This was news to me. And, I don't know of any resistance to technology initiatives being spawned by teacher unions. That would be a shame. Steve Jobs had this to say,
"The problem with unionization, Mr. Jobs argued, is that it has constrained schools from attracting and retaining the best teachers and from dismissing the less effective ones. This, in turn, deters quality people from seeking to become principals and superintendents."
I don't think he's completely off-base and I belong to a union. I do think that there needs to be some kind of reform to bring teacher pay in-line, but that is an entirely different can of worms. I thought I would offer up a link to an article regarding the initial controversy and see what thoughts anyone else had. Be sure to check out some of the responses to the article as well-some very interesting opinions.
Ann
4 comments:
I have to say I agree with certain points of Jobs' assertion, though if in any way he meant to say that the unions need to be unilaterally absolved this is, as you say "dangerous territory."
You've read, I'm sure, many of the less-than-pleasant things I have to say about some of my colleagues. One colleague of mine went so far as to suggest that the "dead weight" of the teaching profession should be "weeded out." He did so in the course of an interview for a local newspaper and was a bit of a pariah for some time. I didn't disagree with him. There should be some system in place in which teachers who are not performing at a certain acceptable level could be dismissed. As it stands, a teacher at my school was seen touching a student's face and then saying insulting, derogatory things about another student's mother could only, according to union contract, be reassigned to a non-teaching position for a certain period of time. He is at the county book depository. He will probably be teaching again next year. It is clear that real reform needs to take place.
I can't believe we're in the same state, or maybe times have changed.
If a principal fires a teacher for whatever reason, what actions can a union take? I know they can't strike...are there legal obligations I don't know about?
Is the teacher union in your county the same as the one that covers Hillsborough?
I haven't worked in K12 (at least as a staff member) so I'm mostly ignorant of how unions actually interact with districts.
I was under the impression that since unions can't strike that there isn't much they could do, but if you say there is a teacher getting temporarily assigned for the actions described then obviously there is a problem there.
According to the contract (I'm good friends with the union steward, so I'm fairly well-versed) a principal can only fire a teacher without just cause the first 97 days of her teaching in Broward County. After that, there is a littany of litigation to go through in order to actually fire a teacher. Teachers can be "surplussed" when the student/teacher ratio is not what it should be, but other than that principals can't even suggest that certain teachers consider working at other schools without the union taking action (if the teacher is a member of the union).
I'd probably be maimed if union members knew I said this, but I do think, in cases like the ones I've mentioned, the union has too much power.
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