The following Open Letter to the Highline School Board was submitted by Patricia Bailey, a Burien resident. She also presented her testimony to board during May 21, 2025 public comment.
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Teacher Autonomy to Retain Experienced Teachers
Public education is in crisis, not just in the Highline School District, but across the nation. Deviant student behaviors and teacher burn-out are at an all-time high and every school reform only makes things worse. Two major problems have not been addressed: the over-regulation of the teaching profession and the outrageous behavior of some students. This results in the exit of creative, conscientious, experienced teachers.
When students do not make adequate progress, the hammer falls on the classroom teacher. They are targeted with new classroom systems, philosophies and procedures which are rolled out with regularity. These “new fixes” are often dressed up with the label of “best practices” but they will fail and be replaced with the next set of false “best practices”.
I know from experience that the over-regulation of the classroom with new methods and programs stifles effective teaching. The teachers’ obligation is to their academic discipline— not to a string of mandates. Normal over-sight by administrators is needed to assure good teacher conduct, but having administrators perform “walk-throughs” looking for particular teaching practices, like sitting in circles for example, is ridiculous. Teachers should be allowed to teach their discipline(s) the way their own common sense dictates.
In addition, teachers should not be blamed for the unprecedented level of deviant student behavior current in our schools. Here again, teachers must be called on for their solutions to this terrible problem.
Every effort should be made to retain experienced teachers, the real experts.
-Patricia Bailey
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