Does the term "tenure" apply to the public school teacher in the state of Washington? The answer is unequivocably "NO". We have NO contracted rights to "tenure". "Tenure" is a term applied to the ranks of University professors and there, indeed, they get "tenure". In the case of university professors "tenure" is an important piece in enabling Universities to hold on to top quality professors (not necessarily top quality teachers) and it enables professors to focus much more on their research and the things that they do to bring dollars into the university while not being at risk every year of looking for a new teaching position. But what about Public School Teachers?
Perception and Reality are absolutely different in this case and any time, at least, the Seattle School District wants to show the Seattle Stakeholders that it can remove ineffective teachers it can do so within the construct of the way the contract is written today. As a matter of fact a teacher in the professional growth cycle (PGC) has much less contracted protections then does a teacher on the performance growth cycle, which is effectively a probationary period for new teachers with less than four years experience. As the contract is written, an administrator can place a teacher on the PGC with nothing more than an informal assessment. This is not the case with a teacher on the performance growth cycle who must have two formal observations and post observations before they can be put on probation.
The public perception that it is the NEA or WEA or SEA, these monolithic union enterprises, which are protecting incompetent teachers is a misapprehension of the facts at least in the state of Washington. Both the School Districts and the Union are conscribed to conform with the laws of the state of Washington as set forth in the common school manual. Under Title 28 of the common school manual section 28A.405.100, the state is very specific as to the minimum criteria upon which a certificated employee must be evaluated. "For classroom teachers the criteria shall be developed in the following categories: Instructional skill; classroom management, professional preparation and scholarship; effort toward improvement when needed; the handling of student discipline and attendant problems; and interest in teaching pupils and knowledge of subject matter." If a teacher is able to show competence in these areas then they are not subject to probation and their contracts are automatically renewed. This automatic renewal of contract is both a convenience to the district and the employee and insures a consistent teaching force year after year. This is the reality of what is the teachers' "tenure".
The laws of the state of Washington put the burden on the employer to prove that a teacher is incompetent in any of these areas before they can be put on probation and terminated. It is the state of Washington that has put up protections for the classroom teacher and it is the obligation of the District and the Union to conform their evaluation system to those protections. As these are the minimum standards, it is within the purview of the District and the Union through the collective bargaining contract to add other reasons for which a classroom teacher can be evaluated, put on probation and terminated. In our last contract the district and the union without a vote of the membership added to the evaluation criteria something like "incompatibility". If a teacher is "incompatible" with the Seattle School District program, or building they can also be terminated. This additional clause has already given the SSD extraordinary latitude in being able to terminate teachers and with the new Mackenzie report pointing out the deficiencies in administrative oversight of its teaching staff, it is most certain that, all of the clauses will be used to begin to move underperforming and problem teachers out the door.
In our email discussions, the case of the Superintendent of the Washington D.C. schools put out the challenge to her union and her teachers that if they would automatically subject themselves to probation then she would make the effort to raise their salaries to 100-130k securing funding from private sources. Our Collective Bargaining Agreement, already enables the district to put teachers easily on probation. Our district need not offer us any improvement in our salary schedules to begin to take action against underperforming teachers.
