As some of you may know Dr. MacFarlane will not be a teacher next year. 2017-2018+. He was forced to take retirement or be fired. Not to return. He even offered to attend class to help new teacher familiarize them with class and the school. He was told no he will no longer be needed at all. He is really heart broken over the situation. He will be leaving a school he loves teaching and helping our kids with everything in him. His knowledge and work ethic and genuine enthusiasm for his job is showed in his teaching and input he put into our school for several years. His many achievements as a teacher and scientist has came to him by many awards and acknowledgements in seven years as the science teacher for our sixth, seventh and eighth grade students. Early in his time at Topeka Collegiate, Dr. Macfarlane updated the science curriculum with the goal of meeting new science standards. He implemented that curriculum using a problem-solving, project-based approach allowing students to learn as they worked through real-life problems and projects in various areas of scientific inquiry.
Dr. Macfarlane has continued to look for innovative ways to support his students' learning each year. Most recently, he added Genius Hour for seventh and eighth grades, giving students an opportunity to investigate topics of their own interest.
Dr. Macfarlane has been an eighth grade homeroom teacher each year, acting in a student adviser role for his homeroom students. Many middle school students have benefited from the extra direction and guidance Dr. Macfarlane has offered outside of classroom time as they strove for increased understanding or to improve a project a class assignment or Science Fair. Also awarded Congratulations to Middle School science teacher Allen Macfarlane, who was awarded the Outstanding Earth Science Teacher of the Year for 2016 by the Kansas Geological Foundation. Dr. Macfarlane was presented with the award and a check for $1,000 by the KGF at its banquet held in Wichita on January 27:
"The Kansas Geological Foundation presented The Outstanding Earth Science Teacher of the Year for 2016 and a $1,000.00 check to Dr. P. Allen Macfarlane at the Kansas Geological Society banquet held in Wichita, KS on January 27, 2017.
DO YOU AGREE THIS IS A TEACHER THAT WE ARE GOING TO FORCE TO LEAVE. I THINK THERE HAS TO BE A WAY TO SHOW THAT WE APPRICIATE ALL THE HARD WORK DR MACFARLANE HAS DONE FOR OUR SCHOOL AND OUR KIDS. PAST AND FUTURE.
BY SIGNING THIS PETITION YOU AGREE... 1. WE NEED TO KEEP THIS GREAT TEACHER AND NOT FORCE HIM TO RETIRE. TRUTHFULLY HE IS HEART-BROKEN HE WAS ASKED TO LEAVE.
