New Haven: agreement between a city and a teachers union to work together to reform schools

[proud2BlibKansan]

In the wake of an overwhelming teachers union vote in favor of school reform, city officials called on Yale, the feds and the state to follow suit.

Officials lauded the vote as a first-in-the-nation agreement between a city and a teachers union to work together to change the way public schools work.

New Haven’s teachers ratified a new, four-year labor contract Tuesday night by an vote of 842 to 39.

The contract includes an average annual pay hike of 3 percent, a half-percent increase in medical contributions — and opens the door to sweeping school reform plans.

Officials lauded the vote as a first-in-the-nation agreement between a city and a teachers union to work together to change the way public schools work. They said it would help New Haven snag federal dollars to support reform initiatives.

The agreement covers 1,700 public school teachers in the American Federation of Teachers Local 933. It now passes to the Board of Aldermen for final approval.

Teachers praised the opportunity to retain their benefits, and even get a pay hike, in a tough economy.

more . . . http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2009/10/teachers_approv.php#017507more

[jinto86]

1. No real change will happen

At least not the kind I (and Arianna Huffington) would love to see happen. Course that will make me unpopular here... but I still don't care.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Unless you have psychic powers,

you can't say what will or will not happen.

I think it is refreshing to see the union working with the city to implement reform. I found this article to be very positive. It gives me hope.

I also know you are not here to earn popularity points. You have made that abundantly clear.

[jinto86]

3. What reforms do teachers unions want that the city can give?

Generally from what I have seen teachers unions are against most reforms, at least around here. Sure they want more funding/smaller classrooms and more respect, the city can do the first (to a point) but not the later. And of course they want less NCLB imphasis which is nationally controlled, not much a city can do there. Do you really see them fighting for more requirements to teach? Do you really see them demanding that teachers spend more then a week (at least in my teachers ed program thats all that was spent) on learning how to teach kids with ASDs? Do you really see them fighting for a way to opt out of a public education program that doesn't adequately serve some kids without having tons of money (I have seen how people respond to charter schools and homeschooling on here). Teachers unions fight for teachers, not kids, which is fine, but can hurt true reform processes or just reform so much as it means getting rid of anything considered "privitization",

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Did you even bother to read the article?

You have listed your personal pet peeves, which are largely minor reform issues that are not embraced by many stakeholders.

You continue to fail to see the big picture here. You are allowing your own personal negatives and bias against public education to cloud your judgment.

Sure they want more funding/smaller classrooms and more respect, the city can do the first (to a point) but not the later.

Sure the city can impact the latter. Respect begins at the top, in a system that respects its teachers by fairly compensating them and by involving them in the reform process.

And of course they want less NCLB imphasis which is nationally controlled, not much a city can do there.

We all need to speak out against NCLB. Nothing will change unless we ask for the change. NCLB dictates that 100% of our kids be proficient by 2014. That is an insane mandate. At the very least, we need to be demanding that this component of NCLB be modified. And yes, a city carries a lot more weight in a congress rep's office than individual citizens.

Do you really see them fighting for more requirements to teach?

This again is your personal opinion and is not shared by experts. While we may need to make some changes in the way we prepare future teachers, more is not necessarily better. There is also the factor that requiring teachers to have more education should go hand in hand with pay increases.

Do you really see them demanding that teachers spend more then a week (at least in my teachers ed program thats all that was spent) on learning how to teach kids with ASDs?

If we required intensive coursework for every disability condition a teacher may or may not face in the classroom, teachers would be in school for decades. And unless you want to start paying teachers on the same level as doctors (who do specialize in the way you are advocating) this is a ridiculous demand.

Do you really see them fighting for a way to opt out of a public education program that doesn't adequately serve some kids without having tons of money

Why in the world would proponents of traditional public education support a program that allows kids to opt out of traditional public education? That doesn't make any sense at all.

Teachers unions fight for teachers, not kids

Not true. Unions ARE teachers and teachers are often the only stakeholder (besides parents) who really keep the best interest of the kids in mind.

so much as it means getting rid of anything considered "privitization"

Yes, privatization is not the answer. It sucks badly needed revenue from school districts.

[jinto86]

5. I am for Single Payer education

Does anyone really know how their mayor feels about education, well maybe if your in a city like NYC, but in a city like Davenport (where I live), not really. Beyond that talks can't force one to respect another, nothing really can.

Likewise no politician cares what the mayor of New Haven thinks about NCLB. I agree that its mandates are the dumbest thing ever, but teachers talking to school board members isn't going to change that. Teachers talking to Senators might, but thats not whats going on here.