SHMUEL
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Show Me The Money
So the district and the union are already beginning to position themselves for this year's contract negotiations and I have already gotten the one-two punch as to why there will be no effort to substantially change our compensation in this year's contract negotiations. The right hit to the side of the head was a mind numbing announcement that the SEA-SSD at the conclusion of our five year contract had finally arrived at the agreed upon goal for raising educators salaries in the city of Seattle to be among the top five highest paid districts in the state. The announcement was that this year between the 4.4% state increase in the coming year and the 5.1% increase that the Seattle School District tagged on to our salary this year, that the SEA and SSD could claim a total success in their negotiations showing that we are now the highest paid district for beginning teachers and the 5th highest paid district for veteran teachers. Woo Hoo SEA-SSD. A promise made is a promise kept. But WAIT let's take a look
AT the GOOD FAITH EFFORT
So after the applause at the SEA's first representative assembly died down, I had time to think about just how significant was this raise. There were two points that were also discussed that made me a little less enthusiastic then the rest of my colleagues at the meeting. The first point was that fully 1/3 of the growth in our salaries over the past five years to bring us up from 12th in the state to where we are now was provided in this year alone. This means that for the first four years of our negotiated contract we still floundered around at the lower end of the district comparisons. What we can see here is not a real good faith effort. A good faith effort would have shown meaningful and sequential growth in our salary schedule, not the waiting till the last possible year to come up with 1/3 of the money. Along this same line when the question was asked where we were on the comparative pay scale with other districts it turned out that we are getting paid exactly $1.00 more than the sixth highest paid teachers (Lake Washington). Again this doesn't seem to me to be in the spirit of what is meant when we negotiate that we will be in the top five when we are just slipped over the sixth place group just to say we made it. And for my money, I just want everyone to know that SEATTLE is the richest district in the STATE, has on average the hardest teaching environment in the state, has the highest cost of living in the state and educators in this district should always be number one when it comes to being in comparison with other districts around the state.
So I'm not so excited about the good faith effort on the part of the SSD to come through on what we negotiated but lets look simply at what they have done in terms of going into this year's coming compensation discussions. What can the district and the SEA tell educators when they come in force and say it is time to pay us what we deserve? Well they can go to the papers and everywhere and tell the world that Seattle Teacher's are just plain greedy. "When the world is in a major financial melt down the teachers want another raise after they just got 9.5%." That is great PR for the district and great PR for the union but it is not so good for educators who know that they remain highly underpaid and they have to sit down and negotiate a new salary schedule for not just the coming year but for however many years they want to make this next contract for. PLEASE DON'T LET THEM NEGOTIATE ANOTHER FIVE YEAR CONTRACT. If this had been a 3 year contract which is the normal length of contracts we would have been negotiating at the top of a economic market cycle instead of the bottom.
Ok, that was mind numbing blow to the head punch one, but I hope you have unnumbed yourself so we can unbend you from the strike to the solar plexus from punch 2. But first let's take a look
Inside the Numbers
So I got my first pay check, and I have been working for 9 years and my monthly take home pay never eeks its way out of the 3,000.00 plus something category. So I was figuring with my new step 10 and 9 years experience and being on the highest track (except phd) available and this new 9.5% raise I would really finally crack the $4,000.00 mark but no such luck. The actual numbers are in 2007-08 my take home (net after taxes and before and after tax deductions) salary was $3,241.61 per month calculated off of an hourly salary of $35.43 for a grade 900 and step 09. My 2008-09 take home salary with all of the same deductions is $3,588.10 calculated off of an hourly salary of $38.36.
So let's look at the numbers. Remember we are looking for my normal step increase and my 9.5% addition to my salary.
My step increase from 35.43 to 38.36 is an 8% increase in salary from the state. (So I am looking for a total increase of 17.5% to my take home.)
The incremental difference in my monthly salary from one year to the next was $341.49 or a 10.5% increase. Wow, that's great but wait of that 10.5% increase 8% has to be accounted to my step increase on the statewide salary schedule. That only leaves 2.5% increase from whatever wages I had last year. 2.5% is way less than inflation, particularly this year. So what happened? SHOW ME THE MONEY.
Well it turns out that the cost of my medical has gone up 58% and my tax burden has gone up 22% and my union dues have gone up 3% (that's an interesting number. If my wages have gone up 9.5% how come my union dues have not gone up proportionately)
So the facts are the facts. After all of the confetti and balloons come down the facts are that our wages have increased no more than 3% because the rest has been eaten up by medical costs and taxes. And this number even includes the 4.1% increase provided to us by the state. SHOW ME THE MONEY.
