Arkansas Blog

Excerpt from letter: Legislation needs to be enacted for parent's who send children to school with the idea its okay to disrespect teachers, classmates and administrators; send them with no supplies, no discipline and unprepared; who think school is a free babysitter and lunch provider!

I agree with some of the points in this letter, but --

We have enough trouble legislating respect for the flag of our country - how do you legislate respect for teachers, classmates and administrators, and should we do so if they do not act in a respectful manner toward you?

And the anonymous teacher should also investigate the rules concerning the use of an apostophre elsewhere in this letter.

This teacher must have been absent the day they taught you not to form plurals with apostrophe S.

In the 1996 PCSSD teachers strike, state courts declined to order teachers back to work. That case went all the way to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Federal Judge Susan Wright then ordered the teachers back to work, but that decision was later reversed by the 8th Circuit.

The union does nothing but protect the teachers who most need to be terminated. Teaching, just like any other profession, has its share of bad apples. Arkansas is a right to work state. No extra protection should be granted to teachers than any other professional in Arkansas.

Two quick thoughts:

1)The 96 PCSSD strike was settled mostly in the teachers' favor. Though the district administration did drag out the process by forcing the entire appeal of the issue to the 8th Circuit, the ruling handed down was that the job action did not violate the standing desegregation ruling (I suppose it inconvenienced children and parents indiscriminately) and that the teachers had a right to strike. This ruling, I believe, eventually led the way to a multi-year contract.

In some ways it also signaled the beginning of the agonizing death spiral we see the district in today.

For the LRSD school board to not know that precedent is not in their favor, is a frightening recipe for disaster. The high-handed quote that "They'll strike for a few days and then the court can order them back to work," smacks of an arrogance and foolhardiness that seems to take glee in the knowledge that teachers will be vilified if there is a strike, not because they would be wrong, but because they will be the most obvious target for the public ire over the interruption of service and the inconvenience to the parents. I suppose it's akin to the oil companies that seem to take no heed in the public anger over the price of gas because the wage slaves at the Quick-E-Mart are the ones being threatened by John Q.

I do not think that the CTA will roll over the way that the NLR teachers did if a decertification vote comes. I think there would be a massive, disruptive, and painful strike that would seriously damage the school year and the students' experience of their education.

2) I grow very weary of people who take delight in playing "gotcha" with teachers when they do speak out. To jump on the poster with both feet over a typographical error (or a grammatical one, if but only if he or she were intentional in the typing) and use this as a reason to disregard the post is asinine. If the teacher had not been identified as a teacher, the error would more than likely have gone un-remarked upon. We live in an "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" world where trying to untangle meaning is hard enough when it is "quasi-appropriate" (have you tried to decipher text messaging lately?); in this case the intent was clear.

I have no argument with a teachers' union nor do I have much of an argument with the teacher who wrote anonymously.
However, there are several grammatical errors in the letter which do jump out at a reader. Perhaps it was written hurriedly and not edited. Nevertheless I think the teacher needs to take a refresher English grammar course if only to recognize and correct errors students make when they complete writing assignments. (Several years ago, I saw a number of essays written by good students. Thank goodness I didn't see the bad ones. My heart might not have survived the shock.)

I grow very weary of people who take delight in playing "gotcha" with teachers when they do speak out. To jump on the poster with both feet over a typographical error (or a grammatical one, if but only if he or she were intentional in the typing) and use this as a reason to disregard the post is asinine. If the teacher had not been identified as a teacher, the error would more than likely have gone un-remarked upon.
Posted by: Cassandra on the Mountaintop
---

Cassandra-
I did not consider my comment playing "gotcha" or jumping on the teacher with both feet. It was just a curious observation about the lack of attention to the posting.

Maybe the writer was in a hurry or just a little excited . . .

Nor did I disregard the post as asinine as I stated that I agreed with some of the writer's points.

I will confess that I became skeptical of the skills of our teachers when, on the first day of Honors English many years ago, my teacher stated to the class . . . you don't got to do (something about the class assignment which became completely irrelevant after her comment . . .).

Shoot. Look at all the grammatical and spelling errors we make on here.

Take heart. Don't grow weary. All is forgiven.

It is obvious that Brooks wants to get rid of the union so he can go back to what existed for many years in school-the ability of the superintendent to fire people on a whim. At the risk of someone jumping on the symbolism-the term for this style of managment (or non-management) is "plantation-style management. Fire them if you don't like their shirt or shoe color. Give them another 25 cents an hour (or was that per bale).

The LRSD Board is into micromanaging which is NOT their job. Go and read the description of a School Board. They are to set the broad policy goals and direction of a district and hire a superintendent. They aren't doing the first and failed miserably at the second. Brroks was hired with the sole purpose of breaking the union.

Cancel the contract, take the strike, get rid of the older nmore experinced teachers (and remember that there is a large percentage of experienced teachers who could retire immediately) and hore the younger, less experienced ones and watch what is left of the districts reputation disappear. You have a lot of good teachers who are willing to work with the district management but it isn't going to happen if the conversation is one-sided.

Roy G. and some members of the LRSD Board do not know that there is an Arkansas Teacher Fair Dismissal Act Law. It would be wise for them and building administrators to read and digest the law. Maybe they would taste their harsh words, follow the law and
attempt to build bridges with employees. People who feel appreciated at their jobs work harder and have higher rates of attendance. No Child Left Behind is law! It is NOT the teachers and support staff's
fault. Let's all stop pointing fingers!

