When admins screw up, they take it out on teachers

[proud2BlibKansan]

Emergency declaration proves divisive for KC school system

By RICK MONTGOMERY

With the first academic year of a transformed Kansas City school system only weeks away, detente among Superintendent John Covington, the teachers union and some board members appears to be cracking.

Unexpectedly, the superintendent this week exercised an option that school officials were hoping to avoid — declaring an “emergency” relating to the teachers’ contract.

Needing a unanimous vote of the school board to allow parts of that contract to be renegotiated, the superintendent didn’t even get a chance to explain his proposal at a meeting Wednesday night.

That’s because nobody seconded board member Arthur Benson’s motion to take up the proposal.

Benson said later that the emergency declaration was necessary to allow principals at several schools to hang on to non-tenured teachers who otherwise may be terminated under contract rules.

“Unless something can be worked out, it is in my view a substantial setback to the administration’s ability to staff schools in the best interests of the students,” Benson said.

More ... http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/15/2086938/emergency-declaration-proves-divisive.html

[Catshrink]

1. In this case

"best interests of students" = get rid of expensive experienced teachers that a wuzz of a principal is afraid of because they're too competent.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. This crap has been both insulting and ridiculous

Bottom line - admin screwed up and decided the solution was to suspend the teachers contract.

This is the shit we have to put up with on a regular basis. And this is why I have no patience for the teacher trashing coming our way since this president took office. This job is stressful enough without getting beat up in the media.

[Catshrink]

3. The state here reserves the right

to change our salaries at any time. Someone in our association suggested holding a state-wide very public bake sale.

And for those who will accuse us of whining -- 40 kids in a class, 5 classes a day. How much personal attention will each student get? Consider that 5-10 of these students are special education (work-wise they are "double" the time because of meetings, IEPs, and tracking paperwork) and maybe you can can see the issues. We want to serve children, we want them to get a good education.