So now for that hit to the solar plexus I was promising you. Well have you been reading your emails from the superintendent over the last couple of days. The first one congratulated us on our magnificent raise in wages but that we shouldn't expect to see that repeated. The second one came with a cry about the financial weakness of the district and that they want to hold 17.5 million dollars in reserve. This email was accompanied by a not so obscure allusion to the possibility that we might have a riff this year. Ouch, right to the groin area.
Well, educators, if you have made it this far you are now informed and you are seeing the sides lining up. The SEA is claiming victory for teacher salaries and will be focussing on raising wages for parapros. The SSD is claiming to have given teacher's an enormous salary boost, not acknowledging that most of that boost has gone to cover increasing medical costs and taxes. And the teacher's, WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE IS YOUR VOICE?
Well, I'm a teacher and here's what I have to say about it.
In the volume II letter of the HaleSeaOrganization newsletter I sent you a comparison of professional salaries across the country and what you saw was teachers can expect beginning salaries of 30-40k while any other professions that require anywhere near the education, ongoing training and expertise that teachers have are commanding 60k in their first year. (60k is what we teachers top out at after 15 years).
So what do I have to say.
SHOW ME THE MONEY.
I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR PROBLEMS. JUST FIND THE MONEY AND IF YOU CAN'T FIND THE MONEY THEN I GUESS YOU'RE RESERVE FUND WILL JUST HAVE TO GO WAY DOWN. RESERVE FUNDS ARE FOR WEALTHY DISTRICTS THAT PAY THEIR EDUCATORS AND WHEN THEY ARE DONE FULFILLING THAT OBLIGATION THEN THEY CAN CONSIDER HAVING A RESERVE FUND. SO DON'T TELL TEACHER'S YOU DON'T HAVE THE MONEY WHEN INFLATION IS 7 TO 8% AND THE SALARIES THAT THEY ARE GETTING ARE AN EMBARRASMENT TO ANY PERSON WHO SEEKS TO CALL THEMSELVES A PROFESSIONAL. IF TEACHERS ARE NOT RESPECTED IN OUR SOCIETY YOU MIGHT LOOK AT THE FACT THAT IN OUR SOCIETY RESPECT COMES WITH INCOME. WE WANT RESPECT, WE DESERVE RESPECT AND WE SEEK TO BE RESPECTED AMONG THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY. PAY US OUR WORTH. PAY US FOR THE PROFESSIONALS WE ARE AND PAY US COMMENSURATE WITH THE SERVICE WE PROVIDE TO OUR SOCIETY.
SHOW US THE MONEY
A PROFESSIONAL WAGE FOR A PROFESSIONAL
SHMUEL
AT the GOOD FAITH EFFORT
So after the applause at the SEA's first representative assembly died down, I had time to think about just how significant was this raise. There were two points that were also discussed that made me a little less enthusiastic then the rest of my colleagues at the meeting. The first point was that fully 1/3 of the growth in our salaries over the past five years to bring us up from 12th in the state to where we are now was provided in this year alone. This means that for the first four years of our negotiated contract we still floundered around at the lower end of the district comparisons. What we can see here is not a real good faith effort. A good faith effort would have shown meaningful and sequential growth in our salary schedule, not the waiting till the last possible year to come up with 1/3 of the money. Along this same line when the question was asked where we were on the comparative pay scale with other districts it turned out that we are getting paid exactly $1.00 more than the sixth highest paid teachers (Lake Washington). Again this doesn't seem to me to be in the spirit of what is meant when we negotiate that we will be in the top five when we are just slipped over the sixth place group just to say we made it. And for my money, I just want everyone to know that SEATTLE is the richest district in the STATE, has on average the hardest teaching environment in the state, has the highest cost of living in the state and educators in this district should always be number one when it comes to being in comparison with other districts around the state.
