Archives for category: Teacher Tenure
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North Carolina: Public Schools and Students Endangered by Radical Agenda

By dianerav
May 14, 2013 //
36

Legislation is advancing in North Carolina that will harm the state’s underfunded public schools and strike a blow against its beleaguered teachers.

North Carolina is a right-to-work state, so there is no collective bargaining, and teachers have no voice in policy decisions about education.

Among the worst of the new bills is a proposal to fund a voucher/tax credit program, removing $90 million from public schools so that 1% of the state’s 1.5 million students may attend private and/or religious schools.

Another bill would strip away due process rights from teachers, so that teachers would have no right to a hearing if fired, no matter how many years of experience they have.

The new legislation would restrict eligibility for preschool, reducing the number of children who may enroll, and remove class size limits for some elementary grades.

Make no mistake (President Obama’s favorite expression, mine too): this legislation will save money in the short run but will cost the state far more in the long term. The Legislature is planning not only to harm public education, but to harm the children who benefit by being in preschool and in classes of reasonable size.

Former Congressman and State Superintendent Bob Etheridge said: “To the folks now running our state government in Raleigh, education reform is just another code word for cut, slash and burn.”

Governor Pat McCrory, who supports the radical anti-teacher, anti-public education agenda, has just named Eric Guckian as his Senior Education Advisor. Guckian was regional director of New Leaders in North Carolina (which recruits “transformational” leaders) and before that, was executive director of Teach for America in the state. He has been a consultant for the Gates Foundation and worked with KIPP. The following comes from the Governor’s press release:

“I am honored and humbled to serve as a member of Governor McCrory’s team,” said Guckian. “This is a critical time for education in our state, and I’m looking forward to working with committed teachers, leaders and community members to ensure that all of North Carolina’s students, regardless of circumstance, achieve an excellent education that will put them on the pathway to a better life; a life of honor, prosperity and service.”

Guckian joins John White in Louisiana and Kevin Huffman in Tennessee as TFA alumni in state-level positions serving reactionary administrations.

Categories Childhood, Pre-K, K, Class size, Corporate Reformers, North Carolina, Privatization, Teach for America TFA, Teacher Tenure, Vouchers

Charter Appreciation Week and Teacher Appreciation Week

By dianerav
May 8, 2013 //
60

By some strange coincidence, Teacher Appreciation Week coincides with National Charter School Week.

Bear in mind that almost 90% of charters are non-union, that charters may fire teachers at will, that charter teachers do not have tenure, that many charters are known for high teacher turnover due to the stress of longer school days, and that many do not hire certified teachers. In some states, like Ohio, charter teachers earn half as much as public school teachers, because the charter teachers are typically younger and less experienced.

Just thinking about that when I read President Obama’s proclamation.

Categories Charter Schools, Teach for America TFA, Teacher Tenure, Teachers and Teaching

Sharp Decline in Number Entering Teaching in California

By dianerav
May 3, 2013 //
30

The corporate reform movement has been bashing teachers and public education without let-up for the past several years. The bashing became super-charged after the introduction of Race to the Top in 2009, because it explicitly blames teachers for low test scores despite evidence to the contrary.

The “reformers” claim they want “great teachers” in every classroom, and the way to do it is to fire teachers whose students get low scores, to close schools with low scores, and to deny teachers the right to due process. This is their formula, and they are sticking to it even though no other nation in the world has launched a vendetta against the teaching profession and public schools.

Now the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing reports a sharp decline in the number of people who want to teach.

Teresa Watanabe writes that:

” Interest in teaching is steadily dropping in California, with the number of educators earning a teaching credential dipping by 12% last year — marking the eighth straight annual decline.

“The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing reported this month that 16,450 educators earned their credential in 2011-12, compared with 23,320 in 2007-08.

“The number of students enrolling in teacher preparation programs has also decreased, to 34,838 in 2010-11 from 51,744 in 2006-07.”

This fraudulent reform movement is not going to achieve any of its stated goals. It will not lead to a great teacher in every classroom. Left unchecked, it will turn teaching into a temp job and dismantle public education. This will benefit the haves, not the have-nots. And that may explain why the haves are dumping millions of dollars into state and local school board races, to elect candidates who share their contempt for career educators and democratic control of public education.

Categories California, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Tenure, Teachers and Teaching

Randy Turner Explains His Suspension

By dianerav
April 25, 2013 //
23

Randy Turner was suspended not for his Huffington Post article but for his book. This is why teachers need tenure: Academic freedom.

He sent this comment:

“Thanks for the kind words from everyone. My suspension coming at almost exactly the same time as my Huffington Post blog was a coincidence. Basically, it happened because I wrote a novel, No Child Left Alive, criticizing many of the practices in education today, particularly those done by overambitious administrators. I just finished posting the charges against me on my blog: http://rturner229.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-joplin-school-districts-charges.html

Categories No Child Left Behind, Teacher Tenure, Teachers and Teaching

Is Jindal Losing Control?

By dianerav
April 25, 2013 //
7

Bobby Jindal’s most anti-teacher legislation was struck down as unconstitutional last fall on procedural grounds. It included too many subjects.

Jindal assumed he could ram through his proposals again but this year was different. The House shelved his bills.

Is the destructive Jindal machine losing steam?

Has reactionary reform run its course in Louisiana?

Categories Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Teacher Tenure

The Attack on Tenure Is “Orwellian Reform”

By dianerav
April 25, 2013 //
11

Robert D. Shepherd comments on the story this morning about the teacher in Missouri who was suspended after writing an article on the Huffington Post about the abuses heaped on teachers:

“Teaching is a unique profession. Teachers are responsible for cultural transmission–for passing on to a new generation the best of what the culture has created–and it’s extremely important–it goes to the very heart of what it is to be a pluralistic democracy–that students be exposed to a variety of viewpoints presented by teachers who are opinionated scholars. In the past, we didn’t give tenure to teachers right away because we recognized that people had to earn the right, but we also recognized the importance of that right–of intellectual freedom. If someone wants to have an official single view enforced by a top-down, absolutist authority, then a very good place to start is with the killing of due process and tenure. The attack on tenure in the U.S. is not a free market reform. It’s Orwellian.”

