Tumultuous times for Interlake High: Half of the teachers won't be back this fall

When school starts this fall, half of the teachers at Bellevue's embattled Interlake High School won't be back.

Many of the 24 classroom teachers — out of 48 — who resigned, transferred, took leaves or whose contracts weren't renewed say they feel undervalued and no longer have a say in what they teach. The district has a singular vision of education, they say, and teachers who question it are branded as not team players.

District leaders contend they are trying to bring Interlake up to the same performance levels as the district's other three high schools.

"It's not so much that these teachers are being pushed out, but it's more that we need to change this place and if teachers don't want to go in the direction that this district is taking, then they might not want to be here," said district Superintendent Mike Riley.

Long seen as the black sheep of the district, Interlake has lagged slightly behind the other district schools in test scores, experienced unusually high turnover in both principals and staffers, and recently battled to keep its fledgling International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, the only one in the district.

Now with half its teachers leaving and a nationwide teacher shortage looming, Interlake students and parents say they are tired of the infighting and they worry about who will fill classrooms next year.

Eleven new teachers have been hired so far at Interlake, with five positions yet to fill, according to district staffing manager Kathy Hampton. Five of the new teachers have no teaching experience, she said.

Of the teachers leaving, 10 resigned, eight did not have their contracts renewed, four transferred and two took leaves. At the district's other high schools, the average number of teachers resigning this year is two.

When Riley became superintendent six years ago, he inherited a district in which nearly every school's curriculum was different. One of his and the School Board's goals has been to centralize the curriculum and link it from grade to grade.

One result has been a perception by teachers that they have less say in curriculum decisions, he said.

Interlake parent Melanie Weiss, a reading teacher in private practice, said she is upset that district officials tend to discourage creative teachers, a label she says fits most of those leaving. "It seems the district is only concerned with test scores, not creativity or relationships between teachers and students, which foster learning," she said.

Interlake has had three principals in three years, and has averaged 45 percent staff turnover each year since 1999. In other Bellevue high schools, the average this year is 18 percent as opposed to Interlake's 50 percent.

Student enrollment also has dropped each year since 1999, by about 80 students.

"Each administrator has gone to Interlake with energy and enthusiasm and has left feeling beat up, having met a tremendous amount of staff resistance," Riley said. "Finally, with some program changes and new hires, we're in a position to move forward."

Riley said it's great when students like their teachers, "but it takes more than that to be a good teacher, and often the teachers who push students aren't the ones who win the popularity contest." One Interlake student who will be a junior next fall disagreed, saying four of his favorite teachers are leaving.

"It's disappointing because these are the teachers who really motivated me to learn," Evan Weiss said.

Many of the Interlake teachers who are leaving — several of whom will start in Seattle schools this fall — argue that the district does not encourage teachers' ideas or opinions.

"I went to school for six years to be able to make professional judgments about what students should learn in my classes, but I don't feel trusted and valued to make decisions here," said Rosie Bailer, an Interlake teacher who has a new job in a Seattle school.

Many of the veteran teachers who are departing say their school had a reputation for strong staff collaboration, which led to a rich curriculum.

Social-studies teacher Guy Thomas has taught in the district for 18 years and at Interlake for five, and students flock to him. A half-dozen recently spent their days off helping him pack up his classroom.

Thomas, who has a master's degree and is close to getting his doctorate, said he is leaving because of the district and school's authoritarian leadership style.

"What I see as the real threat is the promotion of a single vision of what a good education is and there is no tolerance for a diverse approach," he said. "You can no longer even question."

Things began to change a year ago when a beloved IB coordinator and teacher was forced to resign, and a new principal was brought in, say both Thomas and Bailer.

It went from a school where teachers worked together on curriculum to one where Principal Laura Keylin was making most decisions, they say. Keylin was out of town at a conference and did not respond to phone messages.

Thomas said he questioned several decisions made at both the school and district level and suffered reprisals, such as being told he was not a team player and that he should no longer participate in a district team-research project.

Bailer said she decided to leave when she came to the realization that her philosophy of teaching would never fit the district's.

"They think teaching is a science and should be done in a certain way and that a uniform product pops out in the end," she said. "But I see teaching as an art and sometimes, like art, it's messy.

"If you're doing it by hand, these 'products' are not always going to turn out the same."

Debbie Nissen, Bellevue Education Association president, said she has met with district and Interlake leaders about their "top-down kind of management," but they haven't budged.

"Teachers don't leave their schools easily," she said. "And for a district that is hemorrhaging teachers and saying 'my way or the highway' seems not wise, if not irresponsible."

Interlake parent Mark Tremont is trying to bring parents and administrators together to improve relations. Last week he organized a meeting between the two groups to "stop all the rumors and innuendo" about why so many teachers are leaving. About 150 parents attended.

Tremont said he thinks Interlake administrators are trying to improve Interlake.

"I'm willing to give them time," he said, "if parents can influence what happens at Interlake and continue to communicate with the district."

Colleen Pohlig can be reached at 206-515-5655 or cpohlig@seattletimes.com.