Maria Lauer, a 15-year veteran teacher in the Douglas County School District, explains why the district’s new compensation system prompted her to take a job in another district.
This spring, I resigned from Douglas County School District after over 15 years of service as a classroom teacher and learning specialist. I have three children (my youngest is a high school junior) who have all attended DCSD schools since kindergarten.
On May 30th, Dr. Liz Fagen, along with Chief Human Resources Officer Brian Cesare, Assistant Superintendent Christian Cutter, Board Member Kevin Larson and Director of Schools Patty Hanrahan, came to Saddle Ranch Elementary in Highlands Ranch at the request of a retiring teacher. Parents and students concerned about the number of highly regarded teachers leaving the school were escorted out of the school building by Dr. Fagen’s security detail prior to the meeting, although some members of the school’s parent organizations were allowed to stay. During the two and a half hour meeting, several topics were discussed, including market pay, teacher evaluations and teacher retention.
The following is a letter I sent to the Superintendent after the meeting.
Dr. Fagen, I want to thank you for taking the time to come to Saddle Ranch last Thursday and be heard by our staff. You listened patiently, and stayed until everyone who wanted to had an opportunity to speak. That was admirable and appreciated. I am the Learning Specialist who spoke about the differentiated rubric. I also mentioned that I am leaving to teach in Cherry Creek. Unlike [one teacher who spoke] and some others, I am blessed to be in a position where salary has very little influence on my decision. I will actually take a small cut, but am confident that I will continue to earn increases in my compensation, unlike in Douglas County where my salary is tied to an evaluation rubric that speaks to so little of what my actual job is. My deciding factor in leaving the students, school and district that I care so much about was respect. It was a great lesson for my 16-year-old son, who could not fathom why I would take a job that pays less money, for me to be able to teach him that it is not OK to be treated the way educators are being treated in this district. I was able to be the person I would like him to grow up to be, stand up for myself and what I know to be true about my teaching. So, a couple of thoughts about respect. I wanted to point out a couple of comments you made on Thursday that many on our staff found to be disrespectful to us. First of all, when asked about the awards we have earned and our standing in Colorado school rankings, you completely belittled our hard work by telling us that those honors are based only on test scores and don’t mean our students are prepared for the future. You do not know us, and you do not know our students. I understand you arrived at SRE about an hour and a half before our meeting. What an opportunity that would have been to visit classrooms, get to know teachers, talk to parents and students and learn that we are about WAY more than test scores. The second comment that stood out to me was when the topic of backwards planning came up and you told us that teachers who teach “hard curriculum” such as calculus or physics have a more difficult time planning than we do. Now, I am the first to admit that I am not qualified teach calculus or physics, but I would also put out there that the best physics teacher would struggle to teach beginning reading to a room of 5- and 6-year-olds, or early algebra concepts to 25 to 30 10-year-olds. I would add that we are experts in our curriculum, which is by no means easy. It is because we are doing our jobs well when these children are young, that those high school math and science teachers are able to do what they do. So sad that the salary bands do not recognize this. I offer this information as feedback. I will give the benefit of the doubt and assume that you did not mean to be insulting. However, if your goal was for us to get to know you and to better understand your perspective, I might respectfully suggest that you choose your words more wisely. Again, thank you for your time, Maria
Teachers leaving this district are good teachers who want to be respected for their hard work. As an added bonus, many will be making more money, but we are not afraid of change or accountability. We simply want to be treated like the professionals we are.
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