"As we move forward, we are all concerned first and foremost with what's best for our students."  

Those are the words of Seattle Schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson.  What is not clear is whether that concern for "our students" is still first and foremost as the Seattle School District moves backward.

As of the moment, there are 172 career teachers and an unstated number of provisional teachers who are not moving forward.  Four of them are at Madison Middle School;  two of them, after maturing in other fields, had chosen to become professional teachers.

The "Reduction-in-Force" (RIF) itself was simply a function of seniority, or lack thereof.  What is little known is that some entire schools were left off the table.  Schools with high teacher turnover, known as "flight schools," and schools belonging to the Southeast Initiative, were left out of the RIF, according to provisions in the union contract with the school district.

Those well-intentioned provisions nevertheless guarantee a world of hurt elsewhere.  Madison 6th grade social studies and language arts teacher, Tim Owens, with almost six years under his belt, was not beyond the reach of this RIF.

Neither were 7th grade social studies and language arts teachers, Jesse Hagopian and Brendan Dundas.  While the handwriting was probably on the wall for first-year counselor Julian McCullough, those numbers do not begin to convey how the loss of each one tears at the fabric of Madison Middle School.

For starters, consider this:  there was no teacher turnover at Madison between last school year and this.  Such continuity is perhaps most poignant in the position of counselor.  

At Madison, a counselor gets "promoted" each year with his class, so that the relationship of confidante is stable for a given student for three years, and the counselor's "portfolio" gets stronger each year.  In turn, a counselor's strength is a resource for a student's teacher as much as it is for the student, as counselor and teacher both strive to remove barriers to a student's academic success.  This year's sixth grade class will lose its counselor, Mr McCullough.

Mr. Owens represents another continuity.  He has been the primary driver in recent years of Madison's participation in the National Geographic Bee.  

Over the past five years, the Madison geography bee champion has advanced to the state competition four times.  Owens elevated the annual school contest from an awkward classroom-based event to the dignity of the library and welcomed news coverage in the Herald.

In 2008, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction named Madison a "School of Distinction" in recognition of its improvement in the WASL.  Owens, Hagopian, and Dundas are among the faculty who invested themselves in the academic transformation plan, and culture, that achieved that result.  They were part of a cadre that is now being eviscerated by the RIF.

In order to better deliver education in a large school, each grade at Madison is divided into two smaller units called teams.  In yet another blow to the Madison learning environment, two of the teachers, Owens and Dundas, are two of the six team leaders.

In perhaps the keenest hurt, Owens is also one half of a co-teaching pair that has met the challenge of integrating ten students with learning disabilities into a regular classroom.  His accumulated skill has just been RIF'd.  

Madison parents/students who would like to express their appreciation for any of the named faculty may send 
e-mail to Madison's principal at jshudson@seattleschools.org, or directly to teowens@seattleschools.org, or brdundas@seattleschools.org, or jumccullough@seattleschools.org, or jdhagopian@gmail.com.

Those wishing to express particular dismay at the upheavals, or general dissatisfaction with the Seattle School District and its RIF, may e-mail schoolboard@seattleschools.org or the superintendent magoodloe@seattleschools.org.