Crikey! Where's me red Swingline stapler?

Let's get one thing straight-- I'm not here for the money.

Teaching runs in my family's blood, at least on my father's side. My great-grandfather was a teacher and later principal and then superintendent. My grandfather was a teacher, both at the high school and college level. My father, well....he did the non-teaching thing. So it skipped a generation, right? I got into the profession because of my grandfather-- ultimately it was he who guided me into it, but I can't help but think that he didn't do that on purpose.

After a little dabbling with an elementary education major (loved the little kids, hated the idea of me trying to teach them) I quickly changed to secondary ed. I never really thought much about what teachers made in my neck of the woods; I simply worried about getting a job once I graduated college.

I did land a job and never had to go through the hellish nightmare of subbing. (For more on that, check out Get Lost, Mr. Chips). If you want more specifics, I only went on one interview, got hired and I've been with the same school district ever since. Yes, I know I am one lucky duck.

I think subconsciously I understood then that when it comes to teaching I wouldn't make much money, that the rewards that I reap will come in a "non-monetary paycheck" as a colleague often says. I remember a friend of mine getting out of college with his master's in computer something or other and starting at $50k, a wage I have yet to attain despite my (seemingly) many years of teaching-- and this was over ten years ago!

The idea changing professions has crossed my mind, especially after I see myself making more each year but somehow remember having more money the year before, when I was actually making less. I guess you could say that I've flirted with the idea, but only briefly. It almost makes me feel physically sick to think of what it is I could do other than teach.

I can't even imagine what I could do in the "real" world with my skills. Some of my thoughts:

1. I'd be a horrible salesperson; despite what most people say, students are a pretty captive audience that you do have at least a measure of control over-- you certainly can't discipline customers if they don't buy your product. "Sir, you're going to need to be here for another half hour, you didn't pick our sales special with your purchase. Please sit down over there, next to the manager's office and don't talk to other customers."
2. The thought of being in an office makes me cringe, invoking cubicle-based nightmares a la "Office Space". Did anyone see my red Swingline so I can staple my TPS reports? "Yeah, I'm going to need you to stay here on Saturday and Sunday to get these things done."
3. I would love to do something on Animal Planet kind of like The Crocodile Hunter. With my luck I'd step on an as yet undiscovered, highly venomous ultra-slow moving turtle with my bare foot, laying me up for some time. My invenimation footage would have gone viral on youtube while my nature street cred I once had leaves me for greener pastures.

No, I understand that teaching is my calling, even if it won' t make me a millionaire. Like I said, I'm not here for the money. Truly dedicated teachers know that they're not walking into a wad of cash when they become a teacher, but our raises should keep pace with inflation, not lose ground to it. We need to be able to attract quality teachers who understand that while they won't be on Mtv's Cribs, they won't have to start going on food stamps and the like while they're teaching.

So why did I write all this? AFT has just put out their annual report on teacher's salaries, with some interesting tidbits in there. You can look on their main site for it, or look for a link on the 'ol blog.

Week in review....

This voice post highlights the education union week in review....

Gabcast! Dr. H's Updates. #3

National Negotiations Update #7

California

Bakersfield-- Bakersfield Elementary TA says they have it in the bag; a 5.43% retro raise and the school district is paying more for their health insurance.

Castroville-- A sickout by teachers in the North Monterey County Unified School District by the local FT (Federation of Teachers) was done during slow-moving contract negotiations. The union did not sanction it, and cannot be penalized for doing so. Interestingly enough, the sickout happened during the beginning of the administration of the California Exit Exam.

Crockett-- Teachers in the John Swett Unified SD walked an informational picket to protest stalled contract talks.

Escondido- This one-school district is historically one of the lowest paid in San Diego county; recently teachers rejected a contract offered by the San Pasqual board with a 4.5% raise. They are supported by parents in that district.

Fresno-- Fresno Unified SD and the Fresno TA are at impasse; the SD is offering 5.5%, the TA wants 7.3%.

Los Angeles-- California State's faculty has voted (with an 80% turnout) over 96% to go on strike. A ten day quiet period is in effect now, and a strike could happen as early as April. It would be a rolling strike, 2 days of walk outs across the state.

Merced-- Atwater Elementary Teachers' Association has declared impasse.

