On another post Anonymous wrote:
"
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2014/01/17/Top-grade/stories/201401150006
The
Post-Gazette is at it again in today's opinion page advocating for the
PFT to "not be standing in the way" of the performance standards
Lane/Gates wants. The P-G wants the union to "recommit to peaceful
coexistence with district administrators." In other words, roll over
and play dead.
Why should PPS hold our teachers to higher
standards than the rest of the state? The Dept. of Education set the
standards for our state so why are we to be treated differently than all
the other school districts? This isn't about higher standards to make
better teachers. PPS has a not so hidden agenda to use the higher
standards to get rid of teachers at the top of the pay scale. They want
to manipulate the standards for their own use.
As far as the P-G
is concerned, are they on Lane's/Gates' payroll? Why don't they do some
investigative reporting into how/why PPS got into the decline they are
in."
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20 comments:
The article indicates that $15M of the Gates grant remains. Perhaps the Board can ask for a detailed breakdown of exactly how the money will be spent and what kind of matching obligations remain.
It also indicates that 9.3% of teachers would have failed, and another 5% or so need improvement. The Board might request some data on what percentage of failing/need improvement teachers are at the top of the pay scale v. the district percent at the top of the pay scale (recognizing that experienced teachers at the top of the pay scale would be expected to be UNDERRPRESENTED in the failing group).
lotta stories of MISTAKES that Nina and company admitted were wrong
You've gotta wonder who is getting paid off-- this is a shameless PR piece for Gates
It would also be interesting, hypothetically speaking of course, to see the results if we could apply PPS' higher standards to say Mt. Lebanon, Fox Chapel, Upper St. Clair, etc. Would they have any/more unsatisfactory teachers?
That's an interesting thought. Are Gates etc saying that teachers in PPS are worse than in the suburbs, or that teachers at PPS need to be much better than those in the suburbs?
I called this a few days back. The last shoe to drop will come from some bigwig writing an op-ed piece. Count on it, all to have the public again look at teachers as the bad guy.
New topic-
"blame the teacher" as a distraction from the real issue
http://www.post-gazette.com/Op-Ed/2011/12/18/Don-t-blame-the-teachers-for-the-racial-achievement-gap/stories/201112180168
We had a discussion of this article when it came out in 2011.
Thanks Pure Reform, you are right of course-- but why was it repeated on-line on Friday? PG is an odd odd land
I find it funny that no one is mentioning how the pft has worked hand in hand with pps to screw its teachers over the past five years. The pft has FINALLY said enough is enough. Now all of a sudden pps is accusing the pft of standing in the way. The pft should have listened to the masses in the first place and never have allowed any of this to happen. They were warned. It's too little to late.
Tarka and Roosevelt are charter members in the Hall of Shame. Now we have Nina and Lane coming up as the next generation on inductees. However, the membership of the PFT have only ourselves to blame. So many of my union brothers and sisters could not be bothered to vote. They stood by and allowed mail in ballots AFTER a live vote at Soldiers and Sailors.(the one that did not go as Tarka wanted)The last election that kept Nina as president. The same officers that do not recognize a V.P. and Secretary as staff members. We have been beaten down by the board and by our own union. Shame on them, shame on us.
I don't find anything about the PFT funny. In fact, I don't write about them at all because to me, they just don't exist. I mean dear Lord, they gave away everything.
I've tried to figure out just why John decided to take hands with Roosevelt. Clearly, he was outsmarted by a politician who undoubtedly had dealt with union leaders before. Even Roosevelt had to have been surprised how easy it was to roll this guy.
And now we have Nina. Please. If ever there was a real 'paper tiger' in our midst, it is her. While its admirable that she 'won't relent' on this issue.
The problem is, of course, numerous teachers have unfairly lost their livelihoods during this schlockfest.
America was built upon unions. Unfortunately, ours sold its rank and file out years ago. I hold out no hope for the PFT and you'll have to pardon me, but if those who are ignored by the PFT president still believe that its a good time to talk and negotiate, why bother? Once you've let the genie out of the bottle, there is no getting him back in.
A visionary individual who is willing to be a bit more radical and daring in his or her approach is what is needed. Thanks to local media, teachers are the great evil anyway, so why not truly do the right thing?
When the idea of focused teachers began, I asked John in a PFT meeting to keep data on the ages and/or top scale of the teachers being focused. He said it was not necessary because there was no pattern. I asked how did he know that when they haven't kept track of who exactly was focused. The Union went along with everything and more and now they realized they have been had by Tarka and Lane. I agree that none of this could have taken place without the APATHY of many of my fellow teachers.
