Sandwich Public Schools are lucky to have so many highly motivated, enthusiastic and well-educated teachers who work hard to make every lesson interesting and help students to learn in the most effective manner possible. My kids have had many of these great teachers.
But if anybody has a question about what is wrong with public education, they need to tune into a rerun of a recent school committee meeting.
The president of the local teachers union spoke at great length of her members being "stressed" by efforts to update curriculum and teaching methods. She said teachers couldn't possibly be expected to attend training after school because they were "exhausted" by 4 p.m.
She seemed unaware that the vast majority of taxpayers — including the parents of her students — work long after 4 p.m., for 12 months a year, without the benefit of daily "prep periods," in-service half-days or school vacations. These same people also probably lack the peace of mind associated with annual pay increases, tenure, pensions and, maybe, health insurance.
In addition to fighting against professional development, this same union official had previously fought vigorously against implementing standardized teacher evaluations — despite the fact that the state had criticized the district for inadequate curriculum guidelines and ineffective evaluation standards.
She had also previously fought to protect the employment of two members who were alleged to be under the influence of alcohol during the school day.
So much for "doing it for the children."
Sandwich has been very aggressive in implementing new curriculum methods over the past two years. This implementation has certainly not been perfect — but, since some schools had been designated as needing corrective action or restructuring, it was necessary.
It's unfortunate that curriculum and professional development had been neglected for so long, The superintendent recognized that the correction needed to be made as expeditiously as possible. But, as any reader of the local papers will recognize, the superintendent has paid a high price for her aggressive implementation efforts. Every misstep, real or imagined, has been widely publicized with the assistance of a very "press-friendly" union leadership.
In contrast to the union leader, an individual Sandwich teacher spoke later in the same meeting. She had been watching the meeting at home and felt so strongly that she came to speak directly to the committee and to the local taxpayers.
Her voice cracking with emotion, and with tears rolling down her face, she said she was concerned that the programs and improvements that she and her colleagues had been working hard to implement over the past two years would be abandoned if the school committee did not renew the superintendent's contract. She stated that many teachers had been warned by union leaders not to speak favorably about the current administration, or the curriculum improvements.
Other teachers have come forward with similar concerns about being pressured, even threatened, by their own union leadership. It seems that many teachers are more afraid of their own union leaders than they are of the administration. Bullying is not just a concern for students.
I have great respect for the teaching profession. My mother was a teacher and my daughter is studying to be a teacher. I also recognize that my own impatience would probably make me a lousy teacher. But this is not a story about teachers. It is a story about unions. While Upton Sinclair may have made a great case for unionization in "The Jungle," the halls of Sandwich High are a long way from Sinclair's meatpacking plants of 1906.
The teachers of Sandwich are so much better than their union. For the sake of all involved, I hope they will be able to get control and start focusing on building bridges, rather than blocking roads.
(This was originally published in The Cape Cod Times on May 6, 2010)
4 comments:
Welcome Back!!!!
I am surprised that the step raises are never mentioned when discussing the payroll. How do they work? I was under the impression that every year, every educatinal milestone, teachers got a 'step' raise. I may be mistaken... but would think that, if this is so, it qualifies as a raise in my book. (Self employed - no raise here in a couple of years!)
You're right -- there's a link to the SEA contract on the right side of this page (and on the School Dept. website). In round numbers, the school payroll is expected to go up almost $1 million under the current contract -- approximately 50% of that is scheduled step raises (increase in years of service) or lane raises (increase in academic degrees). The remaining 50% is the actual Cost of Living Adjustment(COLA).
Teachers max out the steps after 14 years so from then on the only increase (other than a new degree) is the COLA.
The union president recently talked about an unusually large number of senior teachers leaving the District. That makes perfect sense, since if there's a wage freeze, it won't help their pensions to hang around for another year.
You're right, a raise is a raise -- no matter what the reason.
The Teacher’s Union has never been asked to take a pay cut – ever.
The Town has asked that the Union consider foregoing raises – a proposal the Union rejected.
And, the Town has asked that the Union consider taking smaller raises each year – a proposal the Union rejected.
Why am I opposed to an override – see above. Enough said.
The average person working today does not recieve the benifits of those who work for town government and the schools.Not only do they get annual raises they also get step raises that are guaranteed. On one side of the coin the municple side gave up annual pay raises, but still recieved those step increases, On the other side we have the union leaders of the schools not wanting to give any relief to those who pay the bills. No wonder a school overide has failed before it even starts. The town has more unemployement,More homes in recievership,Safety services being compromised and now we have a school committee that fired the only saving grace during these economic times that actually saved over a million dollars of taxpayers money and still put on a quality educational program for the children of our town.
Where is the recall? It may be hard to accomplish, but non the less a subject matter that should be considered in the days ahead.
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