We believe that the negative stereotyping of teachers, in which Superintendent Creg Williams is engaging, will construct an image of the St. Louis Public Schools as a district that teachers would do best to avoid.
Williams’ highly public campaign against an imaginary teacher absentee
problem would be ridiculous if it were not potentially so damaging to the
district. In the information he recently presented to the school board, he even
criticizes teachers for following orders to attend professional development
seminars during class time, when it was the superintendent, with school
board approval, who scheduled the seminars during class time and made
attendance mandatory.
A previous school board stripped teachers of their accumulated sick days and instituted the most restrictive time-off policy in the area. And, it told
teachers that if they did not use the time off available to them, they would
lose it. Williams’ recent report to the school board shows that teachers are
doing no more than following that policy. If there is a problem with the
policy, he should come to us with proposals for changing the policy instead
of criticizing those who follow it.
Peter Downs
Donna Jones
William Purdy
SLPS Board of Education