S3 E6: Systemic Setups & Silent Struggles: What They Don’t Tell Black Male Teachers

Send us a text

Benjamin Joseph's powerful testimony about teaching in Brooklyn schools reveals the deep flaws in our education system that often place administrative convenience above student welfare. As a Black male STEM teacher, Benjamin entered the profession with noble intentions - to provide representation in a field where few look like him and to equip the next generation with vital skills. What he discovered instead was a system where literacy rates are plummeting, special education services go undelivered, and educators who speak up face institutional backlash.

The most troubling revelation comes when Benjamin discovers students with IEPs aren't receiving legally mandated services, and worse, school officials are instructing children to hide this fact from their parents. When Benjamin refuses to remain silent, documenting these failures and alerting all relevant stakeholders, he finds himself targeted by administration. Yet he persists, driven by an unwavering commitment to his students: "These are my kids, and if I have a kid that I'm trying to teach and I realize that they're not getting their services, that is a problem for me."

Beyond exposing institutional failings, Benjamin offers profound insights into the impossible demands placed on modern teachers. Expected to serve as educators, counselors, behavioral managers, security guards, and surrogate parents, teachers are burning out while attempting to compensate for systemic failures. For parents, his message is clear: question everything, understand what services your child should receive, and remain actively involved in their education.

Despite facing pushback, Benjamin's approach built lasting relationships with students and parents who continue to seek his guidance years later. His story serves as both inspiration and warning - our education system requires fundamental reform that prioritizes transparency and student welfare over administrative convenience.

How can we rebuild an educational system that truly serves all students? Listen now to join this crucial conversation.

Don't let your boss suck the life out of you.
Share your bad boss story on our website.
Learn more or Book Natalie.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
But these are my kids and if I have a kid that I'm
trying to teach and I'm tryingto make sure that they're
getting the education thatthey're getting and I realize
that they're not getting theirservices, that is a problem for
me because I can't teach them ifthey're not getting the
services that they're supposedto be getting, which will also
help them to implement or toretain knowledge or to
understand what I'm trying toteach.

(00:20):
And I'm sure I'll say you needsupport.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
even if I got fired, at least I know that she is not
the only child that's probablygoing through this.

(00:44):
Benjamin, thanks for joining us.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
No problem.
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
We're so glad to have you on.
So your Boss Sucks TeacherEdition.
We're excited to reallyappreciate teachers and I'm
excited to hear your story.
So I want to first start with.
You know what made you want togo into education.
You know what made you want togo into education.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
I think education for me came from just helping
others.
I would honestly say the firsttime I actually felt interested
in teaching was during myinternship at City Tech.
This is where I had to work onmy biomedical informatics degree

(01:28):
for my bachelor's degree andwhat happened was they paired me
up with high schoolers so I hadto kind of work with them and
teach them how to implementdifferent integrations of
softwares, platforms and thenbeing able to kind of teach them
the ropes so that by the timethey get to college they feel
prepared.
And then when I realized that,I said you know what?
I could take those skills thatI have and teach it to other

(01:50):
kids.
So I said, why not?
But it was also realizing thatin the STEM field, especially in
a lot of schools, especially inNew York, they don't have a lot
of STEM teachers or even justscience teachers.
Period, and especially as aBlack male, as a male figure,
that's something that I wantedto kind of address.

(02:10):
So I kind of put myself in thatcategory and told myself you
know what?
I want to be part of thatsystem and I want to just share
whatever knowledge I have tokind of bring up the next
leaders and generations.
For the new year coming up up,the next leaders and generations
, for the new year coming up.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
So I'm surprised to hear that, because I feel like
STEM or STEAM, or what everybodywants to call it STEM, stem,
right, I think.
I feel like we've been talkingabout this for like 20 years.
How is this still a struggle inthe school systems?
In the school systems?

Speaker 1 (02:43):
I think, realizing that STEM there's a lot that
goes into it, but I think themain thing is well, I noticed
that in order for you to knowSTEM or to just know anything
science-related, math-related orengineering-related, anything
in the tech space, the problemis that we have a lot of

(03:04):
students that are havingchallenges when it comes to
reading and just writing.
So if you're trying to teach astudent, teach scholars, how to
implement this new strategywithin a software, or you want
them to know how to code, or ifyou want them to kind of run
simulations, if they cannot read, then that means they won't be

(03:26):
able to follow instructions orthe directions being implemented
to them.
So I think the the main issue isrealizing that you know you put
these kids into certain coursesand you want them to learn, but
then you also realize they'renot on the same level.
For example, if I'm teaching asixth grader, a sixth grader
might be on a first, secondgrade level, so does that mean

(03:47):
that they can understand sixthgrade level?
Not entirely right, and I thinkthat's where the problem
actually came out Noticing andrealizing that while I'm trying
to educate students, there's alot of challenges that they're
facing on their end, andrealizing that, when it comes to
reading or understandingcontext, that's something that

(04:08):
is really breaking the systemdown and it's been addressed
many times, but I just felt likeit's just been kicked to the
back burner and I think that'sthe biggest issue that they've
been facing in the educationalspace.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
So we're going to talk about your bad boss, I
promise.
But I'm still like blown onthis literacy thing, cause I saw
a report recently that talkedabout how, um, in America, our
literacy rate is going down.
Like I'm like, how does this wejust how do you get and only
read it at second grade level?
I'm real and you know what.
I'm not surprised becausehaving a child in a public

(04:43):
education system with an IEP anda special plan for his learning
, an individual education plan,iep I had to intervene at a
certain grade level where I'mlike he's at this grade level
but he's still reading at that.
And you all keep saying it'sfine and I'm looking at these
goals.
I don't think they'reaggressive enough.

(05:04):
That's not fine.
And we ended up having to movehim to a different school
because they were fine with justfloating him back.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Just floating.
The problem is transparencysucks.
There's no transparency, thetransparency that a lot of I
mean the system, the schoolsometimes I feel like when I'm
walking in you know, there's alot of schools I worked at and I
think the issue is that whenyou're trying to sell a dream or

(05:33):
trying to tell parents that, oh, this is what we're offering,
this is what we're doing foryour child, and, as an educator,
when I walk inside the schoolbuilding, I'm seeing something
different and then I ask myselfwould I want my own child to be
in this network?
The answer has always been no,always been no.
I have not said yes to anythingregarding the schools that I've

(05:53):
worked at only because it's notjust like not saying that there
aren't good educators out there.
There's a lot of educators thatknow how to teach.
They know how to create a safespace and environment for
students to learn.
There's teachers who will speakup, but that's the number one
thing For me.
I got to look out for my kidsand that's also telling me that
I have to make sure that there'sa relationship building type of

(06:16):
thing between not just me butthe network, the leadership, the
students and the parents.
And the biggest issue thatwe'll dive into is when the
parents are needed.
Where are they right?
Because we keep getting thewell, you didn't tell me that my
child was failing, but thenagain I always come with

(06:38):
receipts because messages.
We use those softwares.
We use ParentSquare.
This is where parents aresupposed to implement and enroll
, make sure it's on their phoneso they can get emails anywhere.
But we realize that there aresome parents who just don't
respond to teachers becausethey're saying, well, if one
teacher is calling me, anotherteacher is calling me.
I'm getting tired, Too manyteachers are calling me.

(06:59):
We get a lot of excuses about alot of things.
We get a lot of excuses about alot of things, but the one
thing I've always had to do, Ihad to address it to parents,
and we've had this big issuethat parents will only reach out
to you when it's parent-teacherconference.
We'll get into that, but that'ssomething that always it, just

(07:20):
it gets me angry, because I'mjust like I've been reaching out
to you weekly.
I send out information onParentSquare, Google Classroom,
you name it.
We send out data fromSchoolrunner.
This is where all of theimportant information, data,
analytics, all the data that weneed and resources to kind of
see where students are.
We send all those things out toparents, but do parents respond
?
No, some of them do, but notall of them.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
And it becomes an issue.
So this gets to you.
Know you and I talked aboutthis, I, I have named it.
At first, it was going to bethe trifecta of leadership,
right?
So, in terms of being aneducator, I feel like what I'm
hearing from a lot of theeducators we've talked to is
that there's this, this, thismulti-faceted effect on who's

(08:01):
your boss.
You have the, the, the, thestate or federal, you know
administration.
Then you have your internaladministration at the school.
Those are two different levelsof, of, of boss right.
But then you also have theparents right as, as a you know
a, a recipient of your product,if you will, and the children.

