Bust dem union, bust dem union...

I am anxious to see the results of the Washington Teacher's Union vote on the new contract proposed by Chancellor Rhee. Basically it boils down to a significant pay increase for teachers who make significant strides with their students and agree to trade in their tenure (please feel free to correct me if you think I am inaccurate). I love the idea because it is something new, daring, innovative, and I think it challenges the teacher unions in a good way. Pressing for results while stripping people of their entitlement status to a job in the classroom because of years of service.
I was a strong supporter of unions a few years ago, but I watched for two years as the WTU protected a teacher in my former school, fighting for this man to keep his job when he arrived to school late on a regular basis, when he wasn't late he wasn't there, didn't provide lessons for his students, and was accused of three separate incidents of physical abuse of students, one of which he admitted to in a conversation with me. After all of that, he was still employed by the district, still received a paycheck until he finally left the school. When I caught up with him months later, not knowing he was no longer working at the school, I asked what happened and he said, "I just stopped going in."
The bottom line for me is this-unions are designed and work for adults. The union protects the interests of adults at the detriment of student learning. So many of us have witnessed it ourselves-teachers refusing to do work that would help a child or the school as a whole because it is "not in my contract." Teachers leaving the school at 3:15 on the dot regularly, their classes packed up and students ready to walk out the door five minutes before school is over. I think the unions give a bad name to the many teachers who work hard everyday, stay late, arrive early, dedicate their days, nights, and weekends to the achievement and development of their students only to see school wide success held back by the few who live by the union contract.
Jo-Ann Armao recently asked the question 'Is the public turning against teacher unions?" in this piece in the post. I would really like to hear what people think. I am very open to hearing ideas and explanations as to why unions are needed for teachers and the counterpoints to the ideas I presented.

Excuse us, but we are building a public university...or so we say.

So the blog owner graciously allowed me to post an op-ed on this blog and despite my much advertised dislike of the DC Chancellor, my first contribution will not be about her, but about the status of the PR Public University System.

For those of you who have no idea what is going on, definitely start here.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/23/1644735/student-strike-in-puerto-rico.html


I don't even know where to begin. First of all, Puerto Ricans are american citizens by birth and entitled to all federal programs and services using the same federal guidelines. The catch is, we don't pay federal taxes. In theory, I do believe higher education SHOULD be free and accessible to all who wants it and is willing to work hard for it. What I disagree on are the methods and multiple agendas that the so-called student advocates are pushing for and their reasoning behind it. The part that the mainland (because we are all american, including PR) newspapers are not covering.

It started small, closing down the 4 main campuses after the administration talked about tuition increases and other fee/tuition/grant adjustments. People were not allowed in or out. Professors were not allowed to pick up their laptops, books or any other things from their offices. Research labs have been left untouched, lab rats are probably dead by now, petri dishes dry. All in all, the estimated costs to the university 2 weeks ago was already at 52 million dollars. It gets worse, the professors are now not getting paid, until summer starts. Technically that it their vacation and they have said that they will not finish out their semester until next fall, because they will not work for free. So 3 weeks left to go for graduation and the university if closed down. Closed down because people feel the governement should pay for their cell phones, their cars and their food. Because even though their tuition is covered by the Pell Grant, they feel like they need more.

What makes it worse is the silent majority, the people who do want to go back to school, the people who had applied to grad school, TFA, jobs and internships, people who had plans to go abroad to do something with their degrees and they are sitting and waiting in limbo.

The propaganda by the media is even worse, they feed off each other by calling those who oppose the strike, elitists and capitalists and evil dictators. People are talking about asking the university president to resign. An island wide strike happened about a week ago and demonstrators lowered an American flag from the capitol and switched it with a second PR flag. At another rally, they went after the governor, who was having an event at the Sheraton, they went in there demanding to speak to him and people got maced and hit by the cops. They outcried about police brutality and the "massacre" that is ocurring, even though no one has died yet. People have gone as far as writing a letter to the United Nations, decrying about human rights violations, because the cops would not let parents and grandparents bring food to the strikers. This week they took over a shopping center.

At this point no one even knows what the strike is about anymore, I think the article nails it in the head when it talks about frustration and helplessness. Puerto Ricans are fed up. The situation on the island is unbearable. Every day, 2 or 3 murders, the unemployment rate is in the double digits, the heat is at record highs. I agree that PR needs a revolution, that the status quo is unacceptable, that a new generation deserves much better. I don't think the way they are doing things is the right way, though and I think that the university is probably the little that PR had going for them and now it's closed. So there is nothing left. Everything in the island is shit now.

'Razing' Arizona

As a result of the recent immigration law passed in Arizona, the San Diego school board passed a resolution restricting school employees from traveling to the state on official business. An article from our friends at Fox News can be found here.

Is this appropriate action for a school district to take?

Thanks go out to Andy for sharing the article, and pointing out haw 'fair and balanced' the reporting is.

Waiting for "Superman"

The trailer for the upcoming film Waiting for "Superman." It looks very interesting with interviews of Michelle Rhee, Geoffrey Canada, and others. Thanks go out to Andy and Elke for sharing this with me via Xanga. I wasn't able to fit the trailer properly in this entry, but you can view it if you follow the link above.

I also want to invite anyone interested to participate as a contributor to this blog. Just let me know if you'd like and I will send you an invite so you can post at your leisure.

Yowsa...

I don't even know what to say about this. But I guess I do wonder, if one were to collect all of the incidence of poor behavior, violence, complaints, etc. for an entire school year what it would look like for even the most high performing schools in DC.

Charlie Rose following an interview with students and staff at the Hamilton Education Center in Washington DC.

Whats up?

Anyone read anything interesting recently? I'm a little behind in reading myself. I am doing some work with an organization in Baltimore, the Incentive Mentoring Program. Very interesting. Check out a short video from it's founder here.

Edutopia

If you aren't receiving the magazine Edutopia or haven't been to the website check it out. The magazine version was free when I got it a year ago, but I'm not 100% sure if the hard copy is still free. It is the authority on project based learning, unless you know of something as good or better (ahem a.d.). It also has lots of features about issues in education with a progressive bend.

Anyone have thoughts on Edutopia?

Another page...

An update came out on Saturday in the long saga of contract negotiations between DCPS and the WTU. The latest, as detailed by Bill Turque in the Post, includes the following highlights:

1. The district still doesn't have the money to fund the package.
2. Private funders say they won't guarantee the funding if Rhee isn't in charge after the November elections, but Rhee is working with them to change this.
   
3. Council member Catania is "perplexed" that better numbers aren't available (and so am I).
4. Charter schools and FOCUS might sue if the student funding formula isn't changed.

What do you think?

Special Education

New York City is making a change in the way they handle students with special needs. According to this article Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein are working with schools to place students with special needs in public school placements. This brings up important questions: What is best for students with special needs? Do you support mainstreaming, inclusion, or teaching in a special education classroom?

I don't want to call people out by name, so share your opinion. What have you experienced in schools you work in, what would you want for your own child? And I'd like people to push beyond "If _____ model is done well..." We all know if the services are provided well then things will work. Please be frank and share what you think based on the reality of the schools you work in.