Schools

Windsor Teachers Described Occupational Depression, Says Researcher

Much has been made over the past two weeks of the exclusion of teachers' comments from Windsor High School's excellence and equity review (EER) results.

Some have gone as far as calling the results incomplete because they did not include comments from the 60 Windsor High staff members who participated in the study, but Loyola University-Chicago's Dr. Marlon James said the idea that teachers' comments are the study's "saving grace is false" Thursday night.

In a meeting via Skype, held at L.P. Wilson, James told the board of education and members of the Windsor community that teachers' comments were more controversial and more critical of Windsor High School's culture than student comments.

Moreover, James said teachers' actions leading up to the study's commencement compromised his research teams faith in the authenticity of staff responses.

According to James, in interviews with Windsor High Schools students, it was reported that some teachers told students not to participate in the EER.

"Any data we felt was not one-hundred percent accurate, we decided to pull back from," said James, explaining that all adult data was not released in an effort to avoid the release of community and staff responses, while teacher responses were withheld.

"The teachers would have said it was unfair," according to James.

25 of the 60 Windsor High staff interviewed were teachers, according James.

The small number of teachers who agreed to participate in the study, while providing additional insight into the culture of Windsor High, was also problematic, said James.

His research team, a group of educators and PhD candidates from Loyola University- Chicago and Maryland, experienced difficulty in recruiting teacher participation due to an article published in the Hartford Courant, James said.

The article referred to described James as having the theory "that white teachers, who represent about 90 percent of educators, have an implicit bias that leads them to expect less from minority students."

James said many Windsor High School teachers, after reading the Courant article, believed the study was about bias in the classroom, "and that's not true."

James went on to describe the "controversial" responses his team received from teachers, saying teachers pointed the finger at one another and used terms like "institutionalized racism" to describe the high school's culture.

Furthermore, James said teachers described symptoms of occupational depression, brought on by "too many initiatives and not enough support."

They felt despondent and depressed, said James, because school staff all recognized the challenges faced by the students, but could not see a way to work together toward a solution.

School staff interviewed included teachers, counselors, administrators, janitors and security, said James.

Each group of staff interviewed recognized the same issues at Windsor High, expressed knowledge of a solution and a lack of confidence in their other staff groups to work toward a solution, according to James.

"They all cared about the kids, but how to do that, they disagreed on," he said.

James said another paper, including results from adult interviews will be released in the future.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here