So I'm not so excited about the good faith effort on the part of the SSD to come through on what we negotiated but lets look simply at what they have done in terms of going into this year's coming compensation discussions. What can the district and the SEA tell educators when they come in force and say it is time to pay us what we deserve? Well they can go to the papers and everywhere and tell the world that Seattle Teacher's are just plain greedy. "When the world is in a major financial melt down the teachers want another raise after they just got 9.5%." That is great PR for the district and great PR for the union but it is not so good for educators who know that they remain highly underpaid and they have to sit down and negotiate a new salary schedule for not just the coming year but for however many years they want to make this next contract for. PLEASE DON'T LET THEM NEGOTIATE ANOTHER FIVE YEAR CONTRACT. If this had been a 3 year contract which is the normal length of contracts we would have been negotiating at the top of a economic market cycle instead of the bottom.
Ok, that was mind numbing blow to the head punch one, but I hope you have unnumbed yourself so we can unbend you from the strike to the solar plexus from punch 2. But first let's take a look
Inside the Numbers
So I got my first pay check, and I have been working for 9 years and my monthly take home pay never eeks its way out of the 3,000.00 plus something category. So I was figuring with my new step 10 and 9 years experience and being on the highest track (except phd) available and this new 9.5% raise I would really finally crack the $4,000.00 mark but no such luck. The actual numbers are in 2007-08 my take home (net after taxes and before and after tax deductions) salary was $3,241.61 per month calculated off of an hourly salary of $35.43 for a grade 900 and step 09. My 2008-09 take home salary with all of the same deductions is $3,588.10 calculated off of an hourly salary of $38.36.
So let's look at the numbers. Remember we are looking for my normal step increase and my 9.5% addition to my salary.
My step increase from 35.43 to 38.36 is an 8% increase in salary from the state. (So I am looking for a total increase of 17.5% to my take home.)
The incremental difference in my monthly salary from one year to the next was $341.49 or a 10.5% increase. Wow, that's great but wait of that 10.5% increase 8% has to be accounted to my step increase on the statewide salary schedule. That only leaves 2.5% increase from whatever wages I had last year. 2.5% is way less than inflation, particularly this year. So what happened? SHOW ME THE MONEY.
Well it turns out that the cost of my medical has gone up 58% and my tax burden has gone up 22% and my union dues have gone up 3% (that's an interesting number. If my wages have gone up 9.5% how come my union dues have not gone up proportionately)
So the facts are the facts. After all of the confetti and balloons come down the facts are that our wages have increased no more than 3% because the rest has been eaten up by medical costs and taxes. And this number even includes the 4.1% increase provided to us by the state. SHOW ME THE MONEY.
So now for that hit to the solar plexus I was promising you. Well have you been reading your emails from the superintendent over the last couple of days. The first one congratulated us on our magnificent raise in wages but that we shouldn't expect to see that repeated. The second one came with a cry about the financial weakness of the district and that they want to hold 17.5 million dollars in reserve. This email was accompanied by a not so obscure allusion to the possibility that we might have a riff this year. Ouch, right to the groin area.
Well, educators, if you have made it this far you are now informed and you are seeing the sides lining up. The SEA is claiming victory for teacher salaries and will be focussing on raising wages for parapros. The SSD is claiming to have given teacher's an enormous salary boost, not acknowledging that most of that boost has gone to cover increasing medical costs and taxes. And the teacher's, WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE IS YOUR VOICE?
Well, I'm a teacher and here's what I have to say about it.
In the volume II letter of the HaleSeaOrganization newsletter I sent you a comparison of professional salaries across the country and what you saw was teachers can expect beginning salaries of 30-40k while any other professions that require anywhere near the education, ongoing training and expertise that teachers have are commanding 60k in their first year. (60k is what we teachers top out at after 15 years).
So what do I have to say.
SHOW ME THE MONEY.