I once worked for the LRSD as a teacher when I was young . For a great deal of my professional life, I negotiated collective bargaining agreements representing management. I have run with both the hound and the foxes.

The CTA is not a pristine organization without faults but neither is the management of the LRSD. While I think that the CTA suffers from its affiliation with the NEA, the need for a collective bargaining arrangement is legitimate. I just wish it weren't so.

Teacher's have legitimate complaints against management and would not see them resolved if they didn't have this kind of representation. It is difficult for me to sympathize with them due to their affiliation with an organization, the NEA, that no longer represents the interests of education, the taxpayers who fund it or the students it purports to educate.

A DESPERATE SCHOOL DISTRICT
The leaderless Little Rock School District has all of a sudden realized how miserably it is failing its students. Its pathetic Board of Directors does not have a single clue as to what to do to address the real issues in the district--student achievement and discipline. They brought in Superintendent Roy Brooks hoping that he would be their saving grace. I wonder what he told them in those employment interviews. I suspect it was, "If you get rid of that teachers union, your problems will be solved." Already harboring such a notion somewhere deep in their subconscious, because they had not the vaguest notion of anything else to do, these gullible souls took the bait - hook, line and sinker. Miracle Worker! Sounds like a winner! And he was, and immediately upon hearing Katherine Wright Knight, President of the Teachers Union, use the statement, "The Little Rock School District can become the highest performing urban school district in America," he began taunting it everywhere he went. I am still looking, listening, and anticipating some real concrete steps the district is planning to implement that will have some true impact on student achievement. (Perhaps he should have asked Katherine for some suggestions to achieve this goal.)

The Walton Foundation and Walter Hussman planted the notion of Merit Pay in the minds of some of the upper level administration. Advocates were resolute in their efforts to have the staff and the community believe this to be the true mechanism for improving teaching and learning. Of course much time and energy was wasted on that issue until the teachers, the group who really understands what promotes student learning, actied in a decisive manner with a "NO" vote on the matter. Even the naive Board wouldn't touch this one so they placed it back in the hands of the teachers. Of course this administration would like to punish teachers for their vote. Insignificant, unrelated issues, one after the other, have surfaced. Most recently the issues have been: "the Tone of the Present Negotiations;" "Tying the hands of building level managers on the number of meetings they can call during the school day;" and the "Mighty Edline system of posting a specific number of grades for students on the web each week," What does any one of these or all of them collectively have to do with improving instruction and student learning? Even with a stretch of the imagination, one would be hard pressed to make a connection.

The pychologists tell us that human beings embrace failure in a number of ways. The most common approach is to play the 'blame game.' It is diffficult for us to look within ourselves, recognize and accept our own short comings. The Little Rock School Board needs to do some serious self-searching! The union is not responsible for its lack of creative and intuitive leadership. It has not been able to initiate one single suggestion, principle, or practice that will address the real issues and problems of the district WITH the teachers union in place. Will these same individuals suddenly become wiser and effective problem-solvers WITHOUT the union? You know the answer! Franknly, it is time for all of them to step down, resign their positions and ask Dr. Brooks to do the same.

The District needs to move on with the matter of educating the students of this city. Further, the unprofessional behaviors of some of the members warrant such action. When any public official shows so much disdain for the discussion of major issues of the organization he represents that he walks out of a meeting, it certainly is time for resignation. Using one's position and public meetings as venues to embarrass others and as one's sole means of self-identity constitute stil another reason why one should remove himself from public office.

As I read Saturday's news article (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette) about Friday night's Board Retreat where Board members discussed strategies for decertifying the union, I noticed that Dr. Brooks was careful to avoid the use of the term "decertify" in his statements. Apparently there was lots of dialogue about what would happen if such a vote were taken. This is another glaring example of how this Board is preoccupied with the union, not with the real issues. It appears to me a retreat would have provided an excellent opportunity for the board to deal with substantive policy issues such as teacher training, teacher resources, teacher and student time on task, student behavior, learning enviornments and atmosphere, and parental involvement that would directly impact student learning.

It is time for the citizens of Little Rock to speak! We as citizens need to demand that the board start dealing with the true issues or remove themselves. The issue is: 'making sure the students in the district are learning!' The union does not prevent student learing. If one were to take the time to read the union contract, he would find that most of the provisions it contains facilitate student learning. Let's wake up! The clock is ticking. Go ahead and dismiss all of those incompetent teachers you have in the classrooms. (Incidentally, the union does not prevent such action, it only monitors procedural practices.) Employ some more, if you can find them, who are less competent than the ones you already have! More people don't flock to jobs that pay peanuts with the curent cost of living and where they have to work twenty-four/seven. You might get a few who did not want to teach in the first place and sought greener pastures in industry or elsewhere, only to find out recently that the pastures were turning very brown. Now teaching looks pretty good for them!

It is time for the Little Rock School Board to wise up!

Lou Ethel Nauden

Merit pay is a club wielded by those whom a meritocracy would have no use. If Americans love kids so much why do they put up with pandering politicians? Do you pay teachers so little because kids don't matter? Try paying children bonuses if they do well. Try pay forfeiture for Principals & Superintendents who's students do poorly. Why is it that the executives making the bucks are never held accountable? Even if the parents choose to deceive themselves over cause & effect, do they think their children are as corrupt as they are?

"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices -- to be found in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own -- for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone." Rod Serling

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