So Your Boss Sucks, Now What?
Bad bosses happen to good people. Join entrepreneur, corporate trailblazer-turned-business strategist, and podcast host Natalie Parker as she unpacks real-life stories of tough leaders and toxic work environments. With Natalie’s expertise in navigating corporate chaos and building strategies for success, this podcast offers practical advice and actionable insights to help you turn workplace challenges into opportunities for growth. Whether you’re dealing with micromanagers, toxic cultures, or just plain bad vibes, this is your go-to guide for taking control, thriving, and proving that when your boss sucks, your success doesn’t have to.
So Your Boss Sucks, Now What?
S3 E6: Systemic Setups & Silent Struggles: What They Don’t Tell Black Male Teachers
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Benjamin Joseph's powerful testimony about teaching in Brooklyn schools reveals the deep flaws in our education system that often place administrative convenience above student welfare. As a Black male STEM teacher, Benjamin entered the profession with noble intentions - to provide representation in a field where few look like him and to equip the next generation with vital skills. What he discovered instead was a system where literacy rates are plummeting, special education services go undelivered, and educators who speak up face institutional backlash.
The most troubling revelation comes when Benjamin discovers students with IEPs aren't receiving legally mandated services, and worse, school officials are instructing children to hide this fact from their parents. When Benjamin refuses to remain silent, documenting these failures and alerting all relevant stakeholders, he finds himself targeted by administration. Yet he persists, driven by an unwavering commitment to his students: "These are my kids, and if I have a kid that I'm trying to teach and I realize that they're not getting their services, that is a problem for me."
Beyond exposing institutional failings, Benjamin offers profound insights into the impossible demands placed on modern teachers. Expected to serve as educators, counselors, behavioral managers, security guards, and surrogate parents, teachers are burning out while attempting to compensate for systemic failures. For parents, his message is clear: question everything, understand what services your child should receive, and remain actively involved in their education.
Despite facing pushback, Benjamin's approach built lasting relationships with students and parents who continue to seek his guidance years later. His story serves as both inspiration and warning - our education system requires fundamental reform that prioritizes transparency and student welfare over administrative convenience.
How can we rebuild an educational system that truly serves all students? Listen now to join this crucial conversation.
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Standing Up For Students
Speaker 1But these are my kids and if I have a kid that I'm trying to teach and I'm trying to make sure that they're getting the education that they're getting and I realize that they're not getting their services , that is a problem for me because I can't teach them if they're not getting the services that they're supposed to be getting , which will also help them to implement or to retain knowledge or to understand what I'm trying to teach . And I'm sure I'll say you need support .
Speaker 2even if I got fired , at least I know that she is not the only child that's probably going through this . Benjamin , thanks for joining us .
Speaker 1No problem . Thank you for having me .
Speaker 2We're so glad to have you on . So your Boss Sucks Teacher Edition . We're excited to really appreciate teachers and I'm excited to hear your story . So I want to first start with . You know what made you want to go into education . You know what made you want to go into education .
Speaker 1I think education for me came from just helping others . I would honestly say the first time I actually felt interested in teaching was during my internship at City Tech . This is where I had to work on my biomedical informatics degree for my bachelor's degree and what happened was they paired me up with high schoolers so I had to kind of work with them and teach them how to implement different integrations of softwares , platforms and then being able to kind of teach them the ropes so that by the time they get to college they feel prepared . And then when I realized that , I said you know what ? I could take those skills that I have and teach it to other kids . So I said , why not ?
Speaker 1But it was also realizing that in the STEM field , especially in a lot of schools , especially in New York , they don't have a lot of STEM teachers or even just science teachers . Period , and especially as a Black male , as a male figure , that's something that I wanted to kind of address . So I kind of put myself in that category and told myself you know what ? I want to be part of that system and I want to just share whatever knowledge I have to kind of bring up the next leaders and generations . For the new year coming up up , the next leaders and generations , for the new year coming up .
Speaker 2So I'm surprised to hear that , because I feel like STEM or STEAM , or what everybody wants to call it STEM , stem , right , I think . I feel like we've been talking about this for like 20 years . How is this still a struggle in the school systems ? In the school systems ?
Speaker 1I think , realizing that STEM there's a lot that goes into it , but I think the main thing is well , I noticed that in order for you to know STEM or to just know anything science-related , math-related or engineering-related , anything in the tech space , the problem is that we have a lot of students that are having challenges when it comes to reading and just writing .
Speaker 1So if you're trying to teach a student , teach scholars , how to implement this new strategy within a software , or you want them to know how to code , or if you want them to kind of run simulations , if they cannot read , then that means they won't be able to follow instructions or the directions being implemented to them .
Speaker 1So I think the the main issue is realizing that you know you put these kids into certain courses and you want them to learn , but then you also realize they're not on the same level . For example , if I'm teaching a sixth grader , a sixth grader might be on a first , second grade level , so does that mean that they can understand sixth grade level ? Not entirely right , and I think that's where the problem actually came out Noticing and realizing that while I'm trying to educate students , there's a lot of challenges that they're facing on their end , and realizing that , when it comes to reading or understanding context , that's something that is really breaking the system down and it's been addressed many times , but I just felt like it's just been kicked to the back burner and I think that's the biggest issue that they've been facing in the educational space .
Speaker 2So we're going to talk about your bad boss , I promise . But I'm still like blown on this literacy thing , cause I saw a report recently that talked about how , um , in America , our literacy rate is going down . Like I'm like , how does this we just how do you get and only read it at second grade level ? I'm real and you know what . I'm not surprised because having a child in a public education system with an IEP and a special plan for his learning , an individual education plan , iep I had to intervene at a certain grade level where I'm like he's at this grade level but he's still reading at that . And you all keep saying it's fine and I'm looking at these goals . I don't think they're aggressive enough . That's not fine . And we ended up having to move him to a different school because they were fine with just floating him back .
Speaker 1Just floating . The problem is transparency sucks . There's no transparency , the transparency that a lot of I mean the system , the school sometimes I feel like when I'm walking in you know , there's a lot of schools I worked at and I think the issue is that when you're trying to sell a dream or trying to tell parents that , oh , this is what we're offering , this is what we're doing for your child , and , as an educator , when I walk inside the school building , I'm seeing something different and then I ask myself would I want my own child to be in this network ? The answer has always been no , always been no . I have not said yes to anything regarding the schools that I've worked at only because it's not just like not saying that there aren't good educators out there .
Speaker 1There's a lot of educators that know how to teach . They know how to create a safe space and environment for students to learn . There's teachers who will speak up , but that's the number one thing For me . I got to look out for my kids and that's also telling me that I have to make sure that there's a relationship building type of thing between not just me but the network , the leadership , the students and the parents . And the biggest issue that we'll dive into is when the parents are needed . Where are they right ? Because we keep getting the well , you didn't tell me that my child was failing , but then again I always come with receipts because messages . We use those softwares . We use ParentSquare . This is where parents are supposed to implement and enroll , make sure it's on their phone so they can get emails anywhere .
