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And you are one of the reasons I left teaching. My kids were not the problem. Some of their parents were. The administration was more of a problem in that they would not back up teachers for the most part. I have a masters degree in mathematics, not in education, but I will not go back and teach without some assurance that teaching conditions will be improved. It was those of us who were good teachers who cared about the kids who took most of the flack especially from those who would never dare to step food into a classroom to teach.
The fact is that teachers can easily be fired. Administrators must document and must supervise.
Good luck in your new position. I'd stay and chat, but I'm off to volunteer in my child's wonderful, non-unionized school.
Good luck in your new position. I'd stay and chat, but I'm off to volunteer in my child's wonderful, non-unionized school.
Oh please.
Union does not remotely equate to poor schools. My district happens to be one of the top ten in the nation regularly and is in a union state. Just FYI the top 5 states for public education all happen to be "unionized".
Union does not remotely equate to poor schools. My district happens to be one of the top ten in the nation regularly and is in a union state. Just FYI the top 5 states for public education all happen to be "unionized".
Union does not remotely equate to poor schools. My district happens to be one of the top ten in the nation regularly and is in a union state. Just FYI the top 5 states for public education all happen to be "unionized".
Do you have a study or report that specifies that and what it is based upon? I just read your other post with the links. But I don't know what "The Smartest States" has to do with anything. U.S. News & World bases their ratings not on test results but on how many students take the tests; while this measures how the school reaches out to all students, I don't consider this a real measure of the quality of a school. But then I don't think high test scores alone is a measure of a good school. Sorry, but I just don't think Unions encourage the best teachers and it is a well known fact that it is incredibly difficult to fire unionized teachers once they are tenured, resulting in long term retention of bad and sometimes harmful teachers. The best that can be hoped for is getting them transferred to another school. That was the outcome at a school my kids were in, where we even had the benefit of a parent, who was a judge, employed in a educational mediation position and had the backing of many other teachers at the school. Although, the teacher was finally removed from our school, she was merely transferred to a different school. I don't mean to imply that all union teachers or schools are bad. I have had experience with good schools and fine teachers that were unionized. But, given a choice, in general, I pick non-unionized schools. Better use of money, more caring teachers and those not performing can be let go, if necessary. JMHO
Do you have a study or report that specifies that and what it is based upon? I just read your other post with the links. But I don't know what "The Smartest States" has to do with anything. U.S. News & World bases their ratings not on test results but on how many students take the tests; while this measures how the school reaches out to all students, I don't consider this a real measure of the quality of a school. But then I don't think high test scores alone is a measure of a good school. Sorry, but I just don't think Unions encourage the best teachers and it is a well known fact that it is incredibly difficult to fire unionized teachers once they are tenured, resulting in long term retention of bad and sometimes harmful teachers. The best that can be hoped for is getting them transferred to another school. That was the outcome at a school my kids were in, where we even had the benefit of a parent, who was a judge, employed in a educational mediation position and had the backing of many other teachers at the school. Although, the teacher was finally removed from our school, she was merely transferred to a different school. I don't mean to imply that all union teachers or schools are bad. I have had experience with good schools and fine teachers that were unionized. But, given a choice, in general, I pick non-unionized schools. Better use of money, more caring teachers and those not performing can be let go, if necessary. JMHO
Here is what happens when you don't have a union. It's admittedly only one case, but.....
Ask Nichole Byrne Lau. Ask her former students.
A second career teacher with a M.A. from Teachers’ College, Nichole taught English for the last two years at the Williamsburg Charter High School in Brooklyn. She received laudatory evaluations and recommendations from the principal, from the school’s director of instruction and from the school’s director of special needs and academic support. They commended her “hard work and dedication,” and described her as “a passionate, high energy teacher” and “a dedicated and caring teacher.” They praised her work with “special needs students to help them make great gains in their reading and writing ability.”
And...
Quote:
Shortly thereafter, Nichole shared with other teachers in the school the salary schedule for teachers in the New York City Department of Education. Although teachers at Williamsburg had many more teaching contact hours, and far less preparation time, than NYC school teachers, they found that they earned considerably less than their public school counterparts. Nichole reached out to the UFT, through this blog, asking what her rights were and how she might secure them. She and a second teacher asked Eddie Calderon-Melendez, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Williamsburg Charter High School, how salaries were set, and if there was a schedule for the school. A third teacher began to ask questions about why the quarterly reports of teachers’ 401-K plans did not show that the school was depositing the funds that were part of their remuneration for their work.
and
Quote:
Nichole applied for a position teaching English at one of New York City’s very best public high schools, Brooklyn Tech, which hired her last week. Having quickly landed on her feet, Nichole now says “I will never again work in a school where I don’t belong to a union.” Her dismissed colleague was hired at a top private New York City school.
When you don't have unions, teachers get screwed over. Caring teachers end up going elsewhere and new hires are common. Turnover rates in non-union schools (where there are alternatives to them) are very high.
90 percent of charter schools are non-unionized is surely related to the high rate of teacher turnover in charter schools (25 percent compared with 14 percent in regular public schools).
Unions may need to be changed somewhat, but not having one means that you are less likely to get teachers who can stand up to administrations that don't do what is needed.
The "parent trigger" is when "Under the law, if 51% of parents in a failing school sign a petition, they can trigger a forcible transformation of the school--either by inviting a charter operator to take it over, by forcing certain administrative changes, or by shutting it down outright."
David Feith is an assistant editorial features editor at the Journal.
I don't think I'd have as much of a problem with this IF <and this is a BIG IF> the "parent trigger" is based on more than just test scores, rumor and conjecture.
IF the parents actually took the time to delve into WHY the school is failing and in great depth from all angles in a timely fashion) before they called for heads to roll, I might think it a good idea.
Unfortunately, based on what I see and hear, I don't think it would happen that way.
Last edited by cebdark; 11-20-2010 at 12:31 PM..
Reason: forgot the it
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