Scrambling for the Union response
Posted by conservprof in Health & Education, UncategorizedThe latest news regarding a shake-up in Fort Wayne Community Schools must have the teacher’s unions scrambling for a response.
Without a press release on the website of FWCS, news leaked out that personnel in 11 schools within the city’s system would have to reapply for their jobs. All this with hopes of gaining money in a new competition labeled “Race to the Top“. Word is that no more than 50 percent of the staff can remain at the same building..coming from the State Department of Education. Of course, district officials will contest.
Years ago this was known as a shake-down. If schools didn’t improve their test-scores, the State of Indiana held over their heads that they could come in and take over a school. Somehow, like the threat of taking a teenager’s car keys away, this kept some schools in line.
Don’t get me wrong. I think it is a grand idea. The problem lies within the unions who have long fought for tenure-without-regard-to-performance just to keep teachers because they had stayed on the job.
I can see the unions fighting to keep the teachers in jobs. They perpetuate the entitlement atmosphere.
I teach in a college where evaluations are EVERYTHING. If my students are upset and I have a high incidence of students who fail, I will lose my job. This is no different than in most workplaces. If you don’t get a job done, they find someone who will.
One good thing Wendy Robinson finally said was “there is no option not to do nothing” (no credit to her English teacher, by the way).
My prediction is this will be short-lived, just to meet a January deadline. I hope I am wrong and the students will benefit by getting fresh ideas, fresh blood, and people in positions who truly care AND GET RESULTS.
Obviously, something has to change.
No related posts.
Entries (RSS)
But make no mistake – the ONLY reason this “shake down” is occurring is because of the almighty dollar. And frankly, that ticks me off. For years – (how many years???) – all I’ve seen/heard is the Superintendent talk about how better things are getting. Has FWCS hit the bottom yet? Just askin’…
Also she said, ““We need to aggressively recruit people who never thought about working in Fort Wayne Community Schools,”. Is there a line of qualified teachers, standing around, knocking down the doors to get in? People aren’t going to just drop what their doing and move to Fort Wayne for a job with an unstable school system. For people who might be interested in teaching, there’s this thing called certification that doesn’t happen overnight (although I guess that they could have a bunch of emergency permit teachers…).
Grrr – no editing abilities – they’re not their
OH, I agree. It isn’t for the betterment of the students, as priority one, but rather the fight for the dollar to pay the over-priced-superintendent.
I can’t imagine her taking a paycut, or any other teacher/administrator.
Hopefully with new teacher rules, there will be better qualified, anxious teachers to take on the roles with openness.
One can only hope.
Kristina,
I’ll add comment editing.
This news did not “leak.” Dr. Robinson spoke for two hours on this issue at Monday’s School Board meeting, which is open to the public and televised. The presentation is available on the FWCS Web site at http://www.fwcs.k12.in.us, click on the big, red Race to the Top box. Or click here for a direct link: http://www.fwcs.k12.in.us/SchoolBoard/Presentations/011110_Presentation.pdf.
Kristina:
Excellent observations…
But I would ALSO add that in the problem schools, a LARGE part of the issue here is ESL, free meals (for lazy asses), and a HUGE chasm of a gap between PARENTS and the educators.
(parents? what parents?)
Let’s not exclude the STUDENTS who would much rahter be doing antyhing BUT attending classes, and do as little as possible when on site, hoping to glean that diploma or promotion to the next grade through osmosis…
Got news for ‘em…doesn’t work that way.
They’ll all figure it out…some day.
The problem is not so much with the teachers as it with the parents, students and administrators. I am a firm believer in parent involvement and student discipline. Unlike it’s EACS counterparts (Village, Prince Chapman and Harding), FWCS’ south side schools are awash in lack of parental communication and student discipline. In my time at FWCS, the students (K-12th) were allowed to do as they pleased; the offenses ranged from cursing out the teacher, throwing glass bottles at teachers, not doing work or not saying the pledge. A good indication of that behavior is best stated in a recent jg letter
(http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100110/EDIT09/301109972/1149/EDIT09).
While the student population is the same in the above mentioned EACS’ the environment is better in so many ways. Students learn, parents are included in the education of their child(ren) via K-5th grade teachers are mandated to complete home visits at the start of the school year; some MS & HS teachers electively do so. In addition to principals that are visible in the hallways, and support the teacher I would believe the combination of parental involvement and caring adults led Harding to have a 22% increase in graduation.
Perhaps leaked wasn’t the best word to use. However, it is was not exactly written in a press release, either. I wonder how many teachers knew, like the assistant-principals last month.
Neither newspaper or other source in town were able to quote a press release. A presentation doesn’t equal a press release.
Thank you for the links.
Staff members in the 11 buildings were given the presentation in advance and told to watch the meeting.
It seems to me the far larger concern is State and Federal control of local education. The existence of The Department of Education (and other Federal cabinet level agencies) as a rule-making body with oversight of local education belies the complete failure at the Federal level to make the kinds of decisions that only complete local control can offer. The State of Indiana itself should, in my opinion, be very limited in it’s control over local affairs. It is only the existence of the Federal Department that enables the teacher’s primary union to foil local citizen control of the educational institutions for which we pay. Hiring of competent teachers and the firing of incompetent teachers should be a local citizen response to the abysmal local record. It is known that test scores and graduation rates can only be achieved under the present system by lowering standards. Instead, we are told year after year that more and more money is needed despite trends of falling enrollments and already record high spending for a western industrial nation. Bureaucracy is self-perpetuating and by it’s very nature seeks ever more control by marginalizing the opposition as uninformed, unrealistic and ill-equipped to deal with a problem best left to the \experts\. Couple this with the ability to tap the public purse virtually at will and you are left with what we have – central planning of an education process that is stuck with dumbing down the student to give a fair chance to those who should simply be failed when they do not master the material. Most local school boards and parent-teacher associations are top-heavy with professional educators and bureaucrats, and sadly lacking in working parents and taxpayers. The deck will remain stacked against local control of local problems until the citizens demand and vote for a change.
One minute we see Fort Wayne Community Schools patting themselves on the back for raising the graduation rates and for improved test scores. That’s great news!
Then the next minute they are telling us that these schools are failing miserably? How sad.
Who/what is a taxpayer to believe?
Were you lying to me then, or are you lying to me now?
I agree with the prof that our supers are grossly overpaid. I told my friend the other day that I feel they should be paid no more than$5000 over the highest district teacher: and if that’s too low, I’m sure that there are plenty of laid off or soon to be employees of the school systems intelligent enough to do the job that would jump at the chance.
The Robinson quote makes one wonder; perhaps with her pay raise she can afford a bit of remedial English. I once spoke to a series of four classes at the same elementary school a few years back. I was impressed with a Mrs. Ballinger. He classroom was neat and her students very attentive; they asked excellent questions. In the other classrooms kids were out-of-control. I saw the difference between a good teacher and those who were not as competent. I would suggest reducing the number of administrators and increasing the number and quality of teachers.