Coatesville, it's time to listen to teachers and take back our district!

If you’ve been following board meetings, you’ve noticed discussions revolving around the use of title II funds for two specific professional development contracts: Dr. Villa and Ellin Oliver Keene. Title II money are federal funds received by schools designed to support states and districts in recruiting, preparing, training and developing teachers and school leaders.

Initially, our goal for this post was to present teacher input on the Title II spending that the board has been requesting. As we developed the post, that goal was no longer feasible. The vote on Title II monies actually became just a symptom of a larger problem.

Our teachers know the state of the District. They know the undeniable reality. However, the community has not been exposed to the full truth. Dr. Taschner and her staff have presented an alternate reality at every turn. She has used photo ops, trumped up award applications, and intimidation tactics on teachers and building administrators. She has created an IMAGE.

We want to warn you; the results of this survey are devastating. WE cannot ignore the truth. WE cannot continue to allow glossy pamphlets and our students' athletic successes to hide the truth. Publishing this information is dangerous. It is a risk that parents will immediately pull students from the district. Teachers and administrators are already fleeing with interviews scheduled with other districts weekly. WE have one option to take back the district:

We must call for Dr. Cathy Taschner's resignation.

On the horizon, the board is voting on the reconfiguring the two remaining middle schools. They are voting on the creation of a sixth grade center. They are just now voting to approve a creation of a sixth grade center that Dr. Taschner has already advertised, held community events for, and even assigned teachers to. SHE has set up the image that there is no other option. There it is again, an image. The reality is the only benefit to creating a sixth grade center at this time is the IMAGE. Where is the plan? The community has not been presented with a plan, the board has not been presented with a plan, and there is no plan on the agenda. We discussed and concluded that the better option is to continue to service two traditional middle schools and to reevaluate the idea of a sixth grade center at a later date. If Dr. Taschner has an actual plan, it hasn't been revealed. Timelines would be necessary for such a large undertaking. Yet, where is the action plan detailing the timeline? Why is it almost June and none of this has been seen?

• Transportation - Regionally dividing students would be efficient. Creating bus schedules for sixth grade center students separate from 7/8 doesn't make financial sense. Talk that sixth grade students would still ride with 7/8 students could have them be on the bus upward of an hour (the unofficial district plan, which they find this acceptable) is unnecessary. Further, what are the start times of the schools? They would need to be staggered. Again, it is nearly June.
• Course selection - no guides are available for the students. Course offerings have yet to be determined. The course selection guides for the high school campus were just presented to the board last month for approval. What was the hold up? It is nearly June. When will students pick their courses? What courses will be offered to advanced sixth graders in a sixth grade center? Course selection guides exist for three buildings - shift to the two. We are running out of time.
• Building capacity - introducing the 7th and 8th grades to being housed in North Brandywine only creates limited classroom space at puts the building beyond what the facilities plan identifies as its functional capacity. There is no space for resource rooms if we could reinstitute them. Class sizes would be larger due to fewer classrooms. If there is a plan to address these issues, the public and the board have not seen it.
• Staff - Once again, Dr. Taschner has ignored the teacher's contract for staff movement. This will again result in the loss of more teachers. It will again result in the District paying for grievance proceedings. The District is still in the process of working through the grievance for teachers who were moved involuntarily for three straight years, not according to contract.

WE cannot allow her to make the decisions. She does not consider stakeholders' opinions, teachers voices, the population we serve, or past practice that has worked. She makes HER decisions. She waits until the last minute to push HER agenda through at board meetings, leaving the board no time to seek information, no time to hear other's opinions, no time to evaluate. As revealed below, HER decisions are destroying our district.

So what now? We urge you to attend the May 28 school board meeting and join us in calling for Dr. Taschner's resignation.

See why we think this is the only path forward - read what teachers have to say about their experiences in the district, professional development, discipline, and more:

The two professional development contracts were introduced last month, and the vote was tabled due to the board’s request for teacher input. The contracts appeared again on the committee agenda- see recap, yet teachers had not been asked for input. The president of the teacher’s union, Audra Ritter, surveyed CATA members on May 19-20 using Survey Monkey, an anonymous method, to seek input. Five questions were asked with a comment option for each.  Below are the results of that survey. In addition to the results which are specific to the agenda item, the CATA survey asked four additional questions:

• Do you feel the discipline committees are having a positive impact on student behaviors in your building?
• What kind(s) of professional development would you like to see the district offer?
• What do you feel is working well in our district?
• What changes (if any) would you like to see in our district

You can see the complete results of the survey here, but read on for our summary.

