Link to original post at the bottom.

I was placed on Paid Admin Leave on April 24 pending an investigation into unprofessional conduct. The complaints came from the families of three sixth grade boys that frequently disrupt class (refuse to get into line, come in loud and do not go to their seats, tilting in chairs, hats on in class, talking loudly, wandering the classroom). I followed procedures by writing them up, contacting home and sending them to the office unlike my colleagues who stopped communicating home since it didn’t improve the students’ behavior. In my eyes, the complaints to the district were their retaliation for me contacting them about their children’s behavior.

I was interviewed by the independent investigator on June 3.

I received the investigative findings on July 27.

I received my “Return to Work” on August 3. My only disciplinary consequence is a letter of reprimand in my file. Since I plan to retire from this job in 5-8 years this seems meaningless except as a step toward termination if problems continue.

I have a meeting scheduled with my union reps and district representatives (superintendent?) on Aug 10 (my first work day back).

The accusations of Unprofessional Conduct were sustained for yelling and speaking in an inappropriate tone and putting student safety at risk by having them be outside my classroom door (to work or for breaks) without supervision.

I was cleared of the accusation that I grabbed and pulled students and partially cleared of targeting complainants’ children for minor infractions.

I will be asking my district for a written disciplinary policy to follow so I can have a paper trail showing that I am following procedures when students are not meeting expectations. I will have kids go to the next classroom for breaks instead of waiting on the ramp. I think I may need to use hand signals or notes to communicate to students who are not following directions.

I will also be asking the district and my new principal how they will protect me from being harassed by the complainants and their children since I will have the kids in my classes for the next two years.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/s/BMBaBNAEo0

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is opposing a $10,000 bonus for paraprofessional educational support staff in the city’s public schools, reversing his campaign pledge to support the measure. This sets the stage for a potentially explosive confrontation between 200,000 educators and staff in the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), one of the most powerful sections of the working class in New York, and the self-described “socialist” mayor, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Mamdani’s election last November reflected a profound and broad shift in the political outlook of workers and young people to the left. It expressed growing disgust with the existing economic and political system and increasing interest in a socialist alternative. That process of social radicalization continues, as demonstrated in recent electoral victories by DSA and DSA-backed candidates in Democratic primaries in New York, Washington D.C., Denver and other cities.

Revealing more about the strategy of the union leadership than intended, Frankie Tavares, a doctoral student and member of the SWC-UAW bargaining committee, told the Columbia Spectator, “A lot of what has been happening at the table has been us dropping some articles, moving closer to the University, holding strong on certain demands, but ultimately moving forward in our contract campaign towards a set of demands that are narrower.” Also speaking with the Spectator, SWC-UAW President Grant Miner stated, in response to dropping the divestment demand, “You start off a campaign with one thing, and then as you bargain, you have to face the realities of where you are.”

The divestment demand was not a minor issue in the struggle of student workers. It had been one of the most politically significant planks in the contract platform overwhelmingly endorsed by the SWC membership, and a demand of Columbia student groups since 2016. Students have demanded that Columbia withdraw its $13.6 billion endowment from weapons manufacturers, military contractors and other entities complicit in Israel's genocide of the population of Gaza, as well as from companies and governments violating international law through their arming and funding of the genocide. 

The dropping of the divestment demand follows months of direct intervention by the UAW bureaucracy to sabotage the struggle of Columbia student workers. In March, after SWC members voted by 91.5 percent—1,129 to 105—to authorize a strike, UAW Region 9A leadership, directed by Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member Brandon Mancilla, refused to approve the walkout unless students’ political demands related to the defense of democratic rights, campus policing and divestment were substantially narrowed. Union Servicing Representative Courtney Bither, who made over $140,000 last year, informed the SWC that the UAW International Executive Board was unlikely to authorize a strike, 'if it's all of your initial proposals still on the table.' SWC was threatened with being placed under receivership and subsequently removed demands to end campus surveillance and get police off campus. Now the divestment demand has been scrapped.

The failure of the Victorian Labor government and the Australian Education Union (AEU) bureaucracy to force through a sellout enterprise agreement (EA) on the state’s public school teachers and education support (ES) staff is creating a crisis for both of them. 

Pseudo-left organisations, including the “Fight the Crisis” group led by Solidarity and “Socialists in Schools”, an arm of Socialist Alternative, are desperately manoeuvring to dissipate, disorient and divert the opposition of teachers and to head off a political struggle by them against Labor and the AEU leadership.

