Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for April 11, 2009 IT'S HOW YOU LOOK

If for no other reason, I would have picked this article for its use of one of our pet terms..."flurry". (Sorry, Supe...they don't define it either! Guess they figure it's common knowledge...)

But, anway...

Don't get me started on teacher dress codes and the whole "professional" argument...students won't respect you and you cannot teach if you don't wear a suit and tie! (Sorry ladies...I'm not trying to be sexist here. I save that for driving skills!)

Still remember the day...

Sitting in the Cairo High School library at a specially called teachers' meeting. Lo and behold, in walks a guess speaker at the invitation of our principal of the week. That gentleman proceeded to look around the room (mostly of females) and declare that he could tell who the "professionals" were...who the good teachers were. It was the three people wearing ties.

As luck would have it, I was one of "the chosen". For some reason, I had worn a tie that day...for one of the very few times.

This gentleman went on and on about how one could not possibly gain the respect of the students, could not possibly teach, unless one wore professional attire.

I sat there getting madder and madder until I finally reached up and yanked the tie off my neck...causing "rope burn".

Actually, the farce of this whole episode is that the gentleman who was called upon to put down the teachers was a local person...a person well known for wearing overalls anywhere and everywhere, including church!

Another one of the hypocritical multitude that talk the talk but do NOT walk the walk.

Now before you condemn my professional attire, I'll readily admit to dressing in what one of my mentors termed "neat but casual"...because that's what one of his principals wrote on his teacher evaluation form concerning his attire.

But, speaking from personal experience, it never made one iota of difference. I had some of my best teaching days wearing jeans and t-shirts...especially when I wore my "tuxedo" t-shirt! I've been called an GD MFer while wearing suit and tie.

By the way, I do ascribe to avoiding "double standards". I do NOT think that teachers should present themselves in a manner that violates the dress code for students. Personally, I have my own thoughts about what some teachers wear...probably due to the generational gap. However, PUUUUULEASE...let's not engage in knee-jerk reactions and go back to the days when gentlemen were expected to wear suit and tie and ladies were expected to wear modest dresses!!!

And, a final thing about professional attire...specific to Cairo School District Number One.

James Gibson

Those of you who know James...who worked with James...know exactly where I'm going with this.

For those of you who do not know James Gibson...

James Gibson is a man whom the District employed as a substitute teacher. He has a teaching certificate. James is a certified math teacher in Illinois...a rare commodity.

The District used and abused James Gibson...using his teaching credentials and expertise at substitute teacher pay...$70 per day. James Gibson drove a long distance every day...paying for gas out of his $70 a day.

However, despite the using and abusing, despite the low pay, James Gibson showed up EVERY DAMNED DAY in a suit and tie. Oh, the kids respected him...he was one substitute teacher that the kids did not "eat alive".

But, professional attire and conduct sure did not win friends or influence enemies when it came to the (former) superintendent and members of the Cairo Board of Education who released him when he had the audacity to expect to be paid as a teacher when the District hired him as "Crisis Classroom TEACHER" after a couple of years of substituting as same. (James had a job offer at another school district as a teacher. He told Cairo officials that he was leaving...could not continue to teach at substitute pay. Cairo "snookered" James...gave him a contract as the aforementioned "Crisis Classroom TEACHER". Since James liked Cairo and he liked the kids, he turned down the job offer from the other school district and signed the Cairo contract. THEN...as soon as the new school year started (and jobs had been taken elsewhere), Cairo informed James that he had "misunderstood"...that he was going to be a teacher aide and keep receiving substitute teacher pay.

Needless to say, James filed a grievance. It took us a year to get it heard, but after the arbitrator listened to both sides of the story, he readily ruled in James favor...the contract clearly said "teacher"...pay the man as a teacher!

THAT, and the thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars that Cairo School District Number One paid the lawyers to try to convince the arbitrator that "teacher" actually meant "teacher aide".

What do you think? What part of "teacher" do you not understand???

Did the Cairo Board of Education RESPECT James Gibson for wearing a suit and tie every day to school...even when they were cheating him out of his money? NO! And neither did the former superintendent who, unprovoked, shook his finger in James' face and yelled at him so vehemently that spittal landed upon James' face.

And, hey, it gets worse...

