L.A. teachers union won't accept pay cuts, 'value-added' evaluations

[proud2BlibKansan]

The state's largest teachers union Wednesday fired an early salvo in contract negotiations, serving notice that it wouldn't accept pay cuts easily and that it won't consider linking teacher evaluations to student test scores in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The afternoon news conference, at union headquarters in Koreatown, was a familiar exercise in rallying the rank and file. But it also marked a renewed effort to lead the public debate over school reform, coming shortly after L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa labeled United Teachers Los Angeles the primary obstacle to improving schools.

The union "today is setting the record straight," said vice president Julie Washington, who heads the union's negotiating team and is running for president. "We are not the villains of education. We are the solution. We are dedicated and care about the children and the community. … We are going on the record pushing back."

more . . . http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1216-utla-contract-20101216,0,40204.story

[msanthrope]

1. "No part of teachers' evaluations should be based on their students' standardized test scores"

From your source--the union rejects any accountability based on student test scores.

Quelle surprise.


Luckily, the settlement outlined in this thread---


http://journals.democraticunderground.com/msanthrope

Goes forward, and will protect the most vulnerable and poorest schools from layoffs.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/12/judge-leaning-toward-approving-changes-in-teacher-seniority-rules-in-la-unified.html

[AlabamaLibrul]

5. Take this union bashing bulljive somewhere else, jack.

end of transmission

[Heywood J]

8. Because that wouldn't affect those teaching kids with learning disabilities,

kids with poor English skills, punks with attitude problems, etc. Those things never happen in Los Angeles or anywhere else.

[bemildred]

9. And rightly so. nt

[wtmusic]

2. LAUSD is digging their own grave. nt

[liskddksil]

4. more like the first step in saving the entire education system - fighting back!

[wtmusic]

7. It was their "fighting back" that got 5,000 teachers canned,

launched Green Dot, and gave wings to the entire charter school movement.

But if you have tenure I'm sure you think they're sent from heaven. And unions are incapable of greed.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Gabi Hayes]

19. Green Dot? yet another phony grassroots reform group?

concerning which was the matter of about $50K (mere peanuts, I know, in the, uh, 'Broad' scheme of things) in missing money, which got the hook for Steve Barr, but that's another story



here's something more to the immediate point, and typical of the socalled reform movement, who has just a terrible time in being honest about how they accomplish their goals, and just what those goals really are:

http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/uft-and-green-dot-schools-pragmatic.html

Green Dot claims that “98% of seniors graduate,” but this ignores the attrition rateprior to senior year. As has been documented with KIPP schools, the student attrition rate in charter schools can be high, giving a false sense of their effectiveness.


Potentially most disturbing is language in the contract regarding the assignability of the contract. By this is meant the ability to maintain union representation of teachers in the event of “corporate merger affiliation, change of affiliation, employer or transfer of employees.” While the contract calls for the participation of the union in this process, the ultimate power is held by the Board of Directors. And while the contract also states that the “current” contract shall remain in effect, it must be asked, what would happen should the contract expire: would a new corporate entity be able to walk away from the union? As I understand it, the Green Dot teachers in NY are employees of the corporation that runs the school and are not covered by the Taylor Law, which would enable them to continue working under the terms of an expired agreement. Should I be correct in my interpretation, the Board of Directors could essentially “run away” from the union at an opportune moment. This would likely be when the school has “scaled up” and can function as a franchise operation, which is the emerging model of corporate and foundation supported charter schools.



I raise this issue because of some of the powers behind Green Dot. While Steve Barr, founder of Rock the Vote, is the public face of Green Dot and is its spokesman, in fact the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Green Dot in NY is Jeffery T. Leeds. Mr. Leeds is the head of Leeds Equity, a private equity firm. These are firms that make their money by purchasing publicly-owned businesses, reconfiguring them, and then selling them back to the public, often after stripping away resources and enjoying hefty fees in the process. In Los Angeles, the COO is a former partner in Bain Capital, one of the most prominent private equity firms, and Mitt Romney’s corporate alma mater. Traditionally, private equity firms have taken public corporations private - in a process known as “strip and flip” – but we may be seeing these operators entering into the public sector and applying their model to privatize these schools, after getting the taxpayers to fund their start.