I personally grew tired of being abused by an unknowledgable system. I continue to grow tired of seeing this happen to kids I work with. This is what you get when you send unknowledgable teachers to the classroom, unions supported her afterwards btw, http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/24/30gtteacher-lets-students-vote-out-classmate-5/ . I just want teachers to know more about the students they work with. Even my college professors couldn't believe the horror stories I had to tell (most agreed that I should have never made it to college, high IQ is good for something I guess...)

A traditional public education does not work for all. There will always be kids that slip through the cracks, due to unusual needs. Would you have sent Mozart to public schools like we have them today? Would you have even sent him to a musical charter? There is a reason Einstein struggled in school. When I was ready for high school math and being "taught" long division (something I learned in the summer between 1st and 2nd grade, not 5th), that tells me theres something wrong with the system. Maybe this sits well with you, it doesn't with me. If the public school districts don't offer a good alternative then one should have a right to look elsewhere, regardless of their economic status... sortof like a single payer system... go figure.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Einstein struggled probably because he had severe learning disabilities

Since he was in school, we have greatly improved the way we educate kids with LD. Yes, a traditional public education works well - even better today - for the vast majority of our kids. Very few slip through the cracks and there are so many reasons for this that you can't be intellectually honest and blame public education for their failures.

[jinto86]

7. How long did you spend learning about Asperger's Syndrome when you were in college

AS is generally thought to be what Einstein had, so it begs my question. I spent maybe 30 minutes learning about how to educate kids with Asperger's, most of that time spent on covering what it was (and still just a very textbook defination). Is it so wrong to think that people have knowledge on how to educate kids with special needs, before they educate them. Is it so wrong to ask for the quite gifted to get their own setting. I know that learning long division when I was ready to learn geometry killed my love of math. I would call that "slipping through the cracks" wouldn't you? I was suicidal because of the bullying I received at school (some of it by teachers, though most done by students, having teachers look the other way either knowingly or unknowingly) by the time I finished my 7th grade year. I would call that slipping through the cracks wouldn't you? I learned how to slack off in elemetry school "knowing" that I would never get taught anything worth learning, that by the time I could learn something with learning I didn't care anymore, I would call that slipping through the cracks wouldn't you. Why are you so desperate for this system to continue without providing a way out for those who desperately need it.

P.S. I am 23, and all besides 2 or 3 of my teachers are still teaching, I don't believe the system has changed that much in 5 years, and I don't think teachers unions want it to change that much either.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. I have several college degrees in education

and have spent literally years of my life learning how to work with students with disabilities. And I have no idea why you feel that has a bearing on this discussion.

Learning long division when you were ready to learn geometry is called life. We don't get to do what we want when we want to do it. One of the most important things all children learn is self discipline. It is more difficult for some than for others. But it is important to have self discipline to be a functional independent adult. I want to spend my paycheck on a new computer. But I don't get to do that just because I want to. My own self discipline helps me accept that I have to pay bills and can't go buy that new computer.

Getting an education is not like going to a restaurant and ordering from a menu. There is a good reason you learned long division and geometry in the order that you did. Also no one ever told you that you could not go to a library (or get on the internet) and learn all you ever wanted to learn about geometry on your own. That's what I did and I went on to major in math in college. It wasn't what I had learned in school that fostered my love of math, it was what I had learned and discovered on my own, and seeing the importance of math in the world outside of school. My education gave me the skills I needed to use the library and research. But the actual subject matter I studied was what I was interested in and able to choose on my own.

In other words, your own negative attitude about school killed your love of math.

Einstein did not have Aspergers, You have an odd habit of twisting things to fit your personal narrative. I told my own children and I tell my students that the world is not going to adapt to you; you have a responsibility to make yourself fit. This is the reason I didn't get a degree in rocket science even though I was always very interested in space travel and exploration. I didn't demand that my school change its curriculum to fit my personal interests.

[jinto86]

10. What is the reason that I "learned" things when I did

First off, I applaud you for learning things about disabled kids, most teachers don't; and I am pretty sure you didn't learn asperger's at all when you were in college as I am guessing you were in college before 1994 (though I could be wrong). I take it you have read plenty by Brenda Smith Myles, Tony Attwood, Barbara Kirby, and the like.

