It's Time to Start Over

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Do your homework...":

The situation in this district has gone from bad to worse:

There is no leadership. Many teachers dress inappropriately. They wear flimsy tank-tops, jeans and flip-flops. They want to be considered professionals but no professional would ever dress that way for work. If the building is warm, dress lighter…but please, dress appropriately.

The leadership has also allowed faculty gripes to impact the children. Their protest pins should NEVER be allowed in any class picture. Where was the Principal when this happened? Teachers should NEVER be mentioning the contract situation to the students during class time. Children shouldn’t be listening to this. Even worse, the hallways lay bare because the teachers have refused to hang the children’s work in further protest. Children are being denied the self-esteem boost of seeing their work on display.

Surprisingly, they are seeking retroactive increases for “extra” work but are setting forth the bare minimum. And again, the administration is allowing it. Don’t waste my time mentioning neighboring districts. Plainview has declined significantly, still hasn’t caught up and the teachers had gotten raises through it all. And every pay increase carried an inherent pension increase with it. The PCT letter failed to mention how much extra those neighboring districts do, i.e. extra-help before and after school, intramurals and clubs as early as elementary school.

All around our district, probably in a number of places, a child’s parent or parents are losing their jobs, their pensions, their health insurance or maybe their home. They are having the infamous kitchen-table discussions about how times are tough but how they will stick together to get by. No Christmas presents, no trips, no eating out, no dance classes, no camps and no extras - just get through it. Add to that the news they overhear mentioning the bad economy and about how other families are struggling. It must be scary for those children. Then the next day the child walks through picket lines to get to class, listens to a teacher dressed in black talking about their contract pay increase demands and wearing large protest pins in their class pictures.

It tells me one thing. THEY DON’T CARE.

And now, that’s why I don’t care either. At first I was indifferent to their getting the 2% pay increases they were offered. But now, with their unprofessional behavior, I am against their getting any increase at all. ALL FACULTY PROTESTING ‘INSIDE’ THE SCHOOL SHOULD BE FIRED (including any administration that permits this to happen). If there was ever a time, this is it. The market is filled with very capable educators who would beg for the chance to teach in this district without complaint and for far less money. They would be happy to have the low-cost health insurance, a defined-benefit pension, dental coverage, vision coverage, sick-time, two-months off each year, family-leave even without the tenure the current teachers have.

Shame on the teachers for involving the children. Shame on the administration for their looking the other way. And shame on the PCT for extorting demands on a district that does not have the economic means to meet them.

The world has lost its civility. Kanye West, Congressmen yelling at the President, athletes threatening referees and now the teachers are doing the same. They have transferred their discontent to the wrong forum….they’ve brought it INTO the classroom. It’s inappropriate and it’s wrong.

Its time to start over. Fire them.