Speaker 1But we realize that there are some parents who just don't respond to teachers because they're saying , well , if one teacher is calling me , another teacher is calling me . I'm getting tired , Too many teachers are calling me . We get a lot of excuses about a lot of things . We get a lot of excuses about a lot of things , but the one thing I've always had to do , I had to address it to parents , and we've had this big issue that parents will only reach out to you when it's parent-teacher conference . We'll get into that , but that's something that always it , just it gets me angry , because I'm just like I've been reaching out to you weekly . I send out information on ParentSquare , Google Classroom , you name it . We send out data from Schoolrunner . This is where all of the important information , data , analytics , all the data that we need and resources to kind of see where students are . We send all those things out to parents , but do parents respond ? No , some of them do , but not all of them .
Speaker 2And it becomes an issue . So this gets to you . Know you and I talked about this , I , I have named it . At first , it was going to be the trifecta of leadership , right ? So , in terms of being an educator , I feel like what I'm hearing from a lot of the educators we've talked to is that there's this , this , this multi-faceted effect on who's your boss . You have the , the , the , the state or federal , you know administration . Then you have your internal administration at the school . Those are two different levels of , of , of boss right .
Speaker 2But then you also have the parents right as , as a you know a , a recipient of your product , if you will , and the children . So it's really like a court set , if you will , and I think I think for me , the question I have is like how do you , as the educator , deal with the level of stress that comes with the multifaceted demand of your energy , especially when a lot of those demands are in conflict ?
Speaker 1Listen , I feel like building relationships . It's key for me . I think when you build relationships , it drives and it kind of allows you to create that safe space for parents . If you want to talk about relationship building , that's something that I've always done , ever since I've been an educator .
Speaker 2Relationship power with the administration , with the parents .
Speaker 1Well , parents had to come first . The way I see it is the reason why and I've spoken to a couple of my colleagues about this the reason why the schools are still standing up today . We can talk about government funds , we can talk about funds that are being implemented into the school system and the networks , but the reason why they are mainly standing up today is because of parents . Right , if the parents didn't send their child to the school , the classrooms would be empty . If the classrooms are empty and the teachers are standing there , the teachers can't work because they can't . They're not teaching anybody . So if you have no teachers in the building , then all you're going to have standing there is just a building and leadership and then the network and the board members . The problem that we're having is that relationship building , I realize , goes on a back burner . They only do it for a certain time because remember the recruiters , the recruitment process . You would think it's just the recruiters that need to recruit people and talk to parents and call parents .
Speaker 2So for context , though , we're talking specifically about charter schools .
Speaker 1Well , charter schools and public schools . There's a lot that goes into that recruitment process . But I also have seen and been not part of the process . It's been different where they want teachers to kind of get students in the building and there's been a lot of pressure into that . The one thing that I know I've done right I've taught kids that had siblings on top of siblings . I've taught their brothers and sisters , kids that had siblings on top of siblings . I've taught their , their brothers and sisters , and the relationship has always been the same for me . I love keeping it real . There are a lot of things that the network and leadership wanted me to do and because I was one of those teachers that my foot was down , I would not put myself in a position where I would take away from my integrity , because I know what these kids need .
Speaker 2Give me one good example of like like . I'm not doing that .
Speaker 1All right . So there was a particular situation with um , a student
The Science Teacher's Journey
Speaker 1who came in and this is , this is like an issue that you know . There's some parents that's like look , if anything happens , you call me , you let me know . Like , I got parents that are I need speed dial , you need to call me . The student came in and they came in pretty late and for me it's like when I don't see certain students that I know you've been coming in , but then you didn't show up . It's like what's going on . So what I decided to do was there was a time period where I gave students independent work , because during the independent work is when I could , like , go on my laptop , try to make a few phone calls , try to look at data . But I took that time to reach out and what I found out was there was a message that was supposed to be sent out to the teachers of my grade , but it wasn't sent out .
Speaker 1A particular situation happened , but I didn't know because you didn't send an email out , and I called the parents and told them , like , look , I hope so-and-so is good . If you need anything , let me know what's going on . The parents basically told me oh , they didn't tell you that you know this particular thing happened . The child was in the hospital . We didn't know anything that was going on , um , and then it got to a particular point where we just start that something . You know , maybe the parent just didn't decide to bring them to the school because of something else . So this communication thing because I want to make sure that in the area that the school because of something else . So this communication thing because I wanna make sure that in the area that the school is in there's a lot of shootings , there's a lot of fights , there's a lot of other schools that get into a lot of dangerous activities . My main thing is to make sure , like my students are safe . So come to find out .
Speaker 1It was a situation that there was a fight . We didn't know about it because all the teachers were gone . So just imagine , as we're trying to walk kids out of the school building , there's a whole bunch of kids that are standing across the street . I don't know them . They don't know me , I don't know them , but there was a situation that took place . Now you want us to walk kids to the bus stop in a situation where are we protected ? No , by law are we supposed to Like I don't mind helping and supporting .
Speaker 1But there was this aggressiveness of like we want you guys , like at this time this day , to walk kids to the bus stop or to the train station , like it was a part of the contract . And I've had this situation where I've been fighting with them and there was times where my you know my boss it was like , look , they're going to great team leads , they've had them all over you know charter schools and public schools . And it was like , look , you know we're getting you know written up , or we're getting you know the text message that you know you're not going to the bus stop , I'm not going to the train stations to kind of help out . And , mind you , sometimes I walk with kids because I'm just like I'm always talking . If I go out , I meet parents , I talk with them . But it got to a point where it was just like , yeah , I got to do this , that aggressive talk like I have to . So they were , you were getting bullied , it was bullied , they know that's what it was , but here's the .
Speaker 2Here's the question I got , because if it were your , so we don't have to say the location , but you're in one of the five different schools did it . So you're in one of the five boroughs . Which one ? Which one is it ? Brooklyn , brooklyn ?
Speaker 1yeah .
Speaker 2Brooklyn . Yeah , all right . So you're in Brooklyn , right , and kids have a fight and you know the area itself has some challenges , right , in terms of crime , shooting , whatever . If it were your child , would you want the teacher to walk them to the bus stop then ?
Speaker 1So let's put it like this If there's a child that you know that loves to start trouble , that loves to bring trouble to the school , we address the situation and the school still doesn't take some measure to get into it , then why should I put myself at risk ? Because , at the end of the day , if a child is talking smack , you're putting yourself in that position like you're trying to act , like you're big and tough , which there's a lot of middle school kids right now that I think they're so grown that they could do whatever they want . This is , this is the attitude they bring inside the school buildings . And then you got people . When they see it , it's kind of like when teachers are calling for support , which which is another thing , but no one don't intervene Someone . Oh , let's use the walkie-talkies . Oh , you want us to send you a message when the kids are fighting in the classroom . But then it's like should I jump in ? Should I stop the fight ? Of course , for me , I've been in situations where , if a fight was about to break out , I'm going to jump in between , and you know I'm a to jump in between , and you know I'm a strong dude . I will lock you in some corner until somebody comes .
Speaker 1But the other part of it is that not everyone is like me . But then you also got to think about the classroom . Everyone has to be safe . I'm trying to create a safe space for my students and then you got something like this happening . I'm calling for support . But then you , you trying to send me a message that I can't even run to like oh , what is it ? Is it urgent ? You asking me if it's urgent , if I'm calling for support , I'm not going to have time to type up in the message box or call you . Oh well , you know the walkie talkie .
Speaker 1See , the thing is , y'all are trying to come up with so many excuses because when you hear something or a teacher calls on a walkie-talkie like I'm calling for support . There's times I can't even get to the walkie-talkie because I got to keep somebody on the headlock , I got to keep somebody by the door just to make sure . And I'm trying to like in the hallway yo , I need support . But it's like we're in a meeting . We'll try to send who we can Like what . We'll try to send who we can what like , what . So the the question is they so ?