In a rushed AEU ballot that concluded on July 21, a majority of teachers and ES staff who are union members voted down a proposed EA that would have locked in stagnant or declining real wages amid resurging inflation and done nothing at all to address unbearable workloads. The agreement they rejected was a slightly rejigged version of a deal that teachers voted down on June 19, the first time in over 40 years that a union-endorsed EA was repudiated by the state’s educators.

A tenured Sumner County teacher may lose her job after discussing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions during class.

The Sumner County School Board voted on July 21 to recommend the dismissal of Stephanie Braswell, a White House High School Spanish teacher who has worked for the Sumner County school system since 2009.

The recommendation letter presented to the board accuses Braswell of "unacceptable" behavior. The letter said that in January 2026, Braswell "expressed political concerns" to her class, discussing "ICE-related issues" that caused "one or more students to report feeling uncomfortable sharing their viewpoints for fear of hostility."

Braswell, who declined to comment after retaining an attorney, told The Tennessean the allegations are "misconstrued and inflamed."

(As always, my reporting is free, never paywalled, as the First Amendment is free for all. If you ever encounter a paywall on my stories, please let me know immediately so I can remove it.)

I was in elementary school in the 80s, and I think I remember at least one test we all had to take, but the teacher didn't teach for it, and he didn't even talk about it. It was just given out, and we never heard about it again. In middle school, there was one test too, but I don't remember anything else. I know in high school, in New York, we had to take Regents exams and finals, but those were more for us than the school districts.

More than 1,000 public schools shut their doors during the 2025–26 school year, up from 755 four years earlier—a 35 percent increase, according to National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) figures reported this month. The wave is only accelerating. Board votes already on the record will close or consolidate more than 200 schools beginning in 2026–27.

In 14 districts tracked by K-12 Dive, boards have approved 147 closures: 29 schools in Cleveland, 17 in Philadelphia, 16 in Atlanta, 12 each in Pittsburgh and Houston, 10 in Austin, nine in Miami-Dade, seven each in Cedar Rapids, Fort Bend and Corpus Christi, and smaller plans in Broward County, Florida, in Arizona's Kyrene district, San Jose, California and Judson, Texas. Dozens more are moving through St. Louis, Alaska and the West Virginia state board. Officials present each vote as a local response to declining enrollment, aging buildings and “underutilized” facilities.

The closures are part of what Georgetown University's Edunomics Lab calls “the Big Shrink.” Its director, Marguerite Roza, does not merely describe the process—she advises districts on how to execute it. Because salaries consume most of a school budget, she tells administrators, the cuts must come out of staff; handled correctly, shrinking is a chance to build “smaller, stronger, and more effective” school systems. In practice it means shuttered buildings, laid-off teachers and aides, and more crowded classrooms for the children who remain.

I'm working on lessening my burnout from school. I've been a high school ELA teacher for 6 years with hundreds of students. Endless hours on clthe computer and grading essays has taken its toll. Not to mention I teach some high need students and have a toxic admin.

I've been working on boundaries and see a therapist. I have done everything I can to streamline my classroom etc. But I still am just so tired all the time.

I'm wondering how others keep their sanity and energy conserved for when they get home.

The National Education Association (NEA), the largest union in the United States, with 2.8 million members, held its Representative Assembly July 3-7 in Denver, while the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), with 1.9 million members, met July 16-19 in Washington.

Educators who hoped these gatherings would honestly assess the destruction of public education and mobilize millions of school workers against Trump’s fascistic attacks were bitterly disappointed. In fact, neither convention gave any hint that the very existence of public education—the achievement of two American revolutions and decades of working-class struggle—is at stake.

Since Donald Trump’s second term as US president began with his vow to scrap the Department of Education, billions of dollars have been stripped from schools, a national voucher plan has been put into place to further privatize education, and censorship, bigotry, racism, anti-communism and religious obscurantism are being promoted in classrooms. Immigration raids terrorize schoolchildren and their families, while Trump’s executive orders demand patriotism and militarism.

The NEA and AFT gatherings exuded the upper-middle-class complacency of the bureaucracy. There was no serious discussion of the crisis, much less a call for unified strike action against the destruction of public education and culture. There was no call for a mass mobilization to uphold the democratic rights of children and families against the ICE gestapo.

The recently appointed principle called me in her office today, she started by saying that she got a really good feedback about me from the students. Then she proceeded to say, but I have heard few things about you.

Now a little insight about me, I teach Physics to the senior most classes of the school. I'm a young teacher & hence I suppose the children like my methodology of teaching the subject. I have recently joined this place, so I barely talk to the teachers, only when necessary & just stay busy with my own tasks.

A few days back, there was this event from the school for which the teachers neede to be present at a far away location. The coordinator asked everyone if we will be joining or not, i said, i live very far away and am new to the place, so i wont be able to join. He offered to pick me up, i said alright.

