Compiled by BC Certified Teachers
working at Maple Leaf
1.
Maple
Leaf did not supply a Chinese version of teacher contracts.
2.
Maple
Leaf did not pay some teachers properly according to their contracts in
September and October.
3.
Made
all new and returning High School BC Certified teachers sign new contracts upon
arrival to China and demanded they sign the new contracts, despite the teachers
protesting the changes in the contracts. If they did not sign them, they had to
pay their own way home immediately.
4.
Did
not immediately tell Students/Parents about the two sexual assaults that
occurred near the school, which were also reported to police.
5.
Currently
withholding every teacher’s Expert Certificates, which have been requested by
several teachers for their own personal reasons, and which every teacher is
legally entitled to have as it is their proof of employment in China.
6.
Severe
mold issues have been reported to administration in both the middle and high
school for at least two years. This mold is hazardous to the health of those
breathing it in.
7.
Did
not get rid of a stray dog on school grounds despite several complaints until
after it bit two people. Security guards then beat to death the dog and its
puppies. This was witnessed by a teacher.
8.
High
school teachers were promised “on campus housing” – upon arrival to China,
administration told the teachers no on-campus apartments were available (which
was not true) and made every high school teacher find and pay for apartments
off campus.
a.
One
teacher does not have a bed to sleep on and when she reported it to the
principal he insulted her for complaining and then mocked her to other
teachers.
9.
Unsanitary
bathroom facilities.
a.
No
toilet paper or hand soap
b.
Dirty
stalls and floors
10. Promises were not met including
teachers not being supplied computers and projectors, which were guaranteed at
recruiting meetings in Canada.
11. Administration often screams at, threatens and harasses
teachers in front of students.
12. The teaching staff have repeatedly
been told that “they are the worst staff the principal and vice principal have seen in eight years” –
which has been said in front of students.
13. George Watson, the Maple Leaf
superintendent, does not respect teacher’s concerns about school issues and
responds to concerns by saying “It’s none of your business”.
14. A teacher has been physically
assaulted by another teacher and no reprimands were given.
15. Verbal harassment between teachers occurred during staff meetings with no reprimand by administration.
16. Administrators threaten teachers with
taking away their teaching certificates if they do not follow orders, which are
usually arbitrary and illegal.
17. Administrators have asked teachers
not to fail students despite some students not handing in a single assignment
and failing every exam.
18. A schedule was put out for the high
school midterms and then changed by administration without telling the
teachers, which created an issue for the exam proctors and led to Ryan
Waurynchuk (Principal) to scream at teachers in front of the students and blame
the teachers for the lack of communication.
19. Ryan Waurynchuk (Principal) told
several teachers that the Chinese laws do not pertain to foreigners and they
are not protected in China.
20. George Watson, the superintendent,
told two teachers that he did not know what the labour laws were in China.
21. Ryan Waurynchuk tried to prevent a
middle school teacher from entering/leaving through the front gates of Maple
Leaf. When asked why he is doing this by high
school teachers he refused to answer.
a.
Ryan
also tried to make her walk alone near the school knowing two sexual assaults
had occurred the week before.
b.
Ryan
screamed at three teachers and threatened their jobs for sharing a taxi with
her to school.
22. A middle school teacher went to the
police to report Ryan Waurynchuk for harassment and verbal assault.
23. A
middle school teacher was fired without just cause and is continuously fighting
for money owed to her and an official letter of release so she can work
elsewhere.
24. 2 primary school, 2 middle school and
5 high school teachers have resigned in two months at Tianjin Maple Leaf
International School.
25. Teachers do not have proper resources
to provide a quality education and have repeatedly asked administration for
resources; books, projectors, computers, unrestricted internet, working photo
copiers, etc.
26. Teachers have been asked by members
of administration what their religious affiliations and sexual orientations
are.
