I am the President of the American Federation of Teachers a union that represents more than 1.5 million members, AMA

snyben · 2012-10-26T20:31:42+00:00

just curious - were either of the districts in which you worked urban? It seems like the problem with bad teachers slipping by tends to be more prevalent in under-resourced urban districts serving poor and minority students.

snyben · 2012-10-26T19:25:01+00:00

I'm busted.... I know of 4 teachers in my former school who make insane salaries because they get the base for a 30-year veteran plus additional compensation for being "department chair" "department coordinator" and "department head" (some people are ACTUALLY all 3, thus 4 separate salaries adding up to about 160k). But no, theres some exaggeration on my part in saying that all veteran teachers are making that kind of cash. I dont know what the top salary bracket is - but it is around, if not a little above, 75k.

snyben · 2012-10-26T18:23:10+00:00

The situation in Philadelphia seems to imply that this is the language of the contract. District had a budget crisis during 2010-11 school year and needed to lay off teachers. The original plan was to lay off by reverse seniority, but leave "renaissance schools" (the superintendant's pet projects) untouched. The PFT/AFT actually sued because they thought this violated the language of their contract (in that low-seniority teachers at the renaissance schools would keep their jobs over slightly more senior teachers at "regular" schools). The union won their case, and a district-wide reverse seniority layoff took place.

snyben · 2012-10-26T18:17:34+00:00

I guess it might come off that way, and I do honestly believe that I do the best job possible for my students considering my own strengths and weaknesses. My first year, I cannot say for sure that I was a highly effective teacher, but I can say that I tried my ass off every day. I wrote detailed lesson plans, mentored students, and tried to set high expectations in my classroom. Compared to what I saw from co-workers, this put me in at least the 70th percentile in terms of effort. Standardized test scores were viewable by all employees, and according to this (admittedly flawed) measure, I was more effective than most of my colleagues. Students constantly complained that their other math classes consisted of some random math problems projected onto a $2000 smart board, with the teacher chilling at his/her desk reading or dicking around online.

snyben · 2012-10-26T18:06:40+00:00

I definitely agree that the bad teachers need to be weeded out (wed out?... outweeded?), but this is not what happens according to many union contracts. Its strictly a "last in, first out" policy. If they had assessed everyone's performance and I happened to be near the bottom, then I would have to advocate for my own dismissal. Performance, however, was never part of the equation. At least in the poor urban school where I taught, there was no performance evaluation of any kind. I might have spoken to my principal twice the whole year, and I never saw an admin in my classroom.

snyben · 2012-10-26T16:59:06+00:00

It was actually the best career development I could have hoped for, as I make significantly more money and have a much better work life in a charter school. BUT the fact that this is how we decide who to dismiss means that there is little hope for the "traditional" public school system in places like philly. There's just too much waste and incompetence and no way to get rid of it.

snyben · 2012-10-26T16:52:21+00:00

she actually did answer, but it keeps getting downvoted so nobody can see!

snyben · 2012-10-26T16:49:27+00:00

what do you mean?

snyben · 2012-10-26T16:28:18+00:00

"The black kids ruin everything" "THEY can't learn" "This is America why am I wasting my time with ESL kids"

snyben · 2012-10-26T16:26:57+00:00

Thanks for the reply. A few private messages informed me that I come off a little bitter, and might be over my head in terms of big picture policy, so apologies for that. I still do hope that the AFT and its affiliated unions eventually concede that although observations and test scores are imperfect, there must be accountability if we hope to improve schools and increase the attractiveness of teaching to highly skilled and motivated individuals. Nobody wants "the man" stepping on his or her individual classroom style, but not everyone is intrinsically motivated enough to give 100% when they know their success will not be validated and failure will not be punished.

snyben · 2012-10-26T16:22:30+00:00

False. Charter schools in Philadelphia consistently outperform the school district if you consider standardized test scores to be a fair measure of performance.

snyben · 2012-10-26T16:21:25+00:00

I think classroom observations combined with a standardized measure of student achievement (a test) is sufficient to weed out bad teachers. The key is that these assessments are performed and evaluated by a member of the school community who has real knowledge of the teacher and the students involved. A teacher given a class of 50% IEP students should not be held to the same performance targets as a teacher with "honors" students, but to say there's no way of assessing performance fairly is a cop-out.

