Evan Yavne – A Students Poster Child

by: Bill Liblick

Everyone remembers his or her special schoolteacher, that one educator who has had a dramatic positive affect on them.  When children organize eyebrows become raised. When a teacher is fired for unknown reasons, we all begin to ask questions.

Evan Yavne, the much-loved teacher at the Robert Kaiser Middle School in Monticello has become the poster child for children who want a teacher that will make learning fun and desirable, while educating.  And, the results are there to prove it. Tests scores are up. 

Students don’t understand how their teacher who has achieved so much with them, can be told by the administration that he “fails repeatedly to effectively prepare for his lessons. As a result, consistent student engagement, effective lessons, and enhanced instruction did not happen.”

Children angered over Yavne’s firing decided to organize to save their beloved teacher’s job. They embarked on a petition campaign and got their parents involved, only to find school administrators who could care less about their wishes.

Last Sunday, Yavne along with students, teachers, and parents appeared on my radio show to speak about the situation. The cries of the children moved everyone. They spoke from the heart about a teacher whom they truly loved. They could not understand how such a special person was being treated so wrongly.

As far as they were concerned, the reports that Yavne did not properly educate them were nothing but a collection of lies. Listening to them speak about the results Yavne achieved, makes one begin to wonder if there is more to the story.

Were administrators trying to fire a teacher who bucked the system, by educating and treating students as if they were people and not just a statistic?

Teachers are often our unsung, and over worked heroes. Our society places such a great responsibility on them, but yet when it comes to compensation they are treated unfairly. Administrators are the people who earn the outlandish salaries, not the dedicated educators who go above and beyond their call to duty.

The lack of intervention from the school board in the Yavne situation is unacceptable. Their condescending treatment to parents and students is deplorable.

Clearly Evan Yavne is marketable and could find a teaching job elsewhere. But, he loves the school and the children he has been hired to educate. He wants to remain at the Robert J. Kaiser Middle School in Monticello, and he should.

It is not uncommon to hear about teachers being treated as pawns by administrators who want them out. I personally know a teacher who had a similar situation as Yavne’s at the Liberty School District, but instead of fighting the bureaucracy and play politics, he decided to leave. He has since been hired as a teacher out of Sullivan County where students, parents, and administrators love him. Whose loss? Ours!

Monticello School’s Superintendent Pat Michel and the School Board are accountable to the parents and students; they cannot be allowed to hide behind smokescreens. Evan Yavne has demanded that his file be opened for the public to view. He deserves an honest open discussion about his teaching skills, and an opportunity to defend himself. For the sake of the children at least do that.

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