Archives for category: Teachers

David Berliner, one of the nation’s most eminent education researchers, says teachers across the nation should walk out on May 1, to protest low wages, legislative attacks on their profession, and a hostile environment,ent for teachers.

“Enough! Enough B.S! Enough excuses! This must all end now. It is time to ensure the dignity of all who teach! May 1st would be a good day for teachers all over our great nation to walk out of schools and demand better from their legislators. May Day reminds us of two things. One, it is the day to commemorate the Haymarket massacre, where workers were striking for an 8-hour day, and many of them lost their lives. Workers are rarely given their dignity peacefully!”

Time to resist! Time for solidarity!

He writes: MAY DAY!

MARCHING FOR DIGNITY ON MAY DAY

When I was about 8 or 9 I overheard my mother crying, and begging my very gentle and dutiful father to cross the picket lines, since we had run out of food and could not pay the rent. He said he couldn’t do that. He had to fight for what was right. He had to stand with his fellow workers. I was scared, but even then, I remember being impressed by his resolve.

As I grew, strikes occurred a few more times. But when he retired after 30+ years from his clerks’ job in a drug store chain, he received time and a half when he had to work weekends; he earned two weeks off every year; he had a basic medical plan which was once used to save his life; and, when he retired, he had a small pension to accompany his social security. Most of all, what he had was his dignity.

He took his job in 1930, lucky to have any work at all during the great depression. And because jobs were scarce at that time, the chain store for whom he worked casually exploited its workers. But as 1930 gave way to the 1940s, the workers unionized and demanded (often through strikes) better working conditions. Pay and benefits were, of course, front and center—but what my father and his fellow workers were actually fighting for was their dignity. The pursuit of fair wages and benefits for their labor was, in large part, so that they and their families had a chance to lead a stable, decent enough, working-class family life.

Because of my history I am sure that were I a public-school teacher in West Virginia I would have marched for increased salary and benefits. But, just as importantly, I would have marched to maintain my sense of self-worth, my self-esteem, my self-respect, my dignity! I know I cannot be the role model I’d like to be for the children I have raised, or the youth that I teach, if my work is considered less worthy than that of many others by my governor and state legislators.

Do legislators and our governor here in Arizona know that some student teachers at Arizona State University asked not to be placed at a particular high school that serves the students of wealthy families? Was that because of violence at the school? No! Inadequate facilities? No! Inadequate tech support or training? No! Poor role models among our cooperating teachers? No—just the opposite!

The shunning of this school by our student teachers was because the students there called our student teachers “chumps”! The students at this public high school gloated that they had better cars, more stylish clothes, went to better places on vacations, had nicer houses to live in, and so forth. Their teachers, clearly, were chumps!
When our teachers are so denigrated by the offspring of the rich because they cannot afford even a middle-class life style for themselves and their families, it is way past time to worry a lot about our country. It was teachers who personified the middle class in so many of our towns and cities, throughout so much of our history. Firmly middle class was OK. Everyone who taught came to grips with that. All of knew that we weren’t going to get rich teaching.

But now, too many teachers are using food banks to help feed their families (I found this in New Mexico recently). Too many teachers are couch-surfing, and a few must occasionally live in cars because they cannot afford decent housing (go ahead: google homeless teachers!).

Enough! Enough B.S! Enough excuses! This must all end now. It is time to ensure the dignity of all who teach! May 1st would be a good day for teachers all over our great nation to walk out of schools and demand better from their legislators. May Day reminds us of two things. One, it is the day to commemorate the Haymarket massacre, where workers were striking for an 8-hour day, and many of them lost their lives. Workers are rarely given their dignity peacefully!

But the second reason to pick May 1st is that it is called May Day. We all know that May Day/May Day, is the internationally recognized call for help. Our American public education system needs help. May Day! May Day!

