At an urban school district in Flint, Michigan, a staff is faced with low morale. Teachers feel as if they are not viewed as professionals and have no say in the decisions made for the school. There are many factors that play into this low morale situation.
1. Teachers have no shared leadership and wish they had a voice when it comes to curricular and programming decisions.
2. Teachers deal with numerous behavior issues in their classrooms. Once all resources have been exhausted and a student is sent to the Dean of Students, teachers feel as if students are not receiving consequences. This leads to them feeling as if they have no power within their classrooms.
3. Teachers are required to give up many of their planning periods for IEPs, grade groups with the instructional coach and building principals, and numerous other meetings. This does not allow teachers the time to create meaningful, engaging lessons for their students which, in turn, brings down teacher morale.
The root cause of all of these issues comes down to the top rung of the school's leadership. Every staff member (including those on the administrative team) are afraid to stand up and voice concerns. They are afraid that if they voice concerns they will lose their jobs. With the lack of teacher positions in Michigan, they have right to be concerned.
I see my project developing into a plan for administration and teachers to have shared leadership to increase staff morale.
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