Santa Monica-Malibu: The SMM Unified School District has approved the teachers' contract and a member of SEIU spoke at the board meeting, saying that the support staff are next in line for an improved contract.

Victorville-- teachers have finally gotten their back pay after the school board ratified their contract.

Illinois

Naperville-- SD 203's BOE is controlled by the union, says this blog.

Maine

Rockport-- You may remember the last NNU where I talked about the Megunticook Teachers Association who addressed the board due to their poor bargaining techniques. The school board has replied in a letter. In short, they're ticked because they feel the union is bargaining in public.

Michigan

Spring Lake-- The Spring Lake EA says the superintendent is using dire financial forecasts and the possibility of layoffs in the next school year to influence the union into accepting a substandard contract.

Montana

Billings-- They've agreed on the contract in School District 2.

New Hampshire

Hinsdale-- The BOE and the union have agreed to the contract, now it's up to the voters in the town to do so.

Nashua-- The Nashua Teachers' Union is without a contract, so they picketed their district's job fair.

New York

Garden City- Garden City SD and the Garden City TA have reached a tentative agreement; an MOU will be signed prior to the April 16th approval of the school district's budget for next year.

Pittsville-- The town's voters approved a new contract for teachers recently, but the result of decreased state aid and trimming $400,000 from the budget meant the elimination of 7 positions. Layoffs to get a contract are counterproductive.

Pennsylvania

Baldwin-Whitehall-- The 300+ strong Baldwin-WHitehall EA, fresh off of a strike earlier this year is still without a contract. They recently showed up in force at a recent BOE meeting to protest the lack of progress in contract negotiations.

Cornell-- The Cornell SD and the Cornell EA came to an agreement. The 5 year contract will increase salaries by about 1% each year and start requiring teachers to pay for health coverage, something they have not done yet. You may remember they came within 36-48 hours of going on strike last week.

Old Forge-- The school district approved the contract with the teachers' union, but they did it behind closed doors. The approval is not the problem, but the challenge comes from the fact that the legislative body did it without public input or oversight. A recent court ruling upheld the district's ability to do that.

Philadelphia-- The City College of Philadelphia is still on strike, and administrators say it's simply because the union is not getting .13% higher raise than what the school is offering. The union says there's more involved. Now students are joining the striking teachers.

Vermont

Newport City-- North Country Union High School BOE and teachers/ support staff unions are at impasse.

Wisconsin

Beloit-- Negotiations are set to begin for Beloit SD and the Beloit EA, and they're not predicting any sticky points! God bless 'em.

Apologies...

I know it's been a while since my last post, but this has been an extra busy week. I've got a NNU to get out (should be lucky number seven, can ya believe it?) and it will get out, too.

Also, I've been working on a special issue of the Union Bouquet, number 11 and it's been over a month since I've gotten one of those out.

Next couple of days and y'all should be seeing some stuff come out of this place.

Whew. Tired.

Union Democracy in action!!!

I haven't checked my blogreader today, so Mike over at EIA might have beaten me to this, but:

In Cali, a members of the 900 strong San Leandro Teachers Association have presented a recall notice to President Sabrina Ramirez and Vice President Tom Morse for allegedly mishandling dues money. This sort of thing doesn't happen very often. The voting was taking place this past Friday and today (Tuesday). It'll be interesting to see what happens.

StrikeWatch Update: New Work to the Rule!

Stoneham Teachers Association in Massachusetts has officially declared on Monday, March 19th they will begin their job action of working to the rule. You may remember them from this NNU.

Parents support teachers!

This one was too good to wait for the next National Negotiations Update. In North Monterey, parents are keeping their kids out of school in support of the teachers' union, who has been working on negotiating a new contract since June of last year. Under the California model, every day is a count day, meaning the district is paid based on daily attendance figures, rather than certain dates in the year (similar to Detroit, for example). One quarter of the student body at a local elementary school was absent, which cost the district $7,000 in state aid just at that school.

The Doctor Speaks! (Literally.)

Have you wondered what I sound like? Well, I'm taking a giant leap forward into the world of....voice blogging. This is kind of an answer to EIA's video thingie, you have to admit it's kind of cheesy. I was actually excited about what was going to be on the Video Intercept, but it's been kind of tongueless in cheek when it comes to humor. You can click on the link below to go to the site and play, or you can click on "View Original Article" type link to use the embedded Java player.

Dr. H's Updates. #1

National Negotiations Update #6

California

Salinas-- The Salinas Valley Federation of Teachers has successfully filed for impasse; a mediator from PERB will be coming soon to help wih negotiations.

Contra Costa-- While a neighboring district foolishly gave up health insurance several years ago in exchange for more take home pay, West Contra Costa teachers just want to be average-- in pay, that is. Citing information that shows they are one of the lowest paid teachers' unions in the area, the teachers went to a recent board meeting. Interestingly enough, the school board voted themselves about a 30% pay raise; the teachers are only asking for about 7.6%. In a more recent article, talks have stalled so a mediator is on their way.

Hesperia-- The Hesperia Teacher's Association is at the bargaining table. One of the major things this 850 member strong union is asking for is full time release for their President, and for the district to pay for it. Sounds reasonable until you realize the district is going into debt to build elementary schools. Does it still sound reasonable?

Illinois

Chicago-- If you want to teach in Chi-town, you have to live there too. It's a provision in the contract called residency, but it may not be around for much longer. A bill that outlawed it sailed through the Illinois House, and it will probably do the same thing in the Senate.

Elgin-- Elgin Community College avoided a strike at the last minute by their work at the negotiating table.

Maine

Rockport-- Teachers from the Megunticook Teachers Association packed a recent board meeting to protest the fact they've been working without a contract since September of 2006. You can read about it here, or read what the MTA's Co-Chief Negotiator said to the board.

Ohio

Zanesville-- In the last NNU I mentioned Zanesville Education Association and the school board using words like "friend" and stuff like that during negotiations. Negotiations only lasted 2 days, and beginning Monday, rank and file will vote on the tentative contract. There are no raises for next school year, but next year the union has the right to reopen negotiations on that specific issue. If you're interested, here is the actual text of the tentative agreement.

Cincinnati-- Sue Taylor was elected President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, filling the vacancy left by Tom Mooney's passing. She is currently the President of the CFT (Cincinnati) and will remain as such until new officers are elected in April.

Pennsylvania

Pittsburg-- Pittsburg Education Association has declared impasse with their negotiations with the Pittsburg School board. One bee in their bonnet: the district increased their health care costs while in negotiations. That has never done before by the district.

Hempfield-- Hempfield Education Association will meet with a fact-finder on March 27th, as will the school board. The union narrowly averted a planned strike in February to agree to non-binding fact finding. The report should be back in the mail on April 2nd to the two groups.

York-- Central York Teachers and the school board ratified a new contract. The board President was quoted as saying ""An average increase of 5.38 percent is certainly not in line with what our taxpayers see. I do not believe it's our responsibility to keep up with the Joneses." Commentary: Yes it is. If you don't, your students' parents will up and move into the Joneses' school district, taking their funding with them.

Tennessee

Nashville-- Metro Nashville Education Association and the Metro Nashville School board have reached a one year contract agreement in a record one day. You may remember this district being the subject of a post of mine regarding the inanities of a briefly appointed (former) school board member.

Texas

Houston-- The current President of the Houston Federation of Teachers is being challenged for her job by an executive board member. This is most certainly direct fallout from the fiasco created by the merit pay program that the school board adopted earlier in the year. Allegations have been leveled against the President by the challenger, including the fact that the current President pays her son $4k per month as a retainer fee for legal services.

As The Snow Falls: Anchorage Agreement!

The teachers' union in Anchorage, Alaska reached a tentative agreement with the board that resulted in a 14% raise over the 4 year life of the contract. This teacher talks about their reaction, then digresses into knitting talk.

StrikeWatch: Update Plus a Retraction

Update: Practice Makes Perfect
The union that represents the Community College of Philadelphia is now officially on strike. You may recall in my NNU #4 I mentioned that they did a practice strike. Well, it's game time now. Classes at the 37,000 student college have been cancelled until further notice. The main sticking points....you guessed it, salary and health care. Go to the college's site and you can read their offers and memoranda. This Philadelphia Inquirer article is pretty good, too.


Retraction:
The Cornell Education Association in Pennsylvania was scheduled to go on strike 3/14. I erroneously reported that they did go on strike. In reality, both sides reached a tentative agreement on Monday evening, and both union and school board were supposed to ratify the agreement on Thursday Evening. I have not heard if it was ratified or not.

