I work at a rural high school as a teaching assistant. Starting in the fall, I am going to take on the In School Suspension class, (ISS) from a certified teacher who is retiring. This teacher, although he has thirty years of classroom experience, has been doing this job for the past five years or so, I gather. I don't know him except by name, (I don't get out of my classroom a lot unless I am with students), and I have never had a conversation with him. I have heard a lot about how ineffective he's become, but I don't know him personally, so I have never said anything about him.
I was offered this position by the principal. He asked me one day and I said that I would be interested. The principal made a comment at that time, in front of other teachers, that this teacher should have retired a long time ago. I didn't pay it any mind, other than to think of it as kinda unprofessional that he said that.
Then, when other teachers found out I was taking the job, they started coming up to me and saying stuff like, "I heard you are gonna be a real mean teacher in ISS," or "I heard you weren't going to make ISS a pleasant place to be." I don't know who said those things and it started to get on my nerves because I never made a single comment about it to anyone. And while I am known for being a disciplinarian, (I work with special needs kids and they need a firm, consistent hand), I was actually thinking of ways to make the class interesting. Kids fall asleep in there now. He allows the kids to leave, have visitors and he gives them candy... It is said that some of the kids prefer ISS to going to class. I was going to be much more firm than that, but I certainly wasn't going to be mean.
Anyway, the Vice Principal approached my supervisor earlier this month and advised her that the things I was saying were getting back around to the retiring teacher whom I am replacing, and that I needed to watch what I say...
Well, I flipped. I went to see the VP and I explained to her that I never had said anything about the retiring teacher, that I did not know him and that I had no idea where those things were coming from. She wasn't mad. She just told me that the other teachers were tired of the retiring teacher, and that they wanted someone like me to be with the ISS group and that they knew I would do a better job. She said just to hang on and school would be over soon. She also told me to continue taking the high road on this.
TODAY I found out that the retiring teacher has been going to other teachers complaining, saying he's insulted that an aide was hired to take his place and that I would not be able to do the job. If he's talking smack to teachers, I can imagine what he's saying to the students in his class. It makes me see red. I haven't done anything wrong, and yet he's still out there wagging his tongue about me.
Just because I don't have a piece of paper saying I am a teacher, I still have a degree, I have taught privately, I have almost a decade of experience teaching vocational skills for MHMR, and I am more than competent to handle this job. I can't stand the idea that this guy is talking about me when he doesn't even know me. I have thought of getting my certificate to teach, but I don't know that I want to do that. I was kinda done with school, ya know? and although I don't make a lot of money, it is a nice part time job. I don't have to hassle with grading papers or staying late or sponsering groups. I can work for seven and a half hours a day and go home to my family and chores.
I was thinking of just approaching him in the hall or the lounge and asking him if he has any issues with me that he'd care to talk about. I have been told to keep quiet because school's out next week anyway and he'll be gone. But this is my good name here, and I don't want anyone trying to sully it, especially when I have gone out of my way to avoid gossip about this man.
I am sorry this is so long. What do you all think I should do? Confront him or remain quiet, or maybe something else, like file a complaint about him. He's retiring, but he will probably still hang around the school as a sub or something. They all do.
I was offered this position by the principal. He asked me one day and I said that I would be interested. The principal made a comment at that time, in front of other teachers, that this teacher should have retired a long time ago. I didn't pay it any mind, other than to think of it as kinda unprofessional that he said that.
Then, when other teachers found out I was taking the job, they started coming up to me and saying stuff like, "I heard you are gonna be a real mean teacher in ISS," or "I heard you weren't going to make ISS a pleasant place to be." I don't know who said those things and it started to get on my nerves because I never made a single comment about it to anyone. And while I am known for being a disciplinarian, (I work with special needs kids and they need a firm, consistent hand), I was actually thinking of ways to make the class interesting. Kids fall asleep in there now. He allows the kids to leave, have visitors and he gives them candy... It is said that some of the kids prefer ISS to going to class. I was going to be much more firm than that, but I certainly wasn't going to be mean.
Anyway, the Vice Principal approached my supervisor earlier this month and advised her that the things I was saying were getting back around to the retiring teacher whom I am replacing, and that I needed to watch what I say...
Well, I flipped. I went to see the VP and I explained to her that I never had said anything about the retiring teacher, that I did not know him and that I had no idea where those things were coming from. She wasn't mad. She just told me that the other teachers were tired of the retiring teacher, and that they wanted someone like me to be with the ISS group and that they knew I would do a better job. She said just to hang on and school would be over soon. She also told me to continue taking the high road on this.
TODAY I found out that the retiring teacher has been going to other teachers complaining, saying he's insulted that an aide was hired to take his place and that I would not be able to do the job. If he's talking smack to teachers, I can imagine what he's saying to the students in his class. It makes me see red. I haven't done anything wrong, and yet he's still out there wagging his tongue about me.
Just because I don't have a piece of paper saying I am a teacher, I still have a degree, I have taught privately, I have almost a decade of experience teaching vocational skills for MHMR, and I am more than competent to handle this job. I can't stand the idea that this guy is talking about me when he doesn't even know me. I have thought of getting my certificate to teach, but I don't know that I want to do that. I was kinda done with school, ya know? and although I don't make a lot of money, it is a nice part time job. I don't have to hassle with grading papers or staying late or sponsering groups. I can work for seven and a half hours a day and go home to my family and chores.
I was thinking of just approaching him in the hall or the lounge and asking him if he has any issues with me that he'd care to talk about. I have been told to keep quiet because school's out next week anyway and he'll be gone. But this is my good name here, and I don't want anyone trying to sully it, especially when I have gone out of my way to avoid gossip about this man.
I am sorry this is so long. What do you all think I should do? Confront him or remain quiet, or maybe something else, like file a complaint about him. He's retiring, but he will probably still hang around the school as a sub or something. They all do.
