Friday, September 18, 2015

Seattle Teachers Reach Settlement after Five-Day Strike

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

The elementary experience at the middle school level is not going to work.

Anonymous said...

Wow, 3%,2% and 4.5% over three years and Durkin is offerring 0% ,1.5% and 1% over three years! Goes to show you how little she values her teachers. I am also surprised that this particular post has not received more comments as of yet. Maybe teachers in NBPS are satisfied with what Durkin is offering?? Maybe they think that that is all they are worth? " Silence is Golden".... for Durkin!!

Anonymous said...

This was posted YESTERDAY. Who has the energy to formulate a decent response after a week of teaching in this city? Maybe Lou can explain why we aren't allowed to strike in this city? Is that 100% true? Let's work to rule while we figure that one out.

Anonymous said...

Let's do the one day strike.

Anonymous said...

I knew that we were screwed when she started complimenting the teachers. what she says and what she does is two different things! She cannot be trusted! Of course , will make her huge salary, but the people who are in the trenches day in and day out will get forgotten! What an insult! I am ready to strike!

Anonymous said...

Lou, Don't give in to her demands, more hours with no compensation, who does she think she is? If we are not worth the money then she can go to hell and take her butt kissers with her!

Anonymous said...

Do New Bedford teachers have it what it takes to go on strike? I think not. There are to afraid of their own shadows.

Anonymous said...

I don't think NB teachers need to "strike". Instead do a work-to-rule where teachers do no more than the minimum required by the rules of their contract. The Westport teachers did that and they finally got a raise. Google work-to-rule and Westport, Ma teachers. Think what would happen to the NBPS if all the teachers stopped spending their own money on supplies or worse stopped spending extra hours at school unpaid. The whole place would fall apart and it would send a better message than any strike would.

Work-to-rule = better teachers contact!

Anonymous said...

^ I agree

Anonymous said...

me too!

Anonymous said...

The Seattle teachers accomplished so much. They saved recess(increased to 30 minutes!) They may have a longer day but they will be compensated for it, their efforts truly improved the learning/teaching conditions for all(even paras-imagine? ours are asked to be highly trained with 3 years of college and they get paid less than a teenage babysitter)...

Anonymous said...

Get seven students to agree that teachers are getting a raw deal and you'll be in business. A thousand teachers have been unable to do it.

Anonymous said...

You don't strike you just have everyone call in sick one day that is something that has been advocated for the past three years..enough is enough..too bad most of our colleagues are money hungry and will sell their souls for a few lousy dollars and like to be abused by administration.

Anonymous said...

You have to laugh to hide the frustration and nonsensical approach to teacher contracts. How many schools are built on contaminated sites in which teachers attend daily, or yearly. How much teacher money is spent on basic classroom supplies because schools either fail to order or spend the money on the wrong stuff? How many professional development days are spent each month that are meaningless in order to fulfill a meaningless contractual requirement? How many times can students be written-up only to find that nothing has been entered into the system and no corrective discipline has been initiated. How often can teachers be told "no rigor" is happening in their classroom when most students can't spell or define "rigor?" How many activities can a teacher attend after school without any compensation? How many weekends are spent devising invigorating lesson plans only to get an evaluation citing "needs improvement?" How many outstanding teachers have left the district because they feel undervalued? Seven students speak out at NBVT and look at what is happening. Check out that contract! Teachers get your act together and act like a brotherhood. Stop complaining and demand a fair contract.

Anonymous said...

Three quarters of our teachers have no backbone to advocate for a fair and equatable contract,they let the other twenty five percent work to get that contract,but you know what they make sure they get their MONEY even though they complained and didn't do S***.........

Anonymous said...

I hope this blog posts the link to the Standard Times or NB guide articles about Dr. Durkin's contract being renewed for three years. The article says she currently makes $189,000 and will be receiving $2,000 raises every year. At the end of those three years she will be making $195,000. She even makes more than the mayor. However, the district is proposing the following for teachers step increases for teachers:

District is proposing a 0% salary increase for 2015-2016, 1.5% for 2016-2017, and 1% for 2017-2018.

How fair is this when most if not all teachers use their own money to buy supplies or work extra hours for free? How about those of us teachers who live in New Bedford and pay for our children to attend private schools because we hate what the testing culture is doing to public education. Or, those teachers who moved away from New Bedford so their own children could get better educational opportunities elsewhere. Why isn't anyone writing about this? Work-to-rule time!

Anonymous said...

I guess when you earn $189,000.00 it's just not enough to get by so the SC felt compelled to show their appreciation by throwing in a little $2,000.00 thank you. It would be interesting to see how many of the teachers are at Step 1 and between Step 3. My guess is a lot. Could there be a strategy to get more in the future between this range? Now that's value. More and more teacher will never get to professional status or even a sniff of Step 9 or above. Teachers will be dominated by fear or the thought of losing their jobs. Let's keep the salaries down. Get use to "Needs Improvement or Unsatifactory" on your evals folks. Can't wait to see all the PARCC and MCAS results. We should see improvement because the superintendent will have completed two years of service. Why didn't the SC wait to see the testing results before offering such a lush deal? What was the rush? Was she threatening to leave? Could the district not live without her? Is that the thinking. Every other district where she worked found a way of succeeding without her. Not Nah Bedfa.

Anonymous said...

Time to rev up the data distortion machine. First feelers in today's newspaper. Sad thing is no one really cares, so anything said or printed doesn't matter. Nobody willing to challenge Dr. Durkin. Not the paper. Not the School Committee. Not the Mayor. Not the parents. Not the teachers, and certainly not the DESE. Give us what we want, and only what you think we should know. So we are learning that everything takes time, and that will be the mantra for the next four years. The ship has been righted and is going in the right direction. The year following Dr. Durkin last year will be how did we get here when we were doing so well for the past six years. Smoke and mirrors folks. I'll be long gone by then.

Anonymous said...

Has anybody noticed that there has been little or no discussions in the paper regarding NBHS MCAS scores? The reason for the silence may be because the scores were dreadful in comparison to other underperforming high schools, and nobody wants to talk about it. Achievement and student growth continues to lag far behind other schools in similar situations. One can make an argument that results are worst since Dr. Durkin has taken control of the district. The blame to an extent can be pointed toward the superintendent, but I do believe she is trying her best given shortcomings. She is a hard worker. The teachers have worked harder and under more stressful conditions than ever, so they deserve very little blame in my opinion. It's ashamed how they have been treated, and in some cases continued to be treated. In my opinion the bulk of the blame rest on the shoulders of students and parents, but mainly the students. The teachers know this, and once the superintendent and school committee acknowledges this important fact little or nothing will change at all. It does not matter how many new textbooks or ipads are bought, the results will remain the same or get worse if students refuse to accept their role in educating themselves. Any feedback.

Anonymous said...

durkin is working her hardest? yes to get rid of teachers.

Anonymous said...

Its clear she is trying to break the union. The personnel reports no longer list whether a new hire is certified or on a waiver. Obviously she doesn't think the School Committee needs to know who she hires.

Anonymous said...

Lou must request transparency on these new hires.