In my state of Arizona, in Oklahoma, and elsewhere, I would be proud to march with our teachers on May 1st or any other day chosen. I believe that parents across the nation would be supportive as well, despite the disruption to their lives that such a walkout would engender. We citizens need to stand in solidarity with our teachers and remember that they walk for their dignity, not merely for salary, benefits, and pension protection. The last thing Americans should ever want is for our children to be educated by beaten down public-school professionals, having trouble buying homes, and food, and day care for their own kids, as we ask them to educate the rest of America’s children. I cannot help but believe that if we support the teachers as they walk out, just as we supported the kids of Parkland this past weekend, something wonderful will happen: On May 1st I suspect that the ghosts of Woody Guthrie, Tom Joad, and my father, will march with teachers across the nation. If we stand in solidarity with our teachers we can help them regain the respect they deserve, and the pride they might again feel for the profession they have chosen.

David C. Berliner
Regents’ Professor Emeritus
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College
Arizona State University

Categories Teachers

John Thompson: Why Teachers Might Walkout on April 2

By dianeravitch

March 22, 2018 //

John Thompson, teacher and historian, explains in “The Progressive” why teachers in Oklahoma are primed for a mass walkout. To be sure, they were inspired by the strike in West Virginia. But they have grievances as compelling as those in West Virginia. Budget cuts. Tax breaks to the oil and gas industry. Low salaries. The Oklahoma Legislature doesn’t care about educating the children of the state.

“Oklahoma ranks in the top five states for oil and natural gas production, and gives $500 million a year in tax breaks to energy companies. But the state also leads the nation in cutting state funding for education, reducing formula funding by 28 percent since 2008.

“While the state has cut taxes on oil, state employees have not received an across-the-board pay raise in twelve years. The state is among the last in the nation in teacher pay. The starting salary for a new teacher is $31,600, and the poor pay and lack of resources has resulted in an acute shortage of teachers across the state.

“But because it will take a 75 percent legislative majority to raise taxes, however, the Oklahoma politics are especially complicated. And that is why stakeholders are united in using the term “walkout” instead of “strike.”

“Corresponding by email, vice president of the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association Shawna Mott-Wright asks, “Can you imagine being a senior in high school? These poor kids have had their education cut, cut, and cut since they were 8 years old. Our children cannot wait any longer.”

“The likely walkout grows out of a larger problem. Oklahoma Republicans have sought to shrink government so that it can be drowned in a bathtub. Oklahoma’s children have come of age as the state cut health services; killed the Earned Income Tax Credit for the poorest families; slashed funding for mental health; and undermined other social services (all this as it became first in the nation in incarcerating women). The state is tied with Montana and West Virginia for first in children surviving multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences.”

Critics will take aim at teachers for wanting a living wage. But how can they defend the deliberate underfunding of the state’s schools? That hurts children.

Categories Budget Cuts, Oklahoma, Teacher Pay, Teachers

Oklahoma: Will Teachers Strike? John Thompson Explains.

By dianeravitch

March 14, 2018 //

John Thompson, teacher and historian in Oklahoma, writes here about the run-up to a possible teachers’ strike. Teachers’ salaries in Oklahoma are near the lowest in the nation. Coincidentally or not, supporters of school choice are massing this morning Choice advocates are rallying this morning at the State Capitol to demand more funding for charters and vouchers. The choice advocates don’t care about teachers’ salaries, teacher shortage, or the experience of those who teach their children.

John Thompson writes:

“Oklahoma gives $500 million a year in tax breaks to energy companies, but it is #1 in the nation in cutting state funding for education, reducing formula funding by 28%. We are either third from last or last in the nation in teacher pay. Teachers have not received a state pay increase for a decade; the starting salary is $31,600 for a first-year teacher. State employees have not received an across the board pay raise in 12 years.

“As the rest of the nation watches the grassroots rebellion of teachers that is likely to lead to an April 2 walkout of both teachers and state employees, outsiders should be aware that before the legislature could address our fiscal crisis, it has had to deal with more pressing priorities.

