It was not a good week for the Hillsborough County School District.
It began with the embattled principal of Alafia Elementary, Ellyn Smith, stepping down. She had her detractors and defenders, but ultimately the divisiveness at Alafia became a morale-sapping distraction impossible to overcome. That sorry soap opera is now over.
While that controversy has been quelled, another — arguably more disturbing — question arises. Smith is a veteran of the Hillsborough system. Her tenure has been marked by outstanding evaluations and promotions.
And yet, despite 34 years of experience, Smith had to be “mentored” and “coached” by a former principal for the two weeks prior to her announcement to leave. The mentor/coach was there at the suggestion of a school effectiveness assessment team that had reviewed the school in response to parents’ complaints about Smith. The mentor/coach’s responsibilities included helping Smith work on her personal interaction with teachers and parents.
And the coach/mentor, Grace Ippolito, was paid $340 per diem for her work. Smith was also slated for leadership training at Eckerd College that would have cost the county $4,500. What budget cuts?
So the key query is this: How do you get 34 years into your professional career – with a track record of positive evaluations and promotions – and still need a mentor/coach? And more specifically, who did the evaluating? Who did the promoting? Who determined the criteria? And who is still perpetuating this system?
Another incident was worse. Much worse.
Christina Butler, a former Middleton High School special education teacher, was sentenced for having sex multiple times with one of her students. It brought back into public consciousness — aided by the media — all the other nefarious cases. May we never become inured to this sort of disgusting betrayal of trust.
The shock, however, was Butler’s actual sentence: five years of probation. Even more startling was Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett’s rationale. He noted that the victim, 16 and borderline retarded, was probably more mature and less vulnerable than Butler, 33. Padgett saw the student as more seducer than “victim.”
By contrast, he saw the defendant as immature, frightened and fragile – a bipolar woman who had been in way over her head by being in charge of high school students.
He took pity on her, which is his, however controversial, prerogative.
Butler has those five years of probation and can no longer teach.
Which begs two questions:
*Butler, as a registered sex offender, can’t teach. But can she learn anything from this sordid ordeal and do something constructive with her life?
*Granted, special education teachers are at a premium everywhere. With good reason. The field requires teachers with discipline, empathy and the right skill set, including diagnostic, for reaching and motivating a school’s most challenging learners. It’s the worst of all pedagogical places for the fragile and the incompetent.
So, how much lower can the bar get in Hillsborough for hiring special education teachers? Might not psychological screenings, which are not part of the background-checking process, be especially applicable for this field?