrooms during their five week summer training) in our Special Education classrooms. As a teacher for over 25 years working with many Special Education students, I know that what our Special Education population needs is highly qualified, well trained teachers and this is the opposite of what we will get if this contract is approved. As a parent of a Special Needs student in this same district where I work and teach, I would never allow my child to be taught by a temporary and untrained person, she needs a specialist, someone trained in meeting the needs of the most difficult to teach students.I am shocked that I only found this information because a copy of the board minutes was forwarded to me by a concerned teacher. The failure to inform teachers and the community of this contract is inexcusable. For those that are unaware TFA is national non-traditional teacher training program that claims to support education equity. They offer college students with only a bachelor’s degree money to pay off loans, a five week training program and a full time teaching position for two years at a public school where they are given permission to teach have their own classroom and be fully in charge of a year of education for students, without attaining a credential or doing a student teaching internship. After two years the TFA teaching interns have the option to pursue a teaching credential or quit teaching and pursue a separate career. Many of them, in fact, do choose to move on and never teach in a classroom again. Many of these people have great intentions and it is not their intentions that I have a problem with. My problem is placing untrained people in the classrooms of our neediest and most difficult to teach and pretending like they are real teachers. TFA is funding by neoliberal foundations and has often scapegoats teachers by inaccurately saying their temporary teachers are preferable to veteran, certified teachers. TFA is funded by corporations like Walmart, who prefer to employ underpaid, often temporary labor with limited or no benefits. Consequently, TFA’s model is to staff and run schools in similar fashion. Our schools are not businesses, they must operate with only the best staff possible for our Special Education students.Tina AndresSAUSD Teacher and Parent of Special Education Student
The anonymous California TFA Special Education teacher (anonymous because she doesn’t want to be punished by Teach For America) from the post Teach for America alum letter to Board details threats, depression, and debt. Here are a few select quotes from her experience as a Teach For America Special Education teacher in California:I was placed as a 2nd-5th grade Special Education Resource Specialist Teacher. As part of the TFA program, we were required to take classes through their partneredAction Alert: @TeachForAmerica wants to Blow into Santa Ana Tomorrow | Cloaking Inequity:
