Oak Park High School is designed to be a respectful, caring, healthy, POSITIVE, and safe environment for not only the students, but staff members as well. However, that has not been implemented since the beginning of the school year. No, this issue is not on everyone’s behalf, but they’re a few staff members who just don’t seem to understand how they should behave in a work setting, and I can point one out in particular, who has been an issue for as long as she’s been working in the Oak Park School District. You’ve probably heard the name before, Tabitha Manuel, also known as Ms.Manuel who is one of the 11th Grade English teacher’s. She is known to make it dreadful for her students to even go to her class.

Not only are the 11th graders feeling as if we are being mistreated, but the freshman’s, sophomores, seniors, other fellow staff members and teachers, and even the school’s security guards feel the same as well. We are not being heard, and even if we “are,” we see no change in any behavior whatsoever. There has been back to back complaints, other petitions created, and even emails sent into the school, but still, no changes have been put into effect. 

Ms.Manuel packs her students up in the corner of her classroom like a pack of sardines, only caring about the safety of herself, and not the the safety nor MOBILITY of her students. Inconsiderate much? We understand that COVID-19 is a very serious situation, but when a student simply walks up to your desk, (for whatever the reason may be) spraying disinfectant spray toward them as they walk away is uncalled for. She acts as if she’s allergic to her students! Oh, and don’t let her catch you with your mask fallen down a half centimeter from your nose!

Students should not be let out of the classroom to use the bathroom within the first 10 minutes of class, and the last 10 minutes of class. Ms.Manuel does not let her students go to the restroom AT ALL, even when stated there is an emergency. 

The most recent incident occurred about a week or two ago. There was an 11th grade student, (who’s name we will keep anonymous) in her class. Before even being able to enter the classroom, she was called a “miserable little girl,” by Ms.Manuel. We are slightly unaware of what the student may have done, but it wasn’t serious at all. However, as TEACHER, you should know how to handle incidents in an professional matter, how you were trained to. On several other occasions, students we also told by Ms.Manuel that they weren’t even wanted in her classroom! 

She gives us 5-7 sentence “Do Now’s” every day, which we never discuss, and which were never graded since the beginning of the school year, along with other various writing activities. 

Ms.Manuel almost never makes a full week present to school, and I can count on both of my hands how many substitute teachers we’ve had in her class since the beginning of the school year. Not to mention, she never leaves us any work to do when she’s gone. However, when she does decide to come to work, she doesn’t teach her students, nor make sure they have a FULL understanding of the lesson and/or criteria. Better yet, she doesn’t even stand up from her desk, so the chances of you walking past our classroom to see her actually teaching our class are slim to none. Whether it’s because she’s never here, or simply because of the fact that she isn’t a teacher.  Ms.Manuel just simply does not exemplify what a teacher should be. It’s clear that she doesn’t want to be here, which she has even stated herself, so why keep her?

At first we wanted a change in behavior. We still haven’t gotten that, so now we want her gone. She’s one of the toxic factors to Oak Park High, and it’s clear that she’s never going to change. We’re tired of the disrespect, mistreated, lack of COMMITMENT and communication, the negativity, and the laziness. It needs to be put to an end.

Thank you for taking your time to listen.