My mom taught me long division between first and second grade, I was ready for it then. I was well beyond ready for it by the time I "learned" it in school. By then I was ready for geomety and algebra, which I tried to teach myself, but all those rules without a teacher to explain them to me was hard. Beyond that I was learning disabled with reading so books didn't help much, I could read them find but couldn't comprehend them at all, I went unidentified btw because I knew how to do the ITBS tests and I can read decently... didn't help that I cheated on spelling tests but when its either that or get punished, most kids would cheat. Yea, its my fault that they teachers didn't notice this, well that and the schools overreliance on standardized testing (this was back before NCLB btw). So while I could probably have spent my own time learning it on my own time, I was forced to spend an hour a day learning it in school and knowing I would never get a better grade for trying (I always got the second best grade because I didn't "improve" on what they gave me... its hard to get higher then 100%). Imagine where are best and brighest would be today if they didn't spend 7 hours a day being bored and instead spent it learning something new... amazing idea isn't it.

In the real world I have a choice of my job, I have a choice of what I want to buy. If I get assulted at my job its more then "boys will be boys" its assult. Same thing if I get called queer, fag, and a dozen other things at my job. Even more so if the teachers insult me at school (you never have responded to my story about Barton, scared to admit that not all teachers are great, and no, that isn't a one time thing). I may not always be able to do what I want to do at my job, but it should generally be productive, and if its not, I can opt out. I am sorry I think teachers should teach kids, not just babysit them (which is all teachers did for me until I got to high school).

To answer your last paragraph I will just quote a legendary song:

New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules
With time the child draws in
This whipping boy done wrong
Deprived of all his thoughts
The young man struggles on and on he's known
A vow unto his own
That never from this day
His will they'll take away-eay

Chorus:

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never be
Never see
Won't see what might have been
What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never free
Never me
So I dub thee UNFORGIVEN

They dedicate their lives
To RUNNING all of his
He tries to please THEM all
This bitter man he is
Throughout his life the same
He's battled constantly
This fight he cannot win
A tired man they see no longer cares
The old man then prepares
To die regretfully
That old man here is me



Personally I think schools should encourage individually not comformity, your insistance that they should do otherwise scares me even more.

[teacher gal]

8. I'm very skeptical

I admit I haven't read over the New Haven agreement yet but I suspect from reading briefly at the link below that this manuever (which seems like a good thing on the surface) has the footprints and manipulations of Bill Gates and the nation's oligarch ed reformers all over it. I may be wrong (wouldn't be the first time) but do check out the link at Susan Ohanian's website. Her post is a bit lengthy but I think it bears checking out. She links to more on the New Haven story near the end of her post. I'm thinking beware.

http://www.susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=600

[tonysam]

11. Me, too

I saw the Ohanian comments.

[Hannah Bell]

12. i wouldn't be a bit surprised, as it's new haven -- like some "reform" in the interest of

teachers, students & the general public is going to come from a yale-owned city.

[Hannah Bell]

13. reform? sounds mostly like the duncan agenda to me.

The contract covers 1,700 public school teachers in the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 933.

The contract includes an average 3 percent annual raise, with steeper raises for new and mid-level teachers. Future hires would have to join a new health plan with higher co-pays. Existing members would keep their health plan. Their medical contributions would increase by half a percent each year.

Teachers would be evaluated based on student performance. The teacher evaluations will be based not just on test scores, but other factors like student attendance, parental involvement, and participation in class. A committee of administrators and teachers will work this year to come up with a metric for evaluations. The committee will evaluate administrators, too.

Individual schools would be allowed to adopt new work rules, such as extending the school day, as long as teachers at the school approve the changes by a three-quarters majority vote. Suggestions for how to change the school rules could come from administrators or from the teachers themselves.

The school reform drive calls for schools to be graded, and placed into three "tiers" based on student performance. The contract would allow for the lowest-performing schools to be closed and reopened as charter schools, under new leadership. These so-called "turnaround" schools would still be unionized. Teachers who wanted to keep working there would have to reapply to the school.

Teachers who apply to work at a reconstituted school would have to agree to a new set of work rules. If the school day is extended, they would get a pro-rated salary hike...

http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=8931


What Cicarella doesn't mention is that in August 2009, the New Haven mayor was jetting off to D. C. for a conversation with Arne Duncan, while he (Cicarella) was back in New Haven guarding his seat at the table.

That wasn't Mayor John DeStefano's first trip to D. C. Back in March 2009, DeStefano "convened with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and members of Congress for the Mayors' National Forum on Education at the Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C." Along with New Haven's school superintendent, DeStefano led a panel, "Mayors and Superintendents: Building a Successful Partnership," in DeStefano's words, "alongside Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and Chancellor of Schools Michelle Rhee."

This forum was funded by--who else?--the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Probably that's why union presidents didn't get a seat at that table...

http://www.susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=600


There's no "reform" on the table in the US that isn't ruling-class approved.