Political Spending

Recently the Supreme Court ruled against a California public workers union that used money for political reasons.  The problem was they raised the dues rate to cover the commercials and ads against the special election that the governor at the time had to determine funding and cuts to public institutions.  The use of the money to benefit the union could be argued, and I would agree with it.  The problem is:  they didn’t give the right to members to opt. out of it, which I have a problem with too.  A lawsuit was filed against this union and taken all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The ruling stated that the union was wrong to use dues without notifying members and allow them to opt. out.  Then the court stated something that went over their ruling and stated that it was the opinion of the court that unions should have their members opt. in (not out) regarding any political spending.  I don’t believe that people should get something for nothing, but I agree that the union should have had a stipulation for members to opt. out of the political spending.   Because that is the right thing to do, all members feel like they have power in the union, and I know that making ends meet sometimes takes that $20 in your paycheck.  This added statement of opinion of getting all members to opt. in to a political fight seems as if that limits the organization from fighting something that comes up quickly.  Having members opt. out seems to be a better way because it allows more time for the members to be informed and action can happen at a faster rate. 

In the end, the proposals were defeated in the special election and the workers did not face the cuts that were proposed.  (On a side note: The special election cost the government 12 million to put on.  They could have paid a public worker like me 120 years on that amount.  Yet, they complain that they spend too much money on public workers?  This example sounds like they spend too much money trying not to pay public workers.)  While the court case was being pushed up the chain of courts, the union gave the money back to those members that were against the spending of their dues against the measures.  So, in the end the right thing was done, but it was too little too late.

Why do I bring up this?  This deals with a voice in politics.  There are only two voices in politics when it comes to money:  The workers and the Corporations.  OK…I am over-simplifying things to make my point; I know there are more factors than this.

Workers join together to fight for issues in which they believe.  These groups take care of an injured co-worker, protect those who are being harassed or falsely accused by superiors, fight for a living wage and health benefits to take care of their families, fight against outside powers that will minimalize their profession, fight against policies that will lay-off their members, and/or fight against policies that will worsen the work environment.  In the case of teacher unions:  Fight for the students in which we serve because contrary to popular belief we did not go through all that education and bashing for the ‘money’. In CA, a lot of these protections are found in a contract that is agreed on by both the workers and the management.  So, a contract should not be something unreasonable, but something that both sides compromise on to achieve a balance between workers’ rights and the bottom line.   I will talk about the attack on contracts later because that is a long blog in itself.

Corporations join together, or work alone because they have a total capital greater than all of the workers combined, to fight for issues in which they believe in too.  The bottom line is the biggest issue.  I don’t begrudge them for this thought process, because if I owned a corporation I would want it to be extremely profitable too.  The thing is:  The workers are the biggest cost to corporations.  So, if they can remove contract rights and/or remove unions they will have the biggest voice in politics.  Limiting ‘special interest groups’, such as teachers, will eliminate the voice behind having to pay for education/public services.  This also saves their bottom line, because they want keep as much money as they can and not pay taxes on it.   They will spend hundreds of millions on a CEO and an ad campaign against public workers, higher taxes, regulations, or a politician that will fight against these profit cutters.  (Once again:  If you think about how much they spend on a single person and ads, then you realize how much money they are saving on taxes, or the profits that they actually have.  You also realize that they can pay someone like me for 2,000 years on 200 million.  This includes all the extra costs in having an employee, because my salary is around 77,000 a year.)

Now if the Supreme Court’s opinions about opt. in, or even opt. out, is enforced in unions,  then why shouldn’t public corporations have to go their stock holders to have them opt. in/out of their political support?   I know how they will get around having to do this:  Give their CEO a bonus of 20 million and then they give it to the political campaign, but still… shouldn’t they have to tell their stock holders how they spend their money on attack ads against unions or for politicians and give them an opportunity to remove their profits from that expenditure?