(08:23):
So it's really like a court set, if you will, and I think I
think for me, the question Ihave is like how do you, as the
educator, deal with the level ofstress that comes with the
multifaceted demand of yourenergy, especially when a lot of

(08:45):
those demands are in conflict?

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Listen, I feel like building relationships.
It's key for me.
I think when you buildrelationships, it drives and it
kind of allows you to createthat safe space for parents.
If you want to talk aboutrelationship building, that's
something that I've always done,ever since I've been an
educator.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Relationship power with the administration, with
the parents.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
Well, parents had to come first.
The way I see it is the reasonwhy and I've spoken to a couple
of my colleagues about this thereason why the schools are still
standing up today.
We can talk about governmentfunds, we can talk about funds
that are being implemented intothe school system and the
networks, but the reason whythey are mainly standing up
today is because of parents.

(09:32):
Right, if the parents didn'tsend their child to the school,
the classrooms would be empty.
If the classrooms are empty andthe teachers are standing there
, the teachers can't workbecause they can't.
They're not teaching anybody.
So if you have no teachers inthe building, then all you're
going to have standing there isjust a building and leadership
and then the network and theboard members.

(09:52):
The problem that we're havingis that relationship building, I
realize, goes on a back burner.
They only do it for a certaintime because remember the
recruiters, the recruitmentprocess.
You would think it's just therecruiters that need to recruit
people and talk to parents andcall parents.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
So for context, though, we're talking
specifically about charterschools.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Well, charter schools and public schools.
There's a lot that goes intothat recruitment process.
But I also have seen and beennot part of the process.
It's been different where theywant teachers to kind of get
students in the building andthere's been a lot of pressure
into that.
The one thing that I know I'vedone right I've taught kids that

(10:40):
had siblings on top of siblings.
I've taught their brothers andsisters, kids that had siblings
on top of siblings.
I've taught their, theirbrothers and sisters, and the
relationship has always been thesame for me.
I love keeping it real.
There are a lot of things thatthe network and leadership
wanted me to do and because Iwas one of those teachers that
my foot was down, I would notput myself in a position where I

(11:01):
would take away from myintegrity, because I know what
these kids need.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Give me one good example of like like.
I'm not doing that.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
All right.
So there was a particularsituation with um, a student who
came in and this is, this islike an issue that you know.
There's some parents that'slike look, if anything happens,
you call me, you let me know.
Like, I got parents that are Ineed speed dial, you need to
call me.
The student came in and theycame in pretty late and for me

(11:36):
it's like when I don't seecertain students that I know
you've been coming in, but thenyou didn't show up.
It's like what's going on.
So what I decided to do wasthere was a time period where I
gave students independent work,because during the independent
work is when I could, like, goon my laptop, try to make a few
phone calls, try to look at data.
But I took that time to reachout and what I found out was

(11:59):
there was a message that wassupposed to be sent out to the
teachers of my grade, but itwasn't sent out.
A particular situation happened,but I didn't know because you
didn't send an email out, and Icalled the parents and told them
, like, look, I hope so-and-sois good.
If you need anything, let meknow what's going on.

(12:19):
The parents basically told meoh, they didn't tell you that
you know this particular thinghappened.
The child was in the hospital.
We didn't know anything thatwas going on, um, and then it
got to a particular point wherewe just start that something.
You know, maybe the parent justdidn't decide to bring them to

(12:40):
the school because of somethingelse.
So this communication thingbecause I want to make sure that
in the area that the schoolbecause of something else.
So this communication thingbecause I wanna make sure that
in the area that the school isin there's a lot of shootings,
there's a lot of fights, there'sa lot of other schools that get
into a lot of dangerousactivities.
My main thing is to make sure,like my students are safe.
So come to find out.
It was a situation that therewas a fight.

(13:01):
We didn't know about it becauseall the teachers were gone.
So just imagine, as we'retrying to walk kids out of the
school building, there's a wholebunch of kids that are standing
across the street.
I don't know them.
They don't know me, I don'tknow them, but there was a
situation that took place.
Now you want us to walk kids tothe bus stop in a situation

(13:25):
where are we protected?
No, by law are we supposed toLike I don't mind helping and
supporting.
But there was thisaggressiveness of like we want
you guys, like at this time thisday, to walk kids to the bus
stop or to the train station,like it was a part of the
contract.
And I've had this situationwhere I've been fighting with

(13:48):
them and there was times wheremy you know my boss it was like,
look, they're going to greatteam leads, they've had them all
over you know charter schoolsand public schools.
And it was like, look, you knowwe're getting you know written
up, or we're getting you knowthe text message that you know
you're not going to the bus stop, I'm not going to the train

(14:09):
stations to kind of help out.
And, mind you, sometimes I walkwith kids because I'm just like
I'm always talking.
If I go out, I meet parents, Italk with them.
But it got to a point where itwas just like, yeah, I got to do
this, that aggressive talk likeI have to.
So they were, you were gettingbullied, it was bullied, they

(14:29):
know that's what it was, buthere's the.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
Here's the question I got, because if it were your,
so we don't have to say thelocation, but you're in one of
the five different schools didit.
So you're in one of the fiveboroughs.
Which one?
Which one is it?
Brooklyn, brooklyn?

Speaker 1 (14:42):
yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
Brooklyn.
Yeah, all right.
So you're in Brooklyn, right,and kids have a fight and you
know the area itself has somechallenges, right, in terms of
crime, shooting, whatever.
If it were your child, wouldyou want the teacher to walk
them to the bus stop then?

Speaker 1 (15:00):
So let's put it like this If there's a child that you
know that loves to starttrouble, that loves to bring
trouble to the school, weaddress the situation and the
school still doesn't take somemeasure to get into it, then why
should I put myself at risk?

(15:20):
Because, at the end of the day,if a child is talking smack,
you're putting yourself in thatposition like you're trying to
act, like you're big and tough,which there's a lot of middle
school kids right now that Ithink they're so grown that they
could do whatever they want.
This is, this is the attitudethey bring inside the school
buildings.
And then you got people.
When they see it, it's kind oflike when teachers are calling

(15:41):
for support, which which isanother thing, but no one don't
intervene Someone.
Oh, let's use thewalkie-talkies.
Oh, you want us to send you amessage when the kids are
fighting in the classroom.
But then it's like should Ijump in?
Should I stop the fight?
Of course, for me, I've been insituations where, if a fight
was about to break out, I'mgoing to jump in between, and

(16:02):
you know I'm a to jump inbetween, and you know I'm a
strong dude.
I will lock you in some corneruntil somebody comes.
But the other part of it is thatnot everyone is like me.
But then you also got to thinkabout the classroom.
Everyone has to be safe.
I'm trying to create a safespace for my students and then
you got something like thishappening.
I'm calling for support.
But then you, you trying tosend me a message that I can't

(16:26):
even run to like oh, what is it?
Is it urgent?
You asking me if it's urgent,if I'm calling for support, I'm
not going to have time to typeup in the message box or call
you.
Oh well, you know the walkietalkie.
See, the thing is, y'all aretrying to come up with so many
excuses because when you hearsomething or a teacher calls on
a walkie-talkie like I'm callingfor support.

(16:46):
There's times I can't even getto the walkie-talkie because I
got to keep somebody on theheadlock, I got to keep somebody
by the door just to make sure.
And I'm trying to like in thehallway yo, I need support.
But it's like we're in ameeting.
We'll try to send who we canLike what.
We'll try to send who we canwhat like, what.

(17:09):
So the the question is they so?
The thing is, they want us to bethe dean of our own classrooms.
I think every school that I'veworked at this has been a thing.
Y'all can be the deans in ourown classrooms.
That's perfectly fine, becauseI want my classroom to be safe.
But the other part of it is thatmy role, my, my teaching job,
my description, my role, is forme to go in to educate kids.
My job is not for me to try tojump in and write letters and

(17:33):
try to figure out what the issueis.
If there's an issue, of coursemy instinct is telling me I got
to protect the other kids.
But when I'm calling forsupport and then you trying to
ask me if it's urgent, you'reasking me questions like no,
ma'am, no, sir, if it's urgent,and I'll tell you to come, get
up out your seat, because a lotof them just sit down all day.
A lot of leadership people.