The year after Cairo released James and lost their arbitration case, James got another job offer from another school district. Well, when you apply jobs, employers want to know where you worked last. James had to tell his prospective employer that he had worked in Cairo for the previous two-and-a-half years. ON THE DAY THAT JAMES WAS TO BE HIRED, Cairo officials "allegedly" called the other district and advised them NOT to hire James Gibson.

Talk about evil...

In a recent edition of CAT Tracks, I alluded to a federal lawsuit that puts Cairo School District Number One (and the individual BOE members and District Administrators) in legal jeopardy...for a whole lotta money!

This is the case.

James Gibson has already presented his case to an impartial party...and won. Now he has a "persecution" charge to add to what is already (still) there. Do YOU think it worth the gamble...to take this case into a federal court room? Well, evidently the Cairo Board of Education does because they are still paying the law firm of Robbins et al to fight this case...to drag out this case...with the meter running.

Yet...the BOE pleads that CSD #1 is broke.

Well, hell!

They are going to be a whole lot "broker" if they keep fighting losing battles.

Hmmm...

Maybe that's why the District is stockpiling money...gotta have a whole lotta money to pay off the winner of a federal lawsuit AND your attorneys who lost the lawsuit (like they did with the arbitration!)

Yes, I digressed...

But, when I see a news article about how battered and abused educators should be sure to dress professionally when they report to work...well, it just pushes my buttons...and my cuff links!

Hey, CATs...maybe I've stumbled across the solution to our negotiations stalemate.

Forget the "raise"...let's go for a "clothing allowance"!

Maybe the BOE would respect us more if they had to buy our "uniforms".

Research explores 'appropriate' dress for teachers

BY K.C. JAEHNIG, SIUC University Communications

CARBONDALE - Exposed midriffs, pajama bottoms and far too many jeans and flip-flops spell trouble in a school environment -- especially when worn by teachers.

"Students say, 'We have a dress code -- why shouldn't they?'" said Jane E. Workman, a Southern Illinois University Carbondale fashion design and merchandising professor, who with Beth W. Freeburg in workforce education has a grant from the Illinois University Council for Career and Technical Education to try to define just what makes a teacher’s outfit "appropriate" or "professional." They reported preliminary results at a professional conference funded by the Illinois State Board of Education in Springfield in March.

The two longtime collaborators became interested in this problem when they noticed a flurry of news stories detailing concerns about the way teachers dressed.

"One article described a male teacher wearing a belt with a buckle shaped like a marijuana leaf," Freeburg said.

"Another one talked about a principal with multiple body piercings."

Intrigued, the pair searched out school employee handbooks and guidelines online, looking for dress codes related to teachers. They found 90 percent of those they examined had such rules, all of them vague.

"They'd say teachers should dress in an 'appropriate' or 'professional' manner but never defined what that was," Workman said.

Added Freeburg, "If you receive a reprimand from your principal for what you have on, you need to have some sort of clear-cut rule."

Both professors believe society's increasing acceptance of casual dress has something to do with why a teacher might show up to class in sneakers and sweats. But something else is at work here, too.

"With lots of retirements in the schools, there are a lot of new teachers, many of them not much older than the students," Freeburg said. "It's easy for them to be confused about what's appropriate."

Said Workman, "Also, new teachers are sometimes reluctant to give up their role as 'young people' to adopt the professional role."

Nonetheless, it's important that they do so, the pair stressed. Teachers serve as role models for students. More importantly, it’s difficult to establish authority and discipline in the classroom if the teacher looks just like the kids.

But to dress appropriately, you have to know what that is. That's where the duo's project should prove helpful. Using 25 pictures of teachers dressed in a variety of styles, Workman and Freeburg have developed an online survey that will allow school administrators and board members throughout the state to rate each outfit on a six-point scale as to whether it's professional or appropriate.

The difference between the two terms depends on context. Most folks would agree that a tailored suit and well-shined leather shoes look professional, where khakis and coveralls don't. But if the teacher spends a lot of time on the floor with autistic children or in a shop demonstrating how to tune a car engine, the khakis and overalls would certainly be appropriate.

If respondents label certain outfits as almost or not quite to standard, Workman and Freeburg will then try to identify the elements that don't make the grade. Once they've put it all together, they will develop an online seminar for new teachers and those on the verge of entering the profession.

"A standard definition of professional dress for teachers has been needed for a long time because everyone's been coming up with their own," Workman said.

"I think policy makers will find this very useful."