As she should, Hillsborough County School Superintendent MaryEllen Elia is demanding accountability in that tragic drowning death of a special-needs student at Rodgers Middle School. That’s a given. To date, that has meant oversight scrutiny–some firings and some disciplining of on-site administrators.
But it also means something else that has gone unacknowledged. When addressing such a tragedy–and invoking the catch-all, good name of “accountability”–the one thing you can’t chance is anything that fosters collateral damage.
That’s what is risked with Elia’s recommendation that Rodgers’ principal and assistant principal be demoted for not being responsive to pre-tragedy reports that aides were less than attentive to their special-needs students. It appears the assistant principal will be back in the classroom while contesting the demotion.
This is an insult and an affront.
It’s an insult to all teachers. The message: “This is what we do with someone found wanting at the next level. We punish them by reducing them to your rank–that of teacher.” As a former teacher, I’d be livid that my immediate workplace and professional status were fitting punishment fodder. It’s likely that whatever remained of fragile staff morale in the aftermath of a tragic death is now history.
It’s also an affront to parents. The message: “In our system, we demote back to the classroom to discipline certain administrators. If it’s your child who’s inevitably impacted, well, thanks for taking one for the team.” More than implied: “These are professionals and, however disgruntled, they’ll hopefully be successful in sublimating their personal sense of injustice and outrage already manifested in legal action by the Rodgers’ assistant principal. Moreover, you’re merely parents. The school year will be over by June. What’s another five months, tops?”
Such cavalier treatment smacks of yet another bogus education/business-sector analogy. But busting a foreman back to the assembly line is not analogous to sending an administrator back to the classroom. Unless, that is, it’s fair to equate widgets with children.