(17:54):
They just on their computerstyping.
I don't know what you typing,but I know I'm working hard.
It feels like 24 hours in a dayteaching kids and trying to
educate them while trying todeal with the battles happening
in the classroom.
And if you feel that, oh, we'recalling for support and the
thing that you can say is, ifit's urgent.
No, if we're calling forsupport, your instinct should be

(18:16):
Let me stop what I'm doing.
Let me run to the classroom andtry to figure out what the
situation is.
It could be small, it could bebig, but this is what we've been
going through.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
So I have just one serious question Is the American
school system expecting toomuch from teachers?

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Yes, they are.
They are Teachers can't teachanymore.
That's how bad it is I'vespoken to I live around an area
where there's teachers out herethat they retired.
They've been teaching for 40plus, 50 plus years and they
said the one thing thatdisturbed them was on a job

(18:56):
application.
They would ask you for some ofthem that how are you when it
comes to dealing with behaviorsin the classroom?
The one thing they told me wasthat we never had any type
dealing with behaviors in theclassroom.
The one thing they told me wasthat we never had any type of
behavior challenges in theclassroom because we didn't have
to deal with that.
There was a level of respectwhere it used to be.
There was a level of parentsbeing parents and not friends to

(19:18):
their kids.
There was a time when a lot ofparents it takes a village to
raise a kid.
There was a time when that alot of parents you know it takes
it takes a village to raise akid.
There was a.
There was a time when that wasa big deal.
If you did something wrong,your mama gave the, the teacher
gave the next door neighbor,gave anybody that was in the
neighborhood permission,permission to make sure that

(19:41):
they do what they gotta do toadjust.
Yeah, because if my mom was atwork, you know she, she was
working as um, you know as anurse and it's like, and my dad
was around too, but that'sthat's another situation,
because he, he, he left me whenI was starting high school.
It was a big situation.
But I think, going through thatchallenge and realizing that

(20:04):
the level of just family, family, friends, they always looked at
it.
If you had Japan sagging andsomebody caught you in the
neighborhood, they're going tohandle it for my mom and then my
mom will get the news and thenI think that's what it used to
be.
Right now, teachers are puttingon so many hats that it is

(20:25):
causing a burnout and a lot ofteachers don't realize it.
I say you, teachers aren't evengetting paid so much money and
you think that allow.
And some teachers are.
You know, some teachers don'twant to speak up.
You got some jobs where it'sjust like teaching jobs where
it's like, oh, you know thepension.
You know I want to be able todo this and I love teaching kids
.
It's okay to love teaching kids, there's no problem.

(20:45):
The problem is, if I'm ascience teacher, I should not be
teaching ELA English languagearts.
I should not be teachinghistory.
I should not be teaching gym.
I should not be teaching umEspanol like Italian class.
That's not.
That's not my role and a lot ofschools that's what they're

(21:07):
going through now.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
They're trying to give teachers more work Because
there's a nationwide shortage ofteachers, and most of it is
because, aside from compensation, which is a large issue and for
most employees, if you can'tcompensate me, I'm not coming to
this job right Aside from that,the conditions are very
interesting, especially fromwhat you're saying.

(21:28):
So.
So here's what I want to know,cause?
So we didn't talk about yourbackground as a science teacher.
So you leave college having hadthis experience loving to
inspire kids, and you go backhome to teach?
Is that?
Is that what happened?

Speaker 1 (21:42):
That's what happened.
I think the other part that Ileft out was during my
internship when I was workingwith NSF, the National Science
Foundation research experience.
So they choose eight studentsthroughout the whole CUNY system
.
So you got a lot of schools.
You got City College, you gotBrooklyn College, you got CUNY

(22:03):
Every Cuny school that you canthink of.
They choose a students.
This research researchexperience that I had gave me an
eye opener and it allowed me torealize that there is not many
people that look like me in thatfield.
I've been chosen and I'm alwaysgoing to be grateful to one of

(22:24):
my professors.
They were great professors Ihad, but this one professor.
It was my statistics two classand he was a math teacher.
He used to work in Wall Streetbut he actually came into
teaching because he wanted toteach kids to kind of, you know,
work on formulations, onnumbers.
He was a numbers guy.
He said the one thing was thathe saw that I was also the way I

(22:48):
use numbers.
I use it as a musician becauseyou know, I played in church.
I was always part of, you know,I was playing drums, I was
playing bass, I was in amarching band and so music, of
course.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Two, five, three, right, yeah, I was like I was
very bad.

Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yes, I was like I was talking about it.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
I got it wrong and I'm like you got it?

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yep, they just call it.
Then the organist got to dosome keynote, they got to drop
it.
The pastor doing this, it's awhole work.
And this guy, this teacher, MrSingh.
I will never forget what he didfor me the day of my finals for
statistics two class for mybiomedical informatics degree.
He said he pulled me up and hesaid listen, I know that you

(23:31):
need an internship to graduate.
You've been doing so well in myclass, not because of your
passing, but it's the way thatyou think outside the box.
He said you love music.
You use music in a way for youto understand statistic too.
I didn't like statistics, but Ilove math and sometimes it all
depends on the professor.
If it just if the professorcould make it engaging for you

(23:54):
and make it fun.
And he used to put numbers withrelationships, because you know
a lot of college kids.
You got people in there wherethey love it w and got
boyfriends and girlfriends inand he used to put it into a
mathematical equation.
I don't know how he did it, butthat was his skill.
And he said listen, I set upthis meeting and I want you to
have this meeting with thedirector of the NSF program, the

(24:15):
math teacher that was there andphysics teacher he's actually
the physics head.
We had Professor Louis Mark andthen we had professors who they
allowed them to be part of theNS head.
We had Professor Louis Mark andthen we had professors who they
allowed them to be part of theNSF and they would be our
chaperones.
So he said look, I know you'regoing to pass this test anyway,
so I'm not going to have youtake the finals.

(24:35):
I already gave you an A In mymind.
I'm looking at him.
I said man, what you doing?
Man, I'm trying to take thistest, Maybe even if I got an 85
or 90, because it was a hard, itwas a challenging class, but it
was fun.
He said no, no, no, I want youto go to this meeting.
When I went to the meeting Ididn't know exactly who I was
going to run into, but it wasthe director of the NSF.

(24:55):
And he said listen, we have onemore spot left and we need
somebody from this school.
Your teacher is a colleague ofours.
We trust them because anybodyhe sends to us, he must have
this great loving for you, myfriend, and we want you to see
if you would accept thisposition.

(25:16):
Now, this NSF experience.
I got paid from it, which meantI didn't have to work.
Nine to't have to work, youknow, nine to five.
Even if I was given a jobopportunity, I wouldn't be able
to do it because this wasactually like a hybrid, a hybrid
internship.
So I can.
I was working from home, but Iwas also going into city college
, because city college has anengineering department building

(25:39):
and all the tools that I need towork on this particular
projects was at the building.
So when they're telling me,like all this other stuff,
everything was, I was like onlyeight people.
I have the whole cutie and I'mwondering he's like listen, you,
he said.
He said listen.
I know sometimes people need aweek to to think about it.
We will give you the week, butwe know what your stature and

(26:02):
what he's been telling us aboutyou.
You could say right now well,we'll start signing contracts,
get everything going.
Everything was paid for myflights, anything that I bought
and spent out of my pocket wasreimbursed.
Nasa actually funded theprogram at City College.
So you're talking aboutastronauts, you, they funded

(26:24):
that program and it was justlike okay, I went home, thought
about it, Got it.
I don't even think I took anhour.
I called them and said this isan experience that I want to be
part of.
We went straight into it.
When I got that internship, thisis what opened my eyes to
realize that there's not a lotof people that look like me.
I had to run and work with myPhD mentor.

