Teacher unions and strikes

bel83 - 2009-09-03 3:27 PM Keep in mind the most recent strike in Kent is revolving around Class sizes being to big and the district having too many meetings for the teachers so they are not able to provide individual help to students before and after class. !

GomesBolt - 2009-09-03 12:37 PM

The bold says it all.  Any organization that has too many meetings is bound for some trouble. 

I don't know anything about teacher's unions in Wash, but my MIL complains regularly about her teacher's union in Missou because she says all the little, rural district teachers pay-in at higher percentages but get paid less and get pushed-around by the unions from St Louis and KC.  In other words, standard union problems...

Question I ask (that I think you're getting to) is doesn't a Teacher's Union lose the "moral high-ground" when they strike and school gets canceled so students don't learn instead of teaching and working through the horribly bureaucratic State Education System to get changes?

Interesting. eta: but I have no idea what the answer is...

GomesBolt - 2009-09-03 12:37 PM

The bold says it all.  Any organization that has too many meetings is bound for some trouble. 

I don't know anything about teacher's unions in Wash, but my MIL complains regularly about her teacher's union in Missou because she says all the little, rural district teachers pay-in at higher percentages but get paid less and get pushed-around by the unions from St Louis and KC.  In other words, standard union problems...

Question I ask (that I think you're getting to) is doesn't a Teacher's Union lose the "moral high-ground" when they strike and school gets canceled so students don't learn instead of teaching and working through the horribly bureaucratic State Education System to get changes?

Interesting. eta: but I have no idea what the answer is...

yosly - 2009-09-03 11:21 PM

Off-topic, but I just wanted to ask if your MIL works at Mizzou, as in the University of Missouri in Columbia?  I went there.  

triOK - 2009-09-04 8:31 AM I am not a fan of unions by any means, but teachers unions are definitely beneficial. My mom is an 8th grade science teacher in Albuquerque. She had a lot of trouble with the prinicipal at the school refusing to discipline the kids. She sends them to the office when they misbehave and the prinicipal sends them back to her class. She had a kid use a bunsen burner to heat up a pair of metal scissors then burn another student with them. She had security escort the student to the office and within 15 minutes the little craphead was back in her classroom unscathed. She ended up getting written up for the incident because the victim's mother complained. There was another incident in her classroom where a kid on anti-psychotics medication had forgotten to take his pill that morning. Not knowing this, my mom busted him for being disruptful and sent him to the hallway to wait for her so that she could have a talk with him. He ended up taking off. He went outside the building and started banging on the windows, throwing rocks and screaming. Mom called security and they told she was going to have to wait. 45 minutes and 4 phone calls to security, my mom finally gets a hold of the kids mother who immediately apologizes for her son and informs them he didn't take his medication. She comes to get him an hour later. The next day my mom is called to the office and written up by the principal for her failure to "control her classroom." Its not a teachers job to discipline the kids. They are there to teach. They have an obligation to keep their classrooms orderly and functional, but if a student decides he wants act up, its the administrations job to step in, back up their teachers, and keep the kids in line. Its seems that the school administrations are really slacking in this regard.

triOK - 2009-09-04 11:31 AM I am not a fan of unions by any means, but teachers unions are definitely beneficial. My mom is an 8th grade science teacher in Albuquerque. She had a lot of trouble with the prinicipal at the school refusing to discipline the kids. She sends them to the office when they misbehave and the prinicipal sends them back to her class. She had a kid use a bunsen burner to heat up a pair of metal scissors then burn another student with them. She had security escort the student to the office and within 15 minutes the little craphead was back in her classroom unscathed. She ended up getting written up for the incident because the victim's mother complained. There was another incident in her classroom where a kid on anti-psychotics medication had forgotten to take his pill that morning. Not knowing this, my mom busted him for being disruptful and sent him to the hallway to wait for her so that she could have a talk with him. He ended up taking off. He went outside the building and started banging on the windows, throwing rocks and screaming. Mom called security and they told she was going to have to wait. 45 minutes and 4 phone calls to security, my mom finally gets a hold of the kids mother who immediately apologizes for her son and informs them he didn't take his medication. She comes to get him an hour later. The next day my mom is called to the office and written up by the principal for her failure to "control her classroom." Its not a teachers job to discipline the kids. They are there to teach. They have an obligation to keep their classrooms orderly and functional, but if a student decides he wants act up, its the administrations job to step in, back up their teachers, and keep the kids in line. Its seems that the school administrations are really slacking in this regard.

GomesBolt - 2009-09-03 3:37 PM

The bold says it all.  Any organization that has too many meetings is bound for some trouble.
.

crazyyella - 2009-09-04 10:04 AM



YESSSSSSSS!!!! You'd be surprised how many administrators want to be the students friend.  They are soooooooooo weak on discipline and then just blame the teachers. 

uclamatt2007 - 2009-09-04 1:03 PM Here is my issue with the situation. There is only so much money to go around. We are in a recession and the tax base is way down. Where exactly is the additional money going to come from? When I have a reduction in my income, everything gets cut back. I realize that education is important, but when there isn't enough money, there are going to have to be some cuts, which is going to lead to larger classrooms. Where exactly is the money supposed to come from?

Afletcher - 2009-09-04 6:35 PM The three positions that should NEVER be cut are Police, Fire, and Teachers.  Otherwise, you have criminals, people lighting stuff on fire and ignorant people (who reproduce to create more ignorant people who need to be educated).  Never cut those three.

triOK - 2009-09-04 8:31 AM I am not a fan of unions by any means, but teachers unions are definitely beneficial. My mom is an 8th grade science teacher in Albuquerque. She had a lot of trouble with the prinicipal at the school refusing to discipline the kids. She sends them to the office when they misbehave and the prinicipal sends them back to her class. She had a kid use a bunsen burner to heat up a pair of metal scissors then burn another student with them. She had security escort the student to the office and within 15 minutes the little craphead was back in her classroom unscathed. She ended up getting written up for the incident because the victim's mother complained. There was another incident in her classroom where a kid on anti-psychotics medication had forgotten to take his pill that morning. Not knowing this, my mom busted him for being disruptful and sent him to the hallway to wait for her so that she could have a talk with him. He ended up taking off. He went outside the building and started banging on the windows, throwing rocks and screaming. Mom called security and they told she was going to have to wait. 45 minutes and 4 phone calls to security, my mom finally gets a hold of the kids mother who immediately apologizes for her son and informs them he didn't take his medication. She comes to get him an hour later. The next day my mom is called to the office and written up by the principal for her failure to "control her classroom." Its not a teachers job to discipline the kids. They are there to teach. They have an obligation to keep their classrooms orderly and functional, but if a student decides he wants act up, its the administrations job to step in, back up their teachers, and keep the kids in line. Its seems that the school administrations are really slacking in this regard.