BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Earlier this year 20-year teaching veteran and education author Ann Marie Corgill was named Alabama Teacher of the Year for 2014-2015. This week she resigned from a Birmingham City school after the system decided she wasn’t qualified to teach her grade.
After teaching at Cherokee Bend Elementary School—part of the highly-coveted Mountain Brook City school system— for three years, Corgill made the decision to make the move to instructing 5th graders at Oliver Elementary School within the Birmingham City Schools system.
Her decision to leave the classroom had nothing to do with student discipline problems or a shortage of funds. Instead, it was because of frustration with a school system that once lauded her abilities deciding her certification precluded her from continuing in the classroom.
After beginning the year in a 2nd grade classroom, which definitely does fall within her formal certification, Corgill was moved by the school to teach 5th grade. Then she was informed by Birmingham and Alabama Department of Education officials that she was not qualified to teach students in that grade.
Corgill holds Class A and B certifications from the state to teach primary school through third grade students, but she also obtained National Board Certification to teach children ages 7-12—an age which includes most 5th graders.
“After 21 years of teaching in grades 1-6, I have no answers as to why this is a problem now, so instead of paying more fees, taking more tests and proving once again that I am qualified to teach, I am resigning,” wrote Corgill in her resignation letter.
Corgill reportedly didn’t receive a paycheck from the system until just last week, going more than two months in the classroom without being remunerated.
As a feeder school to Woodlawn High School and part of the Woodlawn Innovation Network, Oliver Elementary has adopted characteristics common in many charter schools, including the ability to hire non-traditionally certified teachers.
It is in spite of this flexibility that Corgill was driven to resign.
“Please know that I wanted to give my all and share my expertise with Birmingham City Schools,” she wrote. “In order to attract and retain the best teachers, we must feel trusted, valued and treated as professionals. It is my hope that my experience can inform new decisions, policies and procedures to make Birmingham City Schools a place everyone wants to work and learn.”
Inept government bureaucracy leads to Alabama teacher of the year resigning https://t.co/HqpNGovqdt
— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizTBeShears) October 29, 2015
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