Workers and Corporations need to share the voice in politics.  The corporations need to remind us that receiving profits and being successful are an important part of a healthy economy.  Workers need to remind us that they are the majority and deserve to be seen as more important than a bottom line, or that an extremely large profit is all going to a relative few at the top of the corporation structure.  To take away one of these voices would be detrimental to America.  We need to encourage debate and thinking, not create an environment that silences the opposition because they have less/more money.  The only way workers will be able to compete with the trillion dollars American corporations have right now in savings (seriously hire someone with that money, you could hire me for 10,000,000 years with that!) is to come together collectively with $20 each and a voice.  That is called a union and that is why I support them.

Public School - Flagship Enterprise

Here comes our flagship!   It is the best in the fleet!  Don’t look behind it though, because we are still using some of old beat-up ships too.  This analogy might seem a little silly when comparing it to education, but this is honestly what a lot of people do to make their point against or for public education. 

I have watched movies, TV programs, and newscasts regarding the ‘reform’ of public education.  Most of these describe a school in which public funds go to private organizations to create Public Charter schools.  They show students fully engaged in the education process:  Raising their hands, using technology, having group discussions, writing on paper, and listening intently to the teacher while they teach are all ways of showing in quick movie clip how the school is a ‘high’ achieving academic marvel.

Then they show clips of the local public school.  It is worn out and thrashed.  The kids are pushing their way from class to class.  The desks are in shambles.  It seriously looks like a nuclear disaster struck and the school is abandoned.  Finally they show concerned parents wanting to get into the awesome Charter school, but unfortunately too many people want to go there.  So, they have a lottery system that chooses who can attend.  They show parents and students crying when their number isn’t called, because they have to go back to their horrible public school. 

Maybe you have seen these exact same broadcasts? 

I have seen movies, TV programs, and newscasts celebrating the local schools.  Most of these describe a public school that has achieved great things.  Here are your average kids that create a program to help their community, or received a distinguished school award from the state.  They win a National Academic Decathlon, or their football team makes it to the National Finals.  They may surprisingly show students fully engaged in the education process:  Raising their hands, using technology, having group discussions, writing on paper, and listening intently to the teacher while they teach are all ways of showing in quick movie clip how the school is a ‘high’ achieving academic marvel.

In this paragraph, I should be describing how they then show low performing Charter schools…but unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be a balanced reporting when it comes to broadcasts.  You can read about them in a quick Google search: ‘Failing Charter Schools’  (Here is one article: http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/flagler/2012/07/16/failing-flagler-charter-school-may-expand.html ) 

Maybe you have seen these exact same broadcasts?

About a year ago, a new study found that Charter schools and Public schools are achieving at the same level academically.  It was reported on the mainstream Evening news too!   These results surprise me because most of the lowest scoring students, those who are special needs or EL, do not have services provided in most Charter Schools, so they can’t attend.  If you remove those students, give only students in which parents have to fill in an application to attend, and give the ability to remove a student if they are not following your program or a discipline problem, how could you do poorly?  It would seem that you have a pretty stacked deck to have a high achieving school.  The truth is:  Some schools are awesome, some are good, some are ok, and some are bad.  This is true regardless of Charter, or public.

 It should dawn on you as to what is being reported upon.  It is the flag ship.  It is the best of the best on both sides.  They are reporting on the newest and best and bringing it out for all to see.   I just don’t understand why the local public school is getting the bad rap?  It seems as if reform is just about closing down the public school for a charter school.  Why can’t it be about the dilapidated school that needs to be fixed up?  Why can’t it be about spending the money to make the public school look like the new charter built down the street?  Why can’t money be spent on making the Public schools like the all the best schools in the country?

How did we get to blaming the school and not doing anything about it, except punishing the school?  Everyone knows that if you believe something is bad, your actions start to reflect that belief and your children start acting the same way.  If you believe your local school is bad, maybe your actions and the actions of your children are not helping the problem, but making it worse.  It is time for a positive attitude toward education.  If we are positive, our children will be positive and our schools will change around us.   

