Teachermusings: The Power of Student Voices

Teachermusings: The Power of Student Voices: I know there are plenty of critics regarding our district's student protests, but I, for one, am in awe of what they have accomplished i...

The Power of Student Voices

I know there are plenty of critics regarding our district's student protests, but I, for one, am in awe of what they have accomplished in such a short time. We teachers have tried to bring attention to the duplicity of our school board, but we have often been discounted as 'alarmists' or 'union thugs.' Accusations hurtle through the internet and other media, calling us 'greedy' or stating that we are afraid to be held 'accountable.'

But for the past week, the sheer numbers of students who have decided to inform themselves of board actions and take their own action has overwhelmed me. Plenty of critics have suggested students are 'teacher pawns,' that we are putting them up to their protests. And sure, some of the kids walking out just want to take time off from school. But I have students who have repeatedly written to the board about some of its action who have never been acknowledged. I have students whose parents teach in my district who are well-informed about what is happening. I have students who have the ability to read, think critically, and comprehend the reprehensible and duplicitous actions of our board of education. Those are the students who motivate me and remind me why I'm in education.

I am proud of our students. I am proud to be a teacher.

Teachermusings: Of course it's about the money!

Teachermusings: Of course it's about the money!: Denver news anchor: on average $100,000 a year. Well-known Denver meteorologist: $400,000 a year. Well-known Denver news anchors: $500,00...

Of course it's about the money!

Denver news anchor: on average $100,000 a year.
Well-known Denver meteorologist: $400,000 a year.
Well-known Denver news anchors: $500,000-$700,000 a year.

Denver Bronco's coach: $3.5 million a year plus a one million dollar bonus for winning Super Bowl.
Well-known Colorado Rockies player: $45 million to $118 million from 2008-2020.
Peyton Manning: $96 million over five years.
Governor of Colorado: $90,000 a year.

Superintendent of largest Colorado school district: $220,000 a year plus $60,000 in bonus money and retirement benefits.
Jeffco high school principals: $91,182 to 126,768 a year.
Jeffco Sheriffs: $69,000 (average) a year.
Average teacher salary (with 10 years teaching experience and a B.A. plus 20): $50,000 a year.

Granted, no teachers can throw like the Bronco's quarterback, or field like the Rockies player. We don't make between $100,000 to $700,000 a year sitting at an anchor desk. But to see the average teacher salary in Jeffco at $50,000 is a travesty. It's not wonder younger teachers often take second jobs to make ends meet.

What bothers me most is the perception of a Jeffco teacher as "greedy" and "selfish" for wanting respect and decent pay. The current Board of Education is not interested in either respecting teachers nor paying them a living and sustainable wage. Instead, the Board majority is more interested in blaming teachers for 'not working with them' or in 'using students to further their cause.'

The Board majority neglects the facts: JCEA and the BoE negotiated a financial agreement in April, which the teachers ratified. The Board majority refused to honor the tentative agreement, which meant Union reps refused to negotiate further, asking instead for a mediator. The district and the union each paid half to a Factfinder to help solve this problem. When the Factfinder was finished, the results were no surprise: they found the evaluative process was unfair and needed to be revised before BoE could tie our pay to our evaluations. Additionally,Human Resources suggested not implementing a pay-for-performance plan, and the new superintendent also suggested not implementing their pay plan as it would potentially reduce morale and prevent teachers for applying to our district. Within minutes, the BoE called for a vote, and not surprisingly, it passed 3-2.

I am amazed that teachers are trusted with our most valuable people-children-and no one wants to pay us for what we do! Instead, we are 'selfish' and 'greedy' because we want to earn a living wage. Our job is as important as any listed above. We might not be entertaining, but we spend a great deal of time working with and for our students. We grade on weekends and after hours; we answer their emails nights and weekends; we stay after school and work with them. We counsel, advise, plan, and do the best work we can do.

And we aren't worth paying a decent wage for our level of education and experience?

We should be ashamed.

Teachermusings: Baa! Moo!

Teachermusings: Baa! Moo!: If it wasn't such a sad commentary on public education today, I'd be laughing about my 'market value.' Our new conservative ...

Baa! Moo!

If it wasn't such a sad commentary on public education today, I'd be laughing about my 'market value.' Our new conservative board is in the process of determining each teacher's 'market value,' which is how they are planning to pay us. What are we? Livestock? Will they weigh us soon or check our teeth too? Wait! I think this happened to slaves as well, didn't it? Weren't slaves sold by their 'market value'? What does that mean for teachers if school boards are reverting to assigning a monetary value to a teacher based on his job title?

Now I'm sure you're reading this, chuckling a bit too. I mean, who wouldn't? One of the benefits of teaching in a public school was our salary scale. There was no wondering, no fighting about money; we were paid based on our number of years of experience as well as our level of education. We had incentive to go to school, to learn more, and to keep our resources fresh. We'd eventually be paid for it! Of course, now that I will have a 'market value,' there's no financial reason to earn another master's degree or take courses to improve myself, thereby improving learning for my students. I will simply know my 'value,' thanks to the board of education.