27. Several teachers have reported their apartments broken into.
As a teacher who worked for several years in Korea, and several more in China.... I just want to point out that alot of what you are mentioning is standard when teaching overseas. There are few if any 'luxury' items like projectors, support materials, etc. If you want or need them, often you have to bring them yourself, out of your own pocket. I'm not saying that's the best way, but it IS the way things happen when teaching abroad. As for unrestricted internet... in China??? You're kidding, right? There's no way the school could provide that for you... again, you are on your own to figure that out. Buy a VPN, they are an inexpensive and wonderful investment for accessing resources, etc. They also help you keep your sanity a bit. Housing.... again, you are in China! Did you not do any research before coming? Because of the muggy hot summers, there is mold EVERYWHERE. This is commonplace in Asia.... either adapt or head back to North America. At my last job I not only had to pay one year of rent up front, but there was no hot water except in my shower... can't really wash the dishes there, can you? This is simply part of the 'adapting' that they talk about when they interview you. Being able to roll with challenges, being able to find the silver lining... some of the hardships will really help you learn who YOU are, and what you can handle. If you can't handle China, then no harm, no foul.... go home! But you can't expect the 'business' (yes, shocking... a school in China is a business) to cover your expenses either way. You are an adult... ask all the questions you need to ask before you come! And if you didn't, then solve the problems as they arrive. Take some personal responsibility. (Yes, that's my mother voice coming out...)
ReplyDeleteOn the up side, if you are able to tough it out, without alienating the school so that they fire you, then the benefits are indescribable! Experiencing a country in it's growth, experiencing history occurring before your eyes, watching students learn, and grow, and mature, and opening their eyes to the world that's out there waiting for them to explore, helping them realize that there's so much more than just China..... but remember to teach them to take personal responsibility, and ask all the questions, and find constructive ways to solve their challenges, instead of creating waves, and friction, and fake websites under corporate names when you are simply an angry person who made a mistake, took a job without being prepared for the struggles, and didn't handle them well. PS... it's true what they say about Karma....
In response to the above post: I think what the teachers who created this blog had a major issue with was the fact that the Canadian offshore school promised them things like health insurance (which wasn't accepted in any hospital so they then had to pay for procedures out of pocket without being reimbursed.... often borrowing money from each other to afford things like a midnight hospital visit due to kidney stones), housing (which was not provided to a majority of the teachers even though their contracts stated they would), the same teaching tools as if they were in BC (no textbooks, no paper, no computers/projector), abusive principals who would insult, threaten and harass teachers in front of students, Canadian principals who were seen shaking Chinese students as a form of discipline and perhaps the most egregious being the fact that a Canadian administration was willing to fire a Canadian teacher for her perceived sexual orientation and then lie about it when questioned.
ReplyDeleteAll of the teachers who have "beef" with this organization have lived abroad, several having lived in China and other parts of Asia. Some also speak Mandarin. Culture shock had nothing to do with the issues that developed at this campus. The Chinese students are amazing. The Chinese staff are amazing. The Canadian administrators, who believe they can act unprofessionally because they're in another country and who believed contracts are a loosely based suggestion were the poignant reasons leading to so many teachers resigning before the semester ended. If you read the newspaper articles you'd know that several teachers were sexually assaulted leaving the campus, teachers had their apartments broken into after protesting the pseudo termination of a teacher for her perceived sexual orientation (I say pseudo because due to the backlash the principal tried to get the teacher to agree to sign a document saying she'd quit), teachers called the police on the Canadian administrators several times because of their abusive behavior - I believe the teachers fought for what they believed in and stood up against an organization in a very constructive way.
China is an amazing country. The issues presented on the blog have to do with what was contractually promised versus reality. The school should not tell teachers at a job fair that they have high tech, state of the art computer labs if they have nothing more than one 11 year old desktop and non-functioning photo copiers. They should not say they teach the BC curriculum if they do not even have textbooks or resources to teach anything remotely similar to the curriculum promised to both Chinese students and teachers.
I agree with you that asking questions is very important. Providing honest answers is equally important. It is true what they say about Karma...it can be a wonderful thing when people who do good in the world receive good in the world. The almost dozen teachers who fought to make the school a better environment were recently vindicated when the BC Ministry of Education made sweeping changes last week to BC Offshore schools creating stricter policies so schools like this one can't continue the charade of a BC school, when in reality they are abusive and manipulative. The link to the articles describing the new and improved policies are on this blog. Feel free to read them and educate yourself on the new regulations.
I hope you never find yourself in such an awful work environment as this one was. It is nothing anyone should wish on others.
I have read the articles, and the Ministry regulations. I do want to point out that those regulations have been on the books for several months, but held off due to internal politics and the upcoming elections. Interestingly, should you choose to watch the outcome of those newly enforced policies, I think what you'll see is that Maple Leaf continues to receive the support of the Ministry, as the concerns your group (falsely named though you are) are both unproven, and presented in a malicious manner. No one could possibly take your cause seriously when you make such blatantly embellished claims (above you claim 'several' when there were 2 assaults near the Tianjin campus, neither tied to MLIS in any way, both had the police involved at MLIS request and the victims received nothing but support from TTMLIS)and break-ins as perceived retaliation??? Surely you can see how that would come across as paranoid ranting....
