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The United States Agency for International Development aimed to enable AISG to attain Middle States Association accreditation, and sending five international teachers was part of the 2011 plan. It foundered on the rocks of Gazan reality. Ready to begin the accreditation process in 2006, when Israel withdrew and factional civil war broke out, the school had deteriorated by 2011 to the point that only one of over a hundred accreditation benchmarks was in place: "Students and staff shall have access to drinking water throughout the school day."
We international teachers, all experienced in high need districts, found the school chaotic beyond all expectation. I found myself in a particularly ugly power struggle with my 10th grade World History class. I created the t-shirt at left to wear on the class fieldtrip -- the design in the center illustrates the vicious cycle between the kids' classroom disruptions and my yelling at them. The shirt gave students a chance to talk to me and reflect outside the pressures of the classroom. The magic marker comments at the bottom are students' apologies. |
Unfortunately, my part in the project ended only days later. The evacuation clause of my contract -- included to anticipate possible Israeli attack -- was invoked to address misbehaving teenagers. The stress level at school was becoming physically dangerous. The three elementary level teachers struggled on through the school year; USAID had decided to cut funding for the project, planned for three years, in March of 2012.
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