Teachers responded:

“Dr. Villa is meant to assist teachers who are truly co-teaching. As the special education side of a co-teaching pair I am entirely unreliable due to the nature of my job. I frequently have 3-4 meeting per week. If I am holding a meeting during one grade levels prep I am missing the other grade levels co-teaching time. If I am needed to deal with a student behavior I am now missing a co- teaching time. I will never have a substitute when I am out because of a lack of substitutes. We simply cannot plan actual co-teaching lessons because I cannot count on being in the classroom for a consistent basis. In addition, we simply do not have enough staff. How can I possibly be expected to co-teach in 3 rooms that all have math at the same time. Coming in and out during the middle of a lesson is not at all cohesive for the students. We simply are not set up to actually co- teaching. When I saw the amount of money we are spending on Dr. Villa it made me sick to my stomach. We have so many needs and here we are spending money for Dr. Villa to tell me the same things repeatedly, such as the need for a common co-planning time, suggest using manipulatives that the math program does not allow, or ask why two co-teachers have to keep passing the microphone needed for a hearing impaired student back and forth. It breaks my heart on a daily basis that the district claims we are doing what is right for these students by co-teaching when it really just leaves students floundering in general education classrooms sometimes with material 3-4 levels above their head many days with a special education teacher that is not in the room long enough or is in meetings so frequently that they are repeatedly failing to learn day in and day out.”

“Because they DO NOT follow anything he says or trains us with. I am currently a Coteaching classroom where I have WAY more than 50% of students with IEPs....78% to be exact. My special Ed partner is constantly pulled without having a sub so I have been left alone most of the day everyday. On top of that he isn’t even scheduled to be with me for all of my reading or math and is also pulled to cover another classroom while that teacher eats lunch. He also has been given many other students from other grades which means he has been pulled out of working with my students to hold those IEP mtgs. Only 1 hr of reading and 35 minutes of math is given to my students. Not to mention having to lie to parents at IEP mtgs about how long he is with me and wasting hours of planning with him just for him last minute not be able to come. This has been the worst year of teaching out of my years here in Coatesville.”

“NO NO NO!!! I have seen the same video and received the same packet 3 times already. I can NAME and DESCRIBE the 4 co-teaching models- heck, I know them well enough to teach them myself. I've gotten nothing else out of it. Co-teaching absolutely can work but it depends SO much on the relationship between the two teachers and the needs of the kids each year. I think if the special education teachers were listened to, we could build something that makes sense for our students. Also, regardless of what Dr. Villa suggests, it is what it is what it is here, so why pay him to talk if no one listens?”




Teachers responded:
“While Ellin is a lovely person the two PDs I have had with her this year have been her modeling a Read Aloud. This is not an area I feel I need support in. I do however need support in finding ways to increase the reading levels of my students while teaching Units of Study. With 80% of my students reading a grade or a grade and a half below grade level I would like support with how to accelerate their growth when the only reading instruction they receive is on grade level and if done correctly a conference with me once a week. I need more support with how to continue and increase student engagement during independent reading time when they are not working with me and managing LLI groups while trying to hold student conferences and strategy groups not how to do an effective read aloud."

"While the program focuses on reading, there is no mastery of skills. There are no tangible assessments with her program... teachers follow the guidelines of a scripted lesson... and while students do quite a bit of reading in a variety of books, there is no focus on comprehension, vocabulary development, etc. It has been suggested that struggling readers use low level books, graphic novels, and higher level picture books. The program is an exercise in Whole Language "with strategies". And as it is a reading program, with a lack of emphasis on comprehension skills, vocabulary development, or even improving decoding strategies, it is hard to understand how it is being used as the English Language Arts curriculum."

“While I feel that Ellin Oliver Keene was better than Dr. Villa, unfortunately, we as teachers in CASD would never be able to implement any of the lessons she has modeled for us due to our curriculum that is in place. We are required to teach the Units of Study lessons and her lessons never followed anything related. While it would be nice to branch out from our every day curriculum, we are unfortunately not allowed nor is there any extra time in our busy schedules. Again, Ellin Oliver Keene was nice to watch, however, why pay the money for someone to show us ideas that we will never be able to use?”



Teachers responded:
 "The ideas presented are good and well thought out and it’s nice to have a place to voice concerns. However, as is with everything else, we need more staff. The student behaviors are not going to change unless their basic needs are met. A lot of them need counseling services or other mental health supports. Full-day “inclusion” (what we are doing is not inclusion, but that’s another story) is often overwhelming for some of these students and again special ed teachers are often not able to be in the gen ed rooms for any significant amount of time because there are too many kids per caseload. Training us teachers on all these different things (Freeing Freddie, MindUp, etc.) is NOT what we or they need."

"NO!!! I am on one [of the discipline committees] and our data is not accurate at all and our principal does not have time to help the teachers implement PBIS. If teachers/principals were allowed to say what's really going on in front of the board then it would be better. The MAJORITY of the behaviors are special education students that do not have the proper services therefore they are acting out."

"Compared to the PD [professional development] scripted speeches, I know for a fact that our school's PBIS plan happens in our school, wasn’t scripted, but rather well thought out by members of the team, and is truly having a positive effect in our building."

"There is absolutely no behavioral standard or expectation in our district. The students disregard, mock and ignore authority. The environment in our building is nearing anarchy. It feels dangerous. The students cannot be controlled. Education cannot take place or even have a chance of thriving in many, many classrooms. We must have alternative options. Nine children are responsible for nearly half our referrals. Removing them is critical. There are no advocates for our regular education students - or for education at all. No regard for the common good."