(26:45):
We're running models, we'rerunning projects.
I had to use my skill to teachhigh school kids, to kind of
support them on their dream tobecome an engineer or if they
wanted to work on likemathematical or be a math
teacher or something.
And all of this kind of drivenme like I was driven to kind of
tell.
I was telling myself I said no,no, no, I don't even think my

(27:06):
neighborhood, I don't even thinkpeople, people in Brooklyn know
, or just New York, period.
But I said I got to do more.
I said if I'm getting thisopportunity, of course I'm going
to share it, I'm going to bringit into my neighborhood.
So by that time I said you knoweverything I'm doing.
I went out to these conferences.
I swear the amount of facesthat will look at you because

(27:29):
they're not expecting a blackmale figure or just you know a
black male walking intoconferences where it's like
there's not many people like youover there.
But I'm in there.
I said I'm there for a reason.
You know, and I think thattaught me a lesson that when an
opportunity is given to you, yougot to share it.

(27:49):
You got to break those barriersand I think that's what allowed
me to kind of get into teaching, because I did not see many
people like me but I also knew Ihad a lot of resources that
would help a lot of kids to getinto the particular fields that
are really booming right now.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
So I've got a question what do you think from
your perspective, yourexperience, because you got your
degree, you went back home andwe'll talk about the difference
between you as a Black teacher,and some of the a Black male
teacher and some of the ones insome of your counterparts and
colleagues.
Why do you think?
Why do you think Black mendon't go more, black men don't

(28:27):
go into teaching?

Speaker 1 (28:32):
I just feel like they haven't been exposed to it.
If you look at a lot ofneighborhoods, there aren't many
centers or any outlet for justBlack men period or just
minorities to kind of just learn.
Like now, everything is onlineand that's if and that's if.

(28:55):
I've taught kids that parentsdidn't have internet at home.
I've taught kids that parentsonly had cell phones and they
weren't able to get a laptop.
And a lot of schools do allowkids to bring home laptops, but
that's something that a lot ofschools tend to shut down
because kids are breaking themApparently.
They're saying that they'rebeing stolen, they're not

(29:16):
bringing it back.
So the resources that are neededfor a lot of, you know, black
men period to kind of get thoseresources, or just minority,
because you even have females inSTEM, which I'm really, you
know, I'm so happy about becauseit should have just only be a
male dominant field we needfemales.

(29:36):
Don't just assume that justbecause you see a man in this
particular field, that womancan't do it right, and I think
that's also been a whole bigtopic as to which field is for
who.
But I always tell myself, ifyou're able to share the
knowledge and you're able toshare the wealth of knowledge
that you have.
It could go a long way.
I just feel like a lot ofschools they're not doing that.

(29:59):
One particular thing I can tellyou we want kids to come into
the school building.
We want them to sit down allday.
A lot of schools take awaytheir gym period, and you're
talking about middle school kids.
Even if they were in highschool, these kids cannot sit in
school.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
How do?

Speaker 1 (30:19):
they take away gym.
Well, let's put it like thisI've been in a school where they
had gym before, but then theydecided to take it away from the
curriculum the following yearsmoving forward.
The reason behind it is it allgoes back to kids not learning
how to read, or they're not ableto read properly.

(30:39):
The grades are looking horrible.
They're not able to runassessments the way they're
supposed to, so they're likelook, we got to focus more on
trying to help these kids learnhow to read.
People talk about COVID.
We can talk about COVID all day,but even before COVID, a lot of
these kids were you can look atthe statistics they were still
low.

(31:00):
The progress it did not shiftand this is the reason why, when
conversations come up about theUS being the lowest when it
comes to, like, the educationalspace, where kids, you know
assessments and grades, we're atthe bottom and the fact that
we've been going through thisfor years and now we see there's
a lot of stuff happening withthe educational department they

(31:22):
try to flush everybody out.
Then a lot of parents, a lot ofschools.
I've seen a lot of schoolleadership people coming out
like, oh, we're going to losethis funding, we're going to
lose this, that.
And then it came back to methat, even in certain schools
that I've worked at, and then itcame back to me that, even in
certain schools that I've workedat, when you have parents that
come in as like, oh you know,thank you for you know the
services that you've beenprovided for my kids, If a kid

(31:43):
has an IEP, you know they needspeech, they need this, that.

Speaker 2 (31:48):
Occupational therapy.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
Occupational therapy.
And then you come to realizethat what there was times when I
had to ask, like look at myselfand look at them, like what
services you talking about?
Because this child never leftmy classroom period.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
So, so, so let me let me go back.
So you're telling me that theone of the schools that you work
for was telling the parentsthey were getting services like
so, occupational therapy, speechtherapy because they needed
extra development, perhaps theywere neurodiverse, they had adhd
, autism, developmental delay,whatever the label is.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
That they were telling the parents they were
getting services and they wereyeah that's grimy they said they
were getting those services andFor me, that's the ultimate bad
boss.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
I can't stand.
I think it was episode four, Italked about it Season one
episode.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
I think it might've been episode four.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
Go back and look.
I cannot stand a liar.
There are a lot of things I candeal with.
If you are incompetent, that'snumber two, but I can at least
deal with your willingness tolearn if you want to.
How do you deal when youradministration is lying to
people?

Speaker 1 (33:04):
I'm going to tell you now.
I felt like every time I walkedinto the school building
several school buildings I justfelt like it wasn't that I was
the madman, it was just that thelooks that I used to get, or
just like I knew there was atarget on my back always.
But did I care?
No, I said, I know, it's a job.
I always told myself I couldalways get a teaching job.

(33:25):
And it's not about being cocky,it's just that when you're
looking at a black male andyou're talking about STEM
science you're talking about.
Y'all ain't got nobody in theschool buildings.
It's vacancies.
Y'all just throwing people.
They even throwing paras.
You know paras that aren't.
You know they, paras areteaching, that's.

(33:48):
That's where we're at now.
If they're trying to, they'retrying to get any and anybody to
come into these schools andteach any and anybody to come
into these schools and teach.
That's when you know theeducational system's going down
Like y'all have no decency tokind of refresh or go back into
what is the issue and what isthe problem.
And the only you know solutiony'all can come up with is just

(34:08):
like yo, let's just show any andanybody because we need
somebody, we need an adult to bein the classroom with the kids
Because, at the end of the day,if there's no children, you
can't do it.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
I want to go back to that.
So you're talking to theparents, You're like they're not
getting services.
They look at you and say what?

Speaker 1 (34:29):
No, I told him straight up.
I said the services that youthink that your child is getting
, they're not getting it.
Oh, what do you mean?
So a particular situation.
When it happened, I actuallywent to the SPED director and I
said listen so one of thespecial education directors
they're basically the onesthat's in charge of like IEPs.

(34:50):
They're in charge of havingmeetings with parents and the.
You know just the district, orjust to try to find ways to come
up with these.
You know just the district, orjust to try to find ways to come
up with these.
You know these plans and tryingto see if a student is supposed
to, you know, get thoseservices.
Sometimes they have to evaluatethem.
They have to make sure thatthey pass all these things that
are in place to see, oh, thischild is eligible to have these

(35:15):
services.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Based on the state and federal regulations.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
Regulations so now I'm like so this parent said
that their child has beengetting all the services.
They said that this is what theywere told, but they've been in
my class.
So but and the thing is, I knowmy student schedules, because
what I try to do is, if astudent has speech or whoever it

(35:39):
is that they're supposed to getpicked up by, I have a
relationship where I'm able totalk to them, or I'm going to
have something prepared so thatwhen they do come out the
classroom, I'll talk to theteacher or whoever has them.

(36:01):
Like, look, I know that they'regoing to be out of class, but
if you can fit into yourschedule and when there's a time
that you can have them go over,let's say, for example,
vocabulary, which is like a bigred flag in the school system,
where vocabulary is just nowgetting in there, where they're
trying to hire people who arelike vocabulary magicians in a

(36:25):
way, and they just come in tojust see if a child is using
vocab.
This is how crazy to get it.
And I'm like you expect thechild to know vocabulary, but
they don't know how to read.
You got to help me understand,because it doesn't help that way
.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
So you went to the special ed teacher, the special
ed director, and what did theysay?

