It is time to connect the dots so that
everyone can clearly see how our Governor’s negative attitude toward teachers has
actually fostered a culture beneath him where administrators within the
Department of Education (aka Board of Education) knowingly and incessantly engage
in the abridgment of the basic constitutional rights of teachers, students, and
parents.
It is time to connect the dots so that
everyone can clearly see how our Governor’s negative perception of teachers has
produced an administrative culture where it is permissible to ceaselessly intimidate,
bully, and harass teachers; where they are blasé about disrupting lessons and
depriving students from a sound education; where they are not interested in
facilitating a safe and nurturing learning environment and community building
but a hostile and authoritative institution which closely resembles
correctional facilities; where they engage in many other immoral and unethical
practices with complete immunity against any form of accountability.
It
is time to connect the dots so that everyone can clearly see that these
antiquated “Get-Tough/Scared Straight”
tactics, as indicated by many controlled scientific studies, are destructive to
the learning environment, toxic to the developing mind, facilitates anger and
alienation in children, and teaches children to resent authority.
Is this what we want for our children around
a time that more prisons are actually being built in comparison to schools? Is
this what we want for our children around a time that the amount of juvenile
court cases has reached the millions? Is this what we want for our children
around a time that we are openly experiencing hardship between communities and
law enforcement?
You cannot teach children better social
skills by being aggressive toward them, their teachers, and their parents. So
Governor Cuomo, I implore you to connect your dots of leadership because the
adversity Public Schools are currently experiencing is exactly what you will
clearly see. Much love to you all, always.
Sincerely,
Luis Angel Perez
Middle School Science & Mathematics,
First Grade, Fourth Grade Educator & Advocate