Recently Retired Teacher
Recently Retired, you nailed it.
I want to thank Questioner for maintaining this site. I am to retire shortly too and am glad to see that many teachers also see what is going on. Unfortunately, most of us have been drowned out by Nina's supporters who saw no problem in giving away the farm. Well, they're not smirking anymore.
True, the apathy of our brethren is what got us into this mess. The past two election featured upwards of 1000 teachers who did not vote. I have voted against the last three contract proposals and the last three incumbents.
A lot of good that did. I feel sorry for Pittsburgh's teachers who understand how outrageously out of whack this is. It's not going to change anytime soon.
http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/5421788-74/teachers-pittsburgh-union#axzz2qqtbD6rk
Today's Tribune Review has a "featured commentary" by Richard Berman of the Center for Union Facts. He bashes the AFT and the PFT regarding the Gates grant. Our union and teachers are once again vilified. Interestingly enough,(surprise) his organization is supported by foundations and businesses among others. I wonder if Gates and Broad are among them?
Here are some of Berman's comments regarding the AFT/PFT:
- entrench incompetent teachers based on seniority
- deny teachers the opportunity to earn raises and bonuses based on ability to teach
- make it difficult to fire teachers based on misconduct
He states:
- Gates money is to retain high-quality teachers
- AFT protects bad teachers
- Commonwealth Foundation reported that 16 "distinguished" (top performing) teachers were furloughed (costing 4 their jobs) even as 11 "failing" teachers were reinstated
When he talks about teacher "misconduct", what exactly does he mean? What about some of the administrators' "misconduct" that has taken place over the years? All Bellefield ever did was shuffle them off to run another school or promote them to a higher position.
He fails to mention that the Act 82 STATEWIDE EVALUATION SYSTEM instituted last year has more lenient standards than this Pittsburgh evaluation system the AFT and PFT are balking about. Why should PPS' teachers be held to higher standards than the rest of the state? Who are we trying to fool? What is the real agenda?
From my limited understanding, based solely on news reporting, I believe the PDE only gave pps one year's grace period to use pps standards/scores and may have pps use the state system after that. I am John Q Public and just can't figure why so many are wasting their time on some stupid battle like this. Just use the state system folks. Bunch of egomaniacs, if you ask me.
Using the state's system won't enable Lane and Co. to get rid of more teachers at the higher end of the scale. This isn't about getting rid of "bad" teachers. This is about getting rid of who they choose to get rid of. They want to be able to manipulate and control the evaluation system.
This may be a topic for a new post. Tribune Review posted another PFT/AFT bashing opinion piece. More of the same about how "foolish" we are for jeopardizing the Gates money. Seriously, is every media outlet in Pittsburgh getting paid by Gates and/or PPS?
Todays' Post-Gazette had a letter to the editor from Alan Lesgold, Dean of Pitt's School of Education. He believes the PFT is wrong regarding their stand on teacher evaluations. He says they are "fighting to water down, delay or eliminate periodic review of Pittsburgh's teachers."
He fails to mention the State's Act 82 evaluation system. Is he addressing this issue of Act 82 with the state? Is he addressing teacher evaluations with ALL the other state school districts? Is he accusing them of "watering down" standards also?
Prior to becoming the Dean of Education at Pitt in 2000, he was the Executive Assoc. Director of Pitt's LRDC. The LRDC should ring a bell because their Dr. Judy Johnston has been a very well paid PPS consultant. It would seem to me that Dr. Johnston and the LRDC haven't impacted PPS significantly (especially with all the money we paid out to them) because we are still a low scoring district and in a big mess. And since Alan Lesgold was associated with LRDC for so long in the past, I wonder how unbiased he is about this issue.
5:52 sees the whole picture. Bias is definitely an issue and is likely to be exacerbated by the failure of not only LRDC work in PPS and other districts, but Pitt’s School of Education failure to adequately educate its students to levels of competence in the field of teaching. Also, consider the failure of the Pitt’s School of Ed to even minimally enhance the education of students at Milliones since it became
University Prep.
Whatever desire and skill young people who want to become teachers bring to the field is quickly subverted by both Teaching Institutions and PPS Central Office.
We can only hope that the new Director of Urban Education at Pitt can turn this failed process around and develop teachers and programs that give students at U-Prep and similar schools the EDUCATION they deserve.
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