With the possibility of cuts in education staffing even a remote possibility, its good to remember it will be done on a last in, first out basis....
The most recent hires go first and that may take some of the more ambitious of a new generation of teachers and result in keeping those the former NYC Education Commissioner calls not even remotely capable....The NY Post reports today on a veteran social studies teachers who makes $100K a year sitting in the "rubber room" awaiting discipinary action for alleged sexual advances on students.
Recently departed NYC Education czar Joel Klein said this week it's easier to prosecute a death penalty case than it is to fire a teacher.
As long as there is a system that keeps people sitting in "rubber rooms" at a 100K, the cannot take seriously any talk of education being victimized by budget cuts....Sorry, I just can't.
Ex-Chancellor Joel Klein: It's easier to execute a killer than fire a teacher - NYPOST.com
6 comments:
"It's the system, stupid."
There are many teachers who know who the "bad or ineffective or worn out teachers" are.
They have no power to get them dismissed.
What is neeed is a simple Mgt-Union approved system that put in place, effectively, a method that is fair and effective and swift.
Part of the system must include the entire community, students, parents and staff ...
I emphasize the words fair and swift. Right now that is sorely lacking based on the horror stories we all hear about ineffective teachers living high on the hog who are ineffective.
This is one of the oldest fights around. It needs to be solved.
I'm not sure why you continue to post on subjects such as this. There will be no cuts in education. There will be lies from the teacher union and the education machine. They'll be working hard on propaganda for the next month or so, then its off to the Bahamas for spring break. We will hear everything and it will all be backed up by a sobbing MSM rep who desires nothing more than to keep his loving relationship with teachers. It is always an easy story. The pain and suffering of our coffee cup laden assistant superintendents of whatever. Bottom line. Watch what your district spends next year, compared to what they spent this year. Spending will grow, at a higher rate than you will ever see in either your wages or in your personal budget. No cuts are ever made. And they will be lying about it.
Yesterday's WDT tells of tough choices in Potsdam schools.
Opus 1400. Now who is it who is going to be forced to make tough choices?
That is odd...I could name a few that were fired/forced out/positions eliminated, right in our own backyard. I cannot name anyone executed in the entire state though. Maybe it is just hard to fire a teacher if you are an incompetent administrator or have incompetent legal counsel?
I could name teachers that should have been fired before they were tenured too. Not just under performers but classic rabble rousers or people that simply did not show up to work on time, left early and did not participate beyond the minimums required.
I have noticed that the discussions of late being fostered by our media and governor seem to be long on rhetoric and short on facts.
EX NYC Education Czar Joel Klein who conned the New York Times into thinking he had an education program that would improve the education of students in NYC. What he had was an anti-Union bias that is now exploding as a columnist for Rupert Murdoch's, New York Post. He set up a top down dictatorship that told Principles they would be judged on students improving on their Mid-terms and SAT's, and was a regular testing ABCD or F advocate. He couldn't care less if a teacher tried to drill down and really educate a kid in depth. He was strictly pick A, B, C, D, or F, and forget any forget using multiple resources to teach a topic. Stick with the textbook. Just teach that page and half six paragraphs, in all those poorly written text books, and call that education. Sadly in NYC that was education period.
He drove more good teachers out of teaching then anyone in history and the Union under Randi Weingarten caved all the way to his megalomania. This guy had a big ally in Mayor Bloomberg and got away with wrecking education in NYC for a decade, where students continue to test poorly. He was oh so wrong, and now hates the Unions oh so much more, now that his mistakes about education are obvious. A bored kid doesn’t learn or remember anything about a subject and will test poorly. These Charter Schools have one thing, the classrooms and halls have disciplined behavior or the child is thrown out of that charter school period. On tests they answer something like six questions more correctly then non-charter school. They are hardly the answer they're be made out to be in NYC. Don't get me wrong a safe disaplined classroom is a good place to start, but how about really educating these kids too?
MCM
I never know what Mikey is talking about. If someone can summarize, please do. I do know that if the subject is education, he will fall on himself to defend the failure we have. Mike, no matter how hard you try to change the subject, we cannot continue to pump money into a failed system. Not without some accountability.
Dannie. The point is we taxpayers have negotiated away any control of our schools. We have to provide rubber rooms because we gave away our ability to fire fools. That happened long ago. We did that because we have fallen for the bs that gets sprayed out by the union and by the complicit MSM. Both are motivated by laziness. I'm with you, Dan, we have to establish a system that enforces accountability. But we don't do that by swallowing as so many do when confronted by educational lobby lies. There is no more powerful political force in the nation than our teacher apologists. It is much safer, in any public arena, to sing the song of Mikey and praise all that sacrifice so much for so little. If you're going to say anything critical about our fat and happy schools, do so in a month, when they are all traveling. No doubt doing lesson plans between trips to the tiki bar.
The problem isn't the unions or the Governor, or the budget. The problem is that we don't have any idea what education is. How do we make one education for every child in NY state when we can't even agree what it is?
We have one product that fails to meet many of our expectations because it doesn't address the needs of the consumer. Kids have different levels of home support, abilities and learning needs. Of course piling them all in the same classroom with the same resources is going to fail. Of course spending a billion dollars on that is going to fail.
The core problem isn't that we have too many superintendents or that the budget is out of whack. As NY citizens we shouldn't have to fight over what education means. Parents should have the ability to choose the type of learning environment that works for their child.
I selected my college based on where I wanted to learn. If they failed to provide a good program I would have left to attend another school. Elementary students and high school students should have the same ability. We should have smaller schools that compete for federal and state dollars to provide a public service.
Competition would force educators to innovate. Maybe they decide to use ebooks to save cost on textbooks but still stay current. Maybe all the smaller schools form a coalition (similar to SUNY Postdam, SUNY Canton, Clarkson University, and St. Lawrence University) to share some unique resources to provide greater value for students.
Right now there is no reward for innovation in public education other than the risk of job loss and a nice looking plaque.
Government funded competition would provide more incentive for change. The power of the teachers union would be greatly diminished, over spending would be reduced, and parents, students, and teachers would be able to choose where to learn and work.
For NY and for the rest of the country, this is the only solution that will truly "Leave No Child Behind" and also "Race to the Top".
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