Liaison Introduction

Introduction on becoming the “Liaison”

When I was informed by Patrick Riggs that I had been selected by ETA to fulfill the newly created position of ECS School Board Liaison, I also discovered that a few members of ETA were concerned about whether my reports would remain objectively free from my personal observations. The executive board was rightfully anxious that a Middlemiss report might possibly slant school board content, based on his a reputation of being confrontational, and as one retired administrator labeled, “exercising questionable judgement.”

So allow me to begin this blog by confirming ETA’s fears of Middlemiss, by making this introduction all about Middlemiss.

I first began working at EHS in 1985 as a student teacher. I was 34, living comfortably below the poverty line, insufferably idealistic, and living with a pregnant wife working three jobs. Once I obtained my credential, I took substitution jobs from Fortuna to McKinleyville, and realized that ETA was the union most teacher-empowering, and EHS’s English Department the most supportive of progressive and creative curriculum.

I began working full time in February 1987 the day following the death of English teacher Faye Conner. Because of Faye’s failing health and her frequent absences, her 9th and 10th grade classes were unmanageable. Spit balls covered the blackboard, pencils were imbedded in the ceiling tiles, and paper airplanes littered the outside courtyard. Occupied with the demands of a transitioning teacher, I couldn’t help but bear witness to the lack of a support system for an aging professional – her class had been moved across the hall from the principal’s office (shortening her leash), she was required to turn her weekly lesson plans into the principal, and she was stripped of her beloved elective English classes (demonstrated from the files left behind from her travel experiences incorporated into her curriculum). It seemed obvious to me that Faye was being administratively squeezed from a job she had once cherished.

I again witnessed that same seemingly punitive spirit of nonsupport at the beginning of this school year. The district’s nonnegotiable attitude toward our contract, the mismanagement and non-awareness of our district’s funds, the topdown restructuring of our curriculum, and the continued lack of communication between the teachers and the district office. I watched our teachers (of up to 13 year seniority) still reeling from the prior spring pink-slipping, become disenfranchised from their job and school. I saw unnecessary injury of disrespect inflicted upon dedicated professionals, who gathered and stood as a single force, but staggered from the confrontation exhausted and demoralized. I was determined not to retreat into passive submission, but to try to reach out to our district trustees and attempt to understand their job and their efforts to improve the educational environment of ECS.

This is when I approached Quiteria Perreira with my idea of attending the school board meetings, video taping the proceedings and creating this blog. She was way ahead of me and had already developed the idea within ETA.

When I addressed the school board on February 16, informing them of my selection as the ETA liaison, and of my belief in working and communicating together in an atmosphere free of drama and hostility, I was surprised how nervous I became in a room with no more than 15 observers. It gave me cause to stop and reflect with admiration on those who spoke so eloquently in a full house during our impasse with the district. I said I was neither there to threaten nor intimidate, but to observe as objectively as possible. I believe it is important I not hide my motivation for taking on this liaison duty. I hope to express my honesty at every opportunity, and I think it is important the trustees understand that teachers suffered this past fall because of questionable leadership and a blatant display of disrespect. These things just do not go away.

My intent then in this blog is to be as transparent and straightforward, as I am capable, and to avoid cheap shots easily produced with media techniques. I hope to have various open conversations with the board members following the meetings, and I hope they will notify me when I have not been fair or clear in this blog.

(a side note – I committed to teaching an OLLI class through HSU on Wednesday nights back in November, and I will be unable to observe board meetings for the next three sessions. I am hoping someone takes up the slack for me, and I am arranging for the meetings to be taped during those sessions I miss. The video images will be in part published in this blog and in whole cable cast on channel 8. I will print the times once I have that information)

It is an honor to serve the teachers and ETA as their liaison. Please inform me when my services please or seem lacking. This blog is designed to function as an open discourse, and I can only hope common courtesies will be observed.

Thank you,

Philip Middlemiss

Co-Chair EHS English Department