StrikeWatch! Update:

The Hayward Education Association in California has authorized a strike.

The Cornell Education Association in Pennsylvania was scheduled to go on strike today. I have seen no press reports saying anything supporting or denying it, so according to me, they're on strike.

Election Week in NYC!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the democratic process is alive an' well in NYC's teacher union, the United Federation of Teachers, also known as the UFT. This 60,000 plus strong teaching force has had a number of different caucuses, or teachers united around different platforms for many years. This week is election week, and the ballots have been mailed out; soo they will be mailed back in. Who will win?

The major players?

Unity. Current President Randi Weingarten's caucus. They've been in existence since 1962 and in power for quite some time, and she's running for reelection. A frequent criticism of Unity is that they are a monolithic organization that uses patronage to cultivate allegiances and loyalty at the expense of the rank and file.

New Action. Existing since the 60's, it is the second-longest current caucus in the UFT. It has endorsed Weingarten's incumbency and relection bid, refusing to run its own Presidential candidate. A frequent criticism of New Action is that they are a puppet organization beholden to the interests of Unity, without any real individual identity.

ICE. The Independent Community of Educators caucus has only been around since 2003, but it is running Kit Wainer for President. They've also linked with TJC to create a slate of candidates to counter Unity and New Action. A repeated criticism of ICE is their derogatory nickname on New Action and Unity sites, "I Complain Everytime".

TJC. Teachers for a Just Contract bills itself as the opposition and an alternative, and has existed in one form or another for over ten years making it the heir to New Action's opposition status. A criticism of TJC is that their name stands for "Teachers Just Complain", highlighting what opponents say is an ability to criticize but not to mobilize.

Disclaimer: This post isn't partisan. I'm not in NYC, nor do I belong to or support any particular caucus. I just wanted to show some differences between the major caucuses. I love all y'all New Yorkers. Keep on truckin'.

Strike Notice Given!

The Cornell Education Association in Cornell, PA has give notice their strike will begin on Wednesday, March 14th at 7 AM. Their negotiations are at impasse. I have made the changes on StrikeWatch!

As The Snow Falls: The Anchorage Saga

The arbitrator's report (PDF) came back earlier this week for the ongoing neogtiations impasse between the Anchorage Education Association and the Anchorage School District. In the beginning, both claimed that it backed up their side. It supported the administration's contention that there was not more money in the district finances to give the union the raises they wanted. It did show that the district was at the bottom of the pay scale in the region. The local NBC affiliate ran a story on it here and here. The arbitrator did say that teachers deserved more money, there is just none to be had. Here's another local affiliate's report.

The online poll was blocked by the district, after people notified administrators that teachers were using school computers to vote.

Recently, this Opinion piece popped up about what should be done.

In a completely unrelated matters, (well, sort of) you've got to read this great post by Ms. Cornelius over at A Shrewdness of Apes.

National Negotiations Update #5

This is the latest in the national negotiations update. There are currently no school districts on strike in the United States to my knowledge.

California

Everywhere-- Things still have not gotten better in California, so CFA (California Faculty Association) are beginning their strike vote on Monday. This article outlines the imapct on California Maritime Academy.

Glendale-- The school board is offering 7.58% and the teachers' union wants 12.64%. The difference is 10 million dollars.

Hayward-- Top administrators in the district recently scored a 16% raise. The teachers are being offered 3%. You do the math. The negotiations went into fact-finding this past Tuesday.

San Jose-- Berryessa teachers' union rallied at the board, and they're asking for a 8.73% COLA.

Whittier-- The School Board President said to the teachers "If you're not happy with this district then perhaps you should look elswhere" and then the teachers voted no on the board's contract offer. I think the two are completely unrelated.

Illinois

Chicago- The CTU contract is about to expire, and Ryan at CTSO has some opinions. Victor gets the inside info on the dope...or is it poop?

Round Lake-- Suburban round lake has come to an agreement with the school board after a 12 hour mediation session. This is the district mentioned in an earlier NNU where their salary schedule tops out at over $100,000. This article talks about the difficulties in the negotiation process as a result of the uniqueness of their union.

