Four More Firings In Maryland, Southern History Teacher Shortage Grows

Baltimore, MD — In a surprise move, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh ordered that four of Baltimore’s most tenured history teachers be removed from their positions early Wednesday morning. The terminations exacerbate staffing problems with little hope of resolution before the beginning of the 2017 school year.

The Maryland State Educator’s Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, issued a harsh rebuke after finding out Pugh authorized the firings. “Maryland’s children deserve the best education that we can provide, and this decision to uproot four upstanding pillars of our community in the dead of night is destructive and ridiculous,” Betty Weller, the association’s president, said in a prepared statement on Wednesday. “Our sons and daughters cannot afford to grow up ignorant of local and national history. This chiseling away at our children’s future is nothing short of illegal, but even worse, it is completely unfounded. It tears at the foundation of our society.”

The outrage was echoed by the other top leaders of the union. David Helfman, executive director for the union, told reporters on Wednesday afternoon, “These four educators had rock-solid records. Their names and faces are familiar to many of our families, some of whom can count several generations of study with these leaders. And remarkably, they never grew jaded in all their service. They cast a long shadow and many in our community put them on pedestals. Their presence in our school system will be sorely missed, and our students’s knowledge will be less concrete as a result.”

The firings come during a critical time for the education community, with Maryland facing similar challenges as other Southern states who are grappling with headcount shortages. History teachers across several states have come under fire recently for inflexible curricula, leading to several unexpected terminations this summer. A PTA meeting in Charlottesville, Virginia last Saturday turned violent when concerned citizens stood up for a well-known history teacher whose work has sculpted generations of Virginian children’s understanding of history.

The empty classroom left behind by the removal of one of Baltimore’s four greatest history teachers.

Baltimore residents appeared equally concerned about the loss of the educators. “Stupid of them to tear down them four statues,” said James Raynell, using a Northerner slang term for “teacher.” Raynell is a father of two who lives on Mount Royal Avenue, close to where one of the teachers held classes. His children are not old enough to attend school, but he is still worried about how they will fare in the absence of these educators. “Now there’s a damn hole in the middle of the street. Gotta watch my kids, make sure they don’t fall in.”

Pressed for comment, the four deposed Baltimore teachers had only a stony silence.