Speaker 1 (36:46):
So the only thing they told me was that they will
have a conversation with theparent because, at the end of
the day, there are a lot ofspecial directors, like special
education directors, that wouldsay there's a lot of things that
they can't do on their endbecause they're limited to
things that they can do, whichis true to some degree.
But if a parent assumes orthinks that their child is

(37:10):
getting the services and they'renot, this is where it gets
tricky for them, because I willbe the person.
I will send out emails.
I'm not gonna just send it outto the special education
director, I'm gonna put theboard members, I'm gonna put the
leadership, I'm gonna put my,my crew, if I'm teaching with
sixth grade, sixth gradeteachers, because we're all
teaching this individual studentand I want to make sure that

(37:31):
everyone is aware.
But then when that happens.
Wait, you said the board Listenbecause, at the end of the day,
there's no reason why, like eventhe board, like they know
what's going on.
Listen, we went through theamount of schools that I've been
in.
I have not.
We've went through severalprincipals, leadership.

(37:53):
I'm talking about a principalthat can't even manage a school
or be in a school for like ayear or two years.
They keep switching people allaround.
So think about it Things getswitched.
If you switch into a new member, maybe the system is changing
so they're trying to dosomething else, but what I've
seen is that there's no way thatyou don't understand enough
because, remember, it's abusiness.

(38:14):
Always look at educational,educational things as a business
.
There's a lot of money thatgoes into each student that has
services especially I have ieps.
There's a lot of money.
We're just talking about tenthousand dollars.
You're talking about tenthousand plus, plus going up
there.
So the money looks good tothose people that's behind
closed doors.
But for teachers, we'restruggling, trying to figure out

(38:37):
and trying to work with astudent that is supposed to get
services and they're not gettingit.
So when I addressed that right,the issue was and this is why I
knew there was a target on myback, because it got to a point
where I was getting the emailsback like look, um, I should not
be sending, you know, this typeof emails to, let's say, my
colleagues and or I shouldn't besending out the emails to

(39:02):
so-and-so.
But the thing that that thattook me out was, well, the board
members appointed a lot ofy'all leadership people here,
the the leadership you guysappointed.
You know you get the principal,you get the deans and all that
stuff, and then the principalwill help out to make sure you
know they get the teachers.
So, at the end of the day, arewe supposed to all be a family

(39:22):
or community that's trying tomake sure that we can find the
best solution for our students?
So if this is a situation thatI'm teaching a child that is
supposed to get services and Irealize, based on what the
parents are saying, that oh yeah, they've been saying that
they've been getting servicesthis and that and they haven't,
then I'm going to address it.
This ain't no you didn'taddress it.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
You literally lit the match and told everybody.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
Everybody.
That's part of that process.
Yeah, everybody, that's part ofthat process because, at the
end of the day, you know whatthey always used to tell us.
They always used to tell us.
Just imagine if I'm teaching astudent inside the classroom and
I know something.
There are teachers that know alot of things but they don't
address it.
And what happened is, let's say, they come inside the school,

(40:07):
they do an audit and a lot ofschools they don't get the real
audit because there's certainaudits that they will shut that
whole school down if they needto.
Because when the governmentfinds out, oh, just imagine that
I'm sending you money butyou're not even working on a
product for me, like you're noteven doing what you're supposed
to be doing and you're lying toparents you don't think that's
some type of fraudulent activitythat y'all are doing up in the
school system?
So we just collected money butwe're not really helping out the

(40:29):
kids?

Speaker 2 (40:32):
So okay, so um, so you've put everybody on the
email, which I'm loving thecoverage of it.
I think I might have done itdifferently.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
The respectable people, yeah, the respectable
people, like the people that I'mnot going to say, like just
everybody, because, remember,this is where we the one thing I
remember you mentioned the wordboss.
There's a lot of schools that Iworked out, there are too many
bosses.
One boss is going to tell youum, if you want, um, anything,
when you send an email, um,these are the only people that I

(41:05):
want you to put on here.
Then somebody else will saywhat they talking about?
This is what they told you.
No, no, this is who you'resupposed to send it to.
Oh, no, this.
So when there's a lot ofdifferent bosses, you got your
manager, you got the principal,remember, the principal got a
boss too.
That principal's boss, thatboss got a boss too.
So when it goes down the lineand you realize everybody's

(41:25):
telling you different things todo, the only thing that I could
come up with is somebody isgoing to have to know something
because this is important.
So I said, since I can't comeup with a solution, I'm just
going to put all of y'all inthere, because some of y'all are
telling me that you don't wantso-and-so to be up in there, and
I'm trying to figure out why.
But then it's like that's myboss.

(41:45):
So when I tell my boss, she'slike oh, that's what they told
you.
So then my boss is looking atit like yo, they really trying.
But these are my kids, and if Ihave a kid that I'm trying to
teach and I'm trying to makesure that they're getting the
education that they're getting,and I've realized that they're

(42:07):
not getting their services, thatis a problem for me, because I
can't teach them if they're notgetting the services that
they're supposed to be gettingwhich will also help them to
implement or to retain knowledgeor to understand what I'm
trying to teach and if they'renot getting the services.
You could send out an email toone person.
This one person would takeyears to respond back to you.
But you're across the school,you're across the classroom from

(42:29):
me.
You can easily just walk.
I have a concern.
I will come find you.
Sometimes they're not there.
I'll send out an email.
You can find time to comeinside the classroom and talk to
me.
You can talk to the student,but what I'm realizing is that
they this is not for the kids.
This is some.
This is bigger than what it'ssupposed to be, but it's just.
It just confuses me, when ithas to do with the kids, that so

(42:54):
much money has been sent to alot of these schools, but what
are they doing with it, right,and what services are being
provided?

Speaker 2 (43:05):
So so I'm still stuck on the.
You sent the email.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
So you sent the email .
What happened then?
Because, because I sent out theemail, basically, you know they
always start off with oh MrJoseph, thank you for sending
this email, we really appreciateit.
You know, they sent you thewhole national stuff and in the
email basically said that, um,mind you, the people that's on
the email, it's the respectablepeople, these are people that

(43:28):
you're part of the whole processwhen it comes to the sped stuff
.
Um, apparently they were sayingthat, um, there are some things
that are confidential thatshouldn't have been in there,
for one where it says that achild was not receiving services
.
So you're trying to tell methat I'm supposed to keep

(43:51):
something that is.
You know it's becomedetrimental to the child because
they know, even the child knowsthey're supposed to be getting
services and realizing that, oh,I was told I was supposed to
get picked up around this time.
Do you know where the person is?
I said I don't know, because Idon't know if they assigned
anybody for you.
So I said so you want me tokeep that to myself.
The child knows.

(44:13):
And then for me it's like theparent is thinking that the
child is getting the servicesand the child is telling me that
their information, that whenthey spoke to her that she's not
to go home to have thisconversation with her parents,
that the school will call.
So just imagine, you knowthey're kids.
You go to a kid and you tellthem like, look, I don't want

(44:34):
you saying anything to yourparents, we're going to take
care of it and then we're goingto have a meeting with your
parents, so don't say anything.
It's like we want you to delaytelling.
And you know a lot of kids arevocal and that's why I respect
about them, because I've builtrelationships with these kids
for years.
Listen, I've won two years in arow at this one particular
school and another school threeyears in a row for family

(44:56):
coordination and communicationas a teacher, because I build
relationship with kids and whenkids and when I'm straight up
with kids, wait that amount ofthings that kids would tell me
that a lot of leadership andpeople that's in the office and
people that's like in thenetwork would say to them.
But they're also scared becauseone, you got a lot of
immigrants right.

(45:17):
You might say something thatmight make some people mad and
you just never know if theymight end up doing something to
kind of break a family apart.
You just never know.
We have a lot of kids fromRussia, a lot of kids from Italy
.
We had kids from India.
We had a lot of kids from fromitaly.