Speaker 1The thing is , they want us to be the dean of our own classrooms . I think every school that I've worked at this has been a thing . Y'all can be the deans in our own classrooms . That's perfectly fine , because I want my classroom to be safe .
Speaker 1But the other part of it is that my role , my , my teaching job , my description , my role , is for me to go in to educate kids . My job is not for me to try to jump in and write letters and try to figure out what the issue is . If there's an issue , of course my instinct is telling me I got to protect the other kids . But when I'm calling for support and then you trying to ask me if it's urgent , you're asking me questions like no , ma'am , no , sir , if it's urgent , and I'll tell you to come , get up out your seat , because a lot of them just sit down all day .
Speaker 1A lot of leadership people . They just on their computers typing . I don't know what you typing , but I know I'm working hard . It feels like 24 hours in a day teaching kids and trying to educate them while trying to deal with the battles happening in the classroom . And if you feel that , oh , we're calling for support and the thing that you can say is , if it's urgent . No , if we're calling for support , your instinct should be Let me stop what I'm doing . Let me run to the classroom and try to figure out what the situation is . It could be small , it could be big , but this is what we've been going through .
Speaker 2So I have just one serious question Is the American school system expecting too much from teachers ?
Speaker 1Yes , they are . They are Teachers can't teach anymore . That's how bad it is I've spoken to I live around an area where there's teachers out here that they retired . They've been teaching for 40 plus , 50 plus years and they said the one thing that disturbed them was on a job application . They would ask you for some of them that how are you when it comes to dealing with behaviors in the classroom ? The one thing they told me was that we never had any type dealing with behaviors in the classroom . The one thing they told me was that we never had any type of behavior challenges in the classroom because we didn't have to deal with that .
Speaker 1There was a level of respect where it used to be . There was a level of parents being parents and not friends to their kids . There was a time when a lot of parents it takes a village to raise a kid . There was a time when that a lot of parents you know it takes it takes a village to raise a kid . There was a . There was a time when that was a big deal . If you did something wrong , your mama gave the , the teacher gave the next door neighbor , gave anybody that was in the neighborhood permission , permission to make sure that they do what they gotta do to adjust . Yeah , because if my mom was at work , you know she , she was working as um , you know as a nurse and it's like , and my dad was around too , but that's that's another situation , because he , he , he left me when I was starting high school . It was a big situation . But I think , going through that challenge and realizing that the level of just family , family , friends , they always looked at it . If you had Japan sagging and somebody caught you in the neighborhood , they're going to handle it for my mom and then my mom will get the news and then I think that's what it used to be .
Speaker 1Right now , teachers are putting on so many hats that it is causing a burnout and a lot of teachers don't realize it . I say you , teachers aren't even getting paid so much money and you think that allow . And some teachers are . You know , some teachers don't want to speak up . You got some jobs where it's just like teaching jobs where it's like , oh , you know the pension . You know I want to be able to do this and I love teaching kids . It's okay to love teaching kids , there's no problem . The problem is , if I'm a science teacher , I should not be teaching ELA English language arts . I should not be teaching history . I should not be teaching gym . I should not be teaching um Espanol like Italian class . That's not . That's not my role and a lot of schools that's what they're going through now .
Speaker 2They're trying to give teachers more work Because there's a nationwide shortage of teachers , and most of it is because , aside from compensation , which is a large issue and for most employees , if you can't compensate me , I'm not coming to this job right Aside from that , the conditions are very interesting , especially from what you're saying . So . So here's what I want to know , cause ? So we didn't talk about your background as a science teacher . So you leave college having had this experience loving to inspire kids , and you go back home to teach ? Is that ? Is that what happened ?
Speaker 1That's what happened . I think the other part that I left out was during my internship when I was working with NSF , the National Science Foundation research experience . So they choose eight students throughout the whole CUNY system . So you got a lot of schools . You got City College , you got Brooklyn College , you got CUNY Every Cuny school that you can think of . They choose a students .
Speaker 1This research research experience that I had gave me an eye opener and it allowed me to realize that there is not many people that look like me in that field . I've been chosen and I'm always going to be grateful to one of my professors . They were great professors I had , but this one professor . It was my statistics two class and he was a math teacher . He used to work in Wall Street but he actually came into teaching because he wanted to teach kids to kind of , you know , work on formulations , on numbers . He was a numbers guy . He said the one thing was that he saw that I was also the way I use numbers . I use it as a musician because you know , I played in church . I was always part of , you know , I was playing drums , I was playing bass , I was in a marching band and so music , of course .
Speaker 2Two , five , three , right , yeah , I was like I was very bad .
Speaker 1Yes , I was like I was talking about it .
Speaker 2I got it wrong and I'm like you got it ?
Speaker 1Yep , they just call it . Then the
When Schools Fail Students
Speaker 1organist got to do some keynote , they got to drop it . The pastor doing this , it's a whole work . And this guy , this teacher , Mr Singh . I will never forget what he did for me the day of my finals for statistics two class for my biomedical informatics degree . He said he pulled me up and he said listen , I know that you need an internship to graduate . You've been doing so well in my class , not because of your passing , but it's the way that you think outside the box . He said you love music . You use music in a way for you to understand statistic too .
Speaker 1I didn't like statistics , but I love math and sometimes it all depends on the professor . If it just if the professor could make it engaging for you and make it fun . And he used to put numbers with relationships , because you know a lot of college kids . You got people in there where they love it w and got boyfriends and girlfriends in and he used to put it into a mathematical equation . I don't know how he did it , but that was his skill . And he said listen , I set up this meeting and I want you to have this meeting with the director of the NSF program , the math teacher that was there and physics teacher he's actually the physics head . We had Professor Louis Mark and then we had professors who they allowed them to be part of the NS head . We had Professor Louis Mark and then we had professors who they allowed them to be part of the NSF and they would be our chaperones . So he said look , I know you're going to pass this test anyway , so I'm not going to have you take the finals . I already gave you an A In my mind . I'm looking at him . I said man , what you doing ? Man , I'm trying to take this test , Maybe even if I got an 85 or 90 , because it was a hard , it was a challenging class , but it was fun . He said no , no , no , I want you to go to this meeting . When I went to the meeting I didn't know exactly who I was going to run into , but it was the director of the NSF . And he said listen , we have one more spot left and we need somebody from this school . Your teacher is a colleague of ours . We trust them because anybody he sends to us , he must have this great loving for you , my friend , and we want you to see if you would accept this position .
Speaker 1Now , this NSF experience . I got paid from it , which meant I didn't have to work . Nine to't have to work , you know , nine to five . Even if I was given a job opportunity , I wouldn't be able to do it because this was actually like a hybrid , a hybrid internship . So I can .
Speaker 1I was working from home , but I was also going into city college , because city college has an engineering department building and all the tools that I need to work on this particular projects was at the building . So when they're telling me , like all this other stuff , everything was , I was like only eight people . I have the whole cutie and I'm wondering he's like listen , you , he said . He said listen . I know sometimes people need a week to to think about it . We will give you the week , but we know what your stature and what he's been telling us about you . You could say right now well , we'll start signing contracts , get everything going .