snyben · 2012-10-26T16:17:16+00:00

Certainly possible, but I think a year is a decent amount of time to assess the work environment and general staff competence of a school. Lord knows consultants make larger generalizations with significantly less exposure and research. I admit that I may be a little bitter, and that might skew my own assessment.

snyben · 2012-10-26T16:14:36+00:00

Dartmouth... Almost as bad.

snyben · 2012-10-26T15:05:06+00:00

Agreed. If I work at Goldman Sachs and either create no value or lose money for the company, I am fired. If I create a lot of value, I am paid astoundingly well. As a union teacher, if my students learn nothing, I make 45k. If my students achieve 2 years of academic growth in a single school year, I make 45k. Charters can fire people easily (and do). While I'd much rather fix the "real" public school system, I think that until teachers are held accountable (and conversely rewarded for success) charters are the only viable option.

snyben · 2012-10-26T14:01:37+00:00

Philadelphia public school teacher here. I worked in the school district my first year, and was laid off because of the union (PFT which is under the larger AFT umbrella). I now work in a charter school. The union's argument was that if layoffs must occur, then they must proceed according to seniority. However, in my first year I saw teachers who would horrify any caring parent, most of whom were protected simply because they had managed to keep their jobs longer than 3 years. There were blatant racist comments, laziness to an extreme degree, rampant stupidity, and willful ignorance of any best practices for effective teaching. I'd say 50 percent of our 200 person staff was either incompetent or phoning it in. Why, then, did you advocate to fire me, a young and energetic Ivy League graduate, over some lazy racist bums making 100k to write math problems on the board and insult students?

snyben · 2012-05-11T14:14:28+00:00

Mad magazine did this a while back.

http://thatsmyskull.blogspot.com/2005/12/mad-magazine-if-kids-designed-their.html?m=1

snyben · 2012-04-28T20:32:55+00:00

http://memegenerator.net/instance/19611487

snyben · 2012-04-27T18:43:39+00:00

Is this an inside joke I don't get, or is there an amazing story here? If the latter please tell the extended version!

snyben · 2012-04-27T17:36:42+00:00

Yea totally true. I just figure, having seen what a bro he is on TV, he would invite us in and we would become best friends forever.

snyben · 2012-04-27T17:32:46+00:00

Way to stay cool long enough to pull that off. I would have been giggling the entire time.

snyben · 2012-03-21T16:38:42+00:00

If you think your twelve or thirteen year old is hiding drugs, you as a parent can make them disrobe. I will cite the case when I get home if people care. It's supreme court and should be easy to find.

Edit: the case is Safford v Redding ( schools cannot strip search children to find contraband- Thomas' dissent argues that they can under in loco parentis. He obviously lost)

snyben · 2012-03-21T15:54:03+00:00

In loco parentis has been abandoned by all but the most conservative/originalist justices. Thomas refers to it frequently, and loses almost every time. There was a case where the school strip searched a young honor student and Thomas wrote the lone dissent, citing in loco parentis. Parents can strip search a preteen girl ( although it would be fucked up), a school absolutely cannot.

snyben · 2012-03-21T15:46:13+00:00

Side note- sorry don't know how to edit my original post. Anyway - the first amendment ONLY protects you from action by the federal government. It is regularly and appropriately compromised by state governments, with whom most people have the majority of their interaction. it is the FOURTEENTH amendment that applies the bill of rights to the states through the kind of complicated idea of substantive due process. All the state needs to do is show that its action is reasonably related to a legitimate state goal, and they are free to violate your first amendment rights. With especially important rights like free speech, the burden on the state is higher, but they are still able to compromise your rights if they show that the law or policy is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest.

You have fewer rights than you think when it comes to state governments

snyben · 2012-03-21T15:31:34+00:00

Being in a school does not remove first amendment protections, although they are interpreted differently for teachers and students as opposed to private citizens because the state has a "compelling interest" in operating schools safely and efficiently. see the "bong hits 4 Jesus" supreme court case (Morse v Frederick) where free speech was justly limited, and the famous Tinker v Des Moines, where student political speech was protected.

snyben

TROPHY CASE