Educators--
Enemies
or Allies? . . .
Madison School
District employees were given reason for hope last week when
the district's school board voted unanimously to open negotiations for a
contract that would put employees under a collective bargaining agreement
through 2016. With that hope came the
inevitable anxiety and fear about what these negotiations would look like and
what the results would be. Would we see
a repeat of previous negotiations that occurred when bargaining was not conducted
on a level playing field? In those
negotiations MMSD administration used the power that Act 10 and the threat of
ending collective bargaining altogether provide to win concessions from
employees.
In
this current round of negotiations there are some conditions which are similar,
and some differences. We have a new
superintendent and a several new board members.
The new superintendent has brought with her many new faces in the
administration as well. The new
administration has also brought new ideas and language that speaks about
"flipping the pyramid" and giving more voice to educators and
individual schools. This brings proposed
changes to budgeting, SIP and other decision making processes.
The
same challenges and issues plague our district.
The Achievement Gaps, poverty, lack of staff diversity, testing, tight
budgets and more are issues that are still with us, and that need to be
addressed in multiple ways. The most
important continuing condition is that the negotiations are still being held while
employees are under significant duress.
The impending decision on Act 10 by the Wisconsin Supreme Court is
looming, and the outlook for unions with the conservative leaning of the court
is bleak. This reality gives the
administration a huge advantage, they don't have to give much because the court
could rule at any time and simply eliminate the ability of employees to
negotiate over anything but a minimal pay raise. There will be those in the community, and
maybe even in administration or on the school board, who will call for the
district to take full advantage of this and fully utilize the "tools"
that Act 10 provides, thus effectively eliminating employee voice in the decision
making processes.
Taking
that last position would be a huge mistake for our district, its employees and
for our community as a whole. Real,
honest negotiations need to happen, and Madison School District
employees need to continue to work under a
collective
bargaining agreement that is truly negotiated in good-faith. It is true that there are many issues facing
our district and that these issues are of primary importance. Our school district exists to educate all
students in a safe and positive environment.
That is its primary purpose and every aspect of the district's policies,
budgets and initiatives should go towards achieving the goals associated with
educating all students well.
The
employees of MMSD are in full agreement with this purpose, it is why we entered
the education profession in the first place.
It is why educators in Madison,
and across the state, put in long hours, continue to develop our own
professional knowledge and expertise, and dedicate our lives to our students
and our profession. Those who question
the dedication and professionalism of educators simply don't understand the
level of commitment that education employees have for their students, schools,
community and profession.
This
professional pride is a huge part of what makes our schools succeed and gives
us hope for making further improvements in outcomes for all students. Attacks on education and on public schools
are attacks on the educators who work in them.
In the same way, attacks on educator unions are attacks on the educators
themselves. A union is a collection of
individuals acting collectively to accomplish things that they couldn't
accomplish alone. While there are those
who try to claim that they like educators, but don't like educator unions, the
reality is that it is impossible to separate public education employees from
their unions and the accompanying collective bargaining agreements.
Handbooks
or other employee policies, no matter how cooperatively created or friendly,
are employer driven and removed from employee control. Collectively bargained agreements are different
at their core from any other type of employee policies. They are a source of security, hope and pride
for employees. They represent a level of
respect from employers and a recognition that employees have valuable things to
offer an organization or company.
Moraine Park Technical College instructors lost part of a proposed pay...
fdlreporter.com
The
issues that face our schools exist for many, complicated and societal
reasons. Schools alone can't solve these
issues. District policies and
initiatives alone can't solve these issues.
Collective bargaining agreements don't provide the solutions either. Those who claim that unions and contracts are
the cause of our educational challenges are ignoring the realities that our
schools exist in. Educators, educator
unions and collective bargaining aren't the enemy of our students and
communities. We are being mislead by
those who seek to profit from our schools, profit from our students and who
seek to gain political advantages by eliminating the voice of employees in
their workplace.
In
fact, the exact opposite is true. Unions
and collective bargaining are at the very root of a successful democratic,
capitalistic society. Unions aren't
perfect, but then nothing in society is, or ever will be. Collectively bargained agreements are living
documents that change with the times and that represent an effort by all
parties to make things better. Like our
Constitution they are supposed to provide a vehicle for discussion, rules to
govern and make decisions by and to represent a truly democratic process that
allows all voices a say in what happens.
'Fifty years ago, when
General Motors was the largest employer in America, the typical GM worker got
paid $35 an hour in today's dollars. Today, America's largest employer is
Walmart,...
readersupportednews.org|By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog
The current climate portrays unions as
self-interested, willing to destroy society, and protectors of the
incompetent. If we recognize that unions
are their members then we are essentially saying that educators are the enemy
of education, equity and opportunity.
This effort has gotten us to the point where the very existence of
public sector unions is in jeopardy.
The massive stakes in the
court case Harris v. Quinn.
m.motherjones.com
Collective
bargaining works best in a climate where conversations, discussions and
arguments can occur between equal parties.
All groups involved have a responsibility to represent their own
interests, while at the same time keeping aware of the global perspective. Groups will have different positions, and
this is the cornerstone of a democratic process. Eliminating the voices of any group weakens
the process and allows for unilateral decision making. While this may streamline decision making and
be satisfactory for one perspective, it rarely leads to positive outcomes for
the entire group. This is true on a
societal level as we are learning here in Wisconsin, and also true in more specific
areas like education.