Speaker 1Everything was paid for my flights , anything that I bought and spent out of my pocket was reimbursed . Nasa actually funded the program at City College . So you're talking about astronauts , you , they funded that program and it was just like okay , I went home , thought about it , Got it . I don't even think I took an hour . I called them and said this is an experience that I want to be part of . We went straight into it .
Speaker 1When I got that internship , this is what opened my eyes to realize that there's not a lot of people that look like me . I had to run and work with my PhD mentor . We're running models , we're running projects . I had to use my skill to teach high school kids , to kind of support them on their dream to become an engineer or if they wanted to work on like mathematical or be a math teacher or something . And all of this kind of driven me like I was driven to kind of tell .
Speaker 1I was telling myself I said no , no , no , I don't even think my neighborhood , I don't even think people , people in Brooklyn know , or just New York , period . But I said I got to do more . I said if I'm getting this opportunity , of course I'm going to share it , I'm going to bring it into my neighborhood . So by that time I said you know everything I'm doing .
Speaker 1I went out to these conferences . I swear the amount of faces that will look at you because they're not expecting a black male figure or just you know a black male walking into conferences where it's like there's not many people like you over there . But I'm in there . I said I'm there for a reason . You know , and I think that taught me a lesson that when an opportunity is given to you , you got to share it . You got to break those barriers and I think that's what allowed me to kind of get into teaching , because I did not see many people like me but I also knew I had a lot of resources that would help a lot of kids to get into the particular fields that are really booming right now .
Speaker 2So I've got a question what do you think from your perspective , your experience , because you got your degree , you went back home and we'll talk about the difference between you as a Black teacher , and some of the a Black male teacher and some of the ones in some of your counterparts and colleagues . Why do you think ? Why do you think Black men don't go more , black men don't go into teaching ?
Speaker 1I just feel like they haven't been exposed to it . If you look at a lot of neighborhoods , there aren't many centers or any outlet for just Black men period or just minorities to kind of just learn . Like now , everything is online and that's if and that's if . I've taught kids that parents didn't have internet at home . I've taught kids that parents only had cell phones and they weren't able to get a laptop . And a lot of schools do allow kids to bring home laptops , but that's something that a lot of schools tend to shut down because kids are breaking them Apparently . They're saying that they're being stolen , they're not bringing it back .
Speaker 1So the resources that are needed for a lot of , you know , black men period to kind of get those resources , or just minority , because you even have females in STEM , which I'm really , you know , I'm so happy about because it should have just only be a male dominant field we need females . Don't just assume that just because you see a man in this particular field , that woman can't do it right , and I think that's also been a whole big topic as to which field is for who . But I always tell myself , if you're able to share the knowledge and you're able to share the wealth of knowledge that you have . It could go a long way . I just feel like a lot of schools they're not doing that . One particular thing I can tell you we want kids to come into the school building . We want them to sit down all day . A lot of schools take away their gym period , and you're talking about middle school kids . Even if they were in high school , these kids cannot sit in school .
Speaker 2How do ?
Speaker 1they take away gym . Well , let's put it like this I've been in a school where they had gym before , but then they decided to take it away from the curriculum the following years moving forward . The reason behind it is it all goes back to kids not learning how to read , or they're not able to read properly . The grades are looking horrible . They're not able to run assessments the way they're supposed to , so they're like look , we got to focus more on trying to help these kids learn how to read .
Speaker 1People talk about COVID .
Speaker 1We can talk about COVID all day , but even before COVID , a lot of these kids were you can look at the statistics they were still low .
Speaker 1The progress it did not shift and this is the reason why , when conversations come up about the US being the lowest when it comes to , like , the educational space , where kids , you know assessments and grades , we're at the bottom and the fact that we've been going through this for years and now we see there's a lot of stuff happening with the educational department they try to flush everybody out . Then a lot of parents , a lot of schools . I've seen a lot of school leadership people coming out like , oh , we're going to lose this funding , we're going to lose this , that . And then it came back to me that , even in certain schools that I've worked at , and then it came back to me that , even in certain schools that I've worked at , when you have parents that come in as like , oh you know , thank you for you know the services that you've been provided for my kids , If a kid has an IEP , you know they need speech , they need this , that .
Speaker 2Occupational therapy .
Speaker 1Occupational therapy . And then you come to realize that what there was times when I had to ask , like look at myself and look at them , like what services you talking about ? Because this child never left my classroom period .
Speaker 2So , so , so let me let me go back . So you're telling me that the one of the schools that you work for was telling the parents they were getting services like so , occupational therapy , speech therapy because they needed extra development , perhaps they were neurodiverse , they had adhd , autism , developmental delay , whatever the label is .
Speaker 1That they were telling the parents they were getting services and they were yeah that's grimy they said they were getting those services and For me , that's the ultimate bad boss .
Speaker 2I can't stand . I think it was episode four , I talked about it Season one episode .
Speaker 1I think it might've been episode four .
Speaker 2Go back and look . I cannot stand a liar . There are a lot of things I can deal with . If you are incompetent , that's number two , but I can at least deal with your willingness to learn if you want to . How
Fighting The System
Speaker 2do you deal when your administration is lying to people ?
Speaker 1I'm going to tell you now . I felt like every time I walked into the school building several school buildings I just felt like it wasn't that I was the madman , it was just that the looks that I used to get , or just like I knew there was a target on my back always . But did I care ? No , I said , I know , it's a job . I always told myself I could always get a teaching job . And it's not about being cocky , it's just that when you're looking at a black male and you're talking about STEM science you're talking about .
Speaker 1Y'all ain't got nobody in the school buildings . It's vacancies . Y'all just throwing people . They even throwing paras . You know paras that aren't . You know they , paras are teaching , that's . That's where we're at now . If they're trying to , they're trying to get any and anybody to come into these schools and teach any and anybody to come into these schools and teach . That's when you know the educational system's going down Like y'all have no decency to kind of refresh or go back into what is the issue and what is the problem . And the only you know solution y'all can come up with is just like yo , let's just show any and anybody because we need somebody , we need an adult to be in the classroom with the kids Because , at the end of the day , if there's no children , you can't do it .
Speaker 2I want to go back to that . So you're talking to the parents , You're like they're not getting services . They look at you and say what ?
Speaker 1No , I told him straight up . I said the services that you think that your child is getting , they're not getting it . Oh , what do you mean ? So a particular situation .
Speaker 1When it happened , I actually went to the SPED director and I said listen so one of the special education directors they're basically the ones that's in charge of like IEPs . They're in charge of having meetings with parents and the . You know just the district , or just to try to find ways to come up with these . You know just the district , or just to try to find ways to come up with these . You know these plans and trying to see if a student is supposed to , you know , get those services . Sometimes they have to evaluate them . They have to make sure that they pass all these things that are in place to see , oh , this child is eligible to have these services .
Speaker 2Based on the state and federal regulations .
Speaker 1Regulations so now I'm like so this parent said that their child has been getting all the services .
Speaker 1They said that this is what they were told , but they've been in my class .