ReplyDeleteOf course you can SAY anything you'd like about this 'group' of unhappy teachers, but perhaps it's time to stop gossip-mongering and either prove your case or move on, learn from this and get on with seeking the joy in life!
Best of luck... and 新年快樂
It's obvious that there are two sides to this story, and I respect your opinion on the matter, as you should ours. However, it is clear that you belong to the group teachers that kept their heads down and ignored the injustices constantly occurring around you. Our "claims" are just as valid as your "claims". Dare I say you are the gossip-mongerer, throwing out assumptions without bothering to speak to those involved. To say that we are embellishing is a result of your blatant ignorance. I'd be curious to know what "mistake" this group of teachers apparently made. I have heard of no such thing. If you had bothered to speak to anyone other than your few friends, you would know that there were more than two occurrences where a person's physical safety was in direct jeopardy. If you had bothered to take a moment to look around you, you would have noticed the constant harassment and intimidation that occurred. If you had stopped talking about yourself for five minutes, you would have seen the hurt and fear in many teachers' eyes.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, all of the teachers who take issue with this school and who support this blog, are seasoned world travelers, and know that living abroad isn't supposed to be like this. We've all done it before, we know the drill better than most. We asked all the questions, and got answers that turned out to be false. We arrived with high hopes and big smiles, and those were met with ice cold glares. In isolation, each incident seems tolerable in the big picture. But the combination proved too much for some. For someone who is living abroad for the first time in China, it might just seem normal. I respect that viewpoint, because it shows a sense of flexibility and openness. But everybody has their limit, and clearly many teachers at TTMLIS have struggled this year. Just because you are okay with the situation, doesn't mean that everybody else has to be. The most shocking and disappointing thing that I observed in this situation is how easily people will stand by while injustices occur. In fact, as a professional, it is unethical to do this. I suggest you look into something called "duty to report" as part of being a certified British Columbia teacher. It might make you think twice about the way you have handled this situation.
Just for the record, I'm not related to TTMLIS in any way other than being an acquaintance of a teacher there. I read the stories in the news, asked the person I know for their impressions, and am entitled to my interpretation, just as you are! No need to get defensive!
ReplyDeleteIn response to the above comments (I am the same person who commented second on the feed): There were 2 sexual attacks, one attempted sexual attack which resulted in a chase - all 3 were reported to the police, two of which not at the request of TTMLIS but by the victims, there were threats made to a teacher (by an administrator) who reported them to police with a legal representative with her, 4 teachers had their apartments broken into within 2 weeks, a teacher had kidney stones at midnight on a Friday and discovered her health insurance was not accepted at the hospital across the street from the school - so she had to borrow money from other teachers to afford medical care because the health insurance provided was not accepted at any local hospital, there is 20 hours of known audio tapes of administrators abusing, harassing, and threatening teachers (which was all sent to various bureaus in both Canada and China as well as the Vancouver Sun as noted in two newspaper articles) - so there is quite a lot of evidence to prove the allegations made. I think the group of teachers who have assembled together have done so not in malice but in hopes of improving the offshore school system so people do not end up in the same unsafe situations they were caught in. Happy New Year to you too.
ReplyDeleteit is pretty malicious when they lie or exaggerate events and audio record events with other teachers present who were not notified that they would be on tape for all of Canada to know. The actions taken in China and Canada were selfish and not thought out properly.
DeleteOh i'm sorry that my defense made you so uncomfortable. Your comments were begging for us to get defensive. And defensive we will be, because we are victims of some very serious violations. Perhaps you need to find better ways to spend your time than commenting on something that you just admitted to have no first-hand knowledge of. Maybe take a piece of your own advice: stop the gossip-mongering and get on with seeking the joy in life!
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I am a teacher who has taught at TTMLIS for some time and who is currently teaching here and these allegations are completely blown out of proportion and many are lies. Myself and others have enjoyed our experiences teaching with this school. The writers of this blog should never have ventured to China to begin with, as they apparently assumed it would be just like teaching in Canada. This blog is absolutely ridiculous.
ReplyDelete