The report cites feelings of isolation and lack of administrative support for new teachers. Mentor programs need to be developed to improve retention.

Mentor programs can’t do anything about lack of administrative support. When I work in an office, there is a photocopier close by, often with people tasked to make the copies quickly and efficiently for me. When I teach in a public school, the photocopier is five minutes’ walk away, it’s often broken, and use of paper is discouraged. So, when my principal asks why I don’t give daily quizzes I explain. He tells me to “work around it.”

When I worked at an airline, a Big 6 accounting firm, and a major telecommunications corporation, we had carefully targeted courses on new software use, designed for quick delivery as we needed it. Performance reviews included a discussion of what courses I might take to improve specific proficiencies in my area of specialty (law, management, real estate). In education, I get two-hour extensions on faculty meetings with people leading the sessions who know less about the software than I do, who have never really used it professionally. I get complaints about the difficulty of getting a substitute if I try to take a day for “required” continuing ed credits in my specialty (law, history, economics). At the university where I teach, I get access to a decent library and encouragement to publish and speak to outside organizations. In the public schools, I get warnings that I don’t appear “dedicated” to the school.”

I see administrators with Ed.D. degrees who don’t have a clue how to read a spreadsheet or figure a bottom line. We could use some MBA skills among the muck-a-mucks, or some chicken-stealing skills. I pray for an administrator who will cut through the red tape and get me the resources to deliver content — and when I get her, her adminstrators complain she hasn’t filled out the paperwork exactly correctly (never mind the 95% pass rate on the state exams . . .).

Howard Dean was a public school teacher before he became a physician. He got a standing ovation from teachers on his presidential run; he told them he had enormous respect, and he knew he could not be a teacher today because his bladder is not big enough. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires a couple of sizable breaks in a day other than lunch. In school, I’m expected to stand up in front of an audience and perform for a five- or six-hour stretch without a break.

I don’t want a mentor to bring me a catheter. I want an administrator who understands scheduling and human needs. I want an administrator who thinks books are necessary for kids to learn, not one who thinks books are “assets” to be protected from the kids (hence the triplicate check-out forms and bi-monthly book inspections).

And, just once, could I get the textbook a month in advance to prepare lesson plans? My administrators hold me accountable for lesson plans from day 1 — but we didn’t get the textbooks until day 3. The teacher’s edition was weeks away. All a mentor can do is commiserate . . .