Introducing the First Platform for School Transparency: Empowering Parents, Teachers, and Students

The first time I wanted to quit teaching, was after months of dealing with one of the most challenging students I had ever had. In tears, I begged my administrators for help multiple times and received silly suggestions.

The student would scream profanities at me throughout class, and my administrators suggested I move his seat. I assured them that this student could shout profanities at me from anywhere in the room. They asked if I tried praising the students around him. I assured them that praising his classmates for not shouting profanities would not be effective. I was told I could not send him out of class because he had a right to an education. And that was the end of it.

No help. No support.

The second time I wanted to quit teaching was when my principal asked me to do something unethical and interpret for a Deaf family that had a right to an interpreter. When I explained why the request was inappropriate, he told me I should be grateful for my job.

The third time I wanted to quit teaching was after a student threatened violence. I informed the administration that I felt unsafe, and they had the Sheriff interview me to determine if I really felt unsafe. That was the first time I went out on FMLA, and this was all before my 5th year of teaching.

And the stories continue.

Later in my career as an Instructional Coach, I witnessed countless teachers burnout and quit as the result of seemingly small things. Micromanagement. Lack of support. Lack of communication. I knew from experience that every campus was different–where some teachers thrived, others were barely treading water.

I also witnessed countless teachers face retaliation and blacklisting upon bringing up concerns to administrators. Once, at an interview, the principal and interview panel asked why I marked “Do not contact current employer” on my application. When I explained that an administrator at my school warned me and told me about his challenges switching schools as a result of the principal sabotaging his interviews, everyone on the panel—including the principal—nodded and said, “Oh yeah, that’s happened to me as well.” I realized that this wasn’t just a one-time phenomenon—this was an industry standard.

I knew something needed to change–and not just the pay scale.

At HonestEd, educators and families can rate individual school climate factors, search for schools, and filter schools by the climate factors that matter most to them. We’re giving anonymity and voice to those who have the biggest stake in education and are often listened to the least.

We hope you join us in our mission to revolutionize educational experiences through school transparency.

Our Mission:

We are determined to give parents the power to speak up because they will know what they need to speak up about. Parents are often faulted for not being more involved in their child’s education, but it is impossible for parents to truly know all the facets of education that are impacting their child success. Things like whether or not their school has an MTSS program and is offering interventions to struggling students. When parents don’t know that they’re special education students Kota class has no co-teacher, they can’t speak up. When parents don’t know that there are rotating period subs and their student hasn’t had a real science teacher in several years, they can’t speak up. Parents can’t advocate for things they don’t know are happening. We are on a mission to change that.

We are on a mission to give teachers a voice without fear of retaliation and blacklisting. We are on a mission to end teacher burnout by putting education back in the hands of the teachers.

When we come together as teachers, we can make real change. We can help ensure teachers don’t end up in toxic school environments, and we can start choosing to teach at the campuses that actually support students and educators. Unfortunately, not every school exists or is run with the goal of meeting student needs. While teachers are recruited and asked to give their why, administrators are recruited and asked to create schools with good reputations.

And with a public record of the school, climate ratings, openly available to everyone that secure an anonymous to protect the identity of those rating the school climate factors, we look forward to seeing the rating results and using them to start conversations about the changes that need to be made and educational leadership. We also look forward to comparing the ratings of school, climates and school leadership to test scores and evaluations. Because truly, if a school‘s leadership is rated low in several categories, why are teachers being held responsible for the test scores? Why are teachers being evaluated on things they have zero control over? Well, HonestEd is giving more context to the educational narrative used to evaluate and burn out teachers.

A year ago, as I sat at an interview eager to escape my current toxic school environment, the principal and panel of interviewers asked me why I asked them not to contact my current school. When I mentioned all of the sabotaging interviews, I had been told about from another administrator, trying to escape the toxic environment, The principal and panel all nodded along and said that the exact same thing had happened to them at some point. This was not a unique situation, this was an accepted industry norm. Teachers are retaliated against by having extra duty opportunities taken away, prep is taken away, being placed.

If this was the situation everywhere, how would I ever escape the madness? How would I be able to remain in education without sever physical and mental health repercussions? Two autoimmune diagnoses later, HonestEd was created.

At HonestEd, we are on a mission to revolutionize educational experiences for educators and families by providing school transparency. We believe that we can help retain high quality teachers and encourage new teachers to join the profession when we band together.