Interview with a Dickenson County Teacher

How long have you taught in Dickenson County- More than 5 years

Do you enjoy your job? If not why? If so why? I did, the ability to change lives is priceless, but that is in the past. Dickenson County Public Schools is not set up for individual teachers to make a difference; it is set up for us to push the students up the line to the next class or grade. We are limited in what we can do by the input of the parents. We are told day in and day out how to handle each situation, our input is never heard.

Do you think the county is headed in a positive direction for our children? No I do not; we are setting up a large portion of our county to fail each year. We are a rural county with a background in coal mining and hard work. A certain percentage of our populations are not college students no matter how much we want them to be, they simply do not enjoy school. They are the ones that will grow up to work with their hands, like those that built this country. Since Mrs. Robinson took over it seems we are phasing these programs out, no more masonry, electrical classes, or small engine repair. Why? How many college education level jobs do we have in our county? If we gave these students real skills they can use when they graduate they might stay in the county and raise a family. Nope our school system is essentially forcing the population to move out of the county after graduation. It is sad, they are complaining they need more money, but are really contributing to their own problem.

Do you think the county prioritized its needs in building the new school? No I do not, I think the school system got the money and said let’s see how large we can build this. The new school has so much wasted space that will have to be cleaned, heated, cooled, mowed and weed trimmed. Why? Why did we not build a usable space that would help us shrink our budget?

Do you think you make a difference? Sadly no I do not, I am not allowed to. My opinion is not heard or recognized by my administrators, out of fear that a parent may call the Central Office and then trouble will come. Why does the Central Office not just redirect everything back to the schools? In the chain of command a parent should show proof of trying to resolve a problem at the school level.

What are your feelings of Superintendent Robinson? She is intimidating and hard to express any opinions to. You get a sense that she already has made her mind up before you even finish explaining what you are trying to tell her.

Do you feel Mrs. Robinson's contract is fair to teachers? No I do not; in fact I have lost most of my respect for her after seeing it. How do you continue to hold down your teachers but raise your own salary? She is essentially telling us that we are not as deserving as she is. How in the world do you not give a teacher with over 30 years’ experience a guaranteed insurance policy, but you write it into your own?

Do you think she respects her staff? Maybe her Central Office staff, but not the rest of us, we are just a means to an end for her. Which are apparently bigger and bigger contracts? At the beginning of the last school year all of the teachers went to the preschool meeting and listened to a motivational speaker pump us all up about the coming year. She then took over and proceeded to tell us that she would take no excuses, and we all were under-performing. Also, she made us all put performance based goals in our evaluations and we find out that she has not been evaluated in 4 years, how does that work? Once again putting her above the employees she is in charge of makes you feel no respect.

Do you think Ridgeview High School met the goals that were set from the start? NO I DO NOT, there were promises of savings that would come with the new school and these savings would help ease our budget constraints. This would help us get back the steps from our salary scale we have lost since she came to the school system. This was the number 1 goal and obviously was not met.

Do you feel Mrs. Robinson puts equal emphasis on the rest of the schools or does she put her new school on a pedestal? It is all about Ridgeview, nothing else matters. In her beginning of the year speech she actually left out two of the schools when welcoming us back. Think about this for a second, do we have art and music programs in our elementary schools? No, they were cut with the budget a couple of years ago. So we could not afford them in our elementary schools but all of a sudden we have the money to put them in our new school. Why did the middle school students have them but not the elementary schools? Everything was about getting the new school online within the vision that certain people had for it.

What has changed in the school system the last 5 years? MORALE, MORALE, MORALE, no excitement going to work each day, just a grind to get it in. We want to have more control and say over what we do, but are not allowed to make independent decisions if they go against what the Central Office believes.

I have been told that we do not fail students anymore, any truth to that? Absolutely, students can make all failing grades and will be sent through 95% of the time. Sadly the students already know this and our hands are tied. Grades do not matter until the student gets to high school and the failing grades catch up with them and they cannot pass their SOL test and get a diploma.

Are you ok with me sharing your name? No I am not; there is too much retaliation in this system. Please do not share my name.