In additon, Leeds Equity is the owner of The Sexton Corporation, a supplier of contingent – read temporary- labor which “helps its clients reduce recruitment and labor costs.” It is also the owner of Datamark, which owns and does marketing for private, for-profit proprietary schools, which are consistently mired in scandals regarding their hard sell recruitment procedures. In fact, Leeds has partnered with disgraced former Massachusetts governor William Weld, whose reputation was tarred by his association with Decker College, a scam proprietary school that was forced to close for fraudulent and unethical practices. Rudy Giuliani is Chairman of the Board of Advisors of Leeds Weld Equity Partners.

for any other response, see post #5

[wtmusic]

21. All charters should work as well as Green Dot

unfortunately they don't, and the real problem is charters will ultimately suffer from no oversight, no standardization, and corruption. I don't believe Green Dot is there yet but one day they probably will be. As for LAUSD, the only problem you have to complain about now is that teachers' unions stand to lose some power. IMO it's long overdue.

I have yet to see a teacher on this board justify an annual termination rate of .02% or a cost of half a million dollars to fire a totally incompetent teacher, and in fact both are unjustifiable. That isn't the only problem in American education by a long shot, but it's a significant one. If teachers don't want to address it, it's going to get addressed for them, and probably in a manner that's less than optimal for everyone. Of course I'm referring to privatization.

As for your bombshell revelations, if I was to look into your own background I'm sure I could come up with something even less flimsy and more incriminating. These attempts at character assassination are akin to what the State Dept. is trying to pull on Julian Assange, who shares the character flaw of needing to make injustices public.

[Gabi Hayes]

24. yeah...so where did the $50K go, then, for starters?

why did he leave, if there was nothing untoward concerning this incident? nice try

AFA character assassination, your little rant regarding that is as irrelevant/disingenuous as everything else you contribute to the discussion


and as long as you're tossing out uncited statistics, where, exactly, is the inaccuracy in those I've cited?

it's well known that one of the biggest scams involving charters is how they separate the 'chaff' from the student body in order to obtain such 'sterling' graduation rates. are you disputing that?

or do you dispute the provenance of these wonderful 'grassroots' organizations?'

try as hard to obscure who's pulling the strings as they might, it's not that hard to follow the money, now, is it?

[wtmusic]

25. I won't waste my time disputing $50K

and I'm not disputing any of your statistics, they're entirely irrelevant. If you look at the leadership of any organization you'll find people who are associated with investment, and in general that's good experience to have on board. Trying to turn it into some kind of malicious conspiracy is silly.

I'm also not disputing that some charters cook the books to make themselves look better, or imply that Steve Barr is working for free out of his garage to make the world a better place, or that there's a money trail that will ultimately prove disastrous to education. On that we agree 100%.

Where we disagree is how it got to this point, which can be summed up in one word: GREED. Greed, like cancer, is equal opportunity - it afflicts corporations and it afflicts unions. In this case unions have their own greed to thank - but the real shame is they're pulling kids down with them.

[Gabi Hayes]

27. union greed??

oopsie...kinda let it slip out there, didn't you? thanks for letting us know where you really stand.

you're so out of touch with reality (nicest interp to put on your embarrassing 'gaffe,' anyway) that there's really no point at all in further engaging

get back in touch when you return from the Oort Cloud, or wherever else they slop around that anti-union argle bargle

[wtmusic]

29. No slip. Wake up and smell the coffee.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=24586&mesg_id=33625

[bemildred]

10. And good riddance too. nt

[bemildred]

11. You mean UTLA, right? nt

[wtmusic]

20. Yes, thanks for correction.

Best answer is probably both, now that LAUSD is taking corporate sponsorships.

Just HOW fast can American education go to hell in a handbasket?

[la la]

3. villaraigosa was

married to a teacher---notice, i said WAS married! he was a darling of CTA---not any longer, i'll bet!

i say---high 5 to UTLA.....

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I didn't know that

Interesting.

[Imajika]

12. Teachers unions represent teachers, not kids...

I respect the union for getting everything they can for their members, but the management (aka Government when it comes to public sector unions) should always have a somewhat adversarial relationship with the unions and not give away the store.

