If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t written in a long time. I took on a new job and role in my district that focuses on technology in the classroom. I am considered a TOSA (teacher on special assignment). My job is to teach teachers and students how to utilize technology to meet the Common Core Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and college and career readiness. It isn’t that I don’t get incredulous anymore over how schools and teachers are perceived by our communities and nation, especially with our new Secretary of Education, but I find myself finding what I want to say already written. I never thought of myself as a unique voice, but one voice in many saying the same thing. I did think, though, that I might have a different perspective as a teacher and not a journalist or administrator. This gave a little pause to my step when I was planning on writing my next blog. I focused on my current responsibilities and started reading blogs on Edtech.
Today I was sitting at my computer answering emails regarding a new tentative agreement with our district for our 16/17 contract*, and I realized that teachers and community members might not be aware of how contracts work. It is weird to think that every year someone would sign a piece of paper putting them into a contract with a district and not know what that contract says… or how to read a contract. I was incredulous.
I think teachers need to know what is in their contract, but I also think our society doesn’t know what is in a teacher’s contract. Society has the misconception about teachers’ unions strong arming districts into crazy agreements that allow us to NOT teach and to keep our jobs. Teachers have a misconception that the contract gives them too many rights, or not enough, depending on the issue in which they are struggling currently. These issues could include: Too much time demands, not enough compensation for work required, too many students in the classroom, too much time required outside of the classroom, not enough planning time, not enough support, a capricious administrator, etc.
What is a contract? It seems like a silly question to me, but it is clear that not everyone is sure what it means for a teacher. A contract is an agreement between the district and the teacher about what responsibilities and time commitment the job will entail. It is structured into Articles that address parts of the job that not only talks about the teacher’s rights, but also the district’s rights. The contract allows removal of a teacher by the district, but it has to follow a due process that protects a teacher from an administrator that is being vindictive. It allows a teacher to take a leave of absence (which can be a good thing), but it protects the district from having someone who leaves just to ‘try out’ another district. The contract is full of gives and takes to make it have benefits for both sides. In the process of the writing and editing of the contract each year, both sides compromise and try to make it workable for both sides.
Each article can be read separately to answer specific questions that may come up while teaching. You can’t take one article's words and say that it applies to another article. For example:
Article 5 may talk about the amount of time you are to be on campus and teaching. Article 30 may talk about extra duties and how you are compensated for do those duties. A teacher can’t state that they didn’t show up to coach volleyball (article 30), because they weren’t required to be on campus (Article 5).
Or
Article 6 may talk about extra paid days added on the calendar for a certain TOY position. Article 15 talk about a different TOY position gets 5% salary increase. A teacher in the Article 6 TOY position can’t ask for the 5% salary increase, because their job has nothing to do with the Article 15 job.
Another confusing point with contract agreements is when your compensation does not really equate to an increase in take home pay, but another benefit. If you receive a lower class size, then that would be seen as a benefit that costs the district money, but not seen as a salary increase. Time is always equal to money, so less time required on the campus for trainings, but the same amount of money, would also be considered a pay increase. More time required on campus, with no salary increase, then it is considered a pay cut. So, if you have a new calendar that takes two days off, but changes nothing else, you have just received a pay increase. An increase in benefit is another way that the district can ‘give’ something to teachers in the contract if they don’t have money to give a raise, or to receive some language that benefits them in the contract.
Over the course of time those compensations can be in all forms of agreements in the contract. I saw ‘Waiting For Superman’, in it they talked about ‘teacher jail’. I would assume that there was a problem in the past with teachers being falsely accused of misbehavior or not doing their job teaching very well. These teachers could have been pushed out by an administrator that was being capricious. The contract was probably changed to give more due process for these teachers to determine if the charges were true or false. This would be considered a compensation benefit. In order to receive this compensation, the teachers would probably have to give up a raise, or give the district language in the contract that took away a teacher’s rights or benefit in another area. ‘Teacher Jail’ was presented as a waste of money by the district in the movie, but in fact was a teacher benefit placed in the contract. Remember that the district agreed to the contract and entered into the contract willingly with the teachers. They created the ‘Teacher Jail’ scenario and it was not solely the creation of some Union thugs. In fact, it was created to help protect teachers against capricious behavior that could have been solved by the district by removing bad administrators. (This is just a speculation though. We don’t have ‘teacher jail’ in my district and I am speculating on the reasons why it was created in the filmed district.)
When society wants to vilify teachers, they take the benefits that were given to us in our contract and say that it is unreasonable for teachers to have them. They don’t realize what was given to the district, our employer, so that we could have that benefit, or the salary that didn’t increase to receive that benefit. If the district is financially in trouble, teachers often give up benefits or even salary to make sure they can continue to work. The teachers did this in 2008 - 10, during the great recession. In return, when the district receives more money than the previous, we expect our salary or benefits to be increased by the percent of increase the district is now receiving.
*Yep we are working under last year’s contract still. It is really silly that we work all year under an old contract and just when we have an opportunity to finalize the current contract it is the next year and we are behind again. This should be a blog in the future. :)
