I am now a retired teacher. I'm happily married to a parent of a former student. The students I had at the time of the two articles below are 37 abd 38 years old. I was able to Google a few of them and this is what I learned:
- Aimee is a lawyer
- Michael is a lawyer
- Tina is an advertising executive
- Solomon lives in Tampa Bay
- Brian S. is a lawyer
- Brian M. is a Senior Engineer
- Drew is a medical doctor
After working his way up to a middle management position at Jewel Food Stores, William Floore decided to take a chance at a career he had long dreamed of: teaching.
Three years into that midlife switch, Floore, 49, has won rave reviews for his creative teaching techniques, from parents and his 4th- and 5th-grade students at Winkelman Elementary School in Glenview.
At first glance, it would seem to be the kind of success story state education officials would trumpet, since the 1993 Illinois Teacher Corps law made it a priority to ease teacher certification requirements to attract such seasoned professionals into schools and improve American education.
But despite 25 years of honing office survival techniques while climbing up the corporate ladder to become director of Jewel's safety programs, Floore and his supporters say he has run afoul of school politics.
The winner of Elmhurst College's top student teacher award in 1992 before being hired at Winkelman, Floore could be turned down for tenure by the West Northfield School District 31 Board of Education Thursday, and not be rehired for next year.
But not without opposition.
"This community really respects and honors excellent teachers because we have high expectations for the education of our children," said Sandy Anderson, 42, a teacher in another district who has four children of her own.
Her youngest son, Jeff, was taught by Floore last year, and she spoke out in his support at a February school board meeting. Anderson is among a group of Winkelman parents circulating fliers to bring other parents out to support Floore at Thursday's meeting.
"This is a person that puts in at least 12-hour days thinking about creative and challenging ways to teach kids," she said. "The community appreciates that."
"It has been said he voiced his opinions for positive change in a positive manner, but it was not taken as such," Anderson said.
But while some parents circulate petitions and plan to pack the meeting to demand that Floore be retained, the school administration has built a case against him based on the very qualities his supporters claim were sought by educators who designed the Teacher Corps law: to encourage independent thinking and the willingness to speak out for change in the system.
"In my business, I was a problem solver," Floore said. "We dealt with the truth. We'd figure out what was wrong, and fix it."
But he says that attitude has not always played well at Winkelman, where his suggestions for changes in school policies and procedures apparently alienated Principal Marilyn Halberg, according to parents who discussed the issue with both.
Neither Halberg nor Supt. Paul Kimmelman returned telephone calls Wednesday for comment. School Board President Joan Lee said the district's lawyer had advised school officials not to talk about the matter, even though Floore has signed a waiver to allow discussion of his personnel file in public.
Floore said he took that action because "there's nothing to hide."
While school officials would not open the file to reporters, Lee said Floore's differences with administrators centered on teaching and educational philosophy not his classroom teaching. "We have nothing but good reports in terms of Mr. Floore and his behavior toward children," she said.
According to Floore, his troubles with Halberg seemed to date to last fall, after he took a leading role in an advisory group to make suggestions for school improvements.
Soon thereafter he said criticisms, formal and informal became routine from Halberg and an assistant principal.
For example, he said his classroom activities and homework assignments came under increased scrutiny, and a math worksheet was found not to conform with the school's curriculum. He said books he assigned were deemed inappropriate for 4th graders by the principal, even though they were award-winning books from the school's library.
Many of his students give Floore their devoted support.
"He's the best teacher I've ever had," said Becky Schatz, 10. "I used to be very bad at math-at, like, division. He would say, `I know you don't get this, but we're going to try and try to make it fun for you.' "
In January, Floore told the class he might not be recommended for tenure-something he admits was a mistake.
"He was really sad," said Aimee Lipkis, 9. "He said, `Sometimes people criticize you, and I want you to know I may not be here next year.'
"Everybody just broke up," Aimee said. "Kids were crying and screaming."
When one student wrote a note of protest to the principal, Halberg went to the classroom to find out what had happened. Floore said he was criticized for poor judgment in telling the children about his tenure status, and for arguing with Halberg in a subsequent meeting in her office.
"The criticisms they have really don't have a lot to do with teaching," Floore said of the administrators' evaluations of his performance. "One of the issues was I told the principal off. Well, yeah, when somebody pushes me that hard I didn't hesitate to tell her I thought that (her visit to the class) was wrong."
Teacher William Floore's pupils at Winkelman Elementary School in Glenview will complete their 4th-grade educations this spring, but thanks to their local school board, they will also come away with advanced degrees in adult studies.
Lucky kids. It takes most of us years to learn that talent, accomplishment, creativity and hard work can be useless if you don't play office politics well; that those in power aren't particularly interested in and often resent hearing the suggestions and criticisms of underlings; that the independent thinker often gets shown the door; and that even those with goodness and truth on their side don't always win.
Oh, sure, they're bitter about it now. Their teacher, Floore, 49, a man who inspires devotion and respect from his pupils, their parents and his colleagues, will be dismissed after this year, apparently because he did not tug his forelock often enough in the right directions.
Last week, the seven-member West Northfield District 31 Board of Education voted unanimously not to renew his contract. Pupils fled the meeting in tears, and a large contingent of parents and fellow teachers sat stunned. But when the shock and sorrow wear off, they will all be the wiser learning from the key mistakes Floore made along the way. The first was in taking seriously the notion that the education establishment is genuinely interested in hearing fresh ideas and new voices speaking out for change. The education establishment, like just about every other establishment, is filled with the people who established it and who believe deep down that they know what's best.
But Floore, overcome with idealism, resigned his position as director of safety programs for Jewel Food Stores in 1992 to pursue his dream of teaching. He was the top student teacher at Elmhurst College in 1992 before taking a job at Winkelman at one-third his former salary.
Pupils and parents raved about his approach, which focused on self-esteem, positive reinforcement and the joy of classroom achievement. At the end of his first year, his principal, Marilyn Helberg, gave Floore the highest rating in all nine teaching categories.
He said his troubles began at the start of this school year when he was invited to join the Principal's Advisory Group, a six-teacher panel established to provide a forum for frank and honest exchange between staff and administration. These, dear pupils, are groups to avoid.
Whensoever in this life you are tempted by such an invitation, just remember the "Far Side" cartoon of the demons in hell laughing uproariously at the notes placed in the suggestion box by the eternally condemned. Then take a pass.
Remember: When the higher-ups want you to have real input and make decisions, they'll promote you.
But Floore took a vocal role in this group. "I came into teaching thinking the bottom line would be children and how well they were learning," he said. "I thought administrators would be educators who wanted to identify their problems and hear ideas on how to solve them."
He offered strong opinions about class size, the reduced time devoted to art and an uneven distribution of troubled pupils. His relationship with Helberg soured quickly, and he became the target of frequent formal and informal criticisms that one supportive parent dubbed "the trivial pursuit." He was censured, for example, for assigning a book deemed "inappropriate" for 4th graders even though the book was a prize-winning story kept in the K-5 school's own library.
Administrators and board President Joan Lee, who declined to comment Wednesday even though Floore has pleaded with them to talk about his case publicly, have admitted in the past there is no dirty secret in this story-no hidden transgression that would make it obvious why Floore was denied tenure and, in effect, fired.
What is their reason? They don't have to tell. They're in charge, they have their reasons and they don't have to listen or explain to you, OK? In the grownup world, we often have to leave it at that.
As Mr. Floore's 9- and 10-year-old pupils have learned far earlier than most, adults with power-even and maybe especially small-time power-sometimes look out first for themselves, act arbitrarily and don't want to hear the truth if it doesn't fit their notions.
This ain't readin', 'ritin' or 'rithmetic, little friends. Just reality.
After the meeting and the attendees were walking out a newspaper reporter stopped one of the parents and asked her how she felt about the decision of the school board. She angrily replied, "What do you expect, they crucified Jesus Christ, didn't they?"
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