Let's work together, or not...

At my school, there is an extra period at the end of the day. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, students go to some non-academic activity (which they choose every 6 weeks based on what teachers offer to teach). On Tuesdays and Thursdays, students either have tutoring or a semi-academic class, depending on their test scores on standardized tests. I am assigned to teach 8th grade during this special 7th period. Right now, it really isn't working that well. Students know they do not receive a grade, so many do nothing, or are so disruptive that little can be accomplished.

There have been efforts to try to revamp and fix it. I heard through the grapevine that it had been decided by the core subject teachers in my grade (I am an elective, non-core teacher) that certain things were going to happen. This seemed odd to me, that not all the 8th grade 7th period teachers would be included in this decision making, much less communicating what was 'decided.' I thought, 'I'll just clear this up at the next staff meeting.' So, I asked all the 8th grade 7th period teachers to meet after the staff meeting to figure this out. About half of us showed up. We talked about the problems, tossed around possible solutions. I thought it was useful to brainstorm, but I didn't think much of it since not everyone was there, nor had we spoken to the curriculum coordinator or anyone in the administration about possible changes.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I checked my email from one of 8th grade core teachers TELLING us all how it would be, including being assigned/told to teach a certain class based on student surveys. That caused an immediate impassioned reply from an elective teacher saying that that was not going to fly, which then caused another negative reply from a different core teacher. Finally, the curriculum coordinator emailed us all saying that nothing was changing yet and that we would ALL have to meet after Christmas to figure this out.

I just don't understand how, if we are trying to create an environment of cooperation between licensed professionals, someone (or someones) would think it useful to unilaterally decide what their peers would do. Keep in mind, this is not our supervisor, nor someone designated as the 'leader' of the group of 8th grade 7th period teachers. This was, instead, one or several teachers, believing they could tell other teachers what to do without their input or a vote. In the end, all that was accomplished was pissing people off and 7th period is still a mess.

Two important things we can learn here:
1) Communication is key.
2) This is not Animal Farm: Some of us are not more equal than others.