Iowa

Bettendorf-- Teachers want 15%, School Board offers 3%.

Michigan

East Lansing-- The students are so fed up with the contract impasse, they plan to stand out in front of the school 10 minutes after the last bell and wear black. The teachers have been working to the rule as a result of stalled negotiations with the board, and students feel their needs are not being met by either group. Standing out in front of the school wearing black 10 minutes after the bell rings sounds like me in high school.

Ohio

Zanesville-- Respect? Family? These are not the words used by opposite sides of the bargaining table during negotiations, but they are being used. The Zanesville Education Association and the school board may have a new contract ready to go (pending rank and file vote) four months before the old one expires.

Pennsylvania

Pittsburg-- Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow has put a bill in the hopper to ban teachers strikes in Pennsylvania, apparently the strike-happiest state in the union.

Don't touch my grades.

This is an interesting case in Stockton, California where a student failed a teachers' class, but the school board later changed the grade. The teachers' union has taken the school board to court over it, saying that that was not one of the criteria the school board could change the grade under and they need to change it back to an F.

Mathematically, the student failed the course. Student X did poorly on tests, didn't turn in enough of her homework and would have had to have earned a 101% on the final exam to get a passing grade for the year; she earned a 65% on that test. The student failed the course for the year, but the school board went back and changed the grade.

In California where this occured, state law says teachers determine final grades, but they can be changed "in cases of fraud, bad faith, incompetence or a clerical mistake". During the time the student was in Julie Abate's class, the union was involved in some heavy level negotiations with the school district. It got so bad that the teacher's union began to work to the rule.

For the unitiated, working to the rule is a job action, similar (but less severe than) a strike. It involves teachers doing the bare minium that the contract requires and nothing more. Typically, teachers walk in when their contract says walk in, and leave the building when their contract says leave. Extra curriculars are cancelled that aren't part of the contract (through chaperoning duties or extra pay) and typically the school becomes a ghost town as soon as the bell rings.

The board is saying that teacher Abate's grade was changed for student X due to the fact that she didn't grade a test in a timely fashion during work to the rule. The lawyer for the board has called it bad judgement, which somehow falls under the clerical mistake piece of things in the state law where a school board can change a student's grade. I would disagree with the lawyer's stance on this one, I think she's scrounging for an argument.

Some of you may be wondering why the union is spending dues money to defend a student's failing grade. It's quite simply, really-- the teacher did nothing wrong. If you're going to truly follow "work to the rule" you can't grade papers at home, and you have to find a few moments during your contract day to grade 'em, which is really, really hard. The teacher was excercising their right to participate in a collective bargaining action, and this needs to be supported.

Make no mistake about it, the case is not about whether a student passed or failed; it is about the rights of the Tracy Education Association to engage in a collective bargaining action and not face any retribution as a result. Clearly the school board seems to think that by participating in such an action, a teacher loses professional credibility and efficiency. As those of you know who have participated in job actions before, this is not the case. Shame on you, Tracy School Board. I hope the TEA win this case and the school board pays their legal bills.

On a side note, Marlborough Educator's Asssociation in Marlborough, Massachusetts have been working to the rule. Give 'em some support.

National Negotiations Update #4 (Week ending 3/2/07)

Welcome to the latest National Negotiations Update. Currently there aren't any districts on strike that I am aware of, but I have made some job action additions and corrections to StrikeWatch on the right. If you don't see your local on this list, please contact me at drhomeslice (at) hotmail. com .

Alaska

Anchorage- the Anchorage Education Association stormed the school board meeting. There were so many of them that the Anchorage police were called. An arbitrator's report is expected soon, and it will not be binding-- simply an opinion.

California

Bakersfield- The Bakersfield Union crashed the school board, protesting the transfer of a principal (go figure) and demanding a contract settlement. A mediator is supposed to come back March 7.

Campbell- Campbell Union High School District teachers are working to the rule, and have been for quite some time.

Everywhere- The California Faculty Association's executive board has agreed to put a vote to the rank and file on whether or not they want to begin job actions (which includes the possibility of a strike). This would occur on all of the campuses of California State University.

San Bernardino- Teachers at Big Bear Lake have been working under their expired 2005 contract. Negotiations are not going well.

