Smelling Worse?

In the previous post I said that "as more information comes to light things smell worse."  That appears to have been a bit of an understatement.  In the past two week there have been quite a few developments.  Locals are well aware of them since the developments are hard to escape.
Every media outlet is following the happenings and all this is the talk of the town.  Far beyond the town actually.  Arguably among the premier state higher learning institutions in the nation none of this is good news for the Orange and Blue.  People care what happens and we are all anxious to find out exactly what will come of or from these events.

Beyond the "resignation" of President Teresa Sullivan, the tumult has claimed the Darden School  Foundation’s Board of Trustees Chairman who also resigned.  It has seen the Faculty Senate, Student Council and local legislators all weigh in with their disapproval and calls for more transparency.  The Board of Visitors has for the most part remained relatively quiet but is meeting today with the purpose of selecting an interim leader amidst tremendous controversy.

What the future holds will probably prove even more unexpected than what led us here in the first place.  As events unfold and more information comes to light, rest assured things are likely to smell even worse.  And that means bad things for the prestige, respect and strength of UVa.  I suppose it is fitting the capitals on the columns on the Rotunda that is undergoing restoration are shrouded in black.  It has endured fire before when it burned in 1895 but the scars from this firestorm might be harder to heal.








This article from the Daily Progress does the best job explaining all the details.

Lack of Confidence Vote by Faculty Senate

The Rotunda Defaced

Sullivan's Travels

More than the Rotunda is undergoing major change at UVa.

You may be aware that our home base at the Teaching Underground is in Charlottesville, Virginia.  The University of Virginia is no doubt, among the best things about living where we do. The University is dear to the TU, one of us attended as a student and well, one attends as a sports fan.  But our lives and our community are enriched and blessed from its proximity to this great institution.  That is why we were troubled to learn Sunday June 9th that an E-mail from University Rector Helen Dragas ended the tenure of current President Teresa Sullivan.

It remains unclear at this point as to what specifically brought this about.  But the power players who pull the strings at UVa were clearly displeased with something and made Sullivan's tenure remarkably brief.  Maybe she moved too slowly, maybe too fast.  What's for certain is that as more information comes to light things smell worse.  Sullivan became the 8th University President back in August 2010(the office of President was not created until 1904).  I will refrain from speculation but the primary stated reason of "philosophical differences", quoted by Dragas from Sullivan's resignation letter, seems woefully inadequate and should give us pause.  Philisophical Differences...really?  Fired or removed or forced out or resigning, on a Sunday morning forcing an impromptu Board of Visitor Executive Meeting? 

Something in the system has broken.  A change this large should not happen in this way at all.  The praise for President Sullivan has poured in from the governor(who apparently supported her ouster when informed by the board), local media, members of the academic and business community, yet Sullivan is out. Why and how can a shift of this magnitude occur with no public understanding of the process? 

These are trying times for large public universities around the country.  They are not immune from the same issues that plague our K-12 public schools.  Education is transforming into a much more business like landscape and struggling to define itself as we move forward.   It would seem fair to conclude that the individuals making these decisions are to a large degree beyond the reach of the average stakeholder. 

Barring an issue that required privacy I think that the Board of Visitors is obligated to provide more information to all of us who love the University.  Pressure continues to grow for more details but only time will tell whether this happens.  But it must.  How else are we to judge whether or not this is a good or a bad thing.  No matter if the change is good or bad in the long term, it seems a sign of the times and I for one think it is an ominous sign for the future and stability of our educational institutions. 

I had heard Sullivan's name in many corners of life around town over that past 22 months.   One in particular resonated with me.  It was when I heard her comments regarding the Penn State University scandal as we all struggled to come to terms with what had transpired.   I wanted to share some of her words as they caused me to reflect.   The phrases that stuck out to me are in bold.

You can read the complete text of Sullivan's speech here.

