Here it is. Teachers want to be evaluated based on: 1. Showing up for work roughly 8 months a year 2. Seniority 3. A few drop-in visits a year by the principal.
The Chicago School Board wants to evaluate teachers based on their student’s test scores. If there are cut backs, they want to retain teachers based on performance, not seniority.
That’s it in a nutshell. True, the city can’t afford the raises offered. But, they will pay to end the strike.
Who is on the side of the kids? The teachers who want to continue producing unacceptable test scores and graduation rates? Or the school board that wants kids to get the best possible education provided by teachers who show results in test scores?
Either way, the teachers will lose. If the city folds, more charter schools will replace public schools. If the teachers fold, the poor performing teachers will go first. This could stop the growth of charter schools, but could weaken the union. Good teachers need union support less.
Stay tuned. Obama is getting pressure to step in and resolve this in favor of the unions. After all, the Teacher’s Union represents one of his biggest campaign contributors and a huge block of votes.
The kids were expected to be back in school on September 15. Mayor Emanuel will sue for an injunction to force the teachers to go back to work. He claims the remaining issues that keep the strike from being settled are illegal and the union can’t strike over these issues.
Look, the city is a billion in debt on their school budget. This, before the pay raises that have been granted. The test scores and graduation rates are some of the worst in the country. The money the union has gotten from the city in these negotiations will put the city further in debt.
When is too much, too much? When do the parents realize that the teachers are going too far? When do all Americans realize we are far down the list of test scores world-wide and need reform? Despite the fact that we have the highest educational cost per student in the world.
The teacher of the year was fired in Wisconsin a couple of years ago. She didn’t have seniority. Who gets paid $74,000 for eight months work without any goals or accountability?
