Letter: Too many rules at school district restrain teachers

Friday, Jan. 28, 2005 | 9:09 a.m.

In his letter of Jan. 18, Bart Boulton is right on target when he says there is an overwhelming feeling of despair among teachers in the Clark County Schools, and that it is due to systematic discouragement of individuality and innovation on the part of teachers.

I experienced this during eight years of teaching in a local junior high (I retired in 2000), and I've watched it since because my wife taught until a year ago, and our daughter is still teaching in the district.

Administrators are demanding that all sixth grade math teachers be on the same page the same day. Primary grade classrooms are just as regimented. If the same thing is going on in every classroom, all students will get much the same experience -- and it will tend toward mediocrity. The overall result is that teachers are not only depersonalized, but also burdened with paperwork and all of the other negative effects of bureaucratic micromanagement. Every high school gets treated according to the same formula, every junior high gets treated according to the same formula, etc.

Mr. Boulton implies that this leads to teacher dropout. He is correct. My wife and I both retired earlier than we might have if teaching had continued to be a rewarding experience, and our daughter, who is an extremely effective primary grade teacher, is unlikely to teach beyond the end of the school year.

OWEN NELSON