Instead of putting forth our ‘flag ship schools’ maybe we should take a look at those who need help, or those who are just good and see how we can make them excellent.  Attitude toward the school is a big part of the change, like I mentioned above, but also a realization that every individual can take part in the improvement of the local public school.  Get your fingerprints and TB test, because those who take an interest in improving things have to go there to help.  Volunteer to SKYPE from work into a classroom, so that you can get students excited about learning a trade, or receive an education to become a professional like you.  Volunteer to help a school with an afterschool activity, like a Science Fair.  Instead of complaining about something you don’t like, get involved and change it.  Sometimes when you are involved in the making of something good, you realize that there are a lot of individuals that having been working hard at it for a long time and are relieved to find that others care too. 

NEA RA

I am in Washington, DC at the National Educators Association Representative Assembly.  Annually representatives from all across the country, about 10,000, come together and vote on the direction in which our association should take.  We vote using Robert’s Rule of Order on policies, political stances, expenditures and other budgetary concerns that the NEA will implement for next year.  It is a big responsibility and one that I take seriously as a representative from a school district with a lot of varying opinions and political thoughts.   Often I need to vote ‘no’ on something that personally I agree with, but I know would be a divisive issue for my teachers association. 

One of those issues we voted on last year:  The support of President Obama for re-election.  I know that my school district would not agree on the support of Obama and some would argue against the union’s constant support of the Democratic Party.   Plus, I wasn’t so keen about Obama’s stances on education with Race to the Top.   So, I voted against the support.  The vote was 63% in favor of the support. 

Now it is a year later.  Campaign mode is in full swing.  It seems as if every other sentence is pro-Obama and how awesome he is.  A member of the California caucus came up to the mike and yelled at everyone for supporting Obama and scolding the President of CTA for not remembering Race to the Top and other education stances that we were against.  Her statements, posture, and attitude made me think about my feelings toward our support of the President.  I had to conclude that her anger toward the President of CTA was wrong.  He was fulfilling the mandate set up by his membership to support Obama for re-election.  How can you be angry with an elected official that fulfills what the majority says they want you to do?  I would have done the same thing.

I have drawn that conclusion regarding the CTA president and NEA president, but what does that mean for me?  Part of the problem in any group is that they are not unified and so they are easily taken down and defeated.  The opponents of public education seem to have the same talking points and read off the same paper.  I don’t know if they actually agree with what they are saying, but they believe in the cause.  They know that if they say it and others say the same thing, it creates a reality that everyone starts to believe and talk about. 

 It means that I need to get onboard and talk about the good things that that Obama has done for our country.  The Federal Jobs Money saved a lot of teachers’ jobs.  He set aside funds for education.  He passed into law a bill that protects women’s pay and the Health Care reform will insure many families at my school that do not currently have health insurance.  It could be a lot worse.  Considering what I am hearing Romney say about education, it might be in the future.

That is what it means to be a part of something bigger than you.  At the World War II memorial, I was totally blown away once again by the sacrifices made by those who believed in the cause.  Those back home and those overseas fighting in battles that seemed hopeless, but they prevailed against the odds because they did it together.   I don’t know if they felt like rushing up the hill from the ocean and taking those guns on the hill, but they ran forward with one purpose to make it happen, willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.  Supporting Obama might not be the same thing, but saving public education sure feels like that sometimes.

http://dennis2delegates.com/uploads/files/x/000/080/68e/NEACandidateComparison060712.pdf?1339528790

Money Matters

   Are teachers greedy?  Sure.  In the same way every one else is: We want to make enough money to pay for the things we need and a little more so that we can get some of the things we want.  If we can make some savings so that we can buy some nice things, then that would be great.

   I take that back, we are not like everyone else.  Those who make a million in one year and complain about 180,000 in taxes taken out. (18%)  That is a lot of dough taken by the government, I know!  BUT in reality it will take over 10 years for me to make that 1 million that they made in one year.  That is before taxes.  So, after taxes they have 820,000...that will take over 8 years for me to make...if I keep my entire income and don't pay any taxes at all.  The sad thing is, most people in the category of making millions make multi-millions each year.  How can they understand what it is like to work 10 years to make 1 million dollars?  Yet, they are our politicians.  They claim to know me.  They claim to know my financial problems.

