What
Educators Want,
What
Educators Need. . .
There
was lots of talk in Madison
this week about the fact that the school board and administration of MMSD
negotiated a new contract with their employees that will be in effect through
the 2015-16 school year. This was
welcome news to the employees of the district who have been fighting for the
survival of their unions since the "bomb was dropped" on us in 2011. A vast majority of educators and other
district employees approached this round of negotiations with the hope that we
would be able to preserve some key elements of our contracts, and gain valuable
time to continue the fight.
The
general consensus among many employees was that, even with the expected struggles
in negotiations, a collective bargaining agreement would be more positive than
any potential handbook created by our employer.
Make no mistake about it, MMSD employees are thankful that we have an
employer that listened to the community and its employees and was willing to negotiate
a deal. We know that administration
didn't have to negotiate, instead they could have dragged their feet and waited
until the Supreme Court issued their ruling.
Contract terms would remain
in effect until the end of the of 2015-16 school year.
madison.com|By
Lee Enterprises
Along with the relief of
having another year under a contract comes some frustration. The media continues to fail to accurately
report on virtually anything involving education. The headlines about raises miss the point of
collective bargaining. To make the
assertion that a .25% increase in salary merits a headline clearly demonstrates
this reality. Then to editorialize that
"teacher paychecks have recovered" is ridiculous. Taking home less, and subsequently spending
less, isn't a recovery unless I completely misunderstand economics.
Madison teachers will get a small raise in their next
contract, which was agreed upon this week.
WISC-TV / Channel 3000|By Channel 3000
The fact that teachers with
master’s degrees are no more effective in the...
educationnext.org
A major problem with the
coverage of this current contract negotiations, and with public discussion
about educators in general is the focus on a few aspects of our
employment. So much of the conversation
about educators focuses on our wages, benefits and the "huge" amount
of time off that we have. Add to this
the continued emphasis on the data that supposedly supports the rhetoric of
"failing schools" and the climate around public education and public
educators is gloomy. It's no wonder that
morale in our schools is low and educators are stressed and frustrated.
Political battles over
teaching in the last decade have focused on...
The Huffington Post|By Joy Resmovits
A recent article addressed
the reality of teacher turnover in Iowa.
It was suggested that hopes for a turnaround were being pinned on recent
legislation, designed to hold teachers more
qctimes.com|By
Lee Enterprises
This isn't a plea for
sympathy or an effort to claim that educators work so much harder than anyone
else. Our job is demanding and our
challenges many, but that is the case in virtually every job in America. Educators aren't setting themselves up as
martyrs or claiming that we deserve more than anyone else who works hard and
serves the public good. Instead it is a
request that the public look at educators with empathy and recognize that our
efforts matter and our contributions to society are significant. It is disturbing to hear what is said about
educators in many circles, and this anti-educator rhetoric only serves to
mislead and divide the public.
Of course educators would
like more money, we want benefits that protect our interests, and we want to
work in the best conditions possible. At
the same time, public educators are a group of people who are willing to do
virtually anything to insure the success of our students. We entered the profession to make a
difference in our students' lives and to help improve our community as a whole. What public educators want from their employers
and from the public is to be supported and for our efforts to be recognized as
being of great value.
As this article states, "Employees are vastly more
satisfied and productive, it turns out, when four of their core needs are met:
physical, through opportunities to regularly renew and recharge at work;
emotional, by feeling valued and appreciated for their contributions; mental,
when they have the opportunity to focus in an absorbed way on their most
important tasks and define when and where they get their work done; and
spiritual, by doing more of what they do best and enjoy most, and by feeling
connected to a higher purpose at work."
Excessive demands are leading
to burnout everywhere.
The New York Times|By
Tony Schwartz and Christine Porath
We don't want a
marketplace where we are treated, and act, like private sector business
employees. Most educators I talk to
would like to work in the same community for as long as possible. They become connected to the families and the
community that they work in and when longevity is allowed build strong
connections that help students succeed.
