Comments by New Bedford Educators Association President Louis St. John

Comments by New Bedford Educators Association President Louis St. John
At the We Are One Rally
April 4, 2011

My name is Louis St. John and I have worked in the New Bedford Public School system for 27 years. I am also the President of the New Bedford Educators Association. I am proud to represent over 1,150 educators! I am proud to be a teacher in this great city!

It has become very popular these days to blame teachers and teacher unions for just about everything.

In Wisconsin, and across our country, we are witnessing a blatant assault on teachers. Teacher bashing has become the new norm in newspapers, radio, and television. We have become the scapegoats.

Are there parallels between what is happening in Wisconsin to teachers and what is happening in New Bedford to teachers? In my opinion there are. In Wisconsin, the governor is blaming the teachers for the economic crisis and wants to strip them of their collective bargaining rights.

In New Bedford, a group called the Education Roundtable has organized to use public opinion to pressure the school committee and the mayor to strip our teachers of many of their contractually bargained rights. Their criticisms of our teachers are relentless.

You’ve read their timed letters in the local paper and heard them on the radio. These self-appointed educational experts, most of whom did not send their children to New Bedford Public Schools, most of whom you’ve never seen in your schools, most of whom never attend school committee meetings, are calling for reforms in our contract.

These reforms include eliminating seniority, eliminating Professional Teacher Status, adding merit pay, and changing the teacher evaluation system. This would be the same evaluation that is based on DOE Guidelines.

They want to create the illusion that New Bedford Public Schools is failing …That teachers are at fault …. That the teacher contract in an impediment to education.

They call our teachers “Lemons”.

Question anything they say and you are labeled an “Obstructionist”.

Question anything they say and you are labeled a “Killer of Innovation”.

Question anything they say and you are accused of “obsolete thinking”.

Question anything they say and you are accused of perpetuating “mediocrity”.


Certainly everyone is entitled to an opinion, however:

· When we tell them that many of our kids live in “Poverty”, we are making excuses.

· When we tell them that the percentage of low-income students rose from 59.6% in 1999 to 69.5% ten years later, we are making excuses.

· When we tell them that we have had a 40% increase in ESL students in the last 10 years, we are making excuses.

· When we tell them that we have had a 25% increase in our Special Needs population, we are making excuses.

· When we tell them that 1 in 5 students transfer in or out of the district during the school year, we are making excuses.

· When we tell them that 25% of our NBHS students transferred in or out of New Bedford High School last year, we are making excuses.


How can these groups not be aware of these facts and statistics! They were published in the UMass Dartmouth Urban Initiative White Paper, which they commissioned.

Even though the report never mentioned the teachers union or poor teaching practices, that has not stopped them from using it as the launch pad for their attack on the teachers of New Bedford Public Schools.

How can they ignore the fact that over 225 of our students are homeless!

How can they ignore the fact that these are district-wide issues, which teachers cannot control, and in fact, extend beyond the district to the community, families and social services?



The Roundtable claims that teachers “blame the victims (kids/parents)”. That is absolutely not true. We are not casting blame on anyone. However, we are all stakeholders and we all need to do our part. The mayor, the school committee, the
superintendent, principals, parents, and the community must support teachers for us to be successful in teaching our students. Teachers must teach, and parents must make certain their children are in school every day and on time. As teachers we will instruct, guide, and support our students.

Students must be held accountable for their actions too. Students must come to school to learn.



New Bedford Public Schools does not discriminate. New Bedford Public Schools proudly accepts every student, regardless of his or her needs or circumstances. We are proud of that fact.

Other schools in New Bedford choose their students. If a student in a private school or the Charter School is disruptive or does not follow the rules or regulations, that student is asked to leave the school. Where does that child go? You guessed it. The New Bedford Public Schools!

Why are these facts ignored?

Perhaps this group that’s pointing fingers is not interested in the facts. Perhaps the facts get in the way of what they are saying about our teachers. Perhaps the facts are an inconvenient truth that would get in the way of what they really want to do which is to pressure the mayor, the superintendent and the school committee to gut our contract from within.

If these groups simply don’t like teachers or the New Bedford teacher’s union, they, should simply say so. They should not use the current economic crisis as a smoke screen to carry out personal vendettas and political agendas to harm teachers and the union that represents them.

In closing, my name is Louis St. John and I am proud to be a teacher, I am proud that my daughter is a student at New Bedford High School and I am proud to represent the finest teachers in all the state.