Another year goes by, and Oklahoma still leads the nation for cuts to education

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/mar/07/good-jobs-first/are-oklahoma-teachers-lowest-paid-nearly/
http://newsok.com/oklahoma-teachers-continue-wait-for-pay-raise-a-decade-after-last-increase/article/5580331
http://newsok.com/article/5586584?slideout=1

“The first priority which had to be resolved before Oklahoma could address the budget was brought up by my legislator, Rep. Jason Dunnington (D-OKC). He wanted Imad Enchassi, senior imam of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, to serve as the House Chaplain for a Day. Enchassi is one of the state’s most thoughtful, articulate, and witty leaders. However, the Republican leadership continued to block the iman’s application They changed their rules requiring clergy participating in the House Chaplain Program “be from the representative’s own place of worship.”

“After 250 Christians, Jews, and Muslims showed up in the Capitol rotunda to hear Enchassi lead an Islamic prayer, the Republican leadership had to change the guidelines once again. After all, they needed the rules necessary for keeping political issues out of their daily prayers …

“Sure enough, a second priority emerged when the Senate leadership had to defend a Baptist minister’s 15 minute prayer/serman to that legislative body. He blamed school shootings on gay marriage.

“The pastor said:

‘Feb. 14 (a young man) went into a school and killed 17 of our people, our kids. What is going on? What is going on? … Do we really believe that we can create immorality in our laws? Do we really believe that we can redefine marriage from the word of God to something in our own mind and there not be a response? Do we really believe we can tell God to get lost from our schools and our halls of legislation and there be no response? Do we really believe that?’

http://newsok.com/interfaith-leaders-say-legislatures-chaplain-program-excludes-non-christians/article/5583810
https://www.thelostogle.com/2018/03/02/angry-baptist-minister-makes-triumphant-return-to-oklahoma-capitol/

“The legislative load in the wake of recent school shootings was somewhat easier because Oklahoma had already authorized teachers to carry guns at schools, but the law required 74 hours of training. So surely teachers who care about their students should agree to put their pay on the back burner until the required training was reduced …

“Then the right to carry concealed guns into churches had to be reinforced, once again. Non-Oklahomans should understand why Sen. John Bennett (R-Sallisaw) felt compelled to protect churchgoers’ right to arm themselves against “knuckleheads” and “evil people.” His new priority was legislative action for implementing Matthew 26:52, which says “those who take up the sword die by the sword.”

”But Bennett, who has called Islam a “cancer” and who said that state employees seeking a pay raise are engaging in “terrorism,” didn’t include mosques. Consequently, another Republican had to file a bill protecting guns in all houses of worship.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/oklahoma/articles/2018-02-28/oklahoma-panel-oks-plan-to-ease-training-for-armed-teachers
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/capitol_report/guns-in-churches-bill-passes-oklahoma-house-would-extend-stand/article_0209a184-5573-56b7-8adb-3395049f68f8.html
http://newsok.com/article/5570937

“Oklahoma’s refusal to accept Obamacare contributed to the enormous hole in the budget that created the education crisis. So, another priority was passing legislation and preparing Gov. Mary Fallin’s order that work requirements must be attached to Medicaid.

“As the April 2 strike deadline approaches, legislative leaders have suggested legislation allowing ad valorem taxes dedicated to capital expenditures be redirected towards salaries. That would free some rich communities to offer a raise. And the word is that equally eccentric funding ideas will be floated.

“It is tougher to raise revenue in Oklahoma than in West Virginia because a constitutional amendment requires a 75% majority to increase taxes. We should not forget, however, why that provision became law.

“In 1992, after a decade of economic collapse due to deindustrialization spurred by Reaganomics, the oil downturn, the banking and savings and loan collapse, AIDS, and the crack and gangs epidemic, HB1017 was passed. After a four-day strike, the tax was passed, saving our schools, but the backlash killed all but one tax increase since then.

“So, Oklahoma’s April tornado season is likely to be upstaged by a bottom-up teachers’ revolt. It is likely to produce a political battle royal which will be worthy of the attention of readers across the nation. Stay tuned.”

Categories Charter Schools, Oklahoma, School Choice, Teacher Pay, Teacher Shortage, Teachers, Vouchers

Scalawag: Learning from the West Virginia Strike Leaders

By dianeravitch

March 11, 2018 //

Scalawag is a new progressive Southern journal. Its reporter Rachel Garringer talked to the strike leaders and learned how they were able to organize a statewide wildcat strike in a right to work state.