Question: how will our 'market value' be determined? I am biased, I know, but I think an early childhood educator is as important as a high school chemistry teacher. Our students need a solid foundation on which we can build. A first grade teacher, at least in my district, can have as many as 30 little bodies running around her room without a paraprofessional to help her, and yet her 'market value' may be less than a twelfth grade economics teacher. Our elementary teachers must test, write reports, meet with parents, do home visits (at some schools, this is required), teach, grade, plan, supervise playgrounds and/or bus duty; whew! just thinking about what elementary teachers do exhausts me. I also think teachers who have multiple degrees should be paid for said degrees. Radical, I know. There are some professions that pay for their people to pursue further education. And then there's education.

The best way to attract effective, highly qualified teachers into education is to...gasp! PAY THEM  a living wage, not assign some 'monetary value' to what they do. Education is not a business. Students are not 'products.' They are real people, and so are teachers. Pay educators a fair and reasonable wage, and watch what happens.

Now excuse me; it's time for my oats and hay.

Teachermusings: When a ship is sinking...

Teachermusings: When a ship is sinking...: A sure sign of a troubled organization is the sheer number of people bailing out of it. Our sinking ship began when our veteran superintende...

When a ship is sinking...

A sure sign of a troubled organization is the sheer number of people bailing out of it. Our sinking ship began when our veteran superintendent, a person who spent her entire life in the district as a student, teacher, principal, and superintendent left after a few weeks with our new board of education. Over the summer, our chief academic officer resigned, finding a new job as a superintendent elsewhere. Today, our chief financial officer resigned to take another job with a local city. This is right before our new board rolls out their brilliant new idea to pay teachers based on a market value system.

This latest resignation should signal to taxpayers and residents what teachers already know: the school board is intent on destroying the school district, and those who can leave are doing so. Some may say that 'in with the new, out with old' happens when a significant change occurs, but let's review: the secrecy with which the board operates restricts people from doing their jobs efficiently and effectively. For example, two of our five board members are left out of many discussions about district business, including-but not limited to-hiring a new superintendent and a new lawyer who strictly represents the board of education (the second is an unprecedented move in my district); the board lawyer, who is paid with taxpayer funds, redacts some of his charges, and then does not answer the other two board members' questions about his redacted charges; the board and the union agree on a tentative agreement, ratified by the teachers, and then three of the five board members back out of the tentative agreement; two of our five members were left out of discussions regarding the amazing contract of our new superintendent--240,000.00 a year for five years, including fabulous benefits.

The resignation of the chief financial officer leaves another void that the new superintendent and the new board of education will fill. Who will fill it? Will it be another escapee from another district that is in tatters? Will all five board members be included in the decision? Or will this decision be made as per usual: by only three of the five board members?

Our district is sinking quickly, and the passengers are jumping ship as are the shipmates. No one seems to know how to prevent this disaster. Instead, we wear blue shirts, buttons, and complain to one another. Fear is pervasive throughout the district, palpable in our halls, our classrooms, and in our relationships with our colleagues. Our board of education, at least the board majority, is doing a great job sinking our district's ship. However, there is one final thought: I certainly hope they can be stopped before their 'grand plans' hurt the most important part of our district: our students.

The Purpose of Unions

There are constant comments made about unions and the idea they "protect bad teachers." I, too, suffered from this misunderstanding of the function and purpose of a union. The reality, however, is different, and I recognize how easily I bought into this rhetoric. The true purpose of unions is to protect its members.

Consider the history (briefly) of unions.  They were created to help workers in various industries work decent hours, earn decent pay, and be treated humanely. Without unions, workers often work crazy hours; earn minimum wage (or below); have no benefits, including retirements; and workers cannot get ahead financially. We have plenty examples in our current world of corporations that have fought unionization to protect their interests. Forget the employees who work with customers or stock shelves! Certain corporations have them working  less than forty hours a week and paying a wage that does not permit them to live successfully. They also do not provide benefits to their employees because they don't have to give them full-time status.

So back to teachers' unions. What is their purpose? Well, they make sure we have manageable class sizes. It is unreasonable to have 30 or more students per class, per day. It's a management and learning nightmare! My contract stipulates that I cannot have more than 150 students per day. Sure, I'd like fewer students, but I don't have more than 150. My contract stipulates that I am paid a "fair" and "equitable" wage. I have benefits and retirement. I work eight hours a day (honestly, it's more, but I am paid for eight hours). I have a duty-free lunch, meaning I can have a 30 minute break each day.  If I feel unfairly targeted by an administrator or another teacher, my union helps me work through those issues. My union prevents me from being unfairly fired if an administrator does not like me. It guarantees due process to teachers.

