Attitude, money problems

FLO MARTIN

Marisa O’Neil quotes, in “Disparity in teacher salaries,” Daily

Pilot, Feb. 16, both Lorrie McCune, assistant superintendent of human

resources for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, and Jim

Rogers, president of the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers, that

many experienced and highly trained teachers are working in the

“lower income” Westside schools.

Jim said, “The teachers at Estancia wouldn’t want to teach

anywhere else.” Amen! Amen!

My first four years in the district were as a classroom aide and

librarian at a “low-income” elementary school. The teachers there

were great and so were the kids. Then, in 1977, Corona del Mar High

School became my professional home. I felt like a fish out of water.

The faculty parking lot looked like a used car lot in Oakland in

comparison to the Audis and Mercedes in the student lots. Overall,

the students displayed blase attitudes about life, almost jaded. Many

of them had grown up with so much stuff, so many toys, so many ski

trips to Switzerland and Easter vacations in Hawaii.

And the parents -- talk about high-maintenance. Their in-your-face

approach to faculty was often rude, especially when the subject was

their student’s grade.

“Mrs. Martin, you’ll just have to do something about my daughter’s

grade! My husband and I are both graduates of Stanford University.

All our grown kids graduated from Stanford. This B-plus in your class

will keep (insert daughter’s name here) from getting into Stanford.”

Another scenario: I find a boy in my junior English class cheating

on the final exam. The boy defies me to turn him in, stating that an

F will keep him out of USC. I turn him in anyway. His grade,

according to school policy at the time, is an F.

The following year, he shows up in my room to thumb his nose and

proudly announce that his dad got him into USC in spite of the bad

grade.

Third scenario: A freshman boy, star of the varsity soccer team,

comes to my office at the end of the school year to plead his case.

The F in French will prevent him from playing soccer next year. Could

I change his grade? “Of course, no problem,” was my response. “On one

condition, though. Don’t sign up for French again next year.”

The “almost” ultimate in chutzpah: It’s the end of June, and the

semester grades have been turned in to the counseling office. A

parent of a freshman boy in beginning French calls me and starts to

chew me out. “Do you realize,” she sputters, “that this D grade is

going to keep my son out of Harvard? Totally unacceptable! Can he do

some extra-credit to bring up his grade?” Extra credit? Heck, he

struggled to do the regular assignments, as it was. So, I put the

ball in the mother’s court.

“No problem. Your son’s grade obviously is very important to you.

Do you want me to change it?” Silence at the other end of the phone

line and then a “Yes.” “Good, I’ll call the counseling office right

now and tell them that the grade is changed to a C.”

End of conversation, or so I thought. I make the call and the

grade is changed. Then, some 10 minutes later, the counseling office

calls back to inform me that the student’s mother had called to

verify that the grade had indeed been changed and that she had been

assured, “Yes, Mrs. Martin did change the grade.”

Now, the ultimate in chutzpah: That mother calls me back about

half an hour later and asks if her son’s grade could be changed to a

B. I kid you not!

Three years at that high school -- pushy parents and big-time

attitudes all around -- was enough. I found a position at a high

school in a blue-collar neighborhood and realized very quickly that I

had died and gone to heaven. The kids at this new school were great

-- child-like (willing to play), full of energy, eager to learn.

Simply said, they were fun to be around and fun to teach.

Instead of raking me over the coals, these parents sent me

thank-you cards out of the blue or, better yet, sent me checks to buy

extra teaching materials. I thrived, and some 10 years into my work

there, I received the ultimate honor: California Outstanding Foreign

Language Teacher of the Year.

Now, as a supervisor of student teachers, I visit high schools

throughout Orange County. The patterns of behavior haven’t changed.

Generally speaking, the atmosphere in high-income schools is not very

user-friendly. In some instances, the kids are out of control. And,

again, the parents carry big sticks. No fun and no real-life

learning.

Lower-income schools are well-managed, with polite students who

are glad to be at school and with parents who are thankful for all

the help being offered. Professional heaven.

* FLO MARTIN is a Costa Mesa resident and a faculty member at Cal

State Fullerton.