Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What to Do About a Teacher with Unprofessional Beh...":
How about a new post for this one?
Whatever you want to say about
the teachers' union, Mr. Rosenfeld is the only person who regularly
reads this blog and posts un-anonymously. He might disagree but at least
he is willing to listen to what parents have to say. We might not be
happy with every teacher our child has, maybe not even with the union
for some things but nobody can deny Mr. Rosenfeld at least has the
decency to reach out and consider our feelings. Wouldn't it be nice if
board members and administrators did the same?
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Well said!
ReplyDelete"What ever you want to say" it would have been nice if Mr. Rosenfeld reached out to the community when he had his members picketing for more money. Are you kidding? Yes he does look at the blog. But the bottom line that his number one priority is to continue to raise the salaries and benefits regardless of the impact on the skyrocketing school taxes.unlike other school districts on long island there few signs of a joint effort to combat the problem of the school budget that is out of control by either the schoolbooard or the PCT
ReplyDeleteYet he is the only one mentioned that takes the time to read this blog. You have give him credit for that.
ReplyDeleteI plead guilty to working hard to improve the salary and benefits of the teachers, clerical employees, substitute teachers and public library workers. That is a significant part of my job. I would also point out that there has been no more ardent advocate for higher academic standards than I.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr. Rosenfeld... You are doing a great job!!! I am a thankful parent... This community is lucky to have you... Happy 2012.
ReplyDeleteP.S. To the people who comment negatively on this blog day after day and don't have anything positive to say or even want to try to help solve issues... Look around you, life is short and life is for the living... Wake up and go vent somwwhere else. THANK YOU!!!
Most problems I've had with the school district (not that I've had a whole lot to begin with) have been with people/things other than teachers. No, I haven't been 100% happy with every single teacher but the fundamental challenges we face as a district have less to do with them and more to do with other things.
ReplyDeleteMr. Rosenfeld, thank you for all your work.
Here are what I see as the issues. close to 99% of the teachers are good teachers. Like most other professions , there are a percentage of the great, good, weak and bad employees. My problem is that you can not get rid of the bad ones. The other major problem is with the schools fiscal incompetence to which our school board holds the most responsibility. As I see it , a majority of the board has no problem paying their school taxes so to them it is not a problem, when the reality is that more and people across long island struggle to pay their school taxes. The reality is that we are on an unsustainable track with our schools that are fiscally irresponsible . My prediction is that at some point the services will go down and there will be layoffs. I understand Mr. Rosenfelds position as the PCT President. With no disrespect intended , His barganing tactics bring back the memories of the airline pilots union 15 years ago. back then the airline pilots kept reaching higher and higher salaries until the bubble burst and there were massive losses for the airlines and massive layoffs. I am not wishing this on our teachers . I just see the similarities that our board and Mr. Rosenfeld do not see. you can keep pumping up the salries and benefits and at some point the bubble will burst because taxpayers are getting to the point that they can not afford these skyrocketing salaries. Telling people to move if they can not afford the taxes is not the answer either since the affordability of some one buying your home diminishes with each tax increase.
ReplyDeleteThe district can and does get rid of bad teachers. Some, faced with bad evaluations, simply resign rather than face being fired. Some have charges preferred against them and either settle them through what is essentially a plea bargain or receive a due process hearing before a neutral arbitrator. What the PCT does in all these situations is to protect teachers' rights under the law. Were we not to do that, our members could sue us for failure to represent them.
ReplyDeleteAs for your comments on my collective bargaining strategy, you must be talking about someone else. For the last several rounds of negotiations, the PCT has simply tried to protect the standard of living of its members. None of our members have gotten rich from our contract settlements. Have salaries gone up? Sure they have, often by less than the prevailing inflation.
The real problem your comments raise is the way we fund education in New York. Citizens are taxed on the basis of the value of their property rather than on what they can reasonably afford. Why should two homeowners who earn widely disparate salaries contribute the same amount to the education of the community's children? It makes no sense. It also pits elements of the community who really struggle to pay their taxes against the teachers of their children.
I have a problem with the fact that many people I know that still (luckily), have their jobs, have not gotten any raises for the past three years because of the economy. It is apparent that teachers live in a different economy than the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Newsday, Long Island workers experienced a 3% growth in income last year. Executives with advanced degrees had a 4% raise.
ReplyDeleteLong Island had 8,600 fewer jobs last month than a year ago, the seventh consecutive month of year-over-year declines.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newsday.com/classifieds/jobs/long-island-loses-jobs-7th-month-in-row-1.3392377
I truly respect Mr Rosenfeld, but I think he might be losing his touch. Ten years ago he would have run Ms.Gierasch out of town by now, and we would have never had an interim Supt. this long.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever think Mr. Dempsey was the interim Supt. for the past four years because... We wanted him here? He has done a very good job.
ReplyDeleteThere are 2 problems with the way we fund education . To begin with, why should my taxes go up because I added an extra room or a deck to my home? The second is the lack of fiscal respomsibility that our school board has shown us. I have spent many years looking at proposed budgets and going through the budgets line by line. One year the board could not figure out how the school (and for how long)was paying for an annual picnic for steamfitters. One board member commented that he thought that the steamfitters were working in the school one year and the school for whatever reason decided t pay for their picnic. The more disturbing part is that the BOE could not figure out how many years that we were paying for this picnic. Another year the BOE could not figure out why we were paying for the Auxillary cops when we have never seen them at school? We need more fiscal responsiblity among our school board
ReplyDeleteMr. Rosenfeld doesn't decide on superintendent or associate superintendent. That comes from the board. Mr. Dempsey is a good politician, favored by some, hated by others. He'll be gone in a few months. Many people are unhappy with Ms. Gierasch including board members, building level administrators and the teachers' union. Unfortunately there's not much Mr. Rosenfeld can do about that. He also doesn't doesn't make budgetary decisions for the district. That falls on the board. Yes, he fights for the best package for his teachers but that's his job.
ReplyDeleteTo reiterate what this thread is all about, Mr. Rosenfeld is one of the only people on this blog willing to post by name. He's here and he's listening. You cannot credit any board member or administrator for that.
let us not forget that Mr. Rosenfeld is not here out of pure generosity of his heart . He has a vested interest in being on this blog to protect his membership. Which is what a good president does
ReplyDeleteNobody is here out of pure generosity. Everyone has a vested interest in protecting their best interests whether in regard to their children, community or employment. Whether we always agree with him or not, let's stop throwing him under the bus and see if his presence can help the situation.
ReplyDelete