On Wednesday October 27th, Mr. Clavelle’s year and change as the sophomore Spanish teacher unceremoniously came to end. On his way out, he told his fifth period class they were partially to blame. Initially, when asked why he was leaving, he attempted to make it clear to his other class periods it has nothing to do with them. Upon being pressured on this departure, he indeed admitted that his fifth period was a difficult class. He also claimed they were a majority factor in his leave. The class and Clavelle had a series of clashes over his short stint. The core of the complaints: his teaching style.
Following his departure, the school leadership felt compelled to address the issue with students. Director of Curriculum and Instruction Amanda King acknowledged Clavelle has been struggling with the school in terms of “value alignment”
The difficult situation speaks to many of the challenges Byers is facing this year. As the school shifts out of a more strict identity, it is facing a crisis of sorts, growing pains even. Combined with an especially rowdy student body (particularly Prep Academy) following the COVID pandemic, this year at Byers has been a difficult one. When Clavelle joined Byers last year, the school still had a strict reputation. When Clavelle began his teaching position during the pandemic the rule shift (which began in the 2019-2020 school year), Had not taken form yet due to the unique space created by online school. In all likelihood there was not even an awareness of a difference in values between Clavelle and admin. And as such, when the school year began, Clavelle likely hoped for a system that would support his specific and traditionalist teaching style; what he found was quite the opposite.
Clavelle, who had spent 12 of his 13 years in teaching prior to his hiring at Byers in Jesuit schools, wanted a strict, rules oriented environment. “Specific and traditional” were the exact words used by the school leadership team. Amongst his arguments with students, Clavelle revealed he indeed wished to go against administration policy to make the classroom more strict. Upon his leaving, he also revealed that clashes with school leadership had been a persistent issue for him and were also a factor in his leaving of Byers.
Multiple students alleged going back to such strict policies as the one Clavelle was suggesting was remnant of a racist and out-dated Byers. The school leadership seems to agree several of his policies were indeed outdated. King revealed she attempted to make clear to Clavelle that perhaps his policies were out of date and could be improved. Clavelle found the idea that his manner of teaching was in any part the problem to be insulting. According to King, “(Being critiqued on) the impact of what he was doing in his classroom and in his teaching was absurd to him.” This appears to be the first in a stretch of clashes between Clavelle and Byers' leadership team. In another accounting King reveals, “(We had) four weeks in a row of 90 minute come to jesus-yelling in my office meeting.”
Rather than having the full support of the leadership team, Clavelle was asked to grow and did not.
To contrast, there is a sizable amount of the sophomore student body that believes rather than being an issue of growth as an educator, that Clavelle’s actions were outright racist. As one student alleges, “He was much more lenient with white students. When white students came in late, he almost always let them in. When non-white students came in, he almost always locked them out.” In one such instance, a student who was locked out would go on to steal an exit sign during the devious licks trend. The student was not available for comment.
School leadership struggled to verify the aforementioned allegations on the grounds that no critical incident reports were filed against Clavelle. When asked about this, multiple students said they did not even know a critical incident report was an option for teachers.
On the surface, this might seem to be an isolated incident about a teacher quitting his job, but the truth is this episode is only a symptom of the many problems facing Byers this year. The school will need to address these challenges if it wishes to progress forward. Even if Clavelle is in the end at fault for the crisis of his classrooms... Despite Clavelle’s leave the school has not calmed down one bit and the schools crisis of identity seems to be a persisting issue recognized across the school as a problem going forward.
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