Monday, March 2, 2015

"Ghost teachers"

Anonymous wrote:

"new post: from today's P-G 

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2015/03/02/Lawsuit-challenging-Philadelphia-union-officials-as-ghost-teachers-mirrors-Pittsburgh/stories/201503020005 

A nice gig if you can get it!"

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Every year, the Board and the union do this. The names are submitted and approved. "Teacher on special assignment to the office of Human Resources" In a way, the PFT President is right. They serve the Board of Education. Service to the teachers is sometimes questionable. The union should not be of service to students.
Rise and Gates was a fiasco that will haunt us for years to come. We can thank our president for supporting that.
I look at the Riverset Credit Union and think That used to be the PFT office Look at what they have now. They could share space and staff with the custodians and clerical unions. Oh, I forgot, they don't have offices.
Gotta run, here comes a PELA with her tablet!

Anonymous said...


Re: P-G article today "Ghost teachers"

"Nina Esposito-Visgitis, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, worked as a speech language specialist in the district for 21 years and is covered by the same contract as district teachers, but her 13 years on leave for the union count toward her district seniority, giving her a total of 34 years seniority.

Ms. Esposito-Visgitis maintains that her seniority has been earned. “I continue to accrue system seniority because I have been in service to our district, our teachers and our students for 34 years,” she said.

She provided a long list of actions the union has taken that have benefited the district, including participation in developing the RISE teacher evaluation system and a $40 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation."

The PFT has done nothing for our teachers. Nina and company sit in their nice building and do what? She hobnobs with Lane and does nothing about the state of our schools. Let the teachers eat cake. There should be term limits for these union "leaders." Stick them back in the classroom to see how the other half really works for a living.

Questioner said...

Anonymous wrote:

" And they have AC and can use the rest room as an adult, when needed. NO comparison to a teacher's life. "

Anonymous said...

Ghost Teachers although considers public employee and union reimburses
the district as well for their full salary and benefits how can you receive this after so many years out of classroom another thing its not right to lay off a teacher who has more time in classroom than a Ghost Teacher where is the UNION on that issue oh how can your seniority be earned if spent a lot of years outside classroom meaning there is no Ethics.

Anonymous said...

4:33 AM
If you read the article, the seniority/layoff issue is one of the issues the lawsuit addresses.

On another note, the article states that the PFT has 3 full time employees. (ghosts as they are calling them).
I thought our PFT has more than 3. Does anybody know for sure if it is only 3?

Anonymous said...

The PFT used to have a president, three vice presidents, secretary and I believe a treasurer. The three vice president positions were high school, middle school and elementary.
When John Tarka was still in office, he would not recognize Ed McManus or Dale Moss. (Secretary and High School V.P.) He claimed those positions were only deemed necessary by the president.
The PFT clearly showed they were not important enough to have a full time office at the PFT building. Sylvia Wilson stayed on board after her retirement from the district. 12:49 yesterday has a point. If the few are not needed full time, why should any of them.
On a related "ghost" story, today on KDKA, Butch Santicola acknowledged he taught for five years before becoming involved with the PSEA. He served 43 years. That is, he had 43 years into the retirement system. His pension, under the 2.5 multiplier, works out to something like 107.5% of his full pay. (average of his best three years) I am not sure, but I think pension is capped to 100% To those of you who are trying to do the fast math, a teacher who retires early at age 55 or over with 34 or 35 years in, makes about 65% Perhaps a retired math teacher can help here.
Somehow does not seem equitable for a teacher who spent 100% of his/her time in the classroom compared to a person who could not wait to land a position in the union office.