Safe, civil, healthy and intellectually stimulating environment.

While I worked in Edmonds I was threatened with a poor evaluation and approached in a threatening manner by an angry, intense, red-faced administrator. I had come in to get clarification on a technical question. When I tried to back out of the meeting, the person demanded that I settle this now, and began punching the air saying, “We'll do this now. Right now.” I was so terrified and upset that I began to cry and quietly asked if there was something I could eat. I was feeling faint. They found food, I ate a couple of crackers and left. I was so upset that I avoided contact for months afterward.
(see RCW 94.04 J)

A couple of months later there was an incident where I became upset and had words with a person new to the building. I knew I was wrong after I spoke, but before I could talk to them classes began. She was upset and went to the administrator, who called me to the office. Before meeting with the administrator I spoke with the person I hurt, apologizing and explaining why I was upset. She totally understood and forgave me. The administrator lead us into the office where they repeated the earlier performance in front of the staff member. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her eyes get huge. “We’re going to talk about this right now.” I asked for an EEA rep. “No, we’re going to talk about this now,” in an intense and angry manner. I stood my ground and repeated my request; he left and returned with a Rep. We never talked about what originally took place. The rep asked me later what had happened and I explained. Having known seven previous administrators, I had never run into this kind of abusive and threatening behavior. Eventually, I talked to three other people in the building who the administrator had also yelled at.

As the year went on, I avoided the office and the specific administrator. At the beginning of the following year I intentionally talked with the administrator asking “What can I do to make things better.” I received no answer.

That year I used an activity from What Every Middle School Teacher Should Know. (T. Knowles and D. F. Brown) Over several days students reflected on concerns: personal and family, community, state and national, world. We shared out and created a list of important issues. The students were brutally open and honest. At the word “harassment” no one wanted to share so I said, “I’ll tell you about a situation I faced.” Before I could continue, a boy yelled out, “Is Mr. X bullying you, too?” I quickly recovered and described intimidation by a boss in earlier years. Students notice these things.

My question is, “How can teachers themselves protect students from bullying when subjected to intimidation and threats from people in authority? Who can you turn to?"

At one point we requested assistance from the union. We were told there was going to be a meeting with administration, but at the last minute the union rep reported that the administration was too busy (Later the union claimed that the employee caused the meeting to be cancelled by not making a formal complaint [which we considered professional suicide]). A letter was written to upper administration describing the treatment given certain staff in the building; the administration responded by asking the problem principal if the allegations were true. Of course, they were denied and the upper administration closed ranks. The school year ended on that sour note.
(see RCW 94.04 H)

What can you do when complaints and concerns are not investigated by those in positions of power when required?

"Delta"

Editorial: This is a guest submittal and likely the first of many parts to run in the next days and weeks. Thank you to the author for sharing your experience with the rest of us.