What is the name of your state? ****land
I am a frightened newly graduated college graduate with a masters in education (formerly seeking a position as a teacher in the public school system of harford county) and I'm looking for legal advice on the following situation:
My quiry deals with the process of hiring and firing long term substitues, the support given to substitutes during their stay, and the duties of the administration in terminating a long term substitute's position.
I was fired primarily because a student wrote to the vice principal that I hit her/him with a piece of paper with the intent of giving the student a papercut. There were apparently five other witnesses to this; all of them students. With this reason being the "pri**** reason" as they called it and other reasons being the "secondary reasons". I am fairly certain the secondary reasons were either exaggerated or blown out of proportion in order to support the pri**** reason, but I'll list them anyways: "I made five students stand in class as a disciplinary action" (I made a student ((non-handi-capped, mainstream)) stand for 15 minutes in a class), "I made students clean desks with toothbrushes (which never happened and since I was with the teaching team or in their sight the whole time, it can't be true)", and "I displayed some resistance to implementing sustained silent reading" (of which I did not and should be found within the notes taken during the team meeting). The process of firing me went like this: I was called to a meeting for the end of the day at second period. At the meeting, these reasons were introduced to me and while they asked for my side of the story, the decision to fire me was "a directive they already had to carry out". The investigation happened without my knowledge and dealt with one teacher and a few students. I was not allowed to know what the teacher said, or which students accused me of anything. My side of the story wasn't taken into consideration before the decision to let me go. At the end of the meeting, I was not told if I could or could not ever work there, or at another school in the county, again.
My question here is, did anything worngful legalities occur that I should pursue in pressing charges? I know as a sub, I am not protected by a union. But if there's a chance I can do anything about this, I would like to. It's a horrible first long term experience for a first time teacher out of college.
Next, during my stay at this school, the only contact I had with administrators or teacher mentors was them asking me if I needed any help. They did not give out any advice, nor was my progress there ever examined by them. I was never told of my mistakes as a substitute there, nor was I given a chance to correct them. I think those mentors are there for that reason. I am pretty sure there is some administrative neglect here, but please let me know if that's the case.
The next day, I was banned from the school for going there to ask if I could see the Principal to talk about it. After a 15 minute wait, I was told she was not available this morning, so I said I would bring in the press if I could not see her and tell them about my story, in a very non-threatening way (I think everyone has the right to go to the press). I did so because I was "hushed" out of there so fast, I was convinced that I would never get an audience with the Principal. All I wanted to know, was if anything was on my record (something I could not have known of before, and was not notified of the day before). I have a feeling I was rail roaded because I am not a member of a union (although I know that is mere speculation). And while I know that kind of corruption exists and deserves some sort of recognition, is there anything this David can do against that Goliathe?
Also, as a personal note, my nerves are shot over this, I have lost sleep, and I have lost any desire to be a teacher in public education.
I am a frightened newly graduated college graduate with a masters in education (formerly seeking a position as a teacher in the public school system of harford county) and I'm looking for legal advice on the following situation:
My quiry deals with the process of hiring and firing long term substitues, the support given to substitutes during their stay, and the duties of the administration in terminating a long term substitute's position.
I was fired primarily because a student wrote to the vice principal that I hit her/him with a piece of paper with the intent of giving the student a papercut. There were apparently five other witnesses to this; all of them students. With this reason being the "pri**** reason" as they called it and other reasons being the "secondary reasons". I am fairly certain the secondary reasons were either exaggerated or blown out of proportion in order to support the pri**** reason, but I'll list them anyways: "I made five students stand in class as a disciplinary action" (I made a student ((non-handi-capped, mainstream)) stand for 15 minutes in a class), "I made students clean desks with toothbrushes (which never happened and since I was with the teaching team or in their sight the whole time, it can't be true)", and "I displayed some resistance to implementing sustained silent reading" (of which I did not and should be found within the notes taken during the team meeting). The process of firing me went like this: I was called to a meeting for the end of the day at second period. At the meeting, these reasons were introduced to me and while they asked for my side of the story, the decision to fire me was "a directive they already had to carry out". The investigation happened without my knowledge and dealt with one teacher and a few students. I was not allowed to know what the teacher said, or which students accused me of anything. My side of the story wasn't taken into consideration before the decision to let me go. At the end of the meeting, I was not told if I could or could not ever work there, or at another school in the county, again.
My question here is, did anything worngful legalities occur that I should pursue in pressing charges? I know as a sub, I am not protected by a union. But if there's a chance I can do anything about this, I would like to. It's a horrible first long term experience for a first time teacher out of college.
Next, during my stay at this school, the only contact I had with administrators or teacher mentors was them asking me if I needed any help. They did not give out any advice, nor was my progress there ever examined by them. I was never told of my mistakes as a substitute there, nor was I given a chance to correct them. I think those mentors are there for that reason. I am pretty sure there is some administrative neglect here, but please let me know if that's the case.
The next day, I was banned from the school for going there to ask if I could see the Principal to talk about it. After a 15 minute wait, I was told she was not available this morning, so I said I would bring in the press if I could not see her and tell them about my story, in a very non-threatening way (I think everyone has the right to go to the press). I did so because I was "hushed" out of there so fast, I was convinced that I would never get an audience with the Principal. All I wanted to know, was if anything was on my record (something I could not have known of before, and was not notified of the day before). I have a feeling I was rail roaded because I am not a member of a union (although I know that is mere speculation). And while I know that kind of corruption exists and deserves some sort of recognition, is there anything this David can do against that Goliathe?
Also, as a personal note, my nerves are shot over this, I have lost sleep, and I have lost any desire to be a teacher in public education.