ATR's!!! Look Upon Little Evan Stone And Be Led!

I read Chaz's latest blog posting this afternoon with a heavy heart. It seems that jolly old St Nick is not immune from the pratfalls of the long arms of the ATR (Absent Teacher Reserve) system. We here at SBSB feel for Santa on this last night of Hanukkah 5772 and pledge our support to the man in the red suit and hope he finds a permanent position.

We also feel for Chaz as well. I have spoken with Chaz many a time and have had him on as a guest on the radio show. Chaz should be in a school and classroom permanently. He is a wonderful person and a smart man. Perhaps if I had Chaz as a science teacher in high school I would have done better.

We also read, with a heavy heart a fairly new yet thought provoking blog, NYC ATR. In this blog the trials and tribulations of every day teachers who for no fault of their own are thrown to the proverbial wolves and left better out of sight and out of mind.

But in both blogs a common thread runs through. The lack an official voice granted by the UFT to the ATR teachers. The UFT poohs-poohs the ATR's concerns, Tweed treats the ATR's as some form of pox infected creature that lives beneath the auditorium stage. No one listens, or cares, about the ATR's. What can be done?

During tonight's game of dreidel myself and the crack team formulated an answer to what ails the ATR's. The answer was so obvious we were shocked we did not think of it sooner. Now mind you, the solution is somewhat controversial and out of the box, but it is guaranteed to work.

Look to Little Evan Stone of Educators 4 Excellence and thee shall be set free! Yes, I am not kidding here. What? You ask how can I and the crack team suggest the ATR's look to Little Evan to lead them from wondering the desert? It's all very simple. Little Evan and E4E advocate on their website;

"Educators 4 Excellence works to ensure that the voices of classroom teachers are included in the decisions that affect our profession and our students." 

Surely, this statement must include the ATR's that are toiling about New York City? Does E4E only advocate for teachers that are under 30 years of age, graduated from elite colleges, and have rich mommies and daddies? Isn't E4E inclusive of all NYC teachers?

To every ATR reading this it is time you contact Little Evan and let him show just how much he thinks he cares about you. Contact him through FB (which an email address is located), or this email, or this email, or you can Tweet him! Oh, you can also write Little Evan c/o Educators4Excellence, 333 W. 39th St. Suite 703 New York NY 10018, or call him at the office, (212) 279-8510. Let Evan now how much you agree with that E4E is an organization that wishes to give a voice to EVERY teacher!

But remember ATR's, give no quarter. Stand firm. Don't let Little Evan change what you want. You will not be working for him however, you ATR's will have Little Evan do your bidding.

But there is one downside to all this. It could be that mission statement and what Little Evan believes in is all a crock of shit. In that case, Little Evan will just confirm what everyone knows he already is.

Oh, just a disclamer. This post was a wee bit on the sarcastic side.