Part of the thinking behind Act 10 (beside the obvious political effort
to destroy unions) was to treat public sector employment like private sector
employment. Yet the two are different in
many ways, especially in the field of public education.
Wisconsin's schools have become a new marketplace since Act 10,
where educators look to other districts for better pay and benefits, and
districts make performance a greater factor in...
Green Bay Press-Gazette
This drive to turn our
schools into businesses impacts educators, but more importantly it has a huge
detrimental effect on our students.
Children aren't adults, they need time to explore, grow and play without
intense pressure to achieve arbitrary standards and benchmarks (and one can
argue that adults need this too).
Educators need to be able to teach students in ways that build a
lifelong love of learning, encourage creativity and curiosity, and that allow
children to develop into well balanced, well rounded citizens.
Kindergarten is no longer
what I remember it being. Check out an article...
americanprinciplesproject.org
Pearson and Common Core are
not testing what you know, what you think,...
The Huffington Post|By Alan Singer
We want a voice in
creating the policies and procedures that drive educational efforts in our
schools. We have huge gaps in
achievement, equity and opportunity in our schools that mirror our
society. However, to place all the blame
on educators for this misses the reality that in most cases educators don't
shape the systems we work in. Instead,
public educators are often a voice for our students and families in a system
that too often ignores the needs of those it is supposed to serve.
Why do we continue to rely on
approaches to education that have been...
AlterNet
Meier: It is galling when
rich people in the ed policy field tell me that class size doesn't matter-and
pay a lot to send their kids to schools with half as many students per class as
urban...
blogs.edweek.org
We need support from
lawmakers and voters to recognize the blatant lies that the privatization
movement is telling in an effort to make money off our children.
Republican Jim Oberweiss
fought hard for the right of charters to discriminate. That's what he means by
providing "choice" for parents. The language in the bill was simple
enough. " ... all federal...
preaprez.wordpress.com
A significant part of that
support comes from informed and involved citizens who understand that education
is more than a political issue and goes deeper than the coverage it receives in
the press. There are not many easy
solutions to the problems that our public schools face. They require long-term commitment and
consistent effort and participation from all of us.
The second of two public hearings on the...
madison.k12.wi.us
The
Good, The Bad and
The
Ugly. . .
The Good . . . Some of the most basic aspects of accountability and transparency is
knowing where our elected representatives are and what they are doing with
their time.
Once, it was routine to know
where the state’s elected leaders and...
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|By Jason
Stein
Contest: Walker’s Frequent Flyer Miles Posted on June
5, 2014June 6, 2014 by wheresscottwalkerLeave a comment
wheresscottwalker.com
So much to be happy about
with this ruling. Wisconsin is finally catching up with much
of the rest of the nation.
Wisconsin's ban on gay marriage has been struck down by a
federal judge....
The Huffington Post|By Paige Lavender
Unfortunately, the
Conservative leadership and a portion of our state's population will fight
progress tooth and nail.
Gay couples began marrying in
Wisconsin on
Friday shortly after a federal judge overturned the state's ban on same-sex
marriage. As the marriages took place, the state's attorney...
www.latimes.com
The Bad . . . Telling the truth is also an important part of being a public
servant.
Gov. Scott Walker defended
the number of new businesses being created in...
WISC-TV / Channel 3000|By Channel 3000
The Ugly . . . Transparency and accountability are difficult to enforce when those
who we elect to represent us are more beholden to financial donors than they
are to the people who elect them. The
end result is a democracy in name only, one where we see rules and regulations
created that undermine the democratic process.
All done in the name of transparency, integrity and honesty, when the
exact opposite is the underlying intent.
The numbers behind Christine
LaGarde's warning
Mother Jones
The week after Governor Scott
Walker's opponent Mary Burke pulled even with Walker
in the polls, the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity dumped $900,000 into
a major TV ad buy in Wisconsin,
aimed at...
progressive.org
MADISON, Wisconsin - The state Government Accountability Board is applying
a new law requiring printed signatures on candidate nomination papers too
strictly, the chairwoman of the state Assembly's elections committee says.
tribtown.com
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