  They state that they want to 'save education'.  That they want to get rid of my union, so that real work can begin.  In reality, though, they cut my pay and pack my class room, because they have laid off tons of teachers (over 30,000 in CA).  They claim that the unions prevent job growth, but in reality, if you listen, they talk about getting rid of teachers that the union protects! That is not job growth that is fewer jobs.  I am not saying that bad teachers should stay in the profession, but I would probably lose my job in a non-union world, because I am more senior and make more money.  It makes more business sense to pay someone less to do my job, right?   My union protects me from that happening to me and my family. 

 I have worked as a teacher for 18 years, have 75+ units over my B.A., and have a M.A. So, I make more than most of my colleagues. Do you realize that it will take me 1,000 years to make a billion dollars? Hard to have sympathy for a billionaire that doesn't want to pay taxes to pay for more teachers and a better wage.   A beginning teacher will make 35,000 a year. It will take them 28 years to make 1 million dollars and 28,000 to make a billion at that wage. I don't think we can call teachers greedy and we definitely are not elitist.

What is an elitist?  Someone who thinks they know what my job is, but has no clue, because they made 10 years worth of my labor by investments in which they didn't have to wake up at 6 AM, go into a classroom that have students that throw chairs at you, cuss you out, stab other students with pencils, trip people and laugh, burp and belch during tests and quizzes, don't understand why they get in trouble, don't turn in any work, and don't care that they have a bearing on my status as a professional.

Next time you are watching the news or any TV, keep an ear out for talk about millions and billions.  Look at it though the lens of how many years of work it would take you to get to that much money.  Why are you begrudging teachers, or any working individual, the right to have a pay raise instead of a pay cut?    The sad thing is, teachers are not talking about pay raises, we just want to take home what we made 3 years ago. We want more teachers to help with the burden.  That is going to take money into education, but California is billions of dollars short....so maybe by next year it will take me 11 or 12 years to make a million.

Time for Testing

I have started giving the California Standard Test (CST) to my students.  I have gone through the standards in the past three weeks with my students and reviewed what I have taught them.  We shifted through our notes we have taken throughout the school year, turned to teach each other what we have learned, used our white boards to play games with the information, looked at released questions from previous CSTs, and made sure that every single standard was reviewed.  My students seemed to enjoy having less work to take home because we were reviewing and finding out that they actually knew a lot.  I believed that we were ready to do the best we could on these tests. It was time.

First day of testing:  (Reading and Language 75 minutes part 1) First student finishes in 20 minutes...how can you finish that quickly?  One student was still on #1 after 30 minutes. When I went over to tell them not to worry, but do the best they could, they started to tear up. (Their birthday is a few days away) Another student was still on #5 after an hour and when I went over to encourage them they started to fill in random answers (that's what it looked like).  9 students were not done in the 75 minutes and had to work through their lunch and 1 didn't finish until the end of lunch.  After lunch, I get news that the student that was in tears during the test was bullying another student and received detention.  While we were lining up to go home, that same student hits another student in my class that made the mistake of asking if they were OK. 

Second day of testing: (Reading and Language 75 minutes part 2)  The student that broke down yesterday is not here today...they will have to make up this section next week.  Seems to be going better.  First student finishes in 10 minutes... how can you finish that quickly?  The rest of the class is done in 60 minutes except for one student.  At the 75 minute mark, I tell the student they can have more time during lunch and they randomly fill in the last 20 bubbles so they can go to lunch.  At the end of the day, a couple students tell me they are going to the midnight showing of The Avengers.  How is that going to effect their testing?

Third day of testing: (Mathematics 65 minutes part 1)  Students finish the test quickly.  I think they are done with this testing thing.  We still have 3 more sections to take.  :|

Now...I bet you know what is on my mind.  They probably won't do well on these tests.  Either they didn't know or understand the questions and that is why they took so long, or they didn't care and blew through the test with guesses.  What could I have done differently?  I thought we were ready to go.  I had taught all of the standards in every subject, we practiced them, I assessed and retaught them, and then we went through 3 weeks of intensive review. 