"We are entrusted daily with the sons and daughters of this Commonwealth and other parts of the world, and we are entrusted daily with the care of patients and their families. We must ensure that we subscribe to the highest values in our interactions with anyone’s children. What is true of our faculty must be true of our staff as well. In doing my own search for the COO and the Provost, I was especially attentive to the issue of character. Both Michael Strine and John Simon are stewards not only of our assets but also of our mission.

I do believe that tone at the top is important, and I have sought to send a message to this community that respect for the individual, doing the right thing, caring for one another and making every decision with consideration for our values are how we will do business. Not everyone will agree with how I enact these values. There are inevitably conflicts between individuals, or disagreements about resource allocation, in which each side will claim that their position is the righteous one and I have been hypocritical.

That is why we need good processes. A good process leads to good decisions because it requires us to call to mind the important considerations that precede the decision. A good hiring process leads us to consider values such as expertise, diversity, and character. A good personnel evaluation process leads us to offer honest feedback about an employee’s performance, just as grading gives us an opportunity to provide feedback to a student.

Finally, individuals may fail and processes may fail. That is why we need good systems."

We must never forget what our true mission is as educators.  Whether a teacher's aide in an elementary classroom, high school teacher,  a college professor or a member of a Board of Visitors at a major University, the more we stray from the reason we are here, the more troubling things are likely to become.  We must move forward but must never forget why and for whom we came to be educators. The farther you are from those affected the easier that is to do.




Local Media Reports on the story

 Daily Progress

Faculty Reaction

Timeline of Sullivan’s Tenure

Sullivan Ousted

Stepping Down

Up Up and Away

The end of the school year is always a season of change.  Refrains by the Byrds or David Bowie, both convey how change is as constant as the passage of time.  The basement weathers this phenomenon too as the faces shift and change with the school years.  We ourselves are relatively new having only been fixtures for a decade and a half give or take.  The TU sees the basement as blend of cool and unwanted.  It appears the basement is unwanted as this year we are saying goodbye to one of our own who has chosen to willingly depart.  It does happen, but not that often.  In truth this guy has kind of always been an interloper.    But in time he became like one of us, an oddball that fit in below ground.

In most cases people leave the basement with good reason.  Retirement, transfer, quitting, school realignment and even mental illness have taken staff from our midst. But it is rare for anyone to just "up" and leave.  So we thought it worthwhile to talk a little more about the basement and explore the rationale within the mind of one who chooses to leave. 

The steps to the basement circa early 1970s

Throughout its storied history the basement seems to have been predominantly male.  It has also been occupied to a large degree by history classes.  Up until recently, math shared the space, but no more.    The six rooms, all about equal size are all now social studies classrooms.  One room has an  small office(or antechamber if you are a spelunker), mostly for storing dust and mold.  There's also a pair of bathrooms and a set of small utility closets just for looks.

 The basement has always been as much a state of mind as a place.  Students and teachers just seem more laid back when in the basement.  Life happens a beat slower. But that is not to say nothing goes on.  It has a storied history which those of us who remain are proud continue. The same teacher that gave me the low grade I deserved in the early 1990s as a student, hired both members of the TU a short time later.  Since then we've taught with a handful of staff members who thought better of the location and moved on. Reasons vary but several left the profession(coincidence?) and others left the area while two longtime teachers retired.

Roger MacBride

Some pretty amazing stuff happens in the basement.  Beyond the amazing teaching(shameless self promotion) and antics, a government class once hosted the famous 1972 "faithless elector".  We've been visited by state officials, housed sports banquets, been flooded, had Friday hall parties, witnessed the exceedingly rare student altercation, seen chair races, featured a rousing game of wallball, offered shelter from tornadoes, endured earthquakes and countless foreign language class dances above (all of the last three are actually indistinguishable from each other.)  Doing the math, the TU members alone have taught about 3500+ students.  That would mean that in that same time there have been roughly 10,500 students who have taken a class down here.  So why would anybody leave?

Our departing colleague may simply feel more welcome or happier above ground.  He may not like the smell, mold, humidity, lack of sunlight, creatures, or secluded feeling.  We remind him of the smells above ground that await him on the American Studies Hall.  Maybe it was just time for a change.  He could hate us.  All interesting theories.  We think we know the real story.  Beginning several months back this individual began an all juice fast and has not been himself since.  While he has lost weight, claims to feel rejuvenated and generally seems healthier, we've seen some different side effects during lunch.

