Kitsap Education

Posts Tagged ‘Teachers unions’

Story highlights how dropping enrollment, union rules affects lives of teachers, students

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

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A story in the Tacoma News-Tribune recently highlighted a Tacoma Public Schools teacher who will be reassigned from his current position at Mount Tahoma for the next school year. It’s a good look into how seniority, enrollment and union rules drive how teachers do their jobs and where.

As layoffs loom locally, a critical eye questions the “seniority list” that determines how teachers’ ranks are thinned

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Layoffs of teachers in local school districts are almost surely coming in the next few months as the state budget is cut yet again. As in past years, the teachers “last hired” will be “first fired.” Blogger and teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron has written another interesting take on how that system might be changed. She proposes a multi-pronged approach to the evaluation of teachers, a more honest and deeper way to measure success. It’s an interesting approach and definitely something more substantial than slinging around blame for a troubled education system. Often I hear critics of public education just blame the teachers unions for all that is wrong. Like most things in life, it’s just not that easy. To her credit. Wolpert-Gawron doesn’t let teachers off the hook but her call to accountability is much more nuanced.

From her article:

And for the teachers out there, I have a message for you as well. We are blamed for the broken system because we are not making it a priority to speak out from the trenches. Society will listen to those with the loudest voices, and ours aren’t even yet heard at a whisper. Share what works in your classroom. Share the victories of your school with your community. Share your ideas about better teacher policies. We can no longer give our tacit permission for those few who are the weakest among us to dictate our reputation. If society is to respect our profession, as it deserves, we need to write our own stories.

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Tags: Teachers unions, teaching
Posted in Teachers unions, teaching | 4 Comments »

Posts Tagged ‘Teachers unions’

Story highlights how dropping enrollment, union rules affects lives of teachers, students

As layoffs loom locally, a critical eye questions the “seniority list” that determines how teachers’ ranks are thinned

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