Why do I feel like a failure?  Well, I have been told that these test tell me if I am doing a good job or not.  These tests are the most important factor in American Education.  These tests will tell if my students learned anything over the course of the year.  If they do poorly, then my school will be labeled a failure and lose funding.  The state will put us on a list of the top worst schools in the state.  There will be an article in the Los Angeles time with my name and how poorly my students did.  I will be labeled...the students will be labeled...the school will be labeled.... and all will point to public education and say, "Our public schools are failures".

No silver lining to this post.  I can't believe that my self-worth is wrapped up in a 11 year old who cares more for a movie than a 'boring' test, but it totally is.  This is the way it is for most teachers.

  
   

Parent/Teacher Conference

Recently there is a lot of hub-bub about a school across the valley from me that hasn't met their achievement goals in the last five years.  An outside group decided to come in and get the parents involved in changing the school to a charter.  The parents were outraged that the teachers were blocking this 'improvement' of the school.  The teacher's union started to work against this motion created by the parents.  That is all I know about it.  There is probably a lot more.  I do not know the circumstances behind the school...What were their goals and were they reasonable?  Were the parents involved in the school while it was not meeting its goals?  What were the teachers, the administration, and the students doing to meet the goals? 

Obviously, I have an opinion regarding this.  I could go on and on about the requirements to meet the goals set forth by our highly trained educators aka our politicians.  I could explain the difficulties of teaching in a culture that has already been labeled as a 'failure'.  There is something with greater impact for success than anything: Parents. 

In California education code it states that every school needs to have a School Site Council in which each school's teachers, parents, and principal get together to talk about how to reach the goals that they themselves set for the school.  They determine how the money at the school is spent and how that money is used to meet the goals they set in a school site plan.  The parents are a vital part of this council.  In fact, the parents are the ones that vote down my request for a SMART board and now an IPAD every year that I request one.  :)  Why do they vote me down?  Because it would only benefit my class and not the other 1,170 students at our school.  They instead have bought a writing program for our school, so that we can meet our writing goals that they set up in the site plan.  Every student now has a 6 trait writing textbook and can learn ONE program in each grade level, instead of each teacher having a different writing program.  This way I know what to expect when a student enters my room in regards to their writing skills.  I can use specific vocabulary that I know they understand and can relate to.  The council did this for the school.  Parents did this for the school. 

I could go on about the involved parents that have made a difference at Sundown.  They have read with the students, shown up to do field days, practiced math concepts, hung bulletin boards, prepared arts and crafts for colonial days, donated paper, bought cookie dough and other fundraisers, donated supplies, etc.  We have a PTO that gives teachers funding for field trips and supplies when the state is cutting our programs.  The parents make sure that we have a Science, Reading, and Math Family Nights, after school tutoring, Mathletes, Science Olympiad, Santa PJ Night, Movie Nights, etc.  This involvement is what makes the students do well.  I have noticed a trend.  The parents that volunteer and are involved are the parents with the best students.  They are better behaved and try harder. 

 My ultimate question regarding the school that did reach its goal...what did the parents do for five years as their students didn't pass the tests given by the state?  Did they get involved on the site council and make a difference?  I don't believe that a private company needs to take over a school.  I think parents need to take over a school. 

  

PS...For us Christians:  God wasn't taken out of schools.  Our impact was diminished (can’t say He left) when some of the Christians stopped being volunteers, or took their kids out of public schools.

Technology Blues

I just got back from an exciting three day conference on technology in the classroom. I do have a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Technology in the classroom, so I geeked out.  It is called the CUE (Computer Using Educator) conference in Palm Springs.  It had been about 8 years or so since I went the last time.   Something of note: Every teacher needs an IPad.  At least, that is what the conference is telling me.  Everywhere I looked there was the Apple emblem and most of the classes were about how to use your IPad in your classroom.  I do not have an IPad, so I felt a little like a third wheel on a date with the teachers with IPads. 

