Lack of respect is why teachers leave

Pam Young, Henderson

Friday, April 18, 2008 | 2:03 a.m.

Thank you for printing the letter Thursday from teacher Bart Boulton headlined “Policymakers turn deaf ear to teachers”: He has succinctly hit the nail on the head.

The Clark County School District has a strongly entrenched culture of hostility toward the classroom teachers and support personnel. This culture of hostility starts at the top and spews downward into the school sites and classrooms. With the appointment of Superintendent Walt Rulffes, working conditions have sharply deteriorated and the lack of respect has become even more open.

Conditions used to be a bit better, but over the past eight years many of us have noticed an appalling decline in the quality of administrators assigned to school sites. Too many have been very poorly trained and have surprisingly poor people skills; some are hostile not just toward teachers and staff but to students as well.

Many of these newer administrators have spent as few as three years as classroom teachers before “escaping” the classroom and going into administration. Too many did not like the classroom and so opted out. Is this the mind-set that should be running our schools?

A 36-year veteran of the School District, I retired earlier than planned because of a severe lack of respect and an openly hostile work environment. As long as the School Board allows, or condones, this culture of hostility and the lack of respect that exists, teachers will continue to leave in droves and not look back. I certainly haven’t.