Speaker 1So but and the thing is , I know my student schedules , because what I try to do is , if a student has speech or whoever it is that they're supposed to get picked up by , I have a relationship where I'm able to talk to them , or I'm going to have something prepared so that when they do come out the classroom , I'll talk to the teacher or whoever has them . Like , look , I know that they're going to be out of class , but if you can fit into your schedule and when there's a time that you can have them go over , let's say , for example , vocabulary , which is like a big red flag in the school system , where vocabulary is just now getting in there , where they're trying to hire people who are like vocabulary magicians in a way , and they just come in to just see if a child is using vocab . This is how crazy to get it . And I'm like you expect the child to know vocabulary , but they don't know how to read . You got to help me understand , because it doesn't help that way .
Speaker 2So you went to the special ed teacher , the special ed director , and what did they say ?
Speaker 1So the only thing they told me was that they will have a conversation with the parent because , at the end of the day , there are a lot of special directors , like special education directors , that would say there's a lot of things that they can't do on their end because they're limited to things that they can do , which is true to some degree . But if a parent assumes or thinks that their child is getting the services and they're not , this is where it gets tricky for them , because I will be the person . I will send out emails . I'm not gonna just send it out to the special education director , I'm gonna put the board members , I'm gonna put the leadership , I'm gonna put my , my crew , if I'm teaching with sixth grade , sixth grade teachers , because we're all teaching this individual student and I want to make sure that everyone is aware . But then when that happens .
Speaker 1Wait , you said the board Listen because , at the end of the day , there's no reason why , like even the board , like they know what's going on . Listen , we went through the amount of schools that I've been in . I have not . We've went through several principals , leadership . I'm talking about a principal that can't even manage a school or be in a school for like a year or two years . They keep switching people all around .
Speaker 1So think about it Things get switched . If you switch into a new member , maybe the system is changing so they're trying to do something else , but what I've seen is that there's no way that you don't understand enough because , remember , it's a business . Always look at educational , educational things as a business . There's a lot of money that goes into each student that has services especially I have ieps . There's a lot of money . We're just talking about ten thousand dollars . You're talking about ten thousand plus , plus going up there . So the money looks good to those people that's behind closed doors .
Speaker 1But for teachers , we're struggling , trying to figure out and trying to work with a student that is supposed to get services and they're not getting it .
Speaker 1So when I addressed that right , the issue was and this is why I knew there was a target on my back , because it got to a point where I was getting the emails back like look , um , I should not be sending , you know , this type of emails to , let's say , my colleagues and or I shouldn't be sending out the emails to so-and-so .
Speaker 1But the thing that that that took me out was , well , the board members appointed a lot of y'all leadership people here , the the leadership you guys appointed . You know you get the principal , you get the deans and all that stuff , and then the principal will help out to make sure you know they get the teachers . So , at the end of the day , are we supposed to all be a family or community that's trying to make sure that we can find the best solution for our students ? So if this is a situation that I'm teaching a child that is supposed to get services and I realize , based on what the parents are saying , that oh yeah , they've been saying that they've been getting services this and that and they haven't , then I'm going to address it . This ain't no you didn't address it .
Speaker 2You literally lit the match and told everybody .
Speaker 1Everybody . That's part of that process . Yeah , everybody , that's part of that process because , at the end of the day , you know what they always used to tell us . They always used to tell us . Just imagine if I'm teaching a student inside the classroom and I know something . There are teachers that know a lot of things but they don't address it . And what happened is , let's say , they come inside the school , they do an audit and a lot of schools they don't get the real audit because there's certain audits that they will shut that whole school down if they need to . Because when the government finds out , oh , just imagine that I'm sending you money but you're not even working on a product for me , like you're not even doing what you're supposed to be doing and you're lying to parents you don't think that's some type of fraudulent activity that y'all are doing up in the school system ? So we just collected money but we're not really helping out the kids ?
Speaker 2So okay , so um , so you've put everybody on the email , which I'm loving the coverage of it . I think I might have done it differently .
Speaker 1The respectable people , yeah , the respectable people , like the people that I'm not going to say , like just everybody , because , remember , this is where we the one thing I remember you mentioned the word boss . There's a lot of schools that I worked out , there are too many bosses . One boss is going to tell you um , if you want , um , anything , when you send an email , um , these are the only people that I want you to put on here . Then somebody else will say what they talking about ? This is what they told you . No , no , this is who you're supposed to send it to . Oh , no , this . So when there's a lot of different bosses , you got your manager , you got the principal , remember , the principal got a boss too . That principal's boss , that boss got a boss too . So when it goes down the line and you realize everybody's telling you different things to do , the only thing that I could come up with is somebody is going to have to know something because this is important . So I said , since I can't come up with a solution , I'm just going to put all of y'all in there , because some of y'all are telling me that you don't want so-and-so to be up in there , and I'm trying to figure out why . But then it's like that's my boss . So when I tell my boss , she's like oh , that's what they told you . So then my boss is looking at it like yo , they really trying . But these are my kids , and if I have a kid that I'm trying to teach and I'm trying to make sure that they're getting the education that they're getting , and I've realized that they're not getting their services , that is a problem for me , because I can't teach them if they're not getting the services that they're supposed to be getting which will also help them to implement or to retain knowledge or to understand what I'm trying to teach and if they're not getting the services .
Speaker 1You could send out an email to one person . This one person would take years to respond back to you . But you're across the school , you're across the classroom from me . You can easily just walk . I have a concern . I will come find you . Sometimes they're not there . I'll send out an email . You can find time to come inside the classroom and talk to me . You can talk to the student , but what I'm realizing is that they this is not for the kids . This is some . This is bigger than what it's supposed to be , but it's just . It just confuses me , when it has to do with the kids , that so much money has been sent to a lot of these schools , but what are they doing with it , right , and what services are being provided ?
Speaker 2So so I'm still stuck on the . You sent the email .
Speaker 1So you sent the email . What happened then ? Because , because I sent out the email , basically , you know they always start off with oh Mr Joseph , thank you for sending this email , we really appreciate it . You know , they sent you the whole national stuff and in the email basically said that , um , mind you , the people that's on the email , it's the respectable people , these are people that you're part of the whole process when it comes to the sped stuff .
Speaker 1Um , apparently they were saying that , um , there are some things that are confidential that shouldn't have been in there , for one where it says that a child was not receiving services . So you're trying to tell me that I'm supposed to keep something that is . You know it's become detrimental to the child because they know , even the child knows they're supposed to be getting services and realizing that , oh , I was told I was supposed to get picked up around this time . Do you know where the person is ? I said I don't know , because I don't know if they assigned anybody for you . So I said so you want me to keep that to myself . The child knows . And then for me it's like the parent is thinking that the child is getting the services and the child is telling me that their information , that when they spoke to her that she's not to go home to have this conversation with her parents , that the school will call . So just imagine , you know they're kids . You go to a kid and you tell them like , look , I don't want you saying anything to your parents , we're going to take care of it and then we're going to have a meeting with your parents , so don't say anything . It's like we want you to delay telling .
Speaker 1And you know a lot of kids are vocal and that's why I respect about them , because I've built relationships with these kids for years . Listen , I've won two years in a row at this one particular school and another school three years in a row for family coordination and communication as a teacher , because I build relationship with kids and when kids and when I'm straight up with kids , wait that amount of things that kids would tell me that a lot of leadership and people that's in the office and people that's like in the network would say to them . But they're also scared because one , you got a lot of immigrants right . You might say something that might make some people mad and you just never know if they might end up doing something to kind of break a family apart . You just never know .
