When a newly hired teacher backed out just before the start of the new school year, we were forced to make a last-minute decision about hiring a replacement. We had someone we felt would be suitable. He had been among the original contenders for the position. He had done fine in the series of interviews, his demo lesson and writing sample were successful, and his references were positive. Good teachers are not easy to find in our area of the Southwest, and we felt "Mr. B" would be a good second choice.
The late appointment put Mr. B at a considerable disadvantage. He had not had the summer to plan, and the preceding grade level's teacher had resigned over the summer and was unavailable for consultations. In spite of that, our new colleague dove right in and valiantly attempted to get everything up and running for opening day.
But soon after the start of school we began to wonder if we had made a mistake.
Mr. B proved to be quirky and high-strung. It soon became apparent that his organization was haphazard. And he was lacking a coherent classroom management plan. Parents had even seen him screaming at kids on more than one occasion.
Then came Back to School Night. Before an audience of parents, a nervous Mr. B talked very loud and fast. He also departed from his script; he allowed questions and comments from the parents, and the comments he got were negative in tone. He sealed his fate when he lost his cool with the parents in attendance.
Of course a couple of those parents approached me and shared how they felt the teacher was doing; he was inept and an extremely poor fit for the class and our school, they said. In essence, the teacher had received a vote of no confidence from those parents.