Alabama “Teacher of the Year” Unqualified [semi-satire]

Semi-News/Semi-Satire ^ | 1 Nov 2015 | John Semmens

[John Semmens]

2014-2015 Alabama Teacher of the Year and 2015 National Teacher of the Year finalist Ann Marie Corgill was judged “unqualified” to teach in Birmingham’s schools due to lack of specified state credentials. Corgill holds National Board Certification to teach children ages 7-12 and has been teaching in grades 1-6 for 21 years.

Kennita Allen, an education administrator with the Alabama Department of Education insisted that “neither demonstrated success in the classroom nor a national certification can substitute for the required state-issued certificate. Regulations are regulations. They cannot be waived for anyone no matter how competent they may have shown themselves to be.” Allen also said that “Ms. Corgill’s resignation wasn’t necessary. We would have granted her probation and given her an opportunity to take the classes she needed to earned the state certificate.”

Corgill challenged the utility and validity of the classwork demanded for state certification. “I would think that two decades of award-winning success might carry more weight than yet another layer of bureaucratic hoops that I would be compelled to jump through,” she speculated. “Skill and passion are what is needed to inspire students to learn, not more paperwork to placate the education establishment.”

In related news, the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress found that only 4% of Detroit public school eighth graders are proficient in math and only 7% in reading. This compared unfavorably with nationwide figures of 33% and 32%, respectively. Detroit Public Schools Superintendent Karen Ridgeway questioned the significance of the findings, declaring that “math and reading are skills no longer required in our modern society. We have computers to do the math and videos to provide a superior format for information over the written word.”

if you missed any of this week's other semi-news/semi-satire posts you can find them at...

http://azconservative.org/2015/10/31/senators-question-irs-spying/

[blam]

[political1]

For what ever reason, it is better to force one super achiever out then to require all the other teachers to raise their achievement levels.

[DPMD]

So the Teacher of the Year, we notice, seems to be white, while Kennita Allen...

Kennita? Let us guess.

And, of course, it’s all about merit and ability.

Not.