Climbing the Rock Wall: Surviving a Career in Public Education

This is a collection of essays written during the course of a career in public education spanning over forty years. The essays reflect the author's optimism and frustrations with the business of schools and the impractical way schools hire, fire, and retain teachers and administrators. The author suggests new ways to examine practices and procedures in the public schools in the United States, from core curricula to discipline, even suggesting a utopian school district. Filled with anecdotes and thought-provoking questions, the author describes the life of a public school employee in a variety of positions within a centrally isolated Upstate New York public school system. A must-read for anyone considering a profession within the public schools, for new school board members, or for parents who want to know the dirty little secrets that exist in a public school system typical of any public school system in the United States. Barbara D. Katz-Brown, MS, CCC-SP, SDA