Speaker 1We have a lot of kids from Russia , a lot of kids from Italy . We had kids from India . We had a lot of kids from from italy . We had kids from um india . We had a lot of kids . And the thing is , what was scary is that when she told me that this is where it kind of got to me , I was like no , no , no , no , no . I have to address the situation . So in that email , everything was said , but the problem , when I looked at it , was mainly based on how that the information that I put out that the child wasn't receiving services because it's true , the child will tell you I
Advice For Parents
Speaker 1have not been taken out put out that the child wasn't receiving services , because it's true , the child will tell you I have not been taken out of class .
Speaker 2The child ain't lying , so what was the so ? So they ? They asked the baby to lie or not , to withhold information from their parents .
Speaker 1So you're lying .
Speaker 2Right From their parents , which , oh my gosh , if any school system . Jesus help us . So we're . We're asking children to conceal . We're teaching them how to conceal at early ages . All this wraps up . Does the baby ever receive services ? What did they do to you ? Did you know ? Did ?
Speaker 1So that one school that I was at when it happened , um , the parent called me that same night because I had a . I had a conversation with with with the student , um , this is after school . And I told her straight up . I said , listen , um , I have a daughter as well and at that time she was around like one or two and I'm like I can't imagine that feeling of not knowing what's happening to my child at school and the school system is trying to tell you to not say nothing to mommy and daddy but to keep it a secret . I told her straight up . I said what you're going to do ?
Speaker 1Because I took notes , I took everything that I typed of everything . I even took voice recording , because I even asked the permission , like , can I record you ? Because at the end of the day , they they're going to be things that they probably going to say . And I say you , you're not going to say that this child is lying , because I got records and I keep records of everything which child gets taken out of the class , what time to get taken out and when they're supposed to have services . This child has not had any type of service from the dates that they put on , whatever documentation that they had .
Speaker 2And I kept everything locked in my email . They were trying to cover it up .
Speaker 1They were trying to cover it up and what the mother decided to do . She called me that night and she said listen , if I have any other schools that she you know , she wants to transfer a daughter out . Um , she just feels like she doesn't want to go down the rabbit hole , because there are things that with family and people that you know , especially with papers and stuff , I'm like I'm not even trying to get you to . It's like she wants to fight and you can hear it in her voice . But she also knows that she ain't got the resources , she ain't got the money , even if she wanted to fight it this and that . So she's just trying to make it easier for her daughter .
Speaker 1Yeah , you know what I mean , and you don't want your daughter going through that stress like mommy . Something happened to my mommy because she was trying to fight for me and a lot of parents are going to fight especially when they got the research but she realized that she does not have that support system that she needs . And I'm not a shirt . I'll say you need support , even if I got fired . At least I know that she is not the only child that's probably going through this , because if you're trying to have a child to lie about the services and to not say anything to there are many other kids that are faced with that challenge and parents these are some of the parents that you know stay on top of communication .
Speaker 1She's one of them . That was the one parent . But I think what she got misled was that her daughter felt scared for her own mother , because even the daughter knows about the situation at home . So she said she doesn't want mommy to go crazy . She doesn't want her mother to go up to the school and do something that might affect whatever she got going on at home . So she said the best thing she could do was just hold it .
Speaker 2So what it sounds like the environment that you were in was not only bullying . I would say lack of integrity didn't support you . How did you survive and what did you decide to do in that toxic environment ? Because that's toxic , Like we define the idea of , like having a boss or work environment that sucks , Like you've named like a lot of the characteristics . What did you decide to do ?
Speaker 1So for me , I still taught and then something told me that there are people watching and I always tell myself if I could bless a child one child , you know , until they graduate . I think that was like a bigger blessing for me . I think , throughout all the crap that was happening , I said I want to see these kids graduate , but I also want to make sure that they get the help that they need . I teamed up with a few of my colleagues you know there's some colleagues . I was like ah , you know I ain't trying to get up in all that drama , you know . I said but you teaching the same kids I'm teaching and you see that they're struggling . So I said a lot of y'all and a lot of the teachers that I've taught with yeah , they weren't parents , you know , single life , all you're doing , so they won't understand but said listen , I'm in a situation . Even if I didn't have a child , I still feel like it is my duty as a teacher to have my kids back and if they're not getting the proper treatment that they supposed to be getting and that you got people parents being lied to about , you know them getting the services then that becomes my issue , because these kids are in my classroom , right . So what I decided to do ? I stayed another year and you and you know I can't , I can't .
Speaker 1I came to find out that there were other kids that were in the same situation and the problem with that is when we send out emails or parents know cause . Remember , parents in the neighborhood know each other , so one . If one kid is going through the same thing , they they speak to the parent . The parent will talk to another parent , another parent . So there were parents that came up to the school they think me and it wasn't like them trying to come into the school and beat up people . It was more like we're going to wait here . We want you to get the documentation , but you know by law there's a whole bunch of stuff that goes into it , especially if you're talking about special education , iep documents and all this other stuff that you got to get . Parents are so fed up because there's a reason why my child can't even read a book . I try to ask them when they come home from school if they could tell me what they learned today , and the only thing that they could tell me is from two or three subjects , I think .
Speaker 1Addressing the situation when you talk vocally and you're having this one on one conversation with the respective people , but then you realize nothing is getting done . What do you do next ? Then it's like you know , if I'm supposed to talk to the special special education director , then it's like who's their boss ? You got the principal . The principal is holding down the school . So the principal principal is like you got to tell me , you got to lock me in the meeting , you got to put me in the emails . Then it's like , oh um , we can't put this person . We got to put this person . So there's always been this thing where they wanted me to choose who should be in the emails to know what is going on .
Speaker 2And I'm like , well , Well , that's the online blast bitch .
Speaker 1They started monitoring who you put on the emails . They started monitoring and I feel like you know the crazy thing about it . I've gotten so much more respect because , let's say , if something is happening on the 8th grade level , right , but remember a lot of those kids I taught their siblings , I taught their siblings on top of siblings . So who do you think they still got a relationship with ? Just because I'm I'm not teaching out no more doesn't mean I don't still have the communication with parents . So when a parent reaches out to me and not the eighth grade teachers right , some of the teachers that were there but then what I did was I put the eighth grade team on there . This is the reason why when I walk into a school building that a lot of those people have respect . Like I respect everybody there , like I don't come there to play around and play games , but they know I keep it real . So when they're like yo , I didn't even know that was happening . Yo , how you find out ? I still got a relationship with the eighth graders . So there was like yo , thank you for sending that email , because now we understand why this is happening in the classroom . But then I'm like how y'all didn't know ? When mom and dad said that they reached out to the school . They spoke to a couple of people how y'all didn't know .
Speaker 1So it's always been this thing where there's something happening and teachers don't know nothing , because when the school gets the information , their thing is . Well , there are certain things that teachers shouldn't know . Now , the problem with that is if I'm in the classroom , for example , and there's two kids I got beat . I'm supposed to know because while I'm teaching , some gonna go because , remember , I'm trying to keep my class safe and like safe space , safe space . But if there's some type of drama or something that is happening , there were miscommunications all the way with several schools that I worked at and they're just like you know , we want to make sure we keep things safe and like there's certain things that we should . I said but y'all do understand .
Speaker 2Y , yeah , just sit down and you're just way , which then puts you trying to walk somebody to the bus .
Speaker 1Stop and walk somebody to the bus stop and all that . You know what I mean it hurts , it's crazy .
