A Fascinating Development!!

In the faculty meeting on Wednesday we were treated to an explanation of ULSS (an intervention program) as envisioned by the ULSS team, which consists of the principal, resource teachers, some folks who are never there, and a teacher, maybe. The ULSS has been around for 2 years now, and only now are folks trying to figure out its purpose (it has no real purpose other than lip-service).

In another post (gone to the ether), the original written nearly 6 months ago, I mentioned that I was held in contempt, and "written up" for voicing concerns about how ULSS was being used, as it was described by "a teacher". The delineation of who gets intervention (you know, services) then, AS NOW, goes something like this:

-Teachers are the 1st layer of intervention (WTF??? And this layer is for Far Below Basic Kids--they actually get NOTHING!!)

-Teachers partnered with non-existent, unfunded resource specialists make up the 2nd layer

-The 3rd layer is one-on-one instruction with a specialist (the only real intervention so far in this list!)

-The 4th layer is titled "Multi-layered" and is as nebulous as could be.

So, the district has manufactured the notion that teachers are the first layer of intervention. This notion was manufactured for a purpose. What purpose you ask? Let me tell you the purpose of calling teachers the first layer of intervention: So the district can tell parents of the lowest performing kids that they are getting the intervention they need (They have a teacher. Seriously.).

I was pleasantly surprised that many on staff were just as outraged (finally) this time as I was. The principal had a mutiny on her hands. Of course, if she were being evaluated, the evaluation would show that her lesson failed, and her management was a disaster. This is how most meetings go. We are treated like children, and we are led by a principal who is too willing to pay lip-service to the nonsense, causing the faculty cognitive dissonance, and then wondering why we are not on board. Oy vey!

To sum it up, we are intervening to get out of an NCLB predicament, not to help kids. We fucking suck!