Crystal and I have been dealing with shock and anger all weekend. She has been in a student-teaching placement since the start of the fall term at a local high school. This last Monday her placement was terminated by her mentor teacher. That was totally unexpected, but in some way a relief, because Crystal has been working from dawn until she goes to sleep (12-14 hours) every day for the last several weeks trying to put together lessons using technology she is not familiar with. (Albuquerque Public Schools is doing 100% electronic learning this term as a response to COVID.)
Then this Friday we learned the specific charges leveled against her, and also the consequences to us. The charges include dishonesty, defiance and unwillingness to improve her teaching methods, lack of responsibility, and even backstabbing another teacher in front of his students. Crystal may have many faults, but none of those charges describe her. The consequences include having to do a new student-teaching placement, her second and final chance to complete the program she has been in for the last 2 years. If she fails this final attempt, all that work will be lost. It will cost us another $4600 to try again, in addition to the $4600 it cost us for this attempt, and all the thousands we spent for course-work leading to this point hang in the balance.
Given the severity of consequences, we feel that there should have been a high bar for termination, including multiple opportunities to work out differences in person and ensure an accurate understanding on everyone’s part. Right now our goal is simply to clear Crystal’s name and to rebuild any lost trust with the school she’s been associated with for 5 years now.
(A few days later …)
We met with the principal and vice principal this last Thursday. The outcome was rather neutral. The principal took the opportunity to point out a couple of issues with Crystal’s communication style, and we also learned that the principal herself was the one who reported the past incident about undermining another teacher. It was difficult to hear through this to any empathy she might have expressed. The vice principal was mostly quiet, but did express the desire to keep a relationship between Crystal and the school. This is what Crystal cared about the most.
I showed the principal a log of the last 4 days of Crystal’s text messages with her mentor. They revealed two people in open and reasonably friendly conversation up until that Monday. I showed several other documents, some of which seemed to expand the principal’s understanding. There’s quite a bit of additional material, but the principal did not seem to have the time for more. I concluded by pointing out that Crystal worked extremely hard to serve the students, and that deserved both recognition and grace.
We gave them a bag of fudge afterward, literally leaving a sweet taste in their mouth. It’s difficult to say whether we “parted on good terms” or are “back together again”. It feels more like the former to me. Crystal is mostly at peace with that now, but she is still traumatized by the whole experience, not sure who she can trust anymore.
So far, neither institution involved has said, “This was mishandled, and we own a share of responsibility for what happened to you.” They have put the entire weight of self-reflection and repentance on Crystal.
(And finally …)
As I have reflect on this over the months since, it seems clear that Crystal did nothing wrong. The mentor rushed Crystal into full takeover so the mentor could leave for a couple of weeks to deal with personal issues. When the mentor returned, she terminated Crystal. Perhaps because of the damning nature of this situation, the mentor felt the need to smear Crystal’s character as justification.
Both the mentor and the principal were operating on a rather low bar of professional ethics, and no one was there who could hold them to account. Similarly, Crystal’s university disposed of the case in way that was most convenient to the corporation, keeping thousands of dollars without giving corresponding value.
All these relationships have ended, and it is not worth the cost and grief for us to fight this battle any more. Crystal has her Masters in Education and is moving on to other things.