- Oct 17, 2011
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I know the article's TL;DR, but if you're interested in the current state of teaching, and the new laws and scrutiny being placed on the classroom, it's worth your time.
Jason Connelly is exactly the kind of young educator the South Dakota public school system would love to add to its depleted teacher workforce.
Connelly grew up in Sioux Falls and attended Catholic schools before pursuing a history and teaching degree at Augustana University, which he obtained this year.
With each passing week, Connelly said discussions in the teacher’s lounge at Roosevelt [where he did his student-teaching] turned away from sharing ideas and highlighting classroom successes and shifted more to worry and stress about what teachers felt safe to teach and how to avoid criticism or chastisement.
That increasing stress is being fueled by political rhetoric at both the state and local levels that questions the intentions and even the morals of classroom teachers, Connelly said.
[He seeks to get his first teaching job out of state.]
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In May, a school board candidate in Rapid City sent out a four-page letter referring to “woke” teachers as “tyrants of the teacher’s lounge” who forced students to wear masks and espouse “anti-American leftist propaganda.”
Janyce Hockenbary ... wants to protect students “from anyone that may want to harm them, whether physically or by stealing their hearts, minds and souls as they turn our schools into indoctrination centers.”
The letter came out around the same time the incumbent school board in Rapid City considered removal of several books from use in classrooms that some administrators found objectionable. The books were targeted for destruction rather than for reuse elsewhere. The board delayed action on the books after local news reports uncovered the proposal and strong public reaction against the proposal followed.
In Wessington Springs, the school board has seen controversy arise over a math teacher who placed an “ally” magnet with rainbow colors on it in her classroom. The teacher was forced to remove the magnet
In Deadwood, the school board has begun consideration of new rules to determine what, if any, decorations should be allowed in classrooms. The proposal was prompted by display of so-called “safe space” signs, not unlike the magnet in Wessington Springs.
Meanwhile, Gov. Noem and the South Dakota Legislature have enacted rules and laws banning the teaching of critical race theory
Some educators in South Dakota say the rhetoric around CRT has done exactly the opposite of what the governor said in her statements — that in fact, the continued focus on CRT has stoked division in education at the local level and society as a whole by focusing on a problem that does not exist.
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After the [social studies] standards were approved by a working group of nearly 50 citizens, they were submitted to the state but were altered at that point to remove several references to continued teaching of Native American history and culture in public schools.
Paul Harens, a retired teacher who was a member of the social studies working group, told the Associated Press that the DOE changes seemed to align with “a political agenda” and that they would likely cause division within school boards across the state.
“The new document takes sides,” Harens said. “They have turned it into a political football.”
Jason Connelly is exactly the kind of young educator the South Dakota public school system would love to add to its depleted teacher workforce.
Connelly grew up in Sioux Falls and attended Catholic schools before pursuing a history and teaching degree at Augustana University, which he obtained this year.
With each passing week, Connelly said discussions in the teacher’s lounge at Roosevelt [where he did his student-teaching] turned away from sharing ideas and highlighting classroom successes and shifted more to worry and stress about what teachers felt safe to teach and how to avoid criticism or chastisement.
That increasing stress is being fueled by political rhetoric at both the state and local levels that questions the intentions and even the morals of classroom teachers, Connelly said.
[He seeks to get his first teaching job out of state.]
---
In May, a school board candidate in Rapid City sent out a four-page letter referring to “woke” teachers as “tyrants of the teacher’s lounge” who forced students to wear masks and espouse “anti-American leftist propaganda.”
Janyce Hockenbary ... wants to protect students “from anyone that may want to harm them, whether physically or by stealing their hearts, minds and souls as they turn our schools into indoctrination centers.”
The letter came out around the same time the incumbent school board in Rapid City considered removal of several books from use in classrooms that some administrators found objectionable. The books were targeted for destruction rather than for reuse elsewhere. The board delayed action on the books after local news reports uncovered the proposal and strong public reaction against the proposal followed.
In Wessington Springs, the school board has seen controversy arise over a math teacher who placed an “ally” magnet with rainbow colors on it in her classroom. The teacher was forced to remove the magnet
In Deadwood, the school board has begun consideration of new rules to determine what, if any, decorations should be allowed in classrooms. The proposal was prompted by display of so-called “safe space” signs, not unlike the magnet in Wessington Springs.
Meanwhile, Gov. Noem and the South Dakota Legislature have enacted rules and laws banning the teaching of critical race theory
Some educators in South Dakota say the rhetoric around CRT has done exactly the opposite of what the governor said in her statements — that in fact, the continued focus on CRT has stoked division in education at the local level and society as a whole by focusing on a problem that does not exist.
-
After the [social studies] standards were approved by a working group of nearly 50 citizens, they were submitted to the state but were altered at that point to remove several references to continued teaching of Native American history and culture in public schools.
Paul Harens, a retired teacher who was a member of the social studies working group, told the Associated Press that the DOE changes seemed to align with “a political agenda” and that they would likely cause division within school boards across the state.
“The new document takes sides,” Harens said. “They have turned it into a political football.”
