I’m always trying to highlight local voices, and this note from a teacher appeared in my comments a little while back. I’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around the recent #AllSchoolsRise social media campaign by the school district here, in part because I keep hearing teachers who I respect tell stories like these.

Welcome back! I’ve been waiting anxiously for your post after the recent events you highlighted. You are a respected academic here in Camden-where we both reside. I look to you to help me and others see beyond the subterfuge and spin presented by CCSD leaders. Simply put, I wouldn’t trust them to walk my dog. (!) Currently, I am part of a group of 60-100 plus mostly senior teachers that were served with a “CAP” aka a Corrective Action Plan this month. While I have been rated as an “effective” teacher the past two years, I misplaced my SGO (Student Goal Objective report) that no one reads and plunged into the “Partially Effective” danger zone. Now, my tenure is on the line and I am facing a real life firing squad. It is well-known that CCSD evaluators are encouraged to score low and I fully expect it. I honestly believe this is part of a master plan to jettison teachers with 10 plus years experience like myself and eventually destroy the local union.

I see the new teachers at Camden High, mostly young and Caucasian, but I don’t expect to see them for very long. I predict that most of them will eventually move on due to the low pay, zero respect, and crushing work hours.

As for me, I returned this year to a new, much smaller classroom lacking in the basic technology I had in previous years to teach technology classes. I didn’t even have a chalkboard! Is this a district that is moving forward??

After Vida exposed the two-tier school system at Bonsall Elementary recently, this “upstairs-downstairs” arrangement is in plain sight. Public school bad. Renaissance school good.

In any event, I apologize for the length of this post. Clearly, I have been forced to risk my career by making teaching my priority. For me, there is no other choice.