<p>In our association we are active supporters and participants in several student centered programs. One of the most prominent is Read Across America. </p>
<p>I can’t speak for teachers everywhere obviously. What I can tell you is that most of the teachers in my building and on many of the staffs in our system come early and stay late. We are readily available for extra help for our students. We also volunteer our time after regular hours to attend concerts, programs, games, sponsor clubs, etc. Do all teachers do this? Obviously not. The vast majority of the staff in our building does however.
We are also called upon regularly to write recommendations for college and for scholarships for our students. </p>
<p>Teaching is not a 9-5 job. It is very difficult, if not impossible to teach effectively if you try to treat it as such. </p>
<p>As for optional union membership laws vary from state to state. In Maryland it is not mandatory for teachers to be members of our loca associations. We do have a fair share agreement where non-members must pay a fraction of association dues. This is only fair. We negotiate their salaries and terms of employment and by law must in many cases provide them with representation in grievances even though they are not members.</p>
<p>Obviously parents are not the only problem. I apologize if I have created that impression. There are no easy solutions. At the same time I stand by an earlier post in which I said that in public education we do a pretty darn good job of educating students who want to get and education.</p>
<p>The obvious reason that our tertiary education is the best is because there is competition between all private and all public universities AND there is no teachers union… </p>
<p>That idiot Florida teacher spokesperson claimed that “competition isn’t for children” WHAT??? First of all, its the parents who would be making the decisions and COMPETITION is used at the PRESCHOOL level EVERYWHERE. So what’s her argument for THAT!!! These union hacks just mime whatever their union thugs tell them to say.</p>
<p>That New York Union leader should be ashamed of herself for making it so difficult for New York to fire child sex predators. There should be no “maze” of procedures to go thru to fire such a person.</p>
<p>Although I dislike teachers unions, I think most teachers try to do a good job. I also think that most local union hacks have no idea what the true agendas are of the NEA, CTA, etc.</p>
<p>The teachers union always claim that private/parochial schools only take the “cream of the crop”. BUT, when the late Cardinal O’Connor (then head of the NY archdiocese) offered to take the lowest income and lowest performing NY kids into his Catholic schools, the teachers union was silent!!! The teachers unions are just full of 'red herring" excuses.</p>
<p>i still have yet to see anyone who is pro-school choice explain to me how the money would work. How would this prevent all the poor kids from being at bad schools and all the rich kids from being at the good ones. How would you decide who goes to which school if only x spots are available and x+1000 people apply</p>
<p>ok, but how do you determine how much money each applicant has… do all students have the same amount of federal $s that come along with them? Can schools only receive that much money and not charge anymore? How will private schools work if they charge more… it means only rich can afford them.</p>
<p>This is what I’m asking about, how does the system work in terms of keeping the poor from going to poor schools</p>
<p>One way school choice is happening in CA is with public charter schools. In CA, public charter schools get the same amount/student the other schools in the district get. Obviously, these schools will be somewhat limited as to what they can offer, and will not be able to match what the most expensive private schools can offer. However, they can offer a better choice to the student whose neighborhood school is dismal. If these schools don’t offer something that parents and students feel is better, no one will choose to go there. Even if these schools cannot match what the most expensive private schools offer, some choice is better than no choice, IMO.</p>
<p>I think there will always be some schools that are only an option for those with $$$$ (with a few select scholarships targeted to those whom the school deems worthy). Even so, there must be a way to at least offer a decent school environment to everyone in this country who wants one.</p>
<p>northeastmom - I agree with you about school’s being slow to identify problems and even slower, and perhaps even less pointed, in fixing them. Since the changes in the IDEA regs - schools do not have to provide supportive or additional services to students unless they are “not making effective progress”, in other words, failing under the special education program. Who decides if they are failing - the school - how many students get Cs or Ds instead of becoming a school “failure”? Since each student receiving special education services costs the town and the school budget money, there is an inherent conflict present. Schools do not necessarily want to identify students who need more assistance. Schools in our area have cut back on the number of diagnostic tests they use to evaluate age appropriate development or grade appropriate achievement, which means that tests with huge norms or that do not tap into less obvious problems are used. Parents have had to resort to outside evaluations for support in challenging schools or they have tried to squeeze services out of the federal 504 plans/regs. All of this creates a long process for parents and the impacted students. From my experience in team meetings, many of the teachers do not understand some of the learning problems or syndromes/developmental issues they are asked to address - we really do expect a lot from our teachers. This year my son has 3 new teachers - bachelor’s degrees and no experience - how could they possible know much about the myriad of learning problems that present in the classroom.</p>
<p>reece: A choice system would give each child a certificate for equal dollars. There will be many good schools that would charge only that amount. There will be some schools that charge more. The bottom line is that the public schools would GET BETTER because they won’t want to lose students therefore those poor kids that anti choice people are (fakely) concerned about, will be able to go to better public schools or private school. THE POOR WIN with a choice system. The poor in the MILWAUKEE choice system WIN because the public schools HAD to improve and those who went elsewhere also won.</p>
<p>Jlauer, unions exist in higher education for faculty and graduate students. The most obvious difference between higher educatio and secondary is that no one is legally required to attend and universitaries, and universities, regardless of whether they are public or private, can expell students.</p>
<p>I actually have no real problem with school choice as long as it is kept within the realm of public schools. If a parent wants to send their child to a different public school and is willing to transport them then by all means they should be allowed to do so provided that the school has space and the student is willing/able to conform to expectations of behavior.</p>
<p>Vouchers for private education are a different matter. When private schools are willing to accept any and all students who wish to attend regardless of race, religion or gender; when they take children with IEP’s, and 504 plans; when they take children who speak little or no English; when they are subject to the same requirements and standards as public schools with regard to testing; when they are required to guarantee all students them same due process rights they have in public schools before expelling them; by all means vouchers would be an acceptable attempt at reform.</p>
<p>Wharfrat2: Excellent points, all (post #176). </p>
<p>However, some sort of system would still have to be in place for school choice (among public schools), to maintain any sort of diversity within those schools.</p>
<p>I will add that we had the benefit of experiencing both private and public schools. And our public magnet system is outstanding, far superior to any private school our kid ever attended–on all levels. Money is poured into the magnet system here, and the various programs and teachers, particularly in our magnet high school, was/is outstanding. This is the incentive for parents to send kids to inner-city magnet schools–they have fabulous programs, academics, and outstanding teachers, and the student population is truly diverse (both economically and racially). Students can choose to go to a magnet school, or stay in their neighborhood school.</p>
<p>hazmat: Actually, that may be the way magnets work in your school system, but not in our’s. There are numerous magnets within our system, for the elementary, middle, and high schools. And while they all have outstanding programs, they each maintain a particular emphasis, whether that be in the arts, science and technology, or languages (international), etc. And each neighborhood has a choice of a magnet school, or their neighborhood school, as I stated. You do have to apply for a magnet, but that simply means checking a box on a form. There is no testing involved. A student will always be given a magnet school. If the magnet is not the particular one you wanted, you can always appeal that. Usually, someone would appeal if–for instance–one magnet offers IB, and another does not; or one school offers a particular foreign language (like Japanese), and another does not. Appeals for a good reason are usually granted.</p>