When I first started teaching, I remember Superintendent Dr. Bud Reams telling me that the school I was going to teach in would have a TV, VCR, and a set of computers.  I was so excited about the possibilities of teaching my students using these wonderful tools.  5 years later, I did have a TV, VCR, and a paper weight computer that was totally obsolete.  My district had tried to do things right and bought a bunch of computers from IBM (really IBM, not a clone because they thought clones would not work right), so they spent a bunch of money on these computers that said they were built for education.  These were hunks of junk from day one.  They were 486 (not even DX), ran dos and windows (not 3.1).  At the time Pentium just came out and Windows 3.1 Workgroups was the standard.  I created a 'boot disk' so that mine would actually work most of the time.

The politicians talk about our students being ready for the future, but they cut funding for schools to get the technology.  If the district has the money, they don’t really spend it getting new technology.  In the end, the technology has to be about 5 to 10 years old for the teachers to get it into their classrooms, without spending their own money or writing a grant from outside sources. 

So, who is going to buy me an IPad?  J

Back in the day

You know you have been doing something a long time when you make comments about how much better it was 'back in the day'.  Is it true that everything was better back 18 years ago when I started teaching?  It was definitely different, but I don't know about better.

Today at lunch, we were sitting around talking about the programs CCR and PQR. These programs were to keep schools accountable for their programs and spending of categorical money appropriately.  They were a pain.  We wrote long summaries, collected data and work, and filed a tremendous amount of paperwork to 'prove' that we were doing our jobs.  It was not fun.  The worst part of the whole system was that these files were huge and there wasn't anyone in the world that would go through them all and check the work.  Why did we go through the effort when no one would bother looking at these files?  We did it for the funding and politicians who tied strings to it.

Today we have NCLB that uses testing data to 'prove' that we are doing our job.  It definitely doesn't take as much work going through the results as those boxes of files we used to keep.  The problem is that a test is not an individual and neither is a bunch of files in boxes. 

True accountability is walking into my classroom and seeing the students and the skills and struggles that they face.  It has always been this way, but for some reason the people trying to hold schools accountable do not want to go to the classroom.  If you want to see how a school is doing, visit and get to know the children, parents, and educators at the school.  

 Get to know the student that is so anxious to leave for Spring break that they are day dreaming during instruction.  This is not just Spring fever; this student finally gets to travel to Colorado to see their father after a year.  Do you blame them?  Do you expect them to do well on Chapter 27?  Time moves on and the stories are infinite.

'Back in the day' we didn't have high stakes testing and NCLB....man those were the good old days!  Remember when George Runner came to Sundown 18 years ago when the school opened and waved at us.  He truly knows my students and can judge what I do in my classroom. :/

What Happened?

The more experience I get as a teacher the more incredulous I become about the misinformation, the culture, and the blame regarding public education.  A lot of fellow teachers get angry, but I find myself wondering, "How did it become like this?"

I remember when I first started teaching and the excitement I held in the prospect of getting my students excited about the unlimited possibilities in learning:  The questions and then the adventure in finding the answers;  The problem solving and the wonderment of how things work;  The discovery of finding new skills and interests.  

Now I wonder how I can push more things into my students brains, so that they can score well on a test.  It has become less about the adventure and more about the task of learning how to remember all of the details that I teach every day.  The students are being programed, not to think, but to regurgitate an answer or a process. 

Like most teachers, I agree that we need standards; I agree that we need to make sure that all students get the same opportunities; I even agree in assessment!  I just don't believe in punishment for a school, teacher, or student doesn't happen to get something like linear equations in fifth grade.  You know what?   The world doesn't end if a 10/11 year old doesn't learn each concept the week we have to teach it. 

You know what is more important?  A student who becomes a good citizen and learns responsibility.  This is something that cannot be seen on a test, or even on a report card, but it is something that will allow a student to be a successful American. 

 Question: Can a person be successful if they don't know slope and y-intercept?