She writes:

“While the work stoppage has ended, the decentralized, 55-county-wide, cross-sector strike in the heart of ‘Trump Country’ offers crucial insight into the contemporary South and the future of labor organization. What does it mean for a state that voted Republican in the most contested national election in decades to lead one of the largest labor uprisings in recent United States history? What can we learn from the ways in which teachers organized themselves across a mostly rural, geographically isolated state? How did they communicate with one another after they refused to follow statewide union leadership? How does this strike fit into a long history of radical labor organizing in West Virginia? And what were the personal motivations driving teachers, from the coalfields to the eastern panhandle and every county in between, to risk their jobs fighting for justice?

“In their own words, teachers explain why they went on strike, how this fight was about more than education, and what it means for a largely socially conservative state to tap into its deep roots of radical anti-corporate organizing.”

This is MUST reading.

Categories Teacher Pay, Teachers, West Virginia

Schneider and Karrer on the Absurdity of Arming Teachers

By dianeravitch

March 10, 2018 //

Mercedes Schneider asks about the cost of arming teachers and about the liability assumed by teachers who are armed.

In the Florida program, teachers will be expected to have 132 hours of training, unpaid.

Who will pay for the guns? Where will they be kept during school? After school?

She wonders:

Is an armed teacher liable for failing to shoot an armed intruder? Is this a dereliction of duty, or will a teacher be excused, for example, for not having the heart to shoot one of her or his own students?

What if a student reaches for that gun, even if only out of curiosity?

What if a student gets possession of that gun? Don’t tell me it cannot happen.

Armed teachers become entangled in liability.

Who will insure them? Their school? Their district?

Paul Karrer, a retired teacher in California, asks about the ethical and practical questions of having guns in a school.

Kids want attention – some kid somewhere will bring a fake gun to school and a teacher will have to decide whether or not to shoot the kid. Ever seen any of the limitless phone videos of kids attacking teachers or substitute teachers? Giving the teacher a gun ups that ante a bit. Somewhere a teacher will forget her gun, (Like one of my cop friends does. Once he left it in a coffee shop. Another time he left it unlocked in his car. And at the shooting range he ricocheted a 9mm from his Glock into cement because he forgot it was loaded. This is a highly motivated trained cop. A bright guy, in his prime.)

Arming teachers is bad in every way. The solution is to limit gun access, not provide the gun manufacturing business with a new revenue stream – (Discussing School budget today -LINE ITEM 4- financial appropriation for weapon allotments – NO WAY!)

Should a teacher have to decide at some point to shoot a student? Should a teacher have to decide to shoot a parent? When the police arrive will they shoot the teacher holding the weapon? The variables are limitless, unforeseen, and all ugly. Teachers and teaching are in many ways sacred. Sacred in a similar vein as with a priest, rabbi, cleric, or pastor. Teachers also have a legal relationship to their students akin to attorney-client privilege — sworn to protect the child’s privacy at almost all costs. We can’t shoot them.

Not many teachers are likely to take up the offer of a gun. They know the risks.

Secure the campus. Let teachers teach.

Categories Guns in Schools, Teachers

West Virginia: Republicans Pull a Fast One, Introduce Bill to Lower Standards for Teachers, Eliminate State Education Department

By dianeravitch

March 7, 2018 //

With the statewide teachers’ strike settled, and the strikers gone home, the GOP in the West Virginia Senate introduced a bill to eliminate the State Department of Education, to lower standards for new teachers, and a host of other mischievous revenge actions, including the possible elimination of a program to feed poor students.

Those who have hatred in their heartsl never slumber nor sleep.

Teachers: Remember in November.

Categories Teachers, West Virginia

West Virginia Strike Settled! Teachers Win 5% Pay Raise!

By dianeravitch

March 6, 2018 //

Teachers in West Virginia struck across the state, demanding a 5% pay raise. Today, the strike was settled, and teachers won the 5% they sought.

