Q: I’m a high school math teacher. Five months ago, I made a stupid mistake. I accidentally sent personal information about one of the students in my class to a different student’s parents. I not only shared that this kid was failing, I expressed concern about his mental health. I know. The second parent knew the [...]
Q: I’m a principal at a large public high school in Wisconsin. As principal, I know some teachers will need more hand-holding than others, but one of my 9th-grade science teachers is really giving me a run for the money. She’s actually a competent teacher. Her students leave her class with a solid knowledge base, she [...]
Q: I’m a principal, and one of my teachers recently confided in me that she’s been sexually harassed by a male colleague. She said that he’s been asking her to perform sexual acts and making sexual comments. As she spoke, I had this gut sense that she’d been sexually assaulted and asked her if he’d made [...]
Q: I work in a highly regarded school that’s full of ambitious people, including myself. I’d like to be an administrator. Even our principal wants to be promoted to director and oversee other principals. He makes self-serving decisions about which teachers to support. He caters to staff members he thinks might have useful connections in [...]
Q: I’m a homeroom teacher in an elementary school. It seems like whenever I leave the school building, a parent is lying in wait, wanting to talk to me about a school issue. They don’t pick up on any hints that it’s neither the time nor the place. I can be literally sitting in my driver’s seat, [...]
Q: I work in human resources for a pretty big school district in Ohio. Staff members contact me for help when they feel wronged or bullied. I’ve gotten more than one complaint about a specific principal. One teacher who complained is an underperformer, and the principal is under tremendous pressure from parents and supervisors to [...]
Since last spring, Phyllis Fagell has written more than three dozen weekly Career Confidential blogs. Why focus on workplace issues for educators? Because kids aren’t the only ones who come to school every day. The adults working in schools have their own unique challenges — and not all of them are related to students. “When [...]
Q: We have rules at my school regarding when it’s appropriate to send an all-staff email. Basically, it needs to pertain to school business. I get that. No one wants their inbox clogged by teachers looking to sell old couches or find an in-network dentist. Still, I was shocked when my principal chastised me for sending [...]
Q: I’m part of a special education department at a large high school. I’ve been in the same position for 15 years. Even after all this time, I love what I do and want to remain in my position. At the same time, I’d like to take on new challenges. I feel like I’m stuck [...]
Q: I just got a new student in my 7th-grade English class. He seems really troubled. He steals supplies, knocks papers off my desk when he’s mad and makes crass sexual comments to the girls. He's in 7th grade but can barely read. To say he's disrespectful would be an understatement. When I went to [...]