Barbara D. Katz-Brown Discusses Public School System Politics in New Book

In this present time, where almost everywhere, politics exists, author Barbara D. Katz-Brown shares her insights and urges fellow educators to open up their eyes and see the phenomenon in their own field. "Climbing The Rock Wall - Surviving a Career in Public School Education" is the author's way of expressing her own views and opinions as to what she refers to as "politics within a public school system".

In her 40 years of working in a public school district, Katz-Brown discloses problems she faced with career advancement and day to day teaching while trying to make a difference in the lives of her students. On that note, she believes that this book is a must read for beginning public school teachers, those who want to advance in the public education field, or anyone interested in what occurs behind the brick and mortar walls of public schools in this country.

"Climbing The Rock Wall" may seems like a memoir, but with a closer look and understanding, readers will see that this work is a call to urge the country to change practices of hiring or retaining teachers and administrators, and also to drastically change the curriculum to meet the skill demands of the workplace and to increase high school graduation rates. This is, if a country has a high regard for giving the best education to its people.

Written based on her unreconstructed experiences, Katz-Brown intends to reach out to every new person considering public education as a career or someone entrenched within a public school system who feels like no one is listening to their concerns. She wants readers and both audiences to know the basics of surviving in the education field. She believes that politics exists in every workplace and phase of life, and one must be ready to learn how to navigate the public school system. Referencing her work upon current research in the fields of behavioral science, educational theory, and years of experience in the field, she suggests to readers reasons why the current school reforms will not be effective to decrease the poor US high school graduation rates by delivering her propositions with a bit of humor, sarcasm and irony in her book Climbing the Rock Wall-Surviving a Career in Public School Education.

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About the Author
Barbara D. Katz-Brown grew up in Highland Park, New Jersey, where she received an excellent education. Katz-Brown attended Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, where she majored in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree, Magna Cum Laude, with New York State teaching certification. She started her career as a speech pathologist in a small school district in Connecticut and while there, began graduate studies at night at the University of Connecticut. Barbara left the position in Connecticut the following year to begin a Masters in Speech Pathology at Ithaca College on a full scholarship. After completion, she worked first part-time, then fulltime in a small school district in a centrally isolated area in New York State in a variety of positions for over 40 years as a speech pathologist, elementary support teacher, summer school principal, assistant middle school principal, associate high school principal, substitute elementary principal and superintendent's hearing officer. She obtained a Certificate in Advanced Study in School District Administration from The State University of New York at Cortland. Barbara was also an adjunct instructor at Ithaca College where she taught a number of classes in the organization of public school speech therapy programs and child development of speech/language and reading and writing. She also taught at Tompkins Cortland Community College and was the speech pathologist for two area nursing homes for over 10 years, where she supervised graduate clinicians from Ithaca College. Barbara continues to practice as a New York State licensed speech pathologist and as a substitute administrator.

Katz-Brown is married to her adoring husband, Steve Brown, a jazz guitarist, arranger, composer and Professor Emeritus of Music and former Director of the Jazz Studies program at Ithaca College. They have a son and a daughter-in-law and a daughter and a son-in-law. She and her husband continue to reside in central New York, but spend much of the year traveling throughout the United States and Europe while Steve continues to perform.

Climbing The Rock Wall - Survivng a Career in Public School Education by Barbara D. Katz-Brown
Publication Date: September 23, 2013
Trade Paperback; $19.99; 126 pages; 978-1-4836-9347-7
Trade Hardback; $29.99; 126 pages; 978-1-4836-9348-4
eBook; $3.99; 978-1-4836-9349-1

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