Keep the good teachers!

November 24, 2005

Good, passionate teachers are hard to find. Jon T. Fleener, Pinellas County School Board employee - middle school science, is in jeopardy of losing his job because he is passionate. His number one priority has been and always will be to his students. He goes beyond his job description in his efforts to reach his end goal which is to TEACH his students.

During the past 4 years, Mr Fleener has coached the boys volleyball, boys track & girls basketball teams. He has donated his time to chaperone class trips, run the sound at choral concerts, oversee afterschool detentions (grade level for all teachers), and has been the mc for the end of year awards ceremonies. These are just a few activities in which he has been involved.

He spends many hours above and beyond what's required when many other teachers leave within minutes of classes ending and contribute nothing beyond their classrooms. Over the years he has made some mistakes for which he has always taken full reponsibility. However, there have been many, many more silly and trivial matters that the administration has used to pad his file.

They have taken many insignificant happenings out of context and literally made mountains out of mole hills. The administration has documented the few parental complaints while not documenting the many more positive comments made about Mr. Fleener by parents and coworkers. When you teach 140-150 students per year there are bound to be a few who are not happy.

Mr. Fleener continually strives to expect the best from his students as
evidenced by the great work displayed in his classroom and in the hallway outside of his classroom. His students know that he will do anything to help them but will also be honest and fair. Mr. Fleeners students often come to him with problems ranging from discontent with other students and teachers to more personal problems showing a high degree of trust. Mr. Fleener often has past students come back to visit and even help with practices.

The positive contributions Mr. Fleener makes to Meadowlawn Middle School greatly outweigh the few negatives that the school administrators choose to dwell upon. Mr. Fleener is an asset to the students!