A former Chicago Public School
teacher says she was fired after complaining to her principal about her class
size. The teacher, Lori Steinberg, says...
The Chicago Sun-Times
Principals may collect teachers’
lesson plans but cannot dictate what goes in them, an arbitrator ruled this
month.
New York Daily News
Teachers in Indiana normally go through four years of
instruction in how to teach, then begin work on a master's degree once they are
placed in charge of a classroom.
nwitimes.com|By
Lee Enterprises
As
we look forward to a new contract for MMSD employees we need to remember that
offering alternative ideas and dissenting when initiatives are proposed does
not make any group or individual the enemy of education, progress or
equity. No single group has all the
answers that will solve the significant challenges we face in our public
schools. However, ignoring or vilifying
the voice of professionals in our schools means that we must discount their
experience, training and knowledge that guides our decision making
processes. The working conditions for
school employees are truly the learning conditions for our students. Professionals in education, no matter what
their position, know what is happening in our schools and need to be listened
to. We need to have protections in place
to allow us to advocate for our students.
The collective bargaining process allows educators, administration and
the community (through elected school board members, open meetings and public
input) a voice in improving our schools.
thedailypage.com
Officials from the Madison School District and district employee
unions...
madison.com|By
Lee Enterprises
The
real problems that we face are not unions and collective bargaining. Our real problems are dealing with issues
around race, poverty and other bigger societal issues. Collective bargaining represents one vehicle
for having a discussion about issues that matter. Professional educators who are respected and
protected are able to lead the efforts to address these challenges.
Madison Magazine feature
articles on dining, the arts, shopping, events, business and the best of Madison, Wisconsin.
madisonmagazine.com
Nicholas Eberstadt has an
excellent essay about the effects of the...
Forbes
Our
educational professionals and their unions are struggling to protect and
improve our public school systems. We
are standing up for what we believe to be right for our students, our
communities, our profession and ourselves.
In the current climate it is vital that this is recognized and respected
through a collective bargaining process.
We aren't asking for special treatment, just the rights and privileges
that our nation was founded on. Collectively bargained agreements won't solve
the problems of education, but it will provide needed support for the people
who will.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Delivering
a forceful argument on the role of the arts in education, Michelle Obama said
Tuesday that it isn't something to be introduced after student test scores go
up but is a critical element of...
philly.com
Chicago Teachers Union rally in
Daley Plaza in 2012. The nation's public
schools, writes Peterson, "must become greenhouses for both democracy and
community revitalization.' (Photo: pbarcas / cc / flickr)A revitalized...
CommonDreams.org
Teachers, lawmakers and
parents from the left and right are banding together to fight what they see as
onerous changes in education policy.
The New York Times|By
Motoko Rich
The
Good, The Bad and
The
Ugly. . .
The Good . . . The race for Wisconsin Governor is heating up. Wisconsinites need to stay informed and make
sure that we are voting based on truth, not on propaganda.
The governor has enacted
broad tax cuts. His Democratic challenger wants...
madison.com|By
Lee Enterprises
Many of the organizations in
his count have no workers at all — and aren’t likely to have any.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
If you need more evidence
that a higher minimum wage won't kill the...
The Huffington Post|By Emily Cohn
We know that there will be
plenty of money spent to convince voters to support the policies of Governor
Walker that have failed to benefit most of us, and that have been so divisive.
One bad poll, one big
political ATM withdrawal. As I suggested last week,...
thepoliticalenvironment.blogspot.com
Scott Walker has long-been
considered a darling of the Tea Party movement and a contender for the 2016
Republican nomination for president. But these days, things aren't going so
well for Walker, who has been tainted by scandals, and new polling shows him
tied with Democratic contender Mary Burke in…
americanbridgepac.org
The Bad . . . The goal of making sure that every student is career and college ready
is something important to strive for.
However, we need to make sure that being college ready will truly be a
positive for our students. The cuts to
our universities and colleges are
dramatic and will be devastating unless we can reverse the trends.
SUPERIOR, Wis
Star Tribune
The University of Wisconsin-Marshfield/Wood
County is reducing staff and not filling open faculty posts following a budget
cut of $200,000 heading into the next year.
The Business Journals
Of course getting a
college education can increase earning potential and long term achievement,
however, the albatross of student loan debt that hangs around the neck of too
many students is crippling to their personal financial success. This is especially true in fields like
education where reductions in income mean that many educators are making high
student loan payments long into their careers.
How can our economy grow when so many of our wage earners are repaying
their student loans and not taking our mortgages or otherwise making purchases
that should be driving our economic recovery?
Well done to the graduating
class of 2014! You’ve studied (and partied) hard for several years, and you’ve
earned your degree. But that’s not what’s putting you guys firmly in the
history books....
iacknowledge.net
The Ugly . . . The rights that are spelled out in the Constitution and the Bill of
Rights apply to all. They represent an
effort to find common ground and to unify our nation. Without the compromises that our founders
made, America
would not have become the nation it is today.
Citizens of modern America
need to remember this and recognize that living in a diverse society requires
compromise and sacrifice for the good of all.
Tolerance, empathy and respect are vital to our continued success as a
nation.
The Chesterfield County Board
of Supervisors limited opening prayers exclusively to ordained leaders of
Christian religions.
Addicting Info
Fact-checking some of the gun
lobby's favorite arguments shows they're full of holes.
Mother Jones
Joe the Plumber tells the
parents of gun victims to "back off" about guns...
Addicting Info
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