Unionized Teachers, So Vilified By the Right, Are the Heroes of Sandy Hook

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/labor/unionized-teachers-so-vilified-right-are-heroes-sandy-hook

Friday morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., teachers and school staff were the first first responders. Teachers got their students into bathrooms and closets, teachers kept their students calm, and some teachers lost their lives. Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach are described as having run toward the shooting as Adam Lanza forced his way into the school. First-grade teacher Victoria Soto was killed after hiding her students in a closet; fellow teachers Anne Marie Murphy and Lauren Rousseau and behavioral therapist Rachel D'Avino were also killed. But it wasn't just those who died who protected their students on Friday.

On this day, this was their job, to lock classrooms and cover windows and crowd children into bathrooms and closets and try to keep them from making noise. That's become part of the job of teaching, and they knew what to do. Not just the teachers —a custodian ran through the halls checking that classroom doors had been locked, and the entire school was alerted to the situation by a worker who turned on the intercom.

Kindergarten teacher Janet Vollmer read her students a story to keep them calm. But that had to mean keeping her own voice calm enough not to alarm them. How do you do that sheltered only by a locked classroom door and some bookcases?

Library clerk Maryann Jacob led students crawling across a floor to a storage space they could lock, then handed out paper and crayons.

[Skittles]

1. they had more courage than all NRA fuckwits combined

DAMN straight

[aandegoons]

2. They are heroes every day.

They are bigger heroes when the chips are down.

[KG]

3. heck, i don't even have to leave DU to see teachers vilified...

[xchrom]

4. +1

[Fumesucker]

6. +10

[obamanut2012]

8. this

[Pale Blue Dot]

14. Exactly what I was going to post.

The attack is coming from the left as well.

[JI7]

5. they risked their lives, even when they felt they couldn't do anything they at least

tried to make sure at least they can make the final moments of the kids live's as nice as can be under those circumstances like the teacher who wanted the kids to know they were loved.

[Throckmorton]

7. The murderer was home schooled in the last few years of High school

and as any good freeper knows, home schooling is far superior to public school run by Union Thugs.

Turned out a first class spree killer in this case, way to go.

[michigandem58]

9. Unionism had nothing to do with the heroism that day

Let's just let the heroes be heroes, union or not.

[Sancho]

15. I disagree with you...

My wife and I have taught for 35 years in three states (two non-union/public and private) and one state where there is a union/collective bargaining. Unions in schools are the primary reason for many of the workplace and staff development improvements. Union teachers are better teachers - and their beliefs and attitudes are different!

You can always specify individuals who differ, but the "non-union, TFA, data-driven, factory style teachers" that you find in nonunion schools (like some of our charter schools) are more often "zero tolerance" and less committed to the kids and social justice. Union teachers and union meetings and union contracts are more often focused on the best interest of the children, their school environment, and the kid's progress. Non-union schools have some good teachers, but the turn over among the non-represented teachers is higher; the commitment is to the test scores more than the kids; and the willingness to work with families is lower.

Because of those attitudes, union teachers are often the best teachers. It's a lie that you can't fire a "tenured teacher" (about 2500 a year in Florida are non-renewed), but the "tenure" contracts simply ensure due process and a real reason to fire a teacher. Finally, because of better pay, benefits and working conditions, the better teachers stay in the classroom in the career that they love. Without that contract, many of the best leave for other professions and are replaced by less motivated or qualified teachers.

In the long run, I've seen better faculty overall in the union represented schools.

The teachers who tried to protect their children would be heroes, but we'll never know if the overall recruitment, safety measures, and training would have been as good in a non-union school. I'd guess that school was better because of collective bargaining.

[Little Star]

16. +1

[xchrom]

18. +2

[Scuba]

10. I love this post ...

[xchrom]

11. !

[TahitiNut]

17. LOL!

[Apache Crew Chief 65]

12. Among the Valiant

Children stand on the shoulders of the valiant. Teachers illuminate courage on the first day of kindergarten. Our first heroes are our teachers who wipe away our fears and our tears when we first enter the class rooms of life journey to adulthood. Teachers are the gatekeepers of knowledge and love children without hesitation are willing to charge as shields for the safety of their children in their care as teachers. I pray our teachers receive everlasting affection of gratitude and love and kisses for they are truly among the valiant in America.

[judesedit]

13. God bless all of the teachers in this country. No easy task in any stretch of the imagination.

[Are_grits_groceries]

19. They do the unthinkable

without formal training. They run TOWARDS the sound of gunshots. Those women overrode the very human instinct to flee.

[xchrom]

20. +1