A BAT responds to the TN Board of Education linking all teacher evaluations and tenure, of all teachers regardless of grade level, subject, or Spec. Ed. student status, AND all teachers' salaries to standardized test scores.
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Where was the [Tennessee] BOE (Board of Ed.) when I stayed after school to phone DCS (Dept. of Child Services) after comforting a little boy who shared that daddy had beaten mommy the night before?
Where was the BOE when I was on the phone with DCS after a child arrived at school wearing the same dirty clothes from the previous day stating that he fell asleep in his clothes and shoes after having nothing for dinner and now his feet hurt?
Where was the BOE when I was rushing to WalMart to purchase shoes for a little boy whose shoes were 2 sizes too small or to purchase a coat for a little girl that is cold and does not have a coat?
Where was the BOE when I reached into my already stretched income to buy food for a child?
Where was the BOE when I contacted everyone I know in search of bunk beds after a child informed me that he and his 2 brothers all sleep on the floor because they do not have beds?
Where was the BOE when I did without something for my family so that I could buy things to enrich the curriculum in my classroom?
There is a lot more that I could say.
Unfortunately, the BOE is far too busy to listen.
There is a great deal more to teaching than filling in bubbles.
-Tracy Maples Eddins
If the BOE acknowledged the amount of money teachers spend on their students then they would have to admit that poverty is the problem, and we all know that will never happen.
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