I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR PROBLEMS. JUST FIND THE MONEY AND IF YOU CAN'T FIND THE MONEY THEN I GUESS YOU'RE RESERVE FUND WILL JUST HAVE TO GO WAY DOWN. RESERVE FUNDS ARE FOR WEALTHY DISTRICTS THAT PAY THEIR EDUCATORS AND WHEN THEY ARE DONE FULFILLING THAT OBLIGATION THEN THEY CAN CONSIDER HAVING A RESERVE FUND. SO DON'T TELL TEACHER'S YOU DON'T HAVE THE MONEY WHEN INFLATION IS 7 TO 8% AND THE SALARIES THAT THEY ARE GETTING ARE AN EMBARRASMENT TO ANY PERSON WHO SEEKS TO CALL THEMSELVES A PROFESSIONAL. IF TEACHERS ARE NOT RESPECTED IN OUR SOCIETY YOU MIGHT LOOK AT THE FACT THAT IN OUR SOCIETY RESPECT COMES WITH INCOME. WE WANT RESPECT, WE DESERVE RESPECT AND WE SEEK TO BE RESPECTED AMONG THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY. PAY US OUR WORTH. PAY US FOR THE PROFESSIONALS WE ARE AND PAY US COMMENSURATE WITH THE SERVICE WE PROVIDE TO OUR SOCIETY.
SHOW US THE MONEY
A PROFESSIONAL WAGE FOR A PROFESSIONAL
SHMUEL
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Bellevue Teachers Victorious for the Teaching Profession
Hey All,
Just a quick note to extend a hand of congratulations to our fellow teachers in Bellevue who look to be getting a 5% raise over three years but even more importantly the right to utilize their professional and creative skills as teachers when it comes to constructing and delivering lessons in the classroom. The idea that the Bellevue School District had to standardize the teaching day was an absolute assault on the profession of teacher. We have to be proud of our fellow teachers in Bellevue who took the risk and the cost of a work stoppage to prevent a movement towards standardization in the classroom which takes away all identity from the teacher and makes him a mindless deliverer of some canned curriculum. We are professionals. We are professionals. We have master's degrees and hours upon hours of continuing education to improve upon our skills. Our degrees and our ce requirements are far more exacting then what is required from most professions in the business world. We are the consummate professionals. Bellevue teachers took a stand for our Profession. We must applaud and thank them for their valour and their victory. We are in their debt. Thank the next Bellevue Teacher that you meet. Go BEA.
SW
Just a quick note to extend a hand of congratulations to our fellow teachers in Bellevue who look to be getting a 5% raise over three years but even more importantly the right to utilize their professional and creative skills as teachers when it comes to constructing and delivering lessons in the classroom. The idea that the Bellevue School District had to standardize the teaching day was an absolute assault on the profession of teacher. We have to be proud of our fellow teachers in Bellevue who took the risk and the cost of a work stoppage to prevent a movement towards standardization in the classroom which takes away all identity from the teacher and makes him a mindless deliverer of some canned curriculum. We are professionals. We are professionals. We have master's degrees and hours upon hours of continuing education to improve upon our skills. Our degrees and our ce requirements are far more exacting then what is required from most professions in the business world. We are the consummate professionals. Bellevue teachers took a stand for our Profession. We must applaud and thank them for their valour and their victory. We are in their debt. Thank the next Bellevue Teacher that you meet. Go BEA.
SW
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Teaching- Oh, It's Women's Work
After evaluating the salary increases over the past 20 years to the Washington State Salary Schedule for teacher's, I noted that the average increase in wages at the state level was 3%. In the financial world 3% is considered to be normal inflation and therefore, if you don't get at least a 3% increase in wages each year you are falling behind in the purchasing power of your dollar. So I guess what you can say about the State of Washington's "paramount duty" to fund education in the state of Washington is that they have been able to keep the teacher's salary up with basic inflation. There are a couple of problems with letting the State of Washington off the hook with this passing grade. One is that we do not experience general or average inflation and we are certainly not experiencing it now. Inflation this year is between 5 and 7 percent depending on which index you use and very few indexes include the cost of housing, or gas, or the price of higher education. This year the number is up because it reflects the actual rise in prices of food; like milk and eggs and cereal. While inflation indexes can be manipulated in a lot of ways by the economic pundits of our society, they can't hide inflation when it hits food prices. So you can bet your bottom dollar that in reality a teacher has lost serious ground in his status among the middle class, the 3% inflation adjustment by the state of Washington falling far short of what it means to keep our salaries current with inflation.
