What’s an acceptable formula for achieving academic success in the Austin Independent School District’s minority schools? Is it okay if a principal creates a high-stress environment that drives teachers away in droves? Since this time last year, national Blue Ribbon Award winner Campbell Elementary, located in central East Austin, has lost more than 40% of its teachers, some breaking contract in the middle of the school year. The year before, three out of 10 teachers left. Many Eastside campuses have high staff turnover, but Campbell is consistently among the highest, currently retaining a small percentage of teachers with more than five years’ experience with AISD.
Teacher turnover at Campbell, and complaints from teachers about the school’s principal, Mamie Robinson, are uncomfortable topics for AISD officials. Robinson, who has headed Campbell since 1988, is a black principal who is getting the results which matter most in the state accountability system — good TAAS scores — in a mostly minority school. But this summer, a former teacher wrote a letter to the AISD school board describing what she called “intolerable working conditions” created by Robinson at Campbell. Stacy Miles-Thorpe had taught for two years with AISD before coming to Campbell, but she left midway through her second year at the school, succumbing, she says, to Robinson’s systematic efforts to get rid of her. Several teachers confirm that Miles-Thorpe was driven off through relentless and unfairly negative evaluations, and say Robinson packed her classroom with a disproportionate number of students with behavioral problems.
“I finally decided to say something,” says Miles-Thorpe, “or nobody ever would.” The Chronicle contacted numerous former Campbell teachers for comment. The teachers, though they requested anonymity, were unanimous in their assessments of Robinson:
“I had really wanted to be a teacher, and she just crushed my spirit, and I believe crushed the spirit of a lot of other teachers.”
“It’s like you served a term in prison. … I hardly go by [Campbell] without shuddering. It’s just a good place to be out of.”
“The way she runs that school is sick — it’s a rule of terror.”
“The night I was too stressed to hold my crying baby, my husband said, ‘It’s time for you to quit.'”
At Campbell, the halls are quieter than in your average elementary: The students walk in straight lines to the cafeteria and keep their hands to themselves. On Fridays, they’re tested on the TAAS questions they’ve been drilling during the week. Paddlings are not discouraged, but modern teaching methods promoting group interaction are, teachers say, because they create noise in the classroom.
Is Campbell a model of effective discipline? More like a boot camp that produces mostly stress for kids and teachers alike, teachers say. Even worse, they contend, is the arbitrary manner in which rules are enforced, with perks and leniency granted to teachers who conform with Robinson’s style, harassment and abuse meted out to those who don’t. Former teacher Dana Haulotte says Robinson monitored her classroom on the Monday after Thanksgiving break, gave her poor evaluations, and refused to tell her what the problems were. “She said, ‘I’m going to destroy you’ and called me a nasty human being,” says another teacher.
While at Campbell, Miles-Thorpe became a representative for the American Federation of Teachers, now part of the Education Austin organization. Education Austin labor rep Ana Pomar says that teachers at Campbell typically shun contact with her union, fearing retribution from Robinson. “Most of my members are there one year and they take off,” says Pomar. “They’d rather quit than confront her.”
Referring to Campbell’s blue-ribbon status, teachers often use the word “farce.” Former librarian Mary E. Jones, now employed in Grand Prairie ISD, gives one reason why: On the day that a Dept. of Education representative arrived to visit Campbell, Jones says, she was told to play the part of a gifted and talented instructor, even though she wasn’t certified to teach GT classes. That morning, a group of students was shepherded into her library and she was told to do “special activities” with them, she says. The day the media converged on Campbell to report on the school’s blue-ribbon award, Jones says she was escorted off the campus by Campbell’s assistant principal after she threatened to tell the media that the school had put on an act to win its award.
James Veitenheimer, Robinson’s area superintendent from 1996 to 1998, says he knew some teachers didn’t like working under Robinson, but says it was because the kids were tough to teach and Robinson had high expectations. “For some people who didn’t connect with that level of expectation, it was not a good place to be,” he says. Veitenheimer, now superintendent at Canyon ISD, says he doesn’t remember a formal grievance ever being filed against Robinson, though at least two former Campbell teachers say they went to Veitenheimer’s office to demand transfers.
Robinson has refused to respond to any of the teachers’ complaints, saying, “That sounds real personal to me and I will not get into that. My focus is on students and I have to do what’s right for the kids. My record speaks for itself.”
This article appears in September 17 • 1999.