Categories Teacher Tenure

Outrage! Missouri Teacher Suspended For Speaking Out

By dianerav
April 25, 2013 //
27

This post explains why teachers need tenure. Tenure is not a job for life. Tenure protects freedom of speech. Tenure protects academic freedom.

The previous post linked to an article by a teacher in Missouri who warned his students not to become a teacher because of the outrageous attacks on teachers. He was suspended. He does not have tenure. He does not have academic freedom. He was suspended for speaking his mind about the destruction of his profession in a public forum.

Here is the story, sent by a fellow Missouri teacher who must (of course) remain anonymous or he will also lose his job.

*******************

Randy Turner, a veteran teacher in Joplin, Missouri, posts
an opinion on the HuffPost regarding the destruction of the
teaching profession—

… TFA replacing veterans;

… legislation banning / removing tenure;

… making ony $37 K-per-year after 14 years, then
being publicly shamed for being “greedy”…

and on and on…

HERE it is at the Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-turner/a-warning-to-young-people_b_3033304.html

then gets immediately suspended for expressing his 1st Amendment-protected opinion:
(quite a civics lesson for the students in Joplin, MO, don’t-cha think?)

http://www.koamtv.com/story/22046153/students-hope-to-bring-suspended-joplin-teacher-back

Here’s Randy’s blog with the latest on his own situation:

http://rturner229.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-did-koam-scoop-me-on-this-one-randy.htmlv

and if all this is not bad enough, some ignorant, profiteering edupreneur chimes in. The guy admits that
“as an education entrepreneur, I do not claim to understand every nuance of the classroom. I am not a
teacher..”, but that doesn’t stop him from rubbing salt in Randy’s wounds with this atrocity (also posted at the HuffPost):

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fahad-hassan/teacher-pay_b_3135114.html?utm_hp_ref=@education123

Categories Teacher Tenure, Teachers and Teaching

Warning: Don’t Become a Teacher

By dianerav
April 25, 2013 //
22

[WARNING: after the following essay was published in Huffington Post, the writer was suspended from his teaching position. The next post will give details.]

This teacher in Missouri loves teaching but he doesn’t love what the legislature is doing to restrict, evaluate, and control him.

After two decades as a journalist, he became a teacher. He has taught for 14 years.

Today, he would urge young people not to enter teaching because the conditions and lack of respect are so wearing. “Classroom teachers, especially those who are just out of college and entering the profession, are more stressed and less valued than at any previous time in our history.
They have to listen to a long list of politicians who belittle their ability, blame them for every student whose grades do not reach arbitrary standards, and want to take away every fringe benefit they have — everything from the possibility of achieving tenure to receiving a decent pension.”

This week, the Missouri legislature will vote on a proposal to tie 33% of his evaluation to test scores and to add student surveys to his evaluation. He writes:

“Each year, I allow my students to critique me and offer suggestions for my class. I learn a lot from those evaluations and have implemented some of the suggestions the students have made. But there is no way that eighth graders’ opinions should be a part of deciding whether I continue to be employed.”

Categories Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Tenure, Teachers and Teaching

Nine of the Ten Richest in US Are Attacking Unions

By dianerav
April 22, 2013 //
87

Leo Casey explains here that there really is “class warfare” in the U.S. today.

It is not the 1% that is attacking unions and working Americans.

It is the 1% of the 1%.

Nine of the ten richest Americans–all billionaires–are united in opposition to rights for working people.

They don’t want working people to have an assured pension.

They don’t want teachers to have any job security.

They want to roll back the New Deal.

They want capital to be unfettered.

They want teachers to have no rights at all.

They want to open up public education for entrepreneurs and profiteers.

They want privatization of public education.

But do not despair.

Armed with knowledge, we can beat them where it counts: at the polls.

Categories Teachers and Teaching, Unions, Teacher Tenure, US Education, Privatization, For-Profit

The Attack on Unions: Which Side Are You On?

By dianerav
April 22, 2013 //
123

The attack on unions flared into public view in 2011, when Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin attacked public sector unions, and thousands of people surrounded the State Capitol in protest.

Since so many radical Republicans took office in 2010, the effort to destroy public sector unions–especially the teachers’ unions–has accelerated.

Leo Casey explores the context of the anti-union movement here.

In state after state, legislatures have wiped out collective bargaining rights. That meant teachers would have no voice in the funding of public schools or their working conditions. Teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions.

The so-called reformers are closing public schools and turning the students over to private corporations. 90% of charters are non-union.

The questions that I keep asking are, where was Barack Obama as the efforts to destroy America’s workers gained momentum? Why didn’t he go to Madison in the spring of 2011? Why did he go instead at the very height of the Wisconsin protests to hail Jeb Bush in Miami as “a champion of education reform?”

Why did his Secretary of Education effusively praise some of the most anti-union, anti-teacher state commissioners of education in the nation, like John White in Louisiana and Hanna Skandera in New Mexico? Why have Secretary Duncan and President Obama said nothing in opposition to the attacks on teachers, the mass closure of public schools, and the growing for-profit sector in education? Why was the Democratic National Convention of 2012 held in North Carolina, a right-to-work state? When was the last time that the Democratic Party held its convention in a right to work state?

Categories Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Teacher Evaluations, Unions, Teacher Tenure, Privatization, Obama, For-Profit, Economy, Support for public schools
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