Special Magistrate hears Emotional Testimony at STAR hearing

A former MDCPS Teacher of the Year, an AP teacher from the State’s number-one ranked middle school and a passionate fine arts teacher from an inner-city school gave emotional testimonies on Thursday during a special hearing on the controversial merit pay plan, STAR.

The three teachers, none of which would be eligible to receive a dime of the $19.6 million the DOE has set aside to reward the district’s top 25% of ‘special’ teachers, and UTD President Karen Aronowitz went before a special magistrate to explain how this ill-conceived plan would not only turn teacher against teacher, but would ultimately hurt the children.

“There are so many other things we need to teach,” explained Fedrick Ingram, music teacher at Carol City Sr. High and 2006 Teacher of the Year. “I teach 30 percent music and the other 70 percent I teach my students about leadership, collaboration, how to understand the world, how to walk, how to talk, how to dress.” None of which could be evaluated by standardized testing.

“This mandated plan is offensive to our dedicated and hardworking teachers and support staff and we feel like hostages in this situation,” Aronowitz said.

The STAR plan forces a bonus system on all instructional personnel, where every teacher’s rating is based 20% on evaluation and 80% on FCAT or other standardized testing that has yet to be determined.

Ingrid Robledo who teaches AP Spanish at G.W. Carver Middle says no one becomes a teacher for the money. “When we get to that classroom, we forget about salaries and bonuses. We are there to do what we love to do – to teach.”

MDCPS presented the DOE with a proposed plan, but UTD rejected it and the district declared impasse. Now the magistrate must make a recommendation to the School Board to either accept or reject the plan and risk losing the $19.6 million to other districts.