The Superintendent and the School Committee did a good job holding the line on this contract. The resulting contract was pretty much exactly what was targeted three years ago when negotiations started.
It's ironic that we could have had this same contract three years ago without any of the theatrics, ill will, and legal fees - but, hey, it is what it is!
Good job!
6 comments:
But hey - at least the town's attorney keeps making more money!
Why aren't we hearing more about the teachers taking a 0-0-2 ?
What made the union decide to take even less then the town employees got .... 3 yrs ago? Town employees got 0-0-3.
Are they gearing up for next year ?
Or, did they just want to settle before the Johnson settlement turns the budget inside out?
How does Laura explain this to her troops?
"sorry we wasted a gazillion union dollars on negotiation .... BUT now we can recover that by extorting additional money from non-union teachers?"
The teacher’s union could have, like the Police and Fire teams did, taken the deal 2 years ago and used it as a real opportunity to build community support and good will.
Instead union leadership protested and dragged their feet. Union leadership even went so far as to accuse Taxpayers of “disrespecting” teachers!
A golden opportunity for the union to win over the community, create much taxpayer good will and enhance the stature of teachers and their union was squandered by the teacher’s union leaders.
This is just one more reason why this long drawn out negotiation will be long remembered as a colossal time wasting, economic and political fiasco that created nothing but ill will, bad feelings and lingering doubts in the minds of parents about the viability and stability of our schools.
I don't see the connection between how the "union" negotiated and the quality of education.Yes this past year the process was brought into the classrooms on some level. But I feel the students still received the same quality education the schools are known for. I realize the teachers didn't do "extras" that they normally do,but the curriculum was still taught wasn't it? Am I missing something?
10:36, What grade do you teach?
I would hope the curriculum was taught -- that's what teachers are paid to do.
My complaints are with the amount of class time wasted discussing the contract -- YES it happened in several classrooms -- and the fact that much of the "info" shared with the students and the public was bogus (they were probably just repeating bogus info from their union leaders.).
Bigger issue is the fact that the union went out of their way to raise a fuss, spread untrue rumors, and generally behave like a spoiled child -- in the end they probably got less than what they could have gotten 3 years ago.
I think its funny -- the other Town employees stepped up immediately two years ago, and got 0-0-3%, the teachers carried on and ended up with 0-0-2% ! (One local resident even sent gift certificates to all Town employees --- EXCEPT the teachers -- thanking them for their contribution. THAT is building public support --- not foolish picket lines, and refusing to write college recommendations and do the extra-curricular work that is part of their jobs!
I can't think of many professional employees with the same outrageous sense of entitlement this group has exhibited!
I hope the members send their union "strategists" a thank you note !!
The anonymous post from a teacher is odd.
Evidently, the logic of his or her argument is something like this – sure, we teachers (as represented by our union) behaved badly for almost 3 years. Sure, while other town departments made sacrifices willingly, we kicked and screamed and accused taxpayers of not caring. But heck, the whole time we were acting so selfishly and petulantly we were also doing our job; doesn’t that count?
The answer is NO, it doesn’t. Doing one’s job is a minimum requirement. It’s the expected and it’s what you are paid for. Demonstrating an awareness of and appreciation for community support and sacrifice and behaving in a way that acknowledges the tough economic times we all face together would have been the better, bigger and right thing to do. But, how the teacher’s union chose to behave is now all water under the bridge. A bridge the teacher’s union has burned perhaps beyond repair.
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