[Elwood Community Network commentary originally distributed 2/25/11]
Perhaps some good may eventually come from this three year old recession, and the fiscal crisis which it has triggered in many states across America, as other productive dialogues seem to have been ignited. In [the February 25th edition of the] New York Times (page A19) there was an illuminating article titled "Leader of Teachers’ Union Urges Dismissal Overhaul." The key paragraphs are the beginning of the article:
"Responding to criticism that tenure gives even poor teachers a job for life, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, announced a plan Thursday to overhaul how teachers are evaluated and dismissed.
It would give tenured teachers who are rated unsatisfactory by their principals a maximum of one school year to improve. If they did not, they could be fired within 100 days.
Teacher evaluations, long an obscure detail in an educator’s career, have moved front and center as school systems try to identify which teachers are best at improving student achievement, and to remove ineffective ones."
One of the historical problems in American education, aside from the issues relating to the structure of benefit packages for public sector employees (which are funded by taxes paid by citizens whose own benefit packages have largely been reduced in recent decades), there has been an inability to expeditiously remove substandard teachers.
That problem is further compounded in times of financial distress because such teachers tend to have tenure, and the teachers who get eliminated are the younger ones, many of whom may be doing a much better job than those substandard but previously-protected teachers. Clearly we are in an era when such cuts in teaching staff will be more and more likely, particularly when states cut back financial aid to school districts.
This should not be confused with the attempt at union-busting in Wisconsin, where public sector unions have agreed to substantial financial give-backs but find themselves in conflict with a new governor whose obvious objective is to eliminate any power, regardless of financial concessions, of unionized public sector workers.
This article, and Ms. Weingarten's own concession, toward greater efficiency and equity and obvious benefits for students all across America, is a non-economic issue and is unrelated to strong-arming tactics that are a disgrace for this country.
Making education better, as well as less costly, is what we should all be seeking to achieve.
You can read the entire article on the NY Times website (anyone can access this) at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/education/25teacher.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=weingarten&st=cse
About Me
- Jerry Hannon
- After a thirty year career at Chase, serving as a Managing Director and Global Relationship Manager, I took early retirement in the summer of 2000, and that enabled me to become active in community, school district, and town activities. Since 2004, I have been a member of the Elwood School District's Citizens Finance/Budget Advisory Committee, and since 2005 I have been a member of its Audit Committee, and serve on three other committees of the district. During the 2006/07 school year I was President of the Elwood PTA Council, and I remain active in PTA activities. In the community I serve as EVP for Community Affairs of the Old Chester Hills Civic Association, and served the Town of Huntington as a member of its Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee. For thirty five years, I have been a Director of the NY Council of the Navy League, and currently am Chair of its Audit Committee. A Vietnam Veteran, I retired as a Commander in the US Navy Reserve, and previously commanded two Naval Security Group reserve units.