“West Virginia lawmakers unanimously approved 5 percent pay raises for teachers and troopers on Tuesday after the governor reached a deal to end a teacher walkout that shuttered the state’s schools for nine days.

“A huge group of teachers crowding the Capitol’s hallways cheered their victory.

“With striking teachers looking on, the House of Delegates passed the pay raise for teachers, school service personnel and state troopers on a 99-0 vote, and the Senate followed, voting 34-0.

“I believe in you and I love our kids,” Gov. Jim Justice said.”

Unfortunately, the legislators plan to pay for the raise by cutting the budget, including Medicaid, instead of raising taxes on corporations that just got a big refund on their taxes from the GOP Tax bill last December.

Categories Teachers, Unions, West Virginia

Tulsa: Teacher Turnover Spiked to 35% in Last Two Years

By dianeravitch

March 5, 2018 //

Deborah Gist, member of Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change and former State Commissioner of Education in Rhode Island, is having a hard time holding on to teachers in her job as Superintendent of Schools in Tulsa.

Gist won Arne Duncan’s praise back in 2010 when she supported the decision to fire all the teachers and school staff at Central Falls High School because of low test scores.

Since then, she took charge in Tulsa, where her tenure has been rocky.

Teacher turnover at Tulsa Public Schools spiked the past two years, with an exodus of 1,057, or 35 percent, of all 3,000 school-based certified staff.

Although Oklahoma’s rock-bottom teacher salaries are often cited by district leaders, a Tulsa World data analysis found a significant portion of those former TPS teachers — 295, or 28 percent — are not in higher-paying states but in other Oklahoma school districts with comparable pay.

Leaving TPS wasn’t easy for Melissa Howard, who worked at Lindbergh Elementary School for 10 years but now works at Glenpool Public Schools.

She loved her principal and school community but grew frustrated by what she described as top-down directives from district administration.

“If I don’t think something is best for my students, it’s really hard for me to buy in. And I didn’t agree with the curriculum,” said Howard. “It was very scripted. … If I wanted to read a script, I would be making a lot more money because I would be working in Los Angeles or New York as an actress.”

Categories Oklahoma, Teacher Pay, Teacher Shortage, Teachers

Oklahoma: Will Teachers Launch a Statewide Strike like West Virginia?

By dianeravitch

March 5, 2018 //

Oklahoma’s teachers are angry. They are among the lowest paid teachers in the nation, and teacher shortages are growing as colleagues move out of the state or give up teaching for something else.

Teachers across the state are seriously considering a statewide strike.

One teacher started a Facebook page and with a few days, 52,000 people had signed up for it.

Teachers from the state’s two urban centers gathered at a Moore public library Friday evening to weigh their participation and the timing of any such organized effort.

The meeting attended by about three dozen teachers from seven districts around the state was organized by Heather Reed, a teacher at Lee Elementary School in Oklahoma City. Reed said April 2 is the date currently under consideration because that’s “when it might hurt the most.”

“Our teachers are exhausted, tired,” Reed said.

Also in attendance was Larry Cagle, a language arts teacher at Edison Preparatory School in Tulsa.

“We are at a crossroads where either something positive happens … or we find ourselves coming back in August with a severely demoralized and depleted teaching corps,” Cagle said.

In 1990, a four-day, statewide teachers’ strike forced House Bill 1017 through the Legislature and then a vote of the people. The measure raised taxes for increased teacher compensation in exchange for a series of policy changes, including class-size limitations, mandatory kindergarten, training for school board members and parent education programs.

A new Facebook group called “Oklahoma Teacher Walkout — The Time Is Now!” (bit.ly/ thetimeisnowok) was created late last week and already has more than 52,000 members.

Interesting that this new teacher militancy is happening even as the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case that is intended to kill teachers’ unions. Oklahoma is a “right to work” state, but that hasn’t stopped teachers from collaborating to demand higher pay and better working conditions.

Categories Oklahoma, Teacher Pay, Teacher Shortage, Teachers, Unions