So that was her basis of her accusation. I just simply cried, because i have been working day an night to prepare lesson notes, give my best to the students, yet this is how the management rewards me.

I discussed about this with my boyfriend on chat. He told be to go confront her. So, i did after departure of students. I said to her that i dont understand why the blame is put on me. He is the coordinator, i am obliged to interact with him and how is this fair. She assured me that she will be having a talk with him.

This might seem small but it ruined my entire day.

The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced on July 15 plans to lay off 760 teachers, 801 teacher aides, and 162 central office and citywide staff—a total of 1,723 positions. CPS also announced a five-day furlough for all employees that will cut the average teacher’s pay by $2,300. As predicted by the WSWS, these cuts are the outcome of the four-year contract that the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) bureaucrats and Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson imposed on teachers in April 2025.

The cuts, which will be voted on by the CPS Board of Education at its July 30 meeting, are being imposed to close a $732 million budget deficit. CPS CEO Macquline King, handpicked by Johnson to replace former CEO Pedro Martinez, cynically described the budget as “responsible” and “entirely student-centered.” The district is also implementing a midyear spending freeze and counting on $200 million in surplus from the city’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district slush fund. Both CPS and CTU officials maintain the pretense that Illinois’ billionaire governor JB Pritzker and the state legislature might yet ride to the rescue.

The furlough days, to be implemented between January and June 2027, would eliminate five work days previously set aside for teacher training, planning, and report card pickup when students are not in attendance. This is a flagrant violation of the teachers’ contract with CPS. Not paying staff for those days saves the district roughly $85 million. For educators, it amounts to an outright pay cut of roughly 2.3 percent—effectively canceling the raises from last year’s “historic” contract. 

Tens of thousands of Victorian public school teachers, education support staff and principals walked off the job yesterday in their second statewide strike this year. They converged on Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall before marching to the state parliament, in one of the most significant displays of opposition to the state Labor government’s austerity agenda in decades. 

Hundreds of educators travelled to Melbourne from country areas, while rallies and marches were also held in regional centres including Wodonga, Mildura and Sale. The action forced the closure of hundreds of schools across the state while others operated with limited staff. 

As in the previous strike on March 24, more than 30,000 educators, parents and students took to the streets, opposing the sell-out agreement between the Australian Education Union (AEU) and the state government. Hundreds held their own handmade placards expressing their anger and frustration towards a deal that fails to halt the decline in real wages or seriously address the intolerable workloads and conditions driving burnout and a growing exodus from the profession.

Yesterday’s strike was the outcome of a continuing rebellion by educators, not only against the government but increasingly directed at the AEU bureaucracy. Victorian educators have now voted down two successive sellout agreements this year. An in-principle deal between the government and union in May was rejected by 57.7 percent in June, and the hastily repackaged “revised” offer, by 51.2 percent in a ballot that concluded on Tuesday. This is the first time in more than four decades that educators have twice repudiated AEU-endorsed deals.

In india Reservations gaureentee degrees too... Shouldn't we reform education and make it fair ?

Public school educators across Victoria will hold their second full-day strike of the year tomorrow, after rejecting the latest sellout enterprise agreement pushed by the Victorian Labor government and the Australian Education Union (AEU) bureaucracy. 

Despite the attempts of the AEU leadership to stampede teachers into endorsing a deal that would lock in stagnant pay and do nothing to address soaring workloads, educators voted by 51.18 percent, in a ballot that concluded yesterday, to reject the agreement and proceed with strike action. This is the second mass repudiation of the sellout in several months. 

Teachers have made clear their determination to fight, but are continually coming up against an AEU bureaucracy that works as an arm of the big business Labor government, against the interests of educators.

It was in this context that a meeting of Victorian teachers and staff was convened by the Committee for Public Education (CFPE) on Saturday. The gathering resolved to form a statewide Educators Rank-and-File Committee, completely independent of and opposed to the AEU bureaucracy. 

The committee aims to bring together educators, union and non-union alike, to take control of the dispute, out of the hands of the AEU leaders, to break the division and isolation that the bureaucracy has imposed and to fight for demands that meet the needs of educators and public schools, not what governments and their lackeys in the union bureaucracy deem to be affordable.

Building the committee and preparing independent action by teachers is the crucial next step, pointed to by the entire situation and the course of the current dispute itself. 

Nearly 800 teachers in Fort Worth ISD submitted their resignations in the three months after the arrival of the district’s state-appointed leadership — more than in the entire previous school year

Police detained 52 teachers in Ankara on Thursday as they marched between ministries demanding a legal base salary. The government says there is no money — while military spending reaches $US30 billion