(45:39):
We had kids from um india.
We had a lot of kids.
And the thing is, what wasscary is that when she told me
that this is where it kind ofgot to me, I was like no, no, no
, no, no.
I have to address the situation.
So in that email, everythingwas said, but the problem, when
I looked at it, was mainly basedon how that the information
that I put out that the childwasn't receiving services
because it's true, the childwill tell you I have not been
taken out put out that the childwasn't receiving services,
because it's true, the childwill tell you I have not been
taken out of class.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
The child ain't lying , so what was the so?
So they?
They asked the baby to lie ornot, to withhold information
from their parents.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
So you're lying.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
Right From their parents, which, oh my gosh, if
any school system.
Jesus help us.
So we're.
We're asking children toconceal.
We're teaching them how toconceal at early ages.
All this wraps up.
Does the baby ever receiveservices?
What did they do to you?
Did you know?
Did?

Speaker 1 (46:29):
So that one school that I was at when it happened,
um, the parent called me thatsame night because I had a.
I had a conversation with withwith the student, um, this is
after school.
And I told her straight up.
I said, listen, um, I have adaughter as well and at that
time she was around like one ortwo and I'm like I can't imagine

(46:52):
that feeling of not knowingwhat's happening to my child at
school and the school system istrying to tell you to not say
nothing to mommy and daddy butto keep it a secret.
I told her straight up.
I said what you're going to do?
Because I took notes, I tookeverything that I typed of
everything.
I even took voice recording,because I even asked the

(47:12):
permission, like, can I recordyou?
Because at the end of the day,they they're going to be things
that they probably going to say.
And I say you, you're not goingto say that this child is lying
, because I got records and Ikeep records of everything which
child gets taken out of theclass, what time to get taken
out and when they're supposed tohave services.
This child has not had any typeof service from the dates that
they put on, whateverdocumentation that they had.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
And I kept everything locked in my email.
They were trying to cover it up.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
They were trying to cover it up and what the mother
decided to do.
She called me that night andshe said listen, if I have any
other schools that she you know,she wants to transfer a
daughter out.
Um, she just feels like shedoesn't want to go down the
rabbit hole, because there arethings that with family and

(48:00):
people that you know, especiallywith papers and stuff, I'm like
I'm not even trying to get youto.
It's like she wants to fightand you can hear it in her voice
.
But she also knows that sheain't got the resources, she
ain't got the money, even if shewanted to fight it this and
that.
So she's just trying to make iteasier for her daughter.
Yeah, you know what I mean, andyou don't want your daughter

(48:21):
going through that stress likemommy.
Something happened to my mommybecause she was trying to fight
for me and a lot of parents aregoing to fight especially when
they got the research but sherealized that she does not have
that support system that sheneeds.
And I'm not a shirt.
I'll say you need support, evenif I got fired.
At least I know that she is notthe only child that's probably
going through this, because ifyou're trying to have a child to

(48:43):
lie about the services and tonot say anything to there are
many other kids that are facedwith that challenge and parents
these are some of the parentsthat you know stay on top of
communication.
She's one of them.
That was the one parent.
But I think what she got misledwas that her daughter felt
scared for her own mother,because even the daughter knows

(49:04):
about the situation at home.
So she said she doesn't wantmommy to go crazy.
She doesn't want her mother togo up to the school and do
something that might affectwhatever she got going on at
home.
So she said the best thing shecould do was just hold it.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
So what it sounds like the environment that you
were in was not only bullying.
I would say lack of integritydidn't support you.
How did you survive and whatdid you decide to do in that
toxic environment?
Because that's toxic, Like wedefine the idea of, like having
a boss or work environment thatsucks, Like you've named like a
lot of the characteristics.
What did you decide to do?

Speaker 1 (49:45):
So for me, I still taught and then something told
me that there are peoplewatching and I always tell
myself if I could bless a childone child, you know, until they
graduate.
I think that was like a biggerblessing for me.
I think, throughout all thecrap that was happening, I said

(50:06):
I want to see these kidsgraduate, but I also want to
make sure that they get the helpthat they need.
I teamed up with a few of mycolleagues you know there's some
colleagues.
I was like ah, you know I ain'ttrying to get up in all that
drama, you know.
I said but you teaching thesame kids I'm teaching and you
see that they're struggling.
So I said a lot of y'all and alot of the teachers that I've
taught with yeah, they weren'tparents, you know, single life,

(50:28):
all you're doing, so they won'tunderstand but said listen, I'm
in a situation.
Even if I didn't have a child,I still feel like it is my duty
as a teacher to have my kidsback and if they're not getting
the proper treatment that theysupposed to be getting and that
you got people parents beinglied to about, you know them
getting the services then thatbecomes my issue, because these

(50:51):
kids are in my classroom, right.
So what I decided to do?
I stayed another year and youand you know I can't, I can't.
I came to find out that therewere other kids that were in the
same situation and the problemwith that is when we send out
emails or parents know cause.
Remember, parents in theneighborhood know each other, so

(51:11):
one.
If one kid is going through thesame thing, they they speak to
the parent.
The parent will talk to anotherparent, another parent.
So there were parents that cameup to the school they think me
and it wasn't like them tryingto come into the school and beat
up people.
It was more like we're going towait here.
We want you to get thedocumentation, but you know by

(51:33):
law there's a whole bunch ofstuff that goes into it,
especially if you're talkingabout special education, iep
documents and all this otherstuff that you got to get.
Parents are so fed up becausethere's a reason why my child
can't even read a book.
I try to ask them when theycome home from school if they
could tell me what they learnedtoday, and the only thing that
they could tell me is from twoor three subjects, I think.

(51:54):
Addressing the situation whenyou talk vocally and you're
having this one on oneconversation with the respective
people, but then you realizenothing is getting done.
What do you do next?
Then it's like you know, if I'msupposed to talk to the special
special education director,then it's like who's their boss?
You got the principal.

(52:15):
The principal is holding downthe school.
So the principal principal islike you got to tell me, you got
to lock me in the meeting, yougot to put me in the emails.
Then it's like, oh um, we can'tput this person.
We got to put this person.
So there's always been thisthing where they wanted me to
choose who should be in theemails to know what is going on.

Speaker 2 (52:32):
And I'm like, well, Well, that's the online blast
bitch.

Speaker 1 (52:39):
They started monitoring who you put on the
emails.
They started monitoring and Ifeel like you know the crazy
thing about it.
I've gotten so much morerespect because, let's say, if
something is happening on the8th grade level, right, but
remember a lot of those kids Itaught their siblings, I taught
their siblings on top ofsiblings.

(53:00):
So who do you think they stillgot a relationship with?
Just because I'm I'm notteaching out no more doesn't
mean I don't still have thecommunication with parents.
So when a parent reaches out tome and not the eighth grade
teachers right, some of theteachers that were there but
then what I did was I put theeighth grade team on there.
This is the reason why when Iwalk into a school building that
a lot of those people haverespect.

(53:20):
Like I respect everybody there,like I don't come there to play
around and play games, but theyknow I keep it real.
So when they're like yo, Ididn't even know that was
happening.
Yo, how you find out?
I still got a relationship withthe eighth graders.
So there was like yo, thank youfor sending that email, because
now we understand why this ishappening in the classroom.
But then I'm like how y'alldidn't know?

(53:41):
When mom and dad said that theyreached out to the school.
They spoke to a couple ofpeople how y'all didn't know.
So it's always been this thingwhere there's something
happening and teachers don'tknow nothing, because when the
school gets the information,their thing is.
Well, there are certain thingsthat teachers shouldn't know.
Now, the problem with that isif I'm in the classroom, for

(54:05):
example, and there's two kids Igot beat.
I'm supposed to know becausewhile I'm teaching, some gonna
go because, remember, I'm tryingto keep my class safe and like
safe space, safe space.
But if there's some type ofdrama or something that is
happening, there weremiscommunications all the way
with several schools that Iworked at and they're just like
you know, we want to make surewe keep things safe and like

(54:27):
there's certain things that weshould.
I said but y'all do understand.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
Y, yeah, just sit down and you're just way, which
then puts you trying to walksomebody to the bus.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
Stop and walk somebody to the bus stop and all
that.
You know what I mean it hurts,it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
It's heavy.
It's heavy, ben is real heavy.
So you've worked in these toxicsituations.
You talked a lot about kind ofyour approach.
I want to hear some reflectionon like cause cause you've given
all the tea, right, but whatabout like something, you
learned some mistakes you madeas a teacher that you that you

