Bullying Teachers
Principal Threatens His Faculty
By Daniel Muniz

Principal John Burks of the New Braunfels Middle School is the kind of administrator that exemplifies the worst of our educational leadership. In one of his tirades to a group of faculty, he demanded that standardized test scores in science improve or that he would personally shoot each teacher.

Of course the educators were outraged by such bullying and they should be.

New Braunfels is a small city in Texas just outside of San Antonio and the New Braunfels Middle School is part of the New Braunfels Independent School District.
 

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A grievance was filed with the school board by one of the teachers and law enforcement was notified.

When questioned by police, Burks first denied that he had ever made any kind of threat. However, when four teachers verified that the comments were uttered, the principal then sang a different tune claiming that he “may” have said such a thing. Afterwards, the district attorney examined the evidence.

According to a newspaper account, Burks stated:

“I will kill all of you and then shoot myself… You don't know how ruthless I can be.”

Source: The San Antonio Express-News

Three of the teachers took the threat seriously while the fourth felt that the administrator was just shooting his mouth off.

People who have had their fair share of crummy bosses (myself included) may conclude that this administrator was just being a jerk. Would he have really carried out such a threat? Probably not.

However, a school environment is a totally different story.

If a kid made the same kind of threat in a campus setting, he or she would have had been slapped with a pair of handcuffs and hauled off to a police station. And after serving time in jail, the student would then be spending the semester in an alternative school. Because of the tragedies involving school shootings that ripped apart the psyche of a nation, this is the kind of a threat that all schools should take seriously and most do.

Unfortunately, the school board in New Braunfels didn’t when they rejected the grievance.

And sadly, the district attorney of Comal county also felt that it didn’t meet all the requirements necessary in the law to be deemed a valid “terroristic threat” so they closed the case. However, I wonder if they would have reacted differently if a student uttered a similar type of threat?

The bottom line is that a lot of administrators take the easy way out with low test scores and blame the teacher. Regrettably, so does everybody else including parents and the local community.

However, if an educator has performed his or her job properly, then there is nothing else that can be done.

A teacher cannot force a student to open a book, do his or her homework, turn in assignments, study for a test, or show up to class. Each of those actions is a personal decision exercised by the student. And suppose a parent doesn’t care or is totally clueless on how to deal with slackers, what else can an educator do about it?

In addition, the local community and society in general has unrealistic expectations of our education system. Schools can teach a subject but it is up to a student to learn it. No amount of extra funding or harassment of teachers can rectify that situation because that is completely out of the hands of our school system.

So why blame the teacher?

As vividly demonstrated in this incident, the principal isn’t going to blame himself. And he definitely isn’t going to hound the parents or the community leaders. He is going to blame his faculty because his employees are the only factors that are completely under his control since he has little to no influence anywhere else.

But just like the principal, a teacher doesn’t have any influence either.

All that can be realistically expected from our education system is for teachers to competently perform their duties in a professional manner. Anything else beyond that is just wishful thinking. As a result, it is time for school boards and superintendents to grow up and accept that harsh reality. Principals can harass and intimidate their faculty until they are blue in the face but that doesn’t change the conduct of the student body. Unfortunately, there is not is a cure for laziness or irresponsible behavior of children, therefore bullying educators is not the answer.

And ultimately, society also has to accept the harsh reality that a certain percentage of students are going to fail and that there is nothing that can be done to stop it.

School districts just have to understand what the true priorities are in education and pursue them. Good standardized test scores are a great result but students have to be a part of that equation. Regardless of the outcome, when teachers have done their part, they need to be praised instead of reprimanded for the lack of effort that their students exerted.

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