We do the same thing everyday.  "Don't drive angry."

Gone are the discussions about best practices, eliminating poverty, and the joys of teaching.  Replaced by incessant banter about beets, kale, and rutabaga.  While not so bad at first it now feels like we are imprisoned on the set of Groundhog Day.  The vibrant, intelligent, driven man is no more and all that remains is the shell of an individual who's brain has perhaps turned to mush...or juice. That said, he is a great teacher and will be missed.  Even though he will just be upstairs, it won't be the same.

The faces may change, but the basement remains the same. 

As he goes to seek refuge above ground or simply on a quest in search of something greater among the wilds and light of the upper world, we wish well and offer these words; 

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time

Mmm....Yeah."

God speed John Glenn.

June, July, and August: And Other Common Teaching Myths

1) You only work nine months out of the year and you get paid all year.

Most teachers are on a two-hundred day contract.  They may accept payment over a ten month period or opt to spread the ten month pay over twelve months.  The option is either a smaller monthly paycheck or two months a year without pay.

2) Teachers are over/underpaid.

Assuming the average teacher has a 200-day contract and earns $50,000/year, that comes to $250.00/day.  If a teacher works an 8-hour day and nothing more it works out to around $31.00/hour.  So lets say average teacher hourly pay is $31.00 per hour.  Look at how it compares with a few other professions: (source: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm)
Accountants/Auditors- $33.72
Insurance Underwriters- $ $32.46
Dental Hygenists- $33.54

Twelve month administrative employees probably have about 241 days of expected work. (365 minus weekends and four weeks of vacation)  If the average Superintendent salary is $125,000, that’s over $500/day.  If they work at least twelve hours a day, that makes an hourly wage of $43.00/hour.  At ten hours a day it is over $50.00.

3) Unions make a big difference in the quality of education.

Some states have strong and vibrant unions, others prohibit traditional unionization through right-to-work laws.  Yet even in right-to-work states anti-union rhetoric rears its head. There are enough of both in the United States to make comparisons, and so far, no good evidence to show that unions have much of a positive or negative impact on student learning.  Placing blame on unions diverts attention from the real areas of education in need of change.

4) Those who can’t, teach.

I almost hate even writing that tired cliché, but even if people don’t say it, they think it.  In order to move up the “ladder” as a teacher, one must take course work and spend time on activities that pull them away from their work in the classroom.  In other professions, competence and mastery results in greater autonomy, benefits, and even promotion.  Teachers may show great competency and mastery for decades and leave the profession with the same amount of respect and authority they started out with.  A more accurate statement would be “those who really want to teach, the ones who don’t eventually get out, one way or the other.”

5) Anyone who can, can teach.

Teaching requires more than a particular knowledge or skill in a given field.  In well respected Universities, the most esteemed academics in a given field share their knowledge with motivated students who have already shown an ability to learn.  Those same esteemed academics may struggle greatly with a group of young students who are lacking an intrinsic motivation for the material.  An excellent instructor with minimal knowledge of biology will get much further with a group of fourteen year-old at risk students than Charles Darwin himself would have unless he developed his skills as a teacher.



Myths aside, I enjoy the weeks I have in the summer to spend time with family and friends, or just to take care of day-to-day things like doctor’s appointments and car oil changes.  I may even spend a little time preparing for the year to come. 

It’s not as easy as some may think, but all-in-all, teaching can be a satisfying and rewarding profession.  In sixteen years, I’ve always looked forward to my time off starting mid-June, but I’ve also been excited as well come the beginning of August when thoughts of a new school year draw near.

Here at the Underground, 2011-2012 came in with a bang, but with 177 days down and three to go, soon it will fade into history.  Thanks to our followers and best summer wishes to all.  We’ll keep posting from time to time this summer and we hope that you’ll keep reading.