Preach, Jersey Jazzman. Preach.

From Jersey Jazzman blog:

Forgive me, but I’m going to preach a little here. Because this teacher-blogger has walked the walk, and I have some words for those of you who sit on the sidelines and point fingers at my brothers and sisters standing in front of these classrooms: back off. Shallow comparisons between the Branch Brooks and the Camden Streets are useless and more than a little dangerous. Unless and until you’ve really looked at these schools – or any schools – and made the case that something has to change, you have absolutely no right to assume that the people who lead them or work in them are the problem.

 Have you ever sat with an autistic child and tried to get her to look you in the eye when she speaks? Have you ever had 150 lbs. of screaming 8th grader bearing down on you with fists flailing? Have you ever had to clean a child covered in his own filth? Have you ever had to come home to your own children after a day trying to teach a girl with a functional IQ of 60?

For that matter: have you ever tried to run a school for these beautiful, deserving children with a governor who slashes your staff’s pay at the drop of a hat, a mayor who spends his day hobnobbing with billionaires, and an education commissioner who refuses to let your community run its own schools?

 If you haven’t, you should be very careful about where you’re pointing fingers. I’m all for accountability – I think it’s critical for great public schools. But the principals and teachers of Newark and everywhere else are doing a job none of you well-heeled “reformers” would or could ever do. Until someone makes a good case against these people, who day after day do the work of the angels, they have earned the benefit of the doubt.

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