[Gabi Hayes]

14. yeah, because the unions, especially today, have the power to take the store.

don't they?

and guess what? as I was typing the post above, I got a robo call from my union, Ill Education Association, discussing the move in Springfield to take away, among other things:

TENURE and the RIGHT TO STRIKE. who needs those, right?

gee, we just want the whole store, don't we?

here's the message from the IEA:

At this time of year, it's understandable that hard-working education employees like yourselves would disengage from most things that aren't work/family-related to prepare for the holiday season.

It pains me to ask you to make this year different. Your involvement is needed. Here's why:

The current session of the Illinois General Assembly is due to end in early January. Normally, the outgoing legislature does no significant business after the fall veto session ends. However, this is not a normal legislative session.

House Speaker Michael Madigan last week created the House Special Committee on Education Reform. The committee will meet Dec. 16 and 17 at the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora.

The committee has an agenda of education reforms that could have a huge impact on public education. We have reason to suspect that it might act on those reforms and work to ram them through the legislative process, with little time for debate or study, during the first week of January.

The committee's tentative agenda calls for seeking input on proposed changes to:

* The dismissal process for teachers receiving multiple unsatisfactory ratings;

* The criteria for teacher layoffs;

* Tenure;

* The requirements for receiving a standard teaching certificate.

This agenda is identical to the agenda of Stand for Children (SFC), an education reform organization that moved into Illinois in September and pumped more than $600,000 into Illinois legislative races.

SFC, which is funded by some of the country's wealthiest people, has seen success in other states. In Colorado, SFC passed legislation that reformed tenure, teacher evaluation, principal evaluation, teacher placement and layoffs. It's clear to see the group is seeking very similar changes in Illinois.

This is a serious situation with potentially huge ramifications for current and future IEA members. I, and your other elected leaders, will advocate fiercely on behalf of all education employees and the students we serve. We cannot allow damaging change to be imposed upon us and our students.

And let's be clear: We will not tolerate any diminution of collective bargaining rights that are presented under the guise of education reform


Stand for Children, huh?

wonder who's behind them?

really makes me ill, all this 'for the children' propaganda, astroturfed the SAME way the TBagger movement has been

the money behind these scams is apparently an never-ending font, and they'll clearly stop at nothing to get what they want

"Stand for Children"

sounds a lot like the Clear Skies Initiative, doesn't it?

[Imajika]

17. You realize FDR disagreed with you right?

He entirely opposed the idea of public sector unions.

I don't go that far, but I do think we need to remember that they represent their dues paying members and not the public.

[Gabi Hayes]

18. he also interred the Japanese. what's your point?

he was wrong about a LOT of things


where do you draw the line between teachers having some sort of right/privilege (call it what you will) to bargain publicly, given the tenuous situation in which their employment situation exists nowadays

you make it sound as if they were professional athletes or something, more interested in feathering their own nests than in doing the job they chose: educating children

if they'd wanted to get rich, they'd surely have chosen another profession

it's hard to take what you say very seriously

that said, have you spent any time in a classroom?

I'm guessing the answer is no

if you have, I find it even more difficult to understand your position

[wtmusic]

22. I hope he only interred the dead ones

and you don't teach English. :D

[Gabi Hayes]

26. here you go, genius:

http://mlti.freerice.com/

do some good, for a change

take all the time you like. do a screenshot

then we can compare vocabulary skills any time you'd like

then..... spend some time in a classroom (have you ever?) before you continue standing up for Gates, Walton, Broad, Leeds, Bain, Romney, etal.

great company you keep

[wtmusic]

28. Cool...I just donated 10 grains of rice for correctly defining "denial"

:D

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. Actually, what's good for teachers is good for kids

And teachers, with the help of their unions, put the kids first.

[wtmusic]

23. Here is the fucking $266M building that CA kids built for their teachers

Above, the headquarters of the CA teachers pension fund, the 2nd biggest public pension fund in the country and the seventh biggest in the world.

Just how do the kiddies from South Central benefit from that wealth? Do they get to come and play in the lobby? :puke:

onedit: Looks just like the headquarters of a multinational corporation. It's quite the paradox that given the opportunity, labor turns into what it's fighting against.

[Starry Messenger]

15. k&r!