San Mateo- San Mateo Union High School District isn't moving fast enough on their contract negotiations with their teachers, so teachers from three other school districts with them. You may remember this is the district that changed the amount of money they were taking out of the teachers' paychecks in the middle of negotiations. The union appealed to PERB and their complaint was upheld.

Santa Barbara- The teachers' union got a 3% raise retroactively through the 2008-2009 school year in the tentative contract agreement this past week. Coming to an agreement now prevented the district and union from having to endure fact finding with PERB.

Illinois

Elgin- Elgin Community College are picketing and will be meeting with a mediator. If the meeting doesn't work out, they will file a 10 day strike notice. It's the first time they've done that since 2001, the only strike in their local's history.

Dixon- The Dixon Education Association approved a 4 year contract. Lots of details here.

Indiana

South Bend- Cassopolis Schools Education Association ratified their contract, a two year deal retroactive to this school year. The most interesting part of the contract was the raise. Teachers will receive a 1% increase this year and a 2% increase next year. However, raising insurance rates will decrease the teachers' raise. Here's how: If insurance costs raise no more that 5%, the teachers' raise will not be affected. For each percent above 5% of an increase in health care costs, .1% will be subtracted from the teachers' raise. With health care rising each year in double digits (or very close to that) they will probably see at lease half a percent of the raise go to some insurer somewhere.

Massachusetts

Stoneham- For almost a year, the Stoneham Teachers' Association has been trying to get a new contract negotiated.

Michigan

Lansing- The school board unanimously approved the contract. Now we can put this sucker to bed. (See past NNU's for info on this local).

Northville- The Northville Education Association's contract expired in September of this past year, and negotiations have not been productive. The school district asked for fact finding, but it won't begin until the end of the school year (with one week left) in June. There's a great explanation of what fact-finding is attached to this article.

New Jersey

Pequannock-- Pequannock Township Education Association has asked for a mediator after the decision to hold contract negotiation sessions open to the public. They will not be broadcast over public television, but that is a later possibility.

Pennsylvania

Everywhere- The Bulletin follows the recent legislative attempts to outlaw teacher strikes.

Philadelphia- City College of Philadephia's union does a practice strike.

Coraopolis- The 65 member union rejected the latest Board contract offer and also approved strike authorization, though they have not set a date yet.

Rhode Island

Providence- As contracts expire between unions and school boards, at some point eventually they will be folded into a statewide teacher contract. Interesting. However, given the fact that Rhode Island is exactly half the size of my backyard, I wonder how many different unions will be affected? (My backyard's not that big, by the way.)

Vermont

Bellows Falls- The Windham Northeast Education Association is awaiting a fact-finding report that their school board can use to impose a contract on the union. The union has responded that if a contract is imposed upon them they have no option other than to strike.

Baldwin-Whitehall back at work an' other stuff...

Hey there!

Man, those Carnivals O' Education are a lot of fun to do, but they're work....though they're worth it. You wouldn't believe the amount of splogs (spam-blogs) that send you such useless crap that you're never going to post. Also too, people just send you stuff that has NOTHING to do with education. I also didn't get Hube's stuff in there, so public apology to you there Mr. Hube, over at Colossus of Rhodey.

Also, I was one of the guest posters over at the EIA (Mike Antonucci's blog) during his absence. I wrote about the sham that are online charter schools ugh. No, I didn't even use the word "union" in my post. What's that you say? You're calling me a sellout? No, I figured posting there about how unions are really great would be like going into the tobacco shop and telling all the customers that those cigarettes, cigars and pipes are going to kill 'em. So I gave 'em something else to think about it.

On to some other stuff...

Baldwin-Whitehall is done striking and back in the classroom, having been out for 7 days. The three issues of contention are supplemental contracts, health care (big surprise there) and teacher salaries. Both the union and the district didn't agree with the state fact-finder. More negotiations to come, I guess. This "think tank" blog has written about the strike, calling it "churlish". Hey man, just 'cause you're a think tank doesn't mean you HAVE TO use obscure, 50 cent vocabulary words in your post titles.

Boston's executive board endorsed the tentative contract and the rank and file will vote 3/14. The union has already been slapped with $120,000 in fines for refusing to stop considering a strike from the state labor board. The district offered a 14% raise and a 10-15% increase in healthcare costs. I think the membership will go for this one.