Those "bad" teachers out there, who are they? I've often wondered, We can rule out the sex offenders and the abusers. Unions don't protect them. What defines a "bad" teacher? I've been called a bad teacher by parents and students who didn't like my policies, or my refusal to lie for them. Are "bad" teachers those who don't do much during their class? How does a union protect them? It's an administrator's job to discipline a teacher who is not doing his job. A procedure is in place to document and prove the  necessity of removing a teacher, it just takes an administrator to do it. However, before blaming administrators for "bad" teachers, it is important to note that administrators (who don't have a union in my district) often have 20-40 teachers they are singly responsible for evaluating, in addition to their other duties around supervision, curriculum, athletics, activities, discipline, and scheduling. They are also overloaded with work, which often makes it difficult for them to monitor every teacher. Again, without a union, administrators have incredible workloads--at least in my district.

Current US attitudes toward education are misguided, with politicians and "think tanks" putting full blame on teachers' unions for what is wrong in our classrooms. Is it wrong to want to work a reasonable schedule? With reasonable pay and benefits? I'm sure politicians don't decry their salaries or compensation packages, including government subsidized healthcare. Again, unions protect their members from unreasonable work conditions. How does that hurt public education? Happy employees are more productive, including teachers. Feeling valued is a necessity in the workplace. Regardless of workplace, employees want to be treated respectfully, and unions help them do this.

Do unions protect "bad" teachers? What defines a "bad" teacher? Until those questions can honestly be answered by education critics, including school boards and the general public, the reality is this: school boards and the general public wish to pay teachers less, reduce their benefits, discount their contributions to society as a whole, unless their children are individually hurt by these practices. Teachers' unions are not the problem. Anti-education sentiment in this country is the true problem.

Why post?

Twenty-two years ago, I walked into my first class, an alternative high school English class at Colorado's Finest Alternative High School. I taught night school, and our goal was to have students complete work as they moved toward attaining their high school diplomas. My time there was short-lived, only six weeks, and I wished I could have stayed there longer. The kids were screwed up, but they were kind. It felt like a family rather than a school. I had always wanted to work with 'at-risk' kids, but my career took a different path.

My first full-time job was at a middle school in Texas. There, the kids were not kind, and neither were their parents. I fully enjoyed teaching summer school at the high school, however, mostly because those students were more like the alternative students I'd already taught, but the rest of it was not a great experience.  The middle school gave me a couple of understandings: I was ill-suited for middle school, and I was lucky enough to work for a phenomenal principal, one who trusted his teachers to do what was right. It was years before I would have another phenomenal principal.

My second full-time job was at a private, illustrious high school in Denver. I made nearly nothing and could barely support myself. In fact, without help from my parents and grandparents, I would have had to live at home because my salary was insufficient. I was there three years, and at the end, I wasn't sure I was cut out to be a teacher. I was harassed, sexually, physically, and mentally, by teachers and students. During my first year, I wasn't given a lunch break; they 'forgot.' Instead, I had a planning period toward the end of the day I was told I could use as my lunch break. However, private schools don't have substitute teachers as a rule, and I often gave up my lunch to substitute for other teachers. When a student wanted a grade changed, I was threatened and harassed for the remainder of the year for not accomodating him. In fact, the president of the school board visited me to imply I might not have a job in the future. The stress was so bad, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure at 27 years old, a condition I currently suffer.

When I moved to my current county, I immediately joined the union. I learned from my experiences at the private school that a school without a union can do whatever it wishes. For example, because I wasn't 'vested' in the retirement program, I lost all money I had contributed to my retirement. When I left the private school, I was making 21,000.00 a year. However, other teachers were making more with less teaching experience. Although we were not allowed to discuss our salaries, there were always those who chose to do so. Because of a union, my salary was based on a scale of experience and was vastly more than the private school. Because of a union, I have a guaranteed 30 minute, duty-free lunch break each day. Because of a union, I have a retirement plan. Even if I wasn't vested, my money is in a retirement account that I can take with me should I choose to leave the district. Because of a union, I am not harassed, sexually, physically, or mentally by students, administrators, other teachers, or parents. Because of a union, I am guaranteed an unbiased evaluation that I can challenge if I feel it is unfair. At the private school, for example, they decided to make a teacher they no longer liked leave by harassing her throughout the year. By Christmas, this teacher has lost 80 pounds and could barely talk to people without crying. A union prevents this same scenario from happening to me.

But now, my membership in the union is threatened. What could potentially happen, as has happened in Douglas County, is the district will no longer work with the union, which means the district can do as it wishes to its teachers: cut our pay, restrict our benefits, take away our planning periods...and this must not be allowed to happen. Teachers need union representation, especially because of the population they work with: children. Teachers also need union representation because it is too easy to take advantage of us. We need someone in our corner. So as I watch a new board of education work on destroying our teachers' union, I feel the need to post my frustrations, my thoughts. I want to work on behalf of all students; however, I need the backing of a union to make sure I am treated fairly as well.