"No it seems to be a PR stunt so that it looks like the faculty has a say in the way things are handled. They created a mentor program but the same students on their list are the ones misbehaving. Teachers are now getting injured by breaking up fights while the students that injured them return to school a few days later with no other consequence. They need to suspend and fined /charged for creating a dangerous environment for students and staff......... Bring back discipline that works. Students need consequences for poor choices at any age - high school students need this enforced so they can enter the real world as respectful citizens that follow the rules aka laws - the focus on college is great but they first need to know to behave at school work and within their community."

Q4: What kind(s) of professional development would you like to see the district offer?

 "I would like relevant professional development, not the continued in-service training on programs that do not work for our school district. It is frustrating to have head administration continue to turn a blind eye to actual issues in our district and just try to sugar coat everything with how wonderful our students and district are doing."

"We need meaningful professional development on Technology. Our schools are lacking in the ability to provide our students with an education that will prepare them for the realities modern society. We need professional development so that we can properly and meaningfully implement an educational platform for our students. We have not had one single meaningful professional development with technology in the last 5 years. If we become a 1 to 1 district we will need lots of it. Pay teachers to do it on the weekends and in the summer. We must be prepared when we roll out devices for all students or they will be worthless."

"Special Education Laws and IEP Writing; How to Differentiate Grade Level Curriculum for Students Working 3 years Below; Behavior Management that WORKS"

"I am not sure I can honestly answer this. With all the changes I am not sure where to begin. I have taught for over 30 years and have never felt so I adequate with both content and behavior issues. I do feel there should be no connection between those brought I. To do the in-services and those in administration."

Q5: What do you feel is working well in our district?

"Honestly right now I feel like our district is broken. We were a great district with 6 reading specialists in every building, a math intervention teacher, and special education support rooms where students truly got the individualized attention they need. I feel that I am no longer a teacher, just a babysitter and I think our district will close down or get taken over by the state in the next two years if we continue on this horrible path. We teachers are working under fear and intimidation- and it is making teachers leave just like our students."

"The teachers' continued efforts to ban together and do the best we can for our students. We do not like the direction in which the district is being steered - our community deserves so much more than that."

"Nothing. I don’t have positive things to say about the school district but I can tell you that we have some amazing teachers that the district is going to continue to lose if conditions don’t change."

"Technology. Student recognition. Student faculty relationship building"

Q6: What changes (if any) would you like to see in our district?

"I would like to have our voices heard again. There have been so many changes made and I don't feel that they have always been positive. Our input is never asked for. When we do voice a concern and even possible solutions they are not acted on or even addressed. Our lunch room is too crowded and too loud. We have voiced several options for this and nothing has changed. I had a student who was pulled from the district because of the noise and the stress in the cafeteria and lunchroom. We need help with teaching reading. We have such a high level of at risk readers and everything this year is left in the classroom teacher's hands. I have never felt so unsupported in the teaching of reading. Our reading specialists need to be assigned to one building and working with that school's children. This is the first time in my teaching career that I can't tell a parent that their child is struggling in reading and I will have the reading specialist do further testing and make recommendations. We also have a reading program that relies on the use of document cameras. I have asked for and begged for them and still have not received one. We need several behavior specialists in our building . They could help deal with the children in crisis and train us with strategies. This would allow the learning support teachers to see the children on their caseloads and honor their IEP's We need a cool down room where children who are acting out go to. There needs to be consequences for children who misbehave and are not being safe in school. There needs to be a resource room where children can go for additional help if needed. Social skills need to be taught to children who are showing a deficit. IST needs to be brought back. The poor guidance counselor can barely do her job let alone IST. Many children are not receiving the support they need. I believe our emotional support children should not be in the classroom but be in an emotional support room until they are ready to handle the demands of a classroom. We have lost so many of our non-labeled students to charter schools and parents have moved and left the district because they do not want their children experiencing the behaviors that are occurring in our classrooms on a daily basis. When a new program is to be implemented in the district I would like to see it piloted and teacher input considered. In the past we have always looked closely at each program considered, piloted it and then shared what was good and not so good about the programs. Then the teachers made a decision based on what was presented and learned about the program. I'd like to bring back grade level chairs so that communication could open back up across the district."

"1. Both students and teachers deserve a safe environment to learn and teach. 2. It should not take so long to get students placed in the appropriate setting. We operate on a fail first model and that has lasting implications for the student far beyond the schooling years. 3. Higher admin needs to actually listen to the teachers or even bother to come to the school and see it first hand 4. We need to get rid of the DRA. It is subjective and takes forever to give meaning students lose up to 2 months of instruction in reading sometimes. 5. Nothing will change until teachers and admin are a team and unfortunately admin does not operate. I have spent entire days dealing with students that were aggressive or we could not keep in the building and though my secretary tried to get us administrative help (as my principal was at training) no one would come or it took hours. This has happened more than 10 times and is completely unacceptable."

"AP programs need to be run by the people who have perfected their craft. Resource rooms need to be returned to help our special education students meet success. Multiple levels for classes brought back to appropriately meet student needs. Stop allowing unacceptable behaviors without a consequence. Remove Taschner to allow the above to happen."