These teachers have marched proudly into Houston ISD headquarters before, and often. Their school, T.H. Rogers, has a rich tradition of excellence and the school’s students have been routinely honored for nationwide achievement and recognition.
This time, the march into the boardroom was different.
“Make sure you don’t leave — there’ll be fireworks soon,” whispered one teacher.
Twenty-one teachers stood in solidarity as their colleagues pleaded with HISD board members to act on a school improvement rarely seen in a public forum.
They want their principal fired.
“Our principal has installed an environment of distrust,” said longtime deaf education teacher Mary VanManen. “We are afraid to speak up,” VanManen said through an interpreter.
VanManen and her fellow teachers are calling for a change of leadership at their school. Dr. Cathryn White is in her second year as principal at Rogers, and teachers there are displeased with White’s communication skills. The teachers say they have had numerous conferences and grievance hearings, to no avail.
“We have a ghost administration,” VanManen told board members.
Rogers, a K-8th grade campus, has been known for its exemplary mixture of Vanguard and special education factions on a campus filled with diversity, nestled near the Galleria area. However, school leadership has been a revolving door in recent years; White is the third principal at the Rogers in the last four years.
Zeph Capo, legislative director at the Houston Federation of Teachers, presented board members with results of a survey conducted among 74 Rogers staff members. Capo said 13 percent of staff members say they will absolutely not return to the school after the current school year, and 33 percent say they will leave if there is not a change or drastic improvement in school leadership. The survey also indicated that the staff is discouraged from input, and that the faculty is not treated with dignity by White.
“I fear we will have 47 percent turnover this year,” said Capo.
The last school profile available from HISD on T.H. Rogers, for the 2006-’07 school year, showed 106 teachers at the school.
One teacher, Doris Baker, defied repercussions by appearing before the board.
“It was brought to my attention if I spoke tonight I’d be a target for dismissal,” Baker said.
During this public comments session, board members did not respond to any of the protests. After the board meeting, the Rogers teachers huddled with visible anxiety over what awaits at Rogers, both professionally and for the student environment.
“Your determination to stand up to your school should be commended,” Capo told the staff. “You people inspire us.”
White did not return phone calls from The Examiner seeking comment. HISD spokesperson Norm Uhl said the district will look into the matter.
Said Capo of the teachers: “They just want the family element back at that campus.”
FIRST DRAFT
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