ISD 279 Teachers 'Dog-Tired' From Workload

On Jan. 23, hundreds of teachers attended a District 279 school board meeting in hopes of communicating issues about workload and Standards Based Grading practices.

Teachers showed school board members 755 letters which teacher Annette Walden said were signed by various employees throughout the district.

The school board officially received four, unsigned letters that outline the various issues teachers are facing in the classroom.

See PDF to the right

In summary, the letters show that teachers are tired of problems surrounding Standards Based Grading, including constant re-testing and equal interval grading.

"When does the district stop giving us new things to do and provide us with time in our own classrooms to process, organize and prepare to use what we have learned with students," one letter stated.

Special education teachers said in letters that they are "dog-tired from completing paperwork and preparing for students" on days outside their contracted time.

A teacher from Brooklyn Junior High School said that most teachers have "little input on changing demands," noting that "poorly planned" administrative initiatives are taking up too much time.

To read each letter, click on the PDF in this article.