Until Wednesday, April 24, Ryan Goodwin and myself, Alison Wilson, both thought that we had secure positions as teachers in the English Department until another teacher, a good friend of ours, confided that yet another teacher told her that we would not have our teaching contracts renewed for next year.
Until Wednesday, April 24, Ryan Goodwin and myself, Alison Wilson, both thought that we had secure positions as teachers in the English Department until another teacher, a good friend of ours, confided that yet another teacher told her that we would not have our teaching contracts renewed for next year.
My immediate response was to clear up this rumor by simply calling Milena Bocankova, the head of the English Department, to find out whether or not this statement was true. A simple phone call to her home revealed that what I had heard from my colleague was indeed true. She said that she had planned to ask Ryan Goodwin and me for a brief meeting during the following week to give us the news, but so far she had been so evasive and covert about her decision that I somehow doubt that she had any plans to tell me firsthand.
Instead, the news had to come, thirdhand, from a fellow teacher. How unprofessional and inappropriate is this? Apparently, most of the teachers in the Department already knew about this. Also, I wonder how long she would have waited to give us the news; was she planning to let us work through the end of June, until our work visas expired and we had no jobs and thus no homes at the Kolej?
What were her reasons, you might ask? She said that the university didn’t have enough money to keep Goodwin and me as teachers, plus, she didn’t think that „we were very happy here“. She must think that we are incredibly stupid if we believe those reasons! The university had already asked us in Febraury if we wanted to renew our contracts for next year and we had already said „yes.“ Also, I supsect that the university will be bringing two more native speakers to replace us next year.
Nevertheless, Ryan and I would like to stay here for the next school year because we are here for our students, not for the approval and acceptance of other teachers and administrators. We have fulfilled all of our obligations as teachers, so why shouldn’t we be alowed to stay? Furthermore, Mrs. Bocankova did not hire me, has never seen me (or Goodwin) teach, and is not aware of our talents or capabilities.
Our students stand behind us and our upset that the university would treat us like this. They know that we care about them and that’s why we are going to do our best to keep our positions here. There are many, many issues at this school that deal with the discrimination against students for various reasons and now I know that there is the same problem with the treatment of teachers. Is this the image that VSE wants to create to the domestic and international communities?