(55:04):
were like yeah, I wish I hadnever done it that way.
Like especially with dealingwith either the administration
or the parents, right, because alot of times I find that when
we have bad situations, they'rebad.
They are what they are, butthey can also challenge your own
perception and potentiallycause you to misstep, like

(55:26):
anything you can think about.
Like, oh, I should handle thatdifferently.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
I felt like I should have done more.
I'm going to be honest Donemore I don't think more.
The reason why I'm saying thatis because when we talk about a
safe space and we're talkingabout keeping yourself as an
educator as well you're tryingto keep yourself safe, because
there are a lot of kids thatI've taught that are going
through so many things right.
So, for example, there was onekid-.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
I'm going to interrupt you for a second.
One of my favorite teachersfrom Pensacola High School.
He was my calculus teacher,william Keene.
Listen that man.
He hurt my feelings so manytimes.
He told me the truth about myinability to look at details.
But look, he told me somethingthe other day and I'll share it.
It said, basically, they tellyou to teach, but then all the

(56:19):
seats were empty and it had likethese little bubbles around the
things that kids were dealingwith, like, um, literacy issues,
doesn't eat at home, homeless,like all, like trying to teach
through all of the issues andchallenges that kids bring to
the table which, by the way,corporate America doesn't

(56:40):
address it.
But it's the same thing whenpeople come to work but that's
another conversation for anotherday.
Like dealing with that, Right,I think it's for me it's a lot,
it's a lot.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
No, it is.
I feel like when you're ateacher like for me I'm gonna
speak for myself all the timeand I'll speak for some other
people.
But when I come, you're ateacher like for me I'm gonna
speak for myself all the timeand I'll speak for some other
people.
But when I come in as a teacher, I'm not just a teacher, I'm
like I'm your protector, I'myour father, I'm your brother,
I'm your uncle, I'm the magician, I'm the physical therapist,

(57:13):
I'm the everything that you canthink of as a teacher.
I had to go through that whileteaching in many of these
classrooms, because there's alot of kids that are going
through things.
They're looking for a shoulderto lean on, they're looking for
somebody to talk to because theycan't even do it at home, or
they can't do it or they can'ttalk to certain people.
And I think for me, noticingthat I know I've been doing a

(57:38):
lot, but I think I needed to domore, even when I know that
there was going to be a triggeron my back, and there are
certain things that people likeyo, you're just getting like,
you getting, you know, you, you,you're working at a job like
don't try to jeopardize.
I said it's not aboutjeopardizing, it's just that the
reason why we're in this cycleand it just keeps on looping
back and forth is because no oneis addressing the situation.

(57:59):
It could be addressed in sometype of way and then they'll put
on a back burner, but I thinkI've gotten to a point where
they were.
So I don't want to say theywere angry with me.
I think it was more of like yo,I had times when other
principals like even when I wasdropping off my daughter and I
was like heading to work.
I had times when otherprincipals like even when I was
dropping off my daughter and Iwas like heading to work.

(58:20):
I had times when principalswould call my phone like yo, ben
, y'all just saw that email yousent.
Like yo, you were wilding.
Nope, it's not even.
It's not even it could besomething small about, maybe um,
one of the parents and I've hadconversations with parents
outside of the grade that Itaught because I taught their
sibling.
They're like, mr Joseph, I don'tknow if they told you, but I

(58:43):
know you don't teach my daughterand son anymore.
But I just wanted to talk toyou because I know I can trust
you.
I know that you always fightfor us, but this is what's
happening and such and such.
So I addressed it to theirrespective team.
Like I addressed it to therespective team.
Like yo, eighth grade mom oreighth grade dad or seventh
grade, like they reached out tome about this situation.
Did y'all know about it?
People be like, nah, we didn'thear about it.

(59:05):
But mom and dad are saying thatthey spoke to people in the
school weeks ago.
And then it's like yo, there'smore things that I feel like,
even when you're teaching oneparticular grade, I felt like I
was in everybody's grade becauseI wanted to make sure I could
help in any way possible,because I knew who the parents

(59:26):
were, I knew who the kids were.
So those relationship buildingis what made it easier for me to
step in and kind of like knocksome doors down.
And I think that's what a lotof schools and a lot of networks
are afraid about, because theyjust want teachers to come in
and shut up and just teach.
They just want us to be likerobots.
But then, as soon as you starttackling and you start realizing

(59:48):
, like yo, this child didn't eattoday.
That's a different topic I'mtalking about.
You could open up the food bag,you'll probably see one banana
as small as the baby banana.
You could see a cereal box.
There's no milk and maybe justan apple, and I'm saying to
myself this is the breakfastthat we're giving kids.

(01:00:09):
That's another topic we couldhave, but I'm telling you now.
I don't have to be a scienceteacher or a STEM teacher to
understand this, but if you'retalking about making sure that a
child or just any the humanbody needs to be treated right
Like you got to feed it theright meals, these kids are not
getting proper breakfast or foodperiod to start with.

(01:00:29):
When you got kids coming inwith the two liter Pepsi bottles
and Takis all day, you wouldthink that they're going to stay
awake in class.
No, the food system is anotherpart of why we're not going to
go there, but we're not going toget there.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
That's something else .
We'll go there, but look,here's what I want to know with
the little bit of time we haveleft right.
As a parent, you've dealtheavily in the special needs
space.
As a parent of special needschild, one of the main
frustrations I had with theschool system is not being able
to navigate it.
Regardless of special needs orneurotypical, what are the five

(01:01:07):
things you would tell parents todo to get actively involved in
navigating the system for theirkids so stuff like this doesn't
happen?

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
navigating the system for their kids, so stuff like
this doesn't happen.
Stop believing everything thatthey tell you.
The reason why I'm saying thatis because you know, when they
have those meetings with parents, they sit you down and they
tell you this is what your childis going to be receiving X, y
and Z right.
And that parent's like, oh,thank you, thank you this and
that.
The other thing is, we got tostop allowing the industry or

(01:01:38):
just the government or just theschools to make the plans for us
.
This is where I feel like someparents tend to allow for other
people to take over and theirparents kind of feel like they
shouldn't be part of the process.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Do you think a lot of parents feel like they are
supposed to be a part of theeducational process?

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
No, some of them I can honestly tell you, when you
drop, when they drop off kidsinto school, they're like y'all
take care of the kids, y'all dowhat you gotta do with them
because I gotta go to work or Igotta go home or I gotta do
whatever.
These are conversations thatare like there's parents that

(01:02:19):
will tell you straight up justif you could even hold my child
for after school or just keepthem in school, like it, you can
see the frustration.
They're tired.
And then you got some parentsthat's just like they trust the
school so much to do everythingfor them because they're like if
I put them in school, theschool's gonna take care of
everything.
That is not always the case, sowe addressing the situation,
making sure that we're askingquestions.
A lot of times they'll askquestions and the reason why

(01:02:40):
they don't ask questions, I feellike one, is that they don't
know the questions to ask.
Because they don't know what anIEP is.
They don't know what they don'tknow.
They don't know.
Oh, if a child's getting IEP,are they supposed to get these
services?
For how many hours Do they getmultiple breaks?
Do they get multiple breaks?
Do they get a time and a half?
Even assessments, like?

(01:03:00):
There's a lot of things that gointo it and I just feel like
some parents, it's toochallenging for them and they're
just like yo, I am busy, Idon't have time to sit down and
read all through like thedocuments to understand.
But whatever you got planned,we trust you and that's where
the problem lies.

Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
So, so, because one of the things that I noticed
after we shifted our our kid,from public to private was we
got we actually got feedbackevery every week on the things
that were happening in theschool.
But I got phone calls when thebehavior was challenging and I'm
like, okay, we put you there,we put him there because y'all

(01:03:38):
said y'all could handle that.
Right, it wasn't like anythingviolent.
He just he's a kid with autismand adhd like anything.
No, they should know likecertain things are gonna come up
, especially when they'retriggered, they should order but
finally the question I askedwas okay, you're, every time you
call me you're talking abouthis behavior, but what about the
curriculum?
Can you show me the curriculumthat he's supposed to be

(01:03:59):
learning from?
Where is he on the continuumand what's next?
What are we working on?
And I think for a lot of usparents it took me a minute
because I wasn't really worriedabout it.
I'm like, okay, but wait aminute.
He's not doing the things thatI think he should be doing.
But the things that I think heshould be doing, but they never
tell you what they should bedoing at that level.
So I would also add like figureout what grade your child is in
.
What should they be learning,and then have some times at home

(01:04:24):
where you quiz them yourself.
Get a prize at the end of it,just to see what happens.
Because, if not, you be outhere thinking your kid is going
to the ninth grade and theycan't read.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
They can't read.
And that's where the lastminute stuff like I think
probably I was telling you howparents will reach out only when
it's parent-teacher conference.
So you reach out to parents,you tell them like look, your
child is at this level, yourchild is not coming to school
with their homework, they wereassigned this.
Mind you, when I say I keeptabs and I keep my receipts,

(01:04:55):
because what happened is, evenif I use the software, what I do
, I take pictures of what I'llbe sending and I'll lock them in
, not just on Google, lock it inmy phone, I lock it into other
emails that I have, so that if,let's say, google was down for
one day, but that was the sameday of the parent-teacher
conference, I'm gonna put it upon here.

(01:05:16):
And what happened is, when youreach out to parents and you
tell them about anything that iseducational, the response can
be I don't have time, I ain'tgot time, can you just, you know
, work with them when they're inschool?
And then, because I got to work, and then you have parents who
are just like they don't respondat all, but you hear from them
on the day of parent teacherconference, even people that did

(01:05:38):
not even sign up and theydidn't even call to say that
they were coming in for the inperson or they wanted to do a
virtual meeting.
Parents would pop up.
Then you get this thing whereit's like oh, why is my child
failing?
You ain't sick, you ain't?
Oh, man, this is you, this is.
This is receipts.
What are you talking about?
Nobody reach out.
People reached out to you, youjust never responded.

(01:06:00):
Or sometimes, when we respond toyou, you'll say, oh well, this
teacher already called me.
How many times they're going tocall me about?
Mind you, it's not just thebehavioral part.
Sometimes, like, we'll see kidsthat will come in and have
behavioral challenges and theywill slip up, and then I'll have
that dialogue with them afterschool because or after class,
because I'm not going to do itin class there are some things
that you have to address in theclassroom, because if it keeps

(01:06:22):
on going on, then guess what,your classroom is disrupted and
you can't really teach.
So a lot of times you knowcertain teachers will you.
You gotta find differenttactics in certain ways, like,
okay, the class could go intoindependent reading or whatever,
and then after that you couldslowly go towards the child that
was being disruptive Like yo.
Let me highlight you for asecond and you have that

(01:06:43):
conversation.
Sometimes that goes a long way,rather than trying to put them
on blast.
There are some kids that in theschool system we're like oh,
teachers are going to put themon blast, and sometimes there's
kids who respond to that.
Yeah, it's motivating for thembecause we're not.
We're dealing with differentchild behaviors and every child
is not the same and I feel likea lot of times the school system

(01:07:05):
just assumes and thinks thatall these kids are the same
based on the curriculum.
These are what the kids shouldlearn.
No, if I'm teaching six or if Iwas teaching high school kids,
for me to teach a high schoolerlet's say 11th and 12th grade
they need to have learned thingsfrom prior years.
Not saying that they shouldknow all of it because you know
they got to kind of re-event andgo back and forth.

(01:07:27):
They got to build on foundation.
But when you're telling me andyou're getting mad because you
see a child's grade or you seethe class, the data shows, oh,
these kids are failing.
But out of like 20, let's say,24, 26 or 30 to 32 kids in the
classroom, there's maybe about10 kids that are passing.
These are the same kids thathave been up to speed because

(01:07:47):
their parents, oh, when theycome to the meeting every week,
we need a call, or can you takedown some notes to say, to tell
us what our child is doing andwhat I decided to do too to make
life easier any work that Igave a child to bring home, I'll
send it.
Before they even get home,parents already knew what
assignments were being given,testing days and all that, what

(01:08:10):
happened.
I told them I need your childto have the documents signed
which will show me that theparents were involved.
And I always tell parents I knowit's hard for every parent to
be involved, because someparents will work at night, some
parents are working.
You know they're tired when weget home.
I get it and that's why I saidI would never kind of make
parents feel bad, but I alwaystold them I'm trying to work

(01:08:31):
with you all.
I need you to find time to workwith me.
I have friends that used tocall me on the weekends, as much
as I didn't want them to callme on the weekends, but I knew
it was important and sometimes Ihad to step on that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:42):
But I think, but I think, and we're going to end
with this I think one of thechallenges is when you go into a
company right, you go into ajob, the work is defined.
I think one of the major gapsis there's not a conversation
about how we'll work together atthe beginning of the school
year.
Right, here's how I work as ateacher, here's what you can

(01:09:02):
expect, here's how I want you towork with me, right.
And so I find the bettereducators are able to define
that and set that expectationand help with the cadence so
that people can anticipate thetime, the energy it takes to be
able to support their kid.
Listen.
Ben this has been a greatconversation.
Is there any closing thoughts,because we've had a deep

(01:09:24):
conversation.
What's one thing that keeps yougoing?

Speaker 1 (01:09:29):
I mean, this is an ongoing conversation.
The only thing I could say is,if there's any other teachers
out there that are stillsurviving and you're going
through this challenging part inyour life and you don't know
what to do, the one thing I cantell you is that it feels so
much better being real, makingsure you look out for the

(01:09:51):
interests of your kids, because,at the end of the day, they
look up to us, and what I needto make sure is that there are
going to be challenges.
There's going to be time whenpeople are going to say like,
look, I'm not trying to lose myjob.
I get it.
I've had those conversations.
But at the end of the day, ifthere's a problem, I feel like
you as the educator and becauseyou see it happening, you know,

(01:10:17):
speak to.
Sometimes it may not be theboss that may be able to help
you out, maybe it might just becolleagues and other members
within the network.
But the one thing I would sayis never stop doing what you're
doing for like for the kids.
The kids will respect you more,even when you leave, because I
still get phone calls fromparents and I'm not at the
schools and they're like oh, mrJoseph, how you you doing.
You know, thank you Like.
We remember this and I alwaystell myself, if kids can

(01:10:39):
remember the good and they knowlike you've been grinding for
them, you've been fighting forthem, that goes a long way.
And I've always felt goodknowing that I left my print and
left anything that I needed todo, because I've always wanted
to show them that it's not justabout me.
You know the love that I havefor them.
It was just more that I respectthem so much that I would do

(01:11:02):
anything for them to make surethat they're getting the proper
education that is needed, evenwhen the network or the school
or the district or leadership orthe bosses tend to not provide
for them.
And you know, I just want tolike just just end it there,
because there's a lot that goesinto this, but I think I've done
my part, regardless of what'sbeen happening.

(01:11:22):
But speaking up for kids is abig thing and I feel like we
should continue to address thesituation.
And we're going to make peopleangry it happens, but this is
for the kids, this is not forleadership, this is not for the
boss.
These are for the kids.
If you do what you need to dofor the kids.
They will respect you a lotmore, even when you're not there
.

Speaker 2 (01:11:41):
Benjamin Joseph, thank you so much for your time.
We appreciate it.
I just want to say thank youfor your service as a teacher.
We talk about, you know,veterans and people in the
military services, thanking themfor their service, but I think
every teacher should get thankedfor their service.
So thank you for all that youdo in educating the minds of the
future.
I really appreciate you andthank you for being on the show.

Speaker 1 (01:12:04):
Thank you so much for allowing me to be here.
I just wanted to share what Iknow and definitely something
that's been going on, and I justhope you know if anybody's
watching the video and get someinsight.
If it's happening to you, justknow you can reach out to me as
well.
I'll be able to support.
But definitely thank you forintroducing me and putting me on
this platform and thank you forjust allowing me to share my

(01:12:27):
wealth of knowledge witheverybody as well.
So thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:12:37):
Today's episode is brought to you by Natalie Parker
Enterprises, where we shape thefuture and unlock potential by
helping organizations and peoplework together to do good work.
Find out more atthenatalieparkercom, or, if
you'd like to be a sponsor,email us at info at
thenatalieparkercom.