So over the past year as I have become more and more active in the union and I talk to other union people and I ask the question, "Why is this such a poorly paid profession?" The answer that rings the harshest to my ears and is a constant refrain is that, "Teaching, Oh, It's Women's Work." When I hear that, I think to myself where am I in the 19th century. If it was women's work it is certainly not now. I am certainly not a woman and moreover, hold your horses, haven't we already gone through already two generations where women have been seen as equals with men and may not be discriminated against in the workplace. So if that is the case and women can't be discriminated against in the workplace and there are many non-women in the field, Who is getting away with the attitude that you can pay the professional teachers much less then say you have to pay the "manly" professions of Doctors and Lawyers, Accountants and Brokers.
It is high time that this profession is recognized for its difficulty but even more so for the importance of the service it provides to our society and paid commensurate with the benefits we bring our society. A lawyer handles the courts, a doctor handles the human body, and Accountant handles the books. What do we handle. We handle the education of our future generations. Exactly what kind of value is that. I believe it is inestimable and yet the Teaching profession is the most poorly paid profession of any of the professions. As you see from the picture of my family and the blurb about me, you can see that one of my daughters is at Boston University, getting a degree in English and secondary teaching. Today's costs to send my daughter to school are approximately $50,000 a year. For those of you with young kids just wait to see what is coming your way. As I figure it, if she had to borrow all the money and pay it back with interest, she would need to work for a decade and save most of her money during that time to repay the loans. And she wants to be a Teacher? SW
There seem to be problmes with this blog so I am looking for a new place to domain this blog. I will be talking with the WEA about it. SHMUEL
So over the past year as I have become more and more active in the union and I talk to other union people and I ask the question, "Why is this such a poorly paid profession?" The answer that rings the harshest to my ears and is a constant refrain is that, "Teaching, Oh, It's Women's Work." When I hear that, I think to myself where am I in the 19th century. If it was women's work it is certainly not now. I am certainly not a woman and moreover, hold your horses, haven't we already gone through already two generations where women have been seen as equals with men and may not be discriminated against in the workplace. So if that is the case and women can't be discriminated against in the workplace and there are many non-women in the field, Who is getting away with the attitude that you can pay the professional teachers much less then say you have to pay the "manly" professions of Doctors and Lawyers, Accountants and Brokers.
It is high time that this profession is recognized for its difficulty but even more so for the importance of the service it provides to our society and paid commensurate with the benefits we bring our society. A lawyer handles the courts, a doctor handles the human body, and Accountant handles the books. What do we handle. We handle the education of our future generations. Exactly what kind of value is that. I believe it is inestimable and yet the Teaching profession is the most poorly paid profession of any of the professions. As you see from the picture of my family and the blurb about me, you can see that one of my daughters is at Boston University, getting a degree in English and secondary teaching. Today's costs to send my daughter to school are approximately $50,000 a year. For those of you with young kids just wait to see what is coming your way. As I figure it, if she had to borrow all the money and pay it back with interest, she would need to work for a decade and save most of her money during that time to repay the loans. And she wants to be a Teacher? SW
There seem to be problmes with this blog so I am looking for a new place to domain this blog. I will be talking with the WEA about it. SHMUEL
Topic of Conversation Parent Complaints
I recently had a conversation with a teacher who was terminated from her teaching positon and reduced to a parapro with a resultant salary decrease of $41,000.00. The union was unable to help her. I asked her how it came about and she said that a new VP had it in for her but it had been provoked by "parent complaints". I am not here to say whether parents have a right or not to complain but I do have a concern that "parent complaints" are often the source of friction between a teacher and the administration and when things get bad enough they can end up like this teacher whom I met. For the purpose of conversation. I know we have a senate at Nathan Hale but has the Senate created a policy for how "parent complaints" should be handled. Here is my suggestion.
