By Antonio D. French
Filed Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 8:51 AM
In a letter to its members, the president and the executive board of the St. Louis City teachers union called the 2005-06 school year one of the most frustrating, demanding, and exhausting that the teachers, paraprofessionals and secretarial/clerical employees have ever had to endure. Labels: Schools
"The disrespect and disregard for the rights of the employees has proven unbearable," said the letter.
Mary Armstrong, the union chief, said that Superintendent Creg Williams addressed her members at their May 2005 meeting and asked them to give him one year to make a difference and to show his willingness to work with Local 420. "The last thing I want to do is pick a fight with the union," she recalled him saying.
"That year is finally over!" wrote Armstrong. She said Williams was invited to address the union again this year and "clarify some of the District's questionable actions." Williams declined.
In addition to the concerns about teacher rehirings after the announced reconstitution and restructuring of 13 city schools, the teachers union is also upset about recent shorts in pay.
"We have just been officially informed on Friday, May 26th, that due to another payroll mistake, 10-month employees' last payroll check will be for only 5 days!" wrote Armstrong.
The union has called an emergency meeting of its full membership for Sunday, June 4. A review of the 2005-06 school year will be followed by a question and answer session open to all members. The time and place will be announced later on the union's website and on postcards mailed to members.
Other school-related meetings coming up:
School Board Administrative Meeting, June 6, at 7:00 p.m., 801 N. 11th Street, Room 108.
School Board Regular Meeting Monthly Meeting, June 13, Carr Lane School Auditorium , 7:00 p.m.
Stay up with the latest on the city's public schools at www.stlschools.org
12 Comments:
In a failing school district, with deplorable outcomes for students, how can anyone have sympathy for the teacher's union?
5/30/2006 9:37 AM
You're a fool if you think the schools can be fixed WITHOUT the teachers.
5/30/2006 5:06 PM
Who's more important?
Parents, teachers, or students?
Don't want to pick? Then try placing them in rank order.
Teachers come up dead last.
5/30/2006 5:38 PM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
5/31/2006 2:46 AM
The above anonymous post went a little too far. Attacks on someone's actions are one thing, but personal attacks like the one I just deleted will not be tolerated.
Keep it on the issues, people.
5/31/2006 8:04 AM
I don't think that you can say that the teachers come up dead last. I think that even though they are not treated the best they have made some progress in recent years trying to bring their wages in line with other districts.
Unfortunately the environment in which they teach is very unlikely to change. Fortunately for the teachers they have a choice to leave this mess. For the most part the students are stuck where they are at and have no say.
I think that the biggest losers are the students. They are placed in the middle of all disputes. They are used as the pawns by both the School Board, Mayor, School Administration and event to a certain degree the parents.
It is a sad state of affairs in the school district. It is unfortunate that they are not held accountable for their actions. It is even more unbelievable that this has turned into a political game using the students as the pawns.
5/31/2006 11:19 AM
In what kind of society is debate about education framed by questions like "Who's more important?" and then ranking whole categories of people in order of importance?
I don't think there is a rightward "shift" in this country. The status quo is pretty firmly set nowadays.
5/31/2006 12:28 PM
I tell ya', SLPS teacher morale has been on a rapid downward slide the past several years. There are and there were many good, dedicated, caring teachers in the district.
But how many will stick around in the current environment? How will the Superintendent staff the newly reconstituted schools, if not with the veteran classroom teachers?
Is the plan simply to convince naive, desperate recent college grads to come teach at Roosevelt and Vashon? Or continue to rely on perma-subs as has been the practice all along at many of the failing middle schools?
Either would be a recipe for disaster.
Sure, experience isn't everything. Many of the long-time teachers are very, very tired, and resistant to change sometimes. You find that in every profession.
But thinking you can make dramatic improvements just by reshuffling teachers is also a mistake.
5/31/2006 4:51 PM
One of the biggest challenges Williams faced was how to get rid of the bad teachers and keept the good ones. By "firing" 1,000 teachers and having them reapply and given positions regardless of senority, he effectively did just that. Hopefull, the best and the brightest will see through the crap and understand that it had to be done that way, and decide to stay.
While there are a lot of good teachers, the president of the teachers union is trying to save face in this situation. For Williams to have sent out those letters, Armstrong had to have met with him and let him kow that she approved. Instead of saying that she met with him and there are some bad teachers that must go, she is blaming him for what has taken place.
When are people in this city going to show real leadership around education and not settle for crap just because it is black kids!
5/31/2006 8:53 PM
Get over the "race thing" there are not just black kids in this crappy school district, i got suckered into sending my kid because it was supposed to be a great opportunity for him, huh, everything in these schools are catered to the city kids, not nessacarily black but mostly. thats the point of the magnet schools i was told, he would learn diversity. huh!
5/31/2006 9:28 PM
The teachers's union president knew that that was going to happen. She has openly denied it, but she was at the board meetings when the superintendent did his presentation about the failing schools and what was going to happen. Her responsibility to the teachers(who pay her salary) and the students was to make certain that the process was done fairly, given the fact that she KNEW.
Creg Williams comes off as an arrogant and "mean spirted" man whose interest is not in the students. None of his decisions have been student driven. But this union president's most important mission should be to make certain that learning & teaching conditions are "the best" possible, given all of the negatives of this urban district. Creg Williams knew he had to reorganize the schools because of state demands, but to do it this way is very mean spirtited. After working all year in the harsh working conditions, teaching unruly kids with inadequate supplies, being attacked in the media almost every day by the superintendent, where is the real concern and care? Teachers cannot emotionally concentrate on their real task: teaching while reeling from the awful attacks.
Now, at the end of the day, receiving termination notices. Not all of us are substitute teachers. But there are too many subs in the district, and I wonder if the district has deliberately hired so many subs to keep from paying regular benefits. Many of my colleagues (certified teachers) have retired and moved on. Many more of us are planning to retire asap. So where will the certified teachers come from? You need to check to find out the actual number of teachers who are retiring NOW. So the superintendent does not have much to work with. He needs to be thankful that some of us have stayed this long. In the long run, it's our children who are the pawns of this "mean spirted" game that Creg Williams is playing. Our children need as much stability as we can provide. Firing teachers and making them re-apply for their jobs is crude, demeaning,i nhumane and unfair to the children and their teachers.
6/01/2006 11:21 AM
I do not agree that the majority of our teachers are up to par. At least that has not been my experience. I have had deplorable experiences with teachers at a highly recognized SLPS elementary school.
That said, we cannot place blame on the teachers without recognizing that there are an awful lot of parents in the city not doing their jobs. If you are not involved in your child's education, you are part of the problem.
6/01/2006 4:16 PM
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