The Ramaz Faculty:
Teacher Turnover Overload by Michael Geszel In Ramaz, as In all schools teachers come and go ever; year. The startling fact about Ramaz Is thal so many are com1 n g and going. Statistically, over the last three years 25% to 35% of the teachers were not here the year before. And the percentage of teachers who did not return from year to year spanned 30% to 37%. The primary problem caused by this high turnover rate Is low morale due to the lack of contin uity In the faculty, It also cre ates a strain on the administra tion because It Is forced to look for a larger number of able tea chers at t h e end of the school year. In speaking to veteran faculty members everyone said the
continual turnover disrupts the morale of the core of stable faculty. Because of teachers leaving and arriving, the faculty cannot achieve a sense of unity. One faculty member llkened the situation to entering the ninth grade every year. Mr. Olson feels that part of the difficulty In adjusting Is due to a lack of "socializing by the faculty, partly because of the long hours." One teacher add ed that some of the new faculty members do not feel llke part of the Ramaz system because they are unsure of their future here. According to Mr. MIiier, the Impact of the lack of teacher continuity Is most felt in that "you do not have a sense of tradition following your facul ty." One result Is that students
cannot look forward to having a partlcular teacher about whom they have heard. Another result Is that the educational system must be learned by all of the new teachers; all elements of the school must be clearly ex plained, creating a period of adjustment every year. Mrs. Rltterband believes we must "redefine the role of trad ditlon In Ramaz.'' Many people are Interested In pursuing a di versity of careers and are not prone to stay In the teaching profession for a long period of time. Therefore, perhaps It Is necessary to de-emphasize the Importance of teachers' career longevlty and turn to school val ues and Ideals for a sense of "tradition." Are we, the students, suffer-
ihe �am P
Ing because of the high rate of turnover? J Mrs. Rlllerband thinks not, explain Ing that "Ramaz tries hard to replace teachers wlth lndlvlduals who have the cre dentlals and the self-confidence of the people who have lelt. Certainly in areas where some one has not been given a new contract for the following year, we're trying to make sure that we do Increase the quality of teaching." The reasons for this high turnover rate are numerous: some teachers leave the school to make Aliyah; still others lea ve for personal growth or to pursue graduate study; some leave to enter other jobs or pro f esslons (many of them did not
Volume XVII Number 4
(Corrrmut,I o,r pa,:r 6!
April 1985/ Nls'san 5745
POSITIVELY FOURTH STREET
by Elizabeth Wurtzel People llke Tower Records. Or so It seems. Whlle the par ent company. MTS Inc., will not disclose the exact figures, the store In West Sixty-Sixth Street easily tne most popular such enterprise in the United States. Garnering another large unre vealed sum of money since I ts November deb'u t, the newer store on West Sixty-sixth Street is said to be running a close second. As a whole, the 36 Tow er records in the United States and the three In Japan earned an estimated 143 mllllon dollars last year. You can blame this massive success on yuppies, those spoil ed and dllllgent young profess ionals haunting our cities, who approach all facets of sensuous existefice like metlculous mav ens. After all, with the emer gence of gourmet supermarkets and designer flower shops, why not a record store to satisfy the tympanic sense of a connois seur? Enter Tower Records. In the blazing hot summer of 1983, this newly opened 35,000-squ are toot record store was the talk of the town. I remember being in Israel that summer and getting letters from friends ex pounding the virtues of this ver itable miracle in Fourth Street. I was still suffering from jet laQ the first time I canvassed the downtown facllty par ex cellence. On that Initial visit, I did not buy a thing but was
thoroughly Impressed by the New Yorkers are accustomed store's state-of-the-art orches to (or at least they do not think trat Ion: categorized sections twice about) downtown record with voluminous stock of almost stores llke Bleecker Bob's that any artist, multlple disc jockeys cater to fans of more esoteric programming music appropri music. But the Idea of a record ate to each of the various de store for unique tastes as a lar partments, and a muslcally ge-scale operation was a new cognlzant staff always avallable concept. In addition, the store to help. Compared to the gard· Is stocked for a variely of tastes en variety record store, Tower under just one roof: high-brow Records was In a class by itself. music lovers that I know have Not long after the store's op raved about the store's classical ening, I discovered it was not music anne:A.; jazz buffs can find the one-of-the-kind place it ap a copious selectlon, and popular peared to be, but, surprisingly, the first East Coast branch of a popular West Coast chain. Tow er Records ls, In effecl, the Sam Goody of California. The chain Is the brainchild of Russ Solomon, a flftyish San Francisco hippie, who is also a somewhat legendary marketing wizard. The heir to a chain of Tower Drug Stores ,. Solomon starled selling records when they were sold usually within a department of five-and-dime and drug stores. Mr. Solomon expanded the record depart ment of his family drug stores as rock n' roll gained massive popularity In the Late Fifties. When the music matured into a complete lifestyle in the Sixties, Solomon recognized a need for record slores as separate enll ties. When he opened the first Tower Records in San Francis co, he effectively invented the first respectable music marl for rock n' rollers. Lights aglow. the new Tower
if one Is seeking a musical trea sure, It Is more appropriate to search in a store catering to the individual music genre. Some thing about Tower Records As much as 1 would like to does not /eef right. (I mean, you complain (and I certainly sea could buy a haut couture dress rched for petty faults), there is at Bloomlngdale's, but why not no question that the store Is the go right to the designer's bou Ideal composite of a collection of tique?) smaller speclalty record stores But this Is mind over matter, around the city . Of course, for there sl much to be said for some people may find the large bigness. For one thing, the sto Impersonality of this music eri re publlshes a monthly music porium a bit repellent. After all, (ccmtmuul paxr J)
music fans of alI persuasions could not be more pleased. But Is Tower Records truly as wonderful as It is popular?
Records Is lhe first major record store on the Upper Wesl Side.