The problem with tenure

Well this was a red-letter weekend. We celebrated Olivia's birthday(her 11th) and one year
since Tim had his last chemo treatment. I have a combination Mother's day and
birthday party every year which went well and Olivia is enjoying her new trampoline. Unfortunately, we had a bad incident happen that put a damper on a lot of this. Olivia got the
worst teacher in the school this year. It's not that he can't teach, it's that he is a miserable person who seems bent on making everyone around him unhappy as well. He actually seems to get some kind of sadistic kick out of insulting his students, many times using sarcasm or double-talk
to see if they even realize they have been insulted. His students are denied many things that all
the other students have(like indoor recess when it rains) and I finally had enough. My daughter
has come home on several occasions with hurt feelings either because of what he said to her or
one of her classmates and making the kids work without speaking while the rest of the school is
having recess this rainy spring put me over the edge. He has a long-standing reputation in our
district as being horrible and my husband has done flooring jobs for several of his co-workers
(one just last week) who come right out and tell him they feel bad that Olivia got him as a teacher. I had a talk with the principal on Thursday about this. He tried very hard to side-step
and tell me that I should be talking to the teacher before getting administration involved.
I answered that the last time I went to him with a problem, he just denied doing something that
he was clearly doing and that since this man has made his own rules and been complained about
so often and for so many years, this was something that needed to be solved and could not be solved by me. "He works for you" I said. "You are supposed to be managing your employees." It's a long story but basically he told me he would talk to the teacher but was not happy when I said I did not want my name mentioned for fear he would take it out on my kid. There
are several other parents I have met this year who have felt the same way. The next day, I
dropped off a child who was so excited to be celebrating her birthday with her friends. I picked
up a child who was upset and extremely disappointed. It seems Mr. Adkins passed out the snacks that Olivia brought in and let the children eat them while Olivia was in another classroom
and not yet returned from another subject. The children were not permitted to sing happy birthday or even wish her that it seems as a few kids whispered it to her when she returned and that was it. Her birthday "celebration" happened without her. Can you see the smoke coming out of my ears from where you sit? Olivia told me this after
we left her classroom(I met her there to help carry the food containers) and I was outside the
principal's office when she finished the story. I could not believe what I was hearing. I stopped in my tracks and made her repeat it to be sure. I told a woman in the office to get the principal for
me. She asked what it was in reference to. I said, tell him my name, he'll know.They found him and he walked up to
me and I gave him a talking to he won't soon forget. I told him what happened and his face visibly dropped. It was such a drastic expression change that the first thing that popped into my
mind was he told the teacher who complained. Whether he did or not, I told him that the reason
a teacher gets away with behaving like this despite so many complaints is that someone is dropping the ball and that someone was not me. He again stated that this is supposed to be handled with the teacher first before coming to him and I told him again that it was not my job to manage his staff and there's no way that I can solve the problems with this teacher(without being sued or put in prison, and no I didn't say the prison part but I did say the sued part was why
I was not in his classroom right now). Can ya tell I was pissed? I can't remember the last time I was this furious.
I told him 364 days is a long time for a 10 year old to wait for her birthday. This was inexcusable and he had better deal with it. Either way, the damage is done. My daughter was so
hurt. I told that principal that in my mind, I don't care how smart or experienced this guy is,
the rule is, FIRST DO NO HARM. The mean and self-esteem damaging remarks he makes to
these kids is unacceptable. I kept my voice as controlled as possible during this conversaton
and I had sent Olivia outside to hang out with her friends but I was spittin' nails and this guy got an earfull from me. This morning, my kid was afraid to go to school. It's one thing when he does something to the whole class. This was directed at her personally. When Tim got
home right after I did from picking Olivia up on Friday, I was in the back yard pacing. I told him
what happened and he wanted to get back in his truck and head back to the school. Ya know, I've said it before that the circumstances in my life have left me feeling like I have had a lot of
bad luck. I don't want my daughter's life to feel like that to her but unfortunately, she is only
11 years old and that sweet little girl has had way too many bad things thrown at her. It's very
hard to see as a parent. I have people telling me it's time to start a petition on this guy. Judging
by his widespread reputation and the stories I've heard from other parents, it just may work to
force some change but I don't need another job. I would be doing it for other kids at this point which was largely why I came forward to complain anyway but I already have so much to do
to try to take care of my own family. I told Olivia I would take care of this and I am but is it only going to
make her life worse if I take this further. You rat out a bully and they get revenge. I'm not afraid of him, but our daughter is. Ya know, I am not a combative person. I really do not thrive on this
kinda thing but you mess with my kid or my man and I just can't stand by quietly and let it happen. This teacher lost a daughter at some point. I don't know how. I heard one story that she
was hit by a car and was older and another that she died of cancer at 8. However it happened, I would fault no
parent who has gone through that if they spent the rest of their life mad at the world. But if this
is the reason he is so miserable, it's still not fair to take it out on a bunch of innocent kids who
had nothing to do with what happened to his child. And it is certainly not a good way to have her live on through him by abusing others with his anger. Do something positive with that emotion. I have said before that I am angry at what has happened to my husband and our daughter with his MM diagnosis. If it were not for the fact that I have forced myself to find
small little positive things to do as a result of this intruder in our life, I think I would have lost my mind
by now. Mostly I find comfort in trying to help others through support, sharing knowledge or
whatever I can do to ease someone else's burden. I am part of a group of MM patients and caregivers and loved ones and we need each other. Whether we know each other personally or through an internet site, they help me and I try to help them. It is essential and it is healing to
the soul. One man who recently passed from MM was a teacher. His wife got so many comforting letters from former students saying how positively her husband had influenced them to the point that some had become teachers because of him. How wonderful to have a legacy like that.
To live your live touching others like that is powerful and you live on in those people and the deeds you have done. Olivia's teacher is doing the opposite with his time here and while I do not
think it's fair in any job that a good and long-standing employee is let go without good reason and
there should be some protection against that, tenure is responsible for keeping some very bad
teachers on the job and affecting our children's lives sometimes for far longer than just the 10 months they spend with them. That just shouldn't be. Well, I just had to get this off my chest.
I don't know where this is headed but that man owes our daughter an apology and based on
how he reacts to my e-mail to him and the principal's actions, he just may get himself in for more than he bargained for with me.