Dear Supt. Runcie, Florida Association of
District Superintendents, Florida Legislators and Esteemed SBBC Board Members:
An open letter…
Congratulations to our leader on Florida 2016
Superintendent of the Year Award by the Florida Association of District
Superintendents.
It’s pretty remarkable, and I want to point
out as a Florida Educator, that Supt. Runcie is well regarded by his peers and
considered “Highly Effective.” This is
evidenced by the distinguished award that has been bestowed upon him. Yet… the School Board of Broward County, which
he leads, had the lowest scores in teacher performance in the state of Florida…
5% when the average was 40%, I believe.
I don’t have the “DATA” right in front of me. Sorry!
I hope this irrevocably proves the stupidity
of any law suggesting anything like “VAM” – “Value Added Model” to establish
teacher worth! It obviously was NOT
considered as a factor in establishing the worth of Robert Runcie to the
Florida Association of District Superintendents!
I mean NO disrespect. I like Superintendent
Runcie quite well. We have always had a
good rapport and he listens to concerns of our teachers and our communities. I
am not down playing the achievement at all. I am merely using it as an opportunity for pointing
out the ignorant method Florida is pressuring on its teachers of tying their
worth to the test scores of their students.
If Supt. Runcie were subjected to the
demeaning, demoralizing and ridiculous evaluation method used on teachers, surely…
he could NOT have received this grand award ranking him above all other
Superintendents for the 2016 school year.
So may I say to all of you…
Analyze the intelligence of your systems of
measuring the worth of your teachers!
Florida teachers are tired of being abused emotionally
and financially by stupid laws concocted by those who know little about
teaching and learning.
Our systems to evaluate teachers are offensive,
and wrong. They point to an embarrassing
lack of understanding of the dynamic of teaching and learning in those
lawmakers establishing the systems.
Please STOP evaluating teachers and students through high stakes test
scores!
Sincerely, Terry Preuss, NBCT
NSU-SFWP Teacher Consultant
BTU Executive Board Member 2013-2016
President, Broward BATs Caucus of BTU
SBBC District Advisory Council 2011-2016
Mother, Teacher, Broward Voter, Concerned
Citizen and Taxpayer