In most highschool situations "parent complaints" are derivative of "student complaints". Not attempting to disparage students and their intentions but from my standpoint student's have two primary objectives when it comes to their classes 1.) getting a good grade 2.) not getting in trouble with their parents. Not getting a good grade or having attendance problems leads them to getting into trouble with their parents. This dynamic often leads to a complaint against the teacher for numerous and asundry reasons. If the student is vociferous enough in their complaint to their parent, and persistent enough and the student can claim "every student" feels that way a parent will often take it upon themselves to complain to the administration.
I am very concerned about this uncontrolled and unregulated complaint system against teachers. I think we need a policy about how parent complaints should be handled. I believe we should have a form that includes; "the student complaint" plus "affirmation of the student complaint by the parent" and this form should be submitted to the administration at which point the administration should forward the complaint to the teacher and give the teacher a few days to provide their response. After this process the administrator should attempt to resolve the problem for the benefit of all those involved.
What do you, think?
In most highschool situations "parent complaints" are derivative of "student complaints". Not attempting to disparage students and their intentions but from my standpoint student's have two primary objectives when it comes to their classes 1.) getting a good grade 2.) not getting in trouble with their parents. Not getting a good grade or having attendance problems leads them to getting into trouble with their parents. This dynamic often leads to a complaint against the teacher for numerous and asundry reasons. If the student is vociferous enough in their complaint to their parent, and persistent enough and the student can claim "every student" feels that way a parent will often take it upon themselves to complain to the administration.
I am very concerned about this uncontrolled and unregulated complaint system against teachers. I think we need a policy about how parent complaints should be handled. I believe we should have a form that includes; "the student complaint" plus "affirmation of the student complaint by the parent" and this form should be submitted to the administration at which point the administration should forward the complaint to the teacher and give the teacher a few days to provide their response. After this process the administrator should attempt to resolve the problem for the benefit of all those involved.
What do you, think?
WELCOME to OPEN DIALOGUE on SEA/WEA issues
Dear Friends,
Contract Negotiations are coming up. The new Superitendant has not worked with unions before. The MacKenzie report was commissioned against the wishes of the SEA. The MacKenzie report is the best indication of the goals and objectives of the district and there are inferences in the report that show administrators are not doing enough to monitor and improve their teaching staff. The statistics show that in the year 2006/07 out of 2,212 teachers on the Professional Growth Cycle only 3 were switched to the Performance Cycle and out of 3,220 only 8 teacher's were put on probation and of those 8 seven teacher's were dismissed. What these statistics show is that there is a lot of work to be done for administrators to start seeing results or if there are not results in the classroom, teacher's will have to be let go to make room for those that can get the results. As Bob Dylan wrote, "The Times They are a Changing".
Organization is key. Open Dialogue is crucial. This is our post. Let's use it. We need to be Organized and ready to respond as a unified group to these changes that right now seem to be pointing the finger at the Teacher in the classroom.
Contract Negotiations are coming up. The new Superitendant has not worked with unions before. The MacKenzie report was commissioned against the wishes of the SEA. The MacKenzie report is the best indication of the goals and objectives of the district and there are inferences in the report that show administrators are not doing enough to monitor and improve their teaching staff. The statistics show that in the year 2006/07 out of 2,212 teachers on the Professional Growth Cycle only 3 were switched to the Performance Cycle and out of 3,220 only 8 teacher's were put on probation and of those 8 seven teacher's were dismissed. What these statistics show is that there is a lot of work to be done for administrators to start seeing results or if there are not results in the classroom, teacher's will have to be let go to make room for those that can get the results. As Bob Dylan wrote, "The Times They are a Changing".
Organization is key. Open Dialogue is crucial. This is our post. Let's use it. We need to be Organized and ready to respond as a unified group to these changes that right now seem to be pointing the finger at the Teacher in the classroom.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)