Speaker 2It's heavy . It's heavy , ben is real heavy . So you've worked in these toxic situations . You talked a lot about kind of your approach . I want to hear some reflection on like cause cause you've given all the tea , right , but what about like something , you learned some mistakes you made as a teacher that you that you were like yeah , I wish I had never done it that way . Like especially with dealing with either the administration or the parents , right , because a lot of times I find that when we have bad situations , they're bad . They are what they are , but they can also challenge your own perception and potentially cause you to misstep , like anything you can think about . Like , oh , I should handle that differently .
Speaker 1I felt like I should have done more . I'm going to be honest Done more I don't think more . The reason why I'm saying that is because when we talk about a safe space and we're talking about keeping yourself as an educator as well you're trying to keep yourself safe , because there are a lot of kids that I've taught that are going through so many things right . So , for example , there was one kid- .
Speaker 2I'm going to interrupt you for a second . One of my favorite teachers from Pensacola High School . He was my calculus teacher , william Keene . Listen that man . He hurt my feelings so many times . He told me the truth about my inability to look at details . But look , he told me something the other day and I'll share it . It said , basically , they tell you to teach , but then all the seats were empty and it had like these little bubbles around the things that kids were dealing with , like , um , literacy issues , doesn't eat at home , homeless , like all , like trying to teach through all of the issues and challenges that kids bring to the table which , by the way , corporate America doesn't address it . But it's the same thing when people come to work but that's another conversation for another day . Like dealing with that , Right , I think it's for me it's a lot , it's a lot .
Speaker 1No , it is . I feel like when you're a teacher like for me I'm gonna speak for myself all the time and I'll speak for some other people . But when I come , you're a teacher like for me I'm gonna speak for myself all the time and I'll speak for some other people . But when I come in as a teacher , I'm not just a teacher , I'm like I'm your protector , I'm your father , I'm your brother , I'm your uncle , I'm the magician , I'm the physical therapist , I'm the everything that you can think of as a teacher .
Speaker 1I had to go through that while teaching in many of these classrooms , because there's a lot of kids that are going through things . They're looking for a shoulder to lean on , they're looking for somebody to talk to because they can't even do it at home , or they can't do it or they can't talk to certain people . And I think for me , noticing that I know I've been doing a lot , but I think I needed to do more , even when I know that there was going to be a trigger on my back , and there are certain things that people like yo , you're just getting like , you getting , you know , you , you , you're working at a job like don't try to jeopardize . I said it's not about jeopardizing , it's just that the reason why we're in this cycle and it just keeps on looping back and forth is because no one is addressing the situation . It could be addressed in some type of way and then they'll put on a back burner , but I think I've gotten to a point where they were . So I don't want to say they were angry with me .
Speaker 1I think it was more of like yo , I had times when other principals like even when I was dropping off my daughter and I was like heading to work . I had times when other principals like even when I was dropping off my daughter and I was like heading to work . I had times when principals would call my phone like yo , ben , y'all just saw that email you sent . Like yo , you were wilding . Nope , it's not even . It's not even it could be something small about , maybe um , one of the parents and I've had conversations with parents outside of the grade that I taught because I taught their sibling .
Speaker 1They're like , mr Joseph , I don't know if they told you , but I know you don't teach my daughter and son anymore . But I just wanted to talk to you because I know I can trust you . I know that you always fight for us , but this is what's happening and such and such . So I addressed it to their respective team . Like I addressed it to the respective team . Like yo , eighth grade mom or eighth grade dad or seventh grade , like they reached out to me about this situation . Did y'all know about it ? People be like , nah , we didn't hear about it . But mom and dad are saying that they spoke to people in the school weeks ago .
Speaker 1And then it's like yo , there's more things that I feel like , even when you're teaching one particular grade , I felt like I was in everybody's grade because I wanted to make sure I could help in any way possible , because I knew who the parents were , I knew who the kids were . So those relationship building is what made it easier for me to step in and kind of like knock some doors down . And I think that's what a lot of schools and a lot of networks are afraid about , because they just want teachers to come in and shut up and just teach . They just want us to be like robots .
Speaker 1But then , as soon as you start tackling and you start realizing , like yo , this child didn't eat today . That's a different topic I'm talking about . You could open up the food bag , you'll probably see one banana as small as the baby banana . You could see a cereal box . There's no milk and maybe just an apple , and I'm saying to myself this is the breakfast that we're giving kids . That's another topic we could have , but I'm telling you now . I don't have to be a science teacher or a STEM teacher to understand this , but if you're talking about making sure that a child or just any the human body needs to be treated right Like you got to feed it the right meals , these kids are not getting proper breakfast or food period to start with . When you got kids coming in with the two liter Pepsi bottles and Takis all day , you would think that they're going to stay awake in class . No , the food system is another part of why we're not going to go there , but we're not going to get there .
Speaker 2That's something else . We'll go there , but look , here's what I want to know with the little bit of time we have left right . As a parent , you've dealt heavily in the special needs space . As a parent of special needs child , one of the main frustrations I had with the school system is not being able to navigate it . Regardless of special needs or neurotypical , what are the five things you would tell parents to do to get actively involved in navigating the system for their kids so stuff like this doesn't happen ?
Speaker 1navigating the system for their kids , so stuff like this doesn't happen . Stop believing everything that they tell you . The reason why I'm saying that is because you know , when they have those meetings with parents , they sit you down and they tell you this is what your child is going to be receiving X , y and Z right . And that parent's like , oh , thank you , thank you this and that . The other thing is , we got to stop allowing the industry or just the government or just the schools to make the plans for us . This is where I feel like some parents tend to allow for other people to take over and their parents kind of feel like they shouldn't be part of the process .
Speaker 2Do you think a lot of parents feel like they are supposed to be a part of the educational process ?
Speaker 1No , some of them I can honestly tell you , when you drop , when they drop off kids into school , they're like y'all take care of the kids , y'all do what you gotta do with them because I gotta go to work or I gotta go home or I gotta do whatever . These are conversations that are like there's parents that will tell you straight up just if you could even hold my child for after school or just keep them in school , like it , you can see the frustration . They're tired . And then you got some parents that's just like they trust the school so much to do everything for them because they're like if I put them in school , the school's gonna take care of everything . That is not always the case , so we addressing the situation , making sure that we're asking questions . A lot of times they'll ask questions and the reason why they don't ask questions , I feel like one , is that they don't know the questions to ask . Because they don't know what an IEP is .
Speaker 1They don't know what they don't know . They don't know . Oh , if a child's getting IEP , are they supposed to get these services ? For how many hours Do they get multiple breaks ? Do they get multiple breaks ? Do they get a time and a half ? Even assessments , like ? There's a lot of things that go into it and I just feel like some parents , it's too challenging for them and they're just like yo , I am busy , I don't have time to sit down and read all through like the documents to understand . But whatever you got planned , we trust you and that's where the problem lies .
Speaker 2So , so , because one of the things that I noticed after we shifted our our kid , from public to private was we got we actually got feedback every every week on the things that were happening in the school . But I got phone calls when the behavior was challenging and I'm like , okay , we put you there , we put him there because y'all said y'all could handle that . Right , it wasn't like anything violent . He just he's a kid with autism and adhd like anything .
Speaker 2No , they should know like certain things are gonna come up , especially when they're triggered , they should order but finally the question I asked was okay , you're , every time you call me you're talking about his behavior , but what about the curriculum ? Can you show me the curriculum that he's supposed to be learning from ? Where is he on the continuum and what's next ? What are we working on ? And I think for a lot of us parents it took me a minute because I wasn't really worried about it . I'm like , okay , but wait a minute . He's not doing the things that I think he should be doing .
Speaker 2But the things that I think he should be doing , but they never tell you what they should be doing at that level . So I would also add like figure out what grade your child is in . What should they be learning , and then have some times at home where you quiz them yourself . Get a prize at the end of it , just to see what happens . Because , if not , you be out here thinking your kid is going to the ninth grade and they can't read .
Speaker 1They can't read . And that's where the last minute stuff like I think probably I was telling you how parents will reach out only when it's parent-teacher conference . So you reach out to parents , you tell them like look , your child is at this level , your child is not coming to school with their homework , they were assigned this . Mind you , when I say I keep tabs and I keep my receipts , because what happened is , even if I use the software , what I do , I take pictures of what I'll be sending and I'll lock them in , not just on Google , lock it in my phone , I lock it into other emails that I have , so that if , let's say , google was down for one day , but that was the same day of the parent-teacher conference , I'm gonna put it up on here . And what happened is , when you reach out to parents and you tell them about anything that is educational , the response can be I don't have time , I ain't got time , can you just , you know , work with them when they're in school ? And then , because I got to work , and then you have parents who are just like they don't respond at all , but you hear from them on the day of parent teacher conference , even people that did not even sign up and they didn't even call to say that they were coming in for the in person or they wanted to do a virtual meeting . Parents would pop up . Then you get this thing where it's like oh , why is my child failing ? You ain't sick , you ain't ? Oh , man , this is you , this is . This is receipts . What are you talking about ? Nobody reach out . People reached out to you , you just never responded .
Speaker 1Or sometimes , when we respond to you , you'll say , oh well , this teacher already called me .
Speaker 1How many times they're going to call me about ? Mind you , it's not just the behavioral part . Sometimes , like , we'll see kids that will come in and have behavioral challenges and they will slip up , and then I'll have that dialogue with them after school because or after class , because I'm not going to do it in class there are some things that you have to address in the classroom , because if it keeps on going on , then guess what , your classroom is disrupted and you can't really teach . So a lot of times you know certain teachers will you . You gotta find different tactics in certain ways , like , okay , the class could go into independent reading or whatever , and then after that you could slowly go towards the child that was being disruptive Like yo . Let me highlight you for a second and you have that conversation . Sometimes that goes a long way , rather than trying to put them on blast . There are some kids that in the school system we're like oh , teachers are going to put them on blast , and sometimes there's kids who respond to that .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's motivating for them because we're not . We're dealing with different child behaviors and every child is not the same and I feel like a lot of times the school system just assumes and thinks that all these kids are the same based on the curriculum . These are what the kids should learn . No , if I'm teaching six or if I was teaching high school kids , for me to teach a high schooler let's say 11th and 12th grade they need to have learned things from prior years . Not saying that they should know all of it because you know they got to kind of re-event and go back and forth .
Speaker 1They got to build on foundation . But when you're telling me and you're getting mad because you see a child's grade or you see the class , the data shows , oh , these kids are failing . But out of like 20 , let's say , 24 , 26 or 30 to 32 kids in the classroom , there's maybe about 10 kids that are passing . These are the same kids that have been up to speed because their parents , oh , when they come to the meeting every week , we need a call , or can you take down some notes to say , to tell us what our child is doing and what I decided to do too to make life easier any work that I gave a child to bring home , I'll send
Never Stop Fighting For Kids
Speaker 1it . Before they even get home , parents already knew what assignments were being given , testing days and all that , what happened . I told them I need your child to have the documents signed which will show me that the parents were involved .
Speaker 1And I always tell parents I know it's hard for every parent to be involved , because some parents will work at night , some parents are working . You know they're tired when we get home . I get it and that's why I said I would never kind of make parents feel bad , but I always told them I'm trying to work with you all . I need you to find time to work with me . I have friends that used to call me on the weekends , as much as I didn't want them to call me on the weekends , but I knew it was important and sometimes I had to step on that .
Speaker 2But I think , but I think , and we're going to end with this I think one of the challenges is when you go into a company right , you go into a job , the work is defined . I think one of the major gaps is there's not a conversation about how we'll work together at the beginning of the school year . Right , here's how I work as a teacher , here's what you can expect , here's how I want you to work with me , right . And so I find the better educators are able to define that and set that expectation and help with the cadence so that people can anticipate the time , the energy it takes to be able to support their kid . Listen .
Speaker 2Ben this has been a great conversation . Is there any closing thoughts , because we've had a deep conversation . What's one thing that keeps you going ?
Speaker 1I mean , this is an ongoing conversation . The only thing I could say is , if there's any other teachers out there that are still surviving and you're going through this challenging part in your life and you don't know what to do , the one thing I can tell you is that it feels so much better being real , making sure you look out for the interests of your kids , because , at the end of the day , they look up to us , and what I need to make sure is that there are going to be challenges . There's going to be time when people are going to say like , look , I'm not trying to lose my job . I get it . I've had those conversations . But at the end of the day , if there's a problem , I feel like you as the educator and because you see it happening , you know , speak to . Sometimes it may not be the boss that may be able to help you out , maybe it might just be colleagues and other members within the network . But the one thing I would say is never stop doing what you're doing for like for the kids . The kids will respect you more , even when you leave , because I still get phone calls from parents and I'm not at the schools and they're like oh , mr Joseph , how you you doing . You know , thank you Like .
Speaker 1We remember this and I always tell myself , if kids can remember the good and they know like you've been grinding for them , you've been fighting for them , that goes a long way . And I've always felt good knowing that I left my print and left anything that I needed to do , because I've always wanted to show them that it's not just about me . You know the love that I have for them . It was just more that I respect them so much that I would do anything for them to make sure that they're getting the proper education that is needed , even when the network or the school or the district or leadership or the bosses tend to not provide for them .
Speaker 1And you know , I just want to like just just end it there , because there's a lot that goes into this , but I think I've done my part , regardless of what's been happening . But speaking up for kids is a big thing and I feel like we should continue to address the situation . And we're going to make people angry it happens , but this is for the kids , this is not for leadership , this is not for the boss . These are for the kids . If you do what you need to do for the kids . They will respect you a lot more , even when you're not there .
Speaker 2Benjamin Joseph , thank you so much for your time . We appreciate it . I just want to say thank you for your service as a teacher . We talk about , you know , veterans and people in the military services , thanking them for their service , but I think every teacher should get thanked for their service . So thank you for all that you do in educating the minds of the future . I really appreciate you and thank you for being on the show .
Speaker 1Thank you so much for allowing me to be here . I just wanted to share what I know and definitely something that's been going on , and I just hope you know if anybody's watching the video and get some insight . If it's happening to you , just know you can reach out to me as well . I'll be able to support . But definitely thank you for introducing me and putting me on this platform and thank you for just allowing me to share my wealth of knowledge with everybody as well . So thank you .
Speaker 2Today's episode is brought to you by Natalie Parker Enterprises , where we shape the future and unlock potential by helping organizations and people work together to do good work . Find out more at thenatalieparkercom , or , if you'd like to be a sponsor , email us at info at thenatalieparkercom .
