The City Council of New York is considering an ordinance which would protect teachers and other personnel from firing or harassment if they blow the whistle on illegal activities in school. The fact that such legal protections are needed is a sad comment in itself. The reality is that I have seen directly or indirectly school staff who were punished or fired for doing that which is right for a child but against the system. The legal protections for school staff can be very lacking so laws like this are in fact quite necessary. Maybe after this ordinance takes effect and other cities follow suit, it will be ok to "take a position against the family."
Did you mean take a position against the school? Because I have seen school staffers having no problem ponying up to take postitions against the family all the time. I have also seen school staffers have to support the family in secret for fear of losing their jobs.
Either way - it's great that there is a law like this in the works. I hope they pass it. Though I do agree it does point to the sorry state of affairs public schools are in. Sad for the children who have to endure such toxic environments.
Posted by: Kathryn | April 13, 2007 at 12:23 PM
I fully agree that there are school people who stick their necks out and that is why this type of law is so important.
Posted by: Charles Fox | April 13, 2007 at 06:00 PM
This should be a federal law, so that all teachers everywhere can speak openly about what is appropriate for each child, without fear of repercussions from their administrations. Basically, teachers and therapists are being coerced into illegal activity by their administrators.
Teachers have told me they are not allowed to speak out in IEP meetings, that everything is agreed on before the meeting. So, teachers who do try to do the right thing find themselves walking a tightwire or speaking off the record to parents. I met a woman recently who said a teacher who was quitting told her to call Maryland Disability Law Center because the school system was not treating her son right. The teacher was in tears.
I believe much of this illegal activity stems from the chronic underfunding of special education by the federal government. We are unlikely to see a resolution without full funding by the feds.
Passing a whistleblower protection act for teachers would also have another consequence - the "dead wood" and the burned out teachers and therapists would be revealed. You know who you are: the teachers who deny ESY to every single student they have every single year. The teachers and therapists who are there because the schedule is more suitable to their lifestyles. The therapists who insist that a child who doesn't speak at 4 or 5 years old only needs speech therapy once a week. The therapists who revise goals downward rather than push for more therapy for a child. The teacher who just never tells you that assistive technology is available.
Posted by: Sue Keller | April 14, 2007 at 11:14 AM
I'm curious about this law. While it claims to protect the whistle blower, I feel that if the administration is frustrated enough with a whistle blower, another reason will be found to justify not gaining tenure, or not being able to maintain a position. I don't know a lot about this law, but I work with schools in New York a bit, and have found that many of the teachers that I work with are hesitant to advocate for their students, are told not to give advice to parents regarding fighting for home-services, and to keep inclusion opportunities on the down-low. There are many students inappropriately placed in the Board of Ed., and while teachers will tell me this on the side, non-tenured teachers will not speak up in a meeting or necessarily advocate. This is particularly problematic when it is the younger, non-tenured teachers that are usually teaching under more questionable circumstances.
This is not to say that some teacher will speak up for the parent, or at least quietly pull the parent aside and tell them what to ask for what to fight for. I commend this reaching out, but the need to do it in secrecy speaks volumes.
Posted by: Angela Mouzakitis | May 24, 2007 at 07:21 AM
On 12/23/05 a whsitle blowers hotline was established on the rfcuny web site for incident that happened at C.S.I. Why now after 104 years, needs the truth.
And to those agencies that pay the bills for this and pass the buck - sorry but I cannot grant you a recall of your reply to me as you suggested, and therein lies the problem.
Cure lies and waste today - you cann then change tomorrow.
Posted by: Robert Stein | January 07, 2008 at 12:27 PM