The anger, hurt, disillusionment and frustration felt by longtime Great Neck teacher and Jericho resident Sheri (Halper) Lederman over the State Education Department’s labeling of her work as “ineffective” has been tempered by the outpouring of support she has received from the Great Neck administration, community and from around the country.
“They’ve come out of the woodwork,” the longtime E.M. Baker School teacher said, in referring to the backing she’s experienced from the school district, her principal, parents, former students and from teachers nationwide in her unusual legal battle to overturn her rating.
Lederman admits that she wanted to leave teaching when she learned about the rating on her first day back from vacation in September. “Sheri came home and her first reaction to me was that she was resigning,” her husband Bruce, who is acting as her attorney, said. “She said that after 17 years of teaching. She didn’t need the State to tell her that a computer said that she was an ‘ineffective’ teacher.”
“It was more than that,” she added. “After putting my heart and soul into my kids and my classroom, it was devastating. This is not a job where you go to work in the morning and you come home at the end of the day and you forget about it until the next day. The kids in my class become my children for the year that I have them and, in some cases, for many years to come.”
“My principal (Sharon Fougner) came to me and said ‘I don’t understand where this is coming from because educators don’t come better than you.’ She also said that she and the Superintendent (Tom Dolan) gave it absolutely no credence.”
Both Fougner and Dolan quickly responded with written affidavits on behalf of Lederman’s court petition. attesting to her excellence. Lederman, in fact, was given a “perfect rating” by the Great Neck administration (80 points).
It is only the State’s rating that is at issue. The State’s rating system uses student test scores to measure growth from one year to the next and has apparently judged that Lederman’s students last year didn’t “grow enough.”
Her principal, in her affidavit, wrote that Lederman “consistently brings out the best in her students” and called her “an extraordinarily effective educator.” Fougner has supervised Lederman since 2007.
Lederman, who grew up in Lake Success, graduated from South High School and sent her two daughters through the North schools, filed a challenging petition in court late in October. “The state has to respond and explain why its actions are not arbitrary and capricious,” said her husband. No money damages are being sought.
She was a psychology major at Brandeis, did her masters work at C. W. Post and achieved her doctorate from Hofstra. She and her husband, who has three sons of his own who attended schools in Syosset, were married 10 years ago.
The case has attracted nationwide attention but some of that attention has been both critical and personal. “Honestly, it’s infuriating,” she said in expressing her feelings about the negativity. “But more than that, it’s very disheartening because when you know that people are saying things that have no real relevance to what’s happening or are completely off base, it’s just nauseating. These individuals are referring to me but they know nothing about what’s actually going on in this suit. They’re claiming it’s just a money thing.”
On the positive side, the educational community, troubled by new ratings formulas and procedures, has given her encouragement. “I walk around the streets of Great Neck and I have been stopped by people who have said ‘Thank you for doing this,’” she said in regard to her legal action. “I have received letters and emails from teachers all over the country, who, again, have just said, ’thank you for being the one to put yourself out there because we’re all in the same boat.’”
She’s also found support from parents to be very encouraging. “When a parent can come up to me and tell me that I did something for their child, and now 10 years down the line they’re willing to put themselves out on the line and step up and file an affidavit on my behalf, it validates everything I’ve done in my career,” she said. “And everything that we’re going through now? It just makes it worthwhile.”
The state is scheduled to answer on December 19th. “We do not know what they are doing or thinking,” her husband added. “We’ve only had silence from them. They have said ‘no comment’ to all of the various press inquiries.” The Ledermans also have a hearing set for January 16th in State Supreme Court.
Lederman’s entire teaching career has been at Baker. “I actually started student teaching there and I never left the building,” she said, proudly. “Many of my students remember me as Mrs. Halper before I married Bruce.”
