Letter from Delbert Glaze to EAA Chancellor John Covington

Here is the letter sent by Delbert Glaze to EAA Chancellor John Covington after he was fired from his position with no advance notice and, in fact, without being told he was being fired. It was sent to Chancellor Covington during the summer of 2012.

Dr. Covington,
I wanted to thank you so much for the opportunity of teaching with the EAA this past year. It was a challenging year especially teaching with student centered learning and also at a new grade level. I have enjoyed this challenge and feel that it has improved my skills as a teacher. Last year, I had multiple offers from EAA schools but I chose Nolan because of the leadership abilities and qualifications of Mrs. Underwood. I would love to continue working with my fellow colleagues at Nolan.

In the beginning of the year, I was hired as an elementary teacher and began playing an active role in the community. I was very involved in the clean up of the neighborhood and was involved in all community events sponsored by the school. As a black male, I truly believe that it is my responsibility to be a role model for my students. I was involved in outreach not because of my job but because of who I am. I see myself in them and wish that I had someone to look up to and show me how to live. This will be my 4th year teaching in the inner-city. I grew up in the inner-city so I understand the struggles that our students face. Just to give you some of my background, I went back to school to obtain my education degree after several years in another career. Teaching and mentoring students is my passion.

Shortly before the school year started, a middle school teacher resigned. I was asked if I would be willing to take over that role, even though I am not secondary certified and have never taught middle school before. I am always a team player and willing to do what is in the best interest of the school, so I said yes. Since September, more than a dozen teachers left or transferred from Nolan and I did not want to be one of those numbers. I still believe in the philosophies of student centered learning and the opportunity that it provides for the students. This summer, Mrs. Underwood approached me with the opportunity of becoming the technology teacher. Since I had already been involved in helping in this area including with the technology club and also with providing (my own equipment) and running the sound equipment for school sponsored events, this seemed like a perfect fit. I was assured many times that this position was mine and even discussed what curriculum and materials that we needed for the upcoming year. When it was time for our final evaluations, we were told that we would have a 48 hour notice of when it would be so that we could prepare for our evaluation. This did not happen for me. They told me the day of and said it was not a big deal because they already knew what my role would be for the next year. Although I did not have a contract signed, I did not think much of it because last year we did not sign our contracts until after school started. I still believe that people will honor their commitments whether verbally or written.

My wife and I are in the process of buying a home and during the loan approval process, I found out that my contract was not being renewed. I thought this was a mistake and they tried to get this verified again, once again the HR department said that my contract was not being renewed. After this news, I contacted Mrs. Underwood on Tuesday. She said that she would look into it and let me know on Thursday. I have contacted her via email, text, and voice-mail and have still not received news that my contract was not renewed. My intent in the email is not to go over her head, but I need to make plans for this upcoming year. I am hoping that she is still looking for a way to include me as part of her staff, but to not receive any communication has left me insecure for my position next year. I was able to contact my assistant principal Mr. Bagley and he suggested that I email you to inform you of the situation. He was surprised to hear that I have not heard from Mrs. Underwood. If I no longer have a position, I will not be able to go through with the purchase of my home and will have lost over several thousand dollars if my contract is not renewed. Had I not been promised this position earlier, we would not have bought a home or I could have been looking for a new position. If I had not gone through the loan approval process, I guess I would have found out that I did not have a job when I showed up for my first day of professional development. It is now less than 3 weeks before school starts and most teaching positions are now taken.

I am writing this to see if there is anything that you can do to help with this situation. I feel like I have been a model employee that is constantly trying to improve. I was never given any indication that I would not be coming back. I still believe that I would be an ideal fit for the position of technology teacher, but also would love to teach at the elementary level. I would love to continue at Nolan, but would also love to help at any other EAA school in whatever capacity that I can. Please call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX so that we can talk about this further. I need to know where to proceed from here.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,
Delbert Glaze