jonnygoldstein.com

Excellent article in the New York Times June 1 about P.S. 111 in Hell’s Kitchen, where I used to substitute teach on a regular basis. The article uses P.S. 111 as an example of why so many city schools have a hard time hanging on to experienced teachers. As someone who worked at the school and knows most of the people cited in the article, I can only sadly concur with it’s portrayal of that school’s problems. I benefited from the difficult working conditions as it led to frequent teacher absences. This created a demand for subs such as myself. I have some good memories from 111. I used to bring in weird musical instruments to differentiate myself from the other subs. One of my favorite memories: Turning around from the blackboard to see a 7th grader flying a homemade kite out the window.

One year, the 7th grade Math teacher broke her leg, so I subbed for her for that last, hot, unairconditioned month. Things went from chaotic to insane after a few weeks. In total exasperation I gasped to the students as they left class,” I don’t know if I can take this much longer.” One kid looked me in the eye and said, “C’mon Mr. Goldstein. You think you feel bad? We have to come here every day. Imagine how we feel.”