Here's a development in the ongoing struggle by parents and teachers in Palm Beach County against standardized curricula, the erosion of instructional time, progress monitoring exams, and periodic visits by classroom monitors.

Apparently this was just too much for June Clarke, a National Board Certified teacher, a recipient of the Florida Association of Science Teachers’ award for elementary teacher of the year, and little Charlie's fourth-grade teacher.

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Charlie Crist's fourth-grade teacher is frustrated and tired. And she's not taking it anymore.

June Clarke, who had been teaching at Jupiter Farms Elementary, retired abruptly last week after nearly three decades in the classroom because, she said, the school district's new academic program has stripped away the joy of teaching and made her less effective.

"If it sends a message, well and good, but it's something I have to do for myself," Clarke said from her home in Palm Beach Gardens.

Clarke was among the teachers who attended Tuesday night's marathon school board meeting to criticize the program, which includes a standardized curriculum and pacing, tests roughly every three weeks and visits by classroom monitors.

Clarke, 65, had earned national board certification -- a recognition for master teachers -- and had won the Florida Association of Science Teachers’ award for elementary teacher of the year.

“She’s the kind of teacher that you don’t find much any more, the kind of person who is just a dedicated teacher and takes every minute and every second that she can possibly teach,” said Judy Cindrick, a fellow fifth-grade teacher at Jupiter Farms. "She’s standing with her class waiting for music (class) and she’s teaching. She’s in line in the cafeteria and there’s a backup and she’s teaching.”

And in a little-known fact, she taught Crist's fourth-grade class in St. Petersburg before moving to Palm Beach County in 1987.

This year, Clarke first became concerned when she learned that the time she was allotted to teach math and science had been cut each day by about 20 minutes per subject.

In the shorter period, she had to limit some of the hands-on activities that had helped bring math to life for her students. There was now less time to allow her students to practice manipulating foam trapezoids, triangles, hexagons and other shapes to find area and perimeter. "I can't serve them well like this, and I have nothing left when I see them struggling and I can't give them the help," she said. "There's no time."

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Read the entire article and post a comment on palmbeachpost.com.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/schools/...each-73425.html

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Thanks to Mark Pudlow for the clip and the lead.