In the Race

Janet,

I must comment on your statement; "... the District most likely did make some budget cuts. The first place they would make larger cuts would have been in staff. As I noted before, the Board is making some small positive steps." This generalization that cuts in staff are "positive steps" and the disgustingly political if not illegal link at the side of the NOW home page continues to demonize teachers as the root of all evil tax increases.

Yes teachers' salaries make up the bulk of the school budget but they do the bulk of the work with increasingly larger class sizes, less resources, less support from parents and the community and more unfunded mandated instruction and testing from the state and federal government. I constantly hear elected officials and community leaders heaping praise on our education system when trying to attract businesses but then bashing the teachers as over paid babysitters who get the summer off when it comes time to find blame for high taxes. Anyone want to trade jobs with a teacher for a week? Janet? Fred? Greg? Kevin?

As a professional educator I can tell you that children do not learn the most from books or formal lessons. They learn from the actions of the adults around them. Bashing teachers and school districts in general teaches them that elected officials, community leaders and their parents feel that education is a low priority so why should they set it as a high priority.

As far as taxes go, I suggest we try to pay a little more attention to the developers and speculators who have erected $350,000 starter castles and the municipal "improvements" forced on the city causing assessments to skyrocket.

I agree, Janet, that the School Board should not be given the "Easy Button". But I don't think our students' education should be sacrificed. Remember, in the future they will treat society the way they were treated growing up.

Rick -

A couple things here...

First of all, I'm not on any side.

I'm not sure what link you are referring to that is "illegal."  Are you speaking of the "How much do educators earn? link?  If so, what's illegal about that?  That is public knowledge and is available on the WI Dept. of Public Instruction website for all to see.  

As far as my reference the Board making cuts in staff...  I drew that conclusion from the meeting on April 2nd where it was stated that they would make cuts from Staff and then Technology.  I do not believe that is a positive step.  My view of a positive step for a budget cut?  That would be freezing Administrative salaries, first.

If you are accusing me of bashing teachers and educators..I'm sorry you feel that way.  I'm just reporting facts to all taxpayers...educators and non-educators.  

Perhaps you can define for me the difference between a "professional" educator and an "educator" now that we are on the topic; I'm just curious.  If you are willing to reveal...are you in a union, or are you an administrator?  I'm thinking you are a teacher, as your statement indicates teachers do most of the work.  I think some administrators might disagree with you as they work through the summer and are often in the buildings earlier in the morning and at meetings late at night.

And let's remember, when we speak of teachers salaries (and all district staff), we must add in compensation to the total package.  Teachers seem to have trouble doing that.  And I don't think most people think of teachers as "babysitters" nowadays, either.

Your statement:

"As a professional educator I can tell you that children do not learn the most from books or formal lessons. They learn from the actions of the adults around them."  You didn't put they learn from their teachers in there...I'm a little surprised.

Rick, you have taken a simple statement and totally twisted it out of context. You have a chip on your shoulder.  If you are a Franklin resident I really hope you attend the budget meeting.  Rarely are teachers in attendance at School Board meetings.  They only seem to attend when their jobs are at stake.

WOW, Rick!

First, your comment that FranklinNOW’s link to public school employee salaries is “disgustingly political if not illegal,” is preposterous.  Taxpayers “employers” have every right to know what -- PUBLIC school employees – “their employees” earn.  Your own comments may have more to do with how the public perceives, or in your words, “demonizes teachers,” than that link.

And tell me, what did the actions of FPS teachers convey to their students (our kids) when they wore black in the classroom to make a statement about their contract situation.  And you want to talk about “politics”?   Give me a frickin’ break!

Outstanding teachers deserve higher salaries than weak and incompetent teachers; I would suggest you take that mess up with WEAC.  The union “forces” teachers out of the classroom and into administrative positions in order to increase their salaries.

And speaking of administrators, there’s a great place to start cutting public school employee salaries.

As for trading jobs with a teacher for a week, I’ll pass.  That was their career choice, no?  If the job is so horrible, maybe some should consider a career change, and stop taking up space better suited for young, talented, and motivated professionals.

While we’re on the topic of trading jobs, I would imagine there aren’t a lot of suburban school teachers who would trade jobs with a MPS teacher for a week or even a day.

Finally, trying to justify irresponsible government, “pay a little more attention to the developers and speculators…,” by comparing it to more bad government, is a week argument and obviously a diversionary tactic.  Stay on topic.

If you truly agree with Janet that “the School Board should not be given the "Easy Button,” then there really is no “but.”  

Tough times call for tough choices.

Janet,

Guilty as charged! I am a teacher. I do tend to get a little emotional about my profession. Sometimes I think our profession suffers from battered spouse syndrome and we don't speak up enough at appropriate times. Then when we do it sounds unprofessional. Let me take a step back, take the chip off my shoulder and try to eliminate the histrionics.

From what I've read of your reports on the School Board in Franklin, I believe you when you say you are not on any side.

I do not dispute the fact that teacher and administrator salaries are public knowledge and I have nothing to hide. My complaint is with the way it is presented on the page. There is a direct link to teacher and administrators salaries directly under the political contributions link.  There is an extra step to find municipal salaries (not available to all customers), it's under "More Searchable Databases". The implication is that teacher and administrator salaries are the primary thing to watch when determining why your taxes go up. This is an advertising strategy to place what you want the consumer/reader to see as most important. If ALL the public salaries were listed TOGETHER according to taxing district, I would have no complaint.

The placement of your comment about a "positive step" threw me. I appreciate the clarification.

I apologize if you thought I was accusing you personally of bashing teachers and education. I have heard plenty of high praise for teachers, administrators, support staff and everyone else on the education team from individuals. I was speaking of our society collectively. We don't seem to put much time, effort or resources into our youngest or oldest members of society. Most of our effort is selfish.

As far as "professional" and union go, I was a Teacher's Union President for three years. As such, I was the only non-Board member in attendance at every one of the Board meetings during that three year peiod. I agree that teachers and parents should attend more Board meetings. Not just to question the policies and procedures but to understand the pressures that everyone involved with the District is under. This includes every single employee of the District. I made the common mistake of mentioning teacher salaries when I should have said the salaries of all district employees. Everyone who works with the students, whether directly or indirectly, has an impact on their learning.

My comment about students learning the most from the actions of adults around them was meant to include teachers. Yes there are individual lessons or activities that students remember, but the actions and attitudes of the adults in their world set their values. If a community or family sets education as a priority by their actions and not only words, the the students will do the same. If education is treated as a necessary evil then the students will do the same.

Maybe "people" don't think of teachers as babysitters these days but they don't think of them as professionals either. We are required to test and test and test again. We test so much that we cut into the continuity of meaningful instruction. There was a time when students were tested at the end of the year to see if they were "making adequate yearly progress". They were passed or retained based on what was best fot the student.

I'm beginning to rant a bit so I'll quit now. Thank you Janet for the service you provide in attending the School Board meetings and reporting on them. I will not be able to attend the upcoming meeting as I must take my wife to her chemo-therapy treatment. I will try to be at as many meetings as possible in the future.

I'd like to refer Fred to my response to Janet for most of his comments.

I was not aware of the "black clothing incident" at FHS and therefore cannot make an informed comment. However, your vulgar langauge is not necessary. May I remind you of Mark Twain's Quotation; "Vulgarity is the attempt of the weak minded to sound important." And please