Letters to the editor- Crappy parents + crappy children = a crappy school

I agree with this letter writer about the concerns parents have about teachers from failing schools being switched to better schools...

Experience is an asset for teachers in Buffalo

Buffalo Public School parents’ worries that teachers from low-performing schools will disrupt programs at other schools are unfounded. And the implication that teachers from these schools are poor teachers is insulting to veteran practitioners. Why is it presumed that it is the teachers who are not performing? It is well documented in the research that there are factors outside the classroom that affect school performance. The teachers in the low-performing schools go through an evaluation process, using the same rubric, that is used throughout the district.

I suppose these parents would advise the Buffalo Bills, in the upcoming draft of college players, to pick only players from winning teams, ignoring individual contributions. How often does a quarterback execute a play only to have his line miss its blocks, or be accurate with his passes only to have them dropped? Should he be blamed when the game is lost?

The idea that parents would prefer inexperience over experience is incredible to me. I don’t know of any profession where inexperience is an asset. The reality is that there are students who are learning and achieving, despite challenging situations, at low-performing schools. How is this possible? It couldn’t be due to the experience, hard work and dedication of their teachers, could it?

Paul Sabato

East High School teacher Buffalo

Let me tell you something. Nothing is funnier than when teachers at high performing schools think it is because of them that their kids do well. There are good teachers and poor teachers in every building. Take those same teachers and send them to Burgard or East High School and see how many of their students make it into Harvard. The reason the students at the better schools do well is because they have to take a test to get accepted, they are mostly from better homes, and their parents actually value their education.

I was at school #27 today with 7th and 8th graders. What a nightmare. I dealt with the scum of the earth. Kids walking around the classroom, grabbing each other, sitting on each other's laps, throwing paper. The assistant principal came in and they talked back to him. He said he had already suspended 12 of their classmates today alone. What's it coming to when 12 kids in a grammar school have to be sent home for acting like primates and I still have a classroom full of imbeciles?

Please don't take this racially (because the classes were predominantly white). I felt like I was looking at a cage full of monkeys at the zoo. They were bouncing from seat to seat the same way the monkeys run around their cages and play with their tires. I was embarrassed for them and their parents. How can the teachers at this school be evaluated the same way a teacher at City Honors, for example, gets evaluated? It's not the teachers' fault the kids in the failing schools act the way they do. It's the result the students themselves and bad parenting. The Social Studies teacher at #27 is one of the best teachers I've ever seen. I'm sure his test scores don't reflect it though. I find it outrageous that people don't get this point.

Experience is an asset for teachers in Buffalo - Letters to the Editor - The Buffalo News

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