Click HERE to view the original Document – Exit Interview #4
__________ was asked a series of questions from why she is leaving the district to the adequacy of training to finally any improvements we could make. __________ would have been starting her 18th year with the Waterford Graded School District.
__________ cited a few reasons for deciding to leave the district. First, since the job Is in her home town, the drive was an important factor. Secondly, __________ expressed the fact that there was so much stress in the job at WGSD. “It is difficult to work in,” __________ explained. The environment is not friendly to teachers and that makes it difficult to enjoy the job.
__________ said she talked to the principal about her concerns regarding the stress.
The most satisfying aspects about __________ position were the staff and students. She emphasized that we have a good group of kids in this district.
Least satisfying were all the demands placed on the job. Even though the administration would say there is nothing new this year, there really was. She felt it was difficult to keep up with all of the demands and changes. __________ also expressed her feelings about the Summative Evaluation process saying that the summative evaluations only made you feel terrible. She felt it was not only hard on the teachers but could see it was hard on the principal. To assign a number to a teacher and see how they compare to each other was not a good way to do it. The last two years she felt her summative was terrible. She did not care about the money. She cared about being a good teacher.
__________ felt the thing that needed most to be changed in her position was the summative evaluation process. She felt that the summative evaluation was the worst thing the school district ever did…to assign a number and give merit pay. However, she exclaimed, “I love teaching!”.
__________ felt she received adequate training overall, however, when moved from At Risk to math, she was not trained in CMP when she was moved into the math teaching role. She was expected to figure it out on her own and she did. She just thought formal training would have helped greatly. __________ also expressed that she did receive adequate support for her job.
__________ said she received sufficient feedback about her performance between walkthroughs, evaluations and summative evaluations. She did say that people coming in her room stressed her out a bit.
Her main recommendation to help create a better workplace is to “Let teachers teach and do their job! They are professionals!”
When asked about other feedback, she said she wilt miss WGSD, She will miss the staff that she has worked with over the 17 years. She then talked about how she viewed the treatment ________, a fourth grade teacher who _________ in October of 2012. She explained to me that she didn’t know __________, but the way in which the district treated her was not acceptable and scared her. Her pivotal moment was when the __________ eariy this summer, She said she is fine now, but when she the ________ first told her, her first thoughts were “They are going to fire me.’
She would not consider working for WGSD again. Things would really have to change. Additionally when asked if she would recommend the district (to work in) to her friends and family, she said, “Absolutely not \” She did say she would have no problem sending her kids here.
Finally, __________ wanted the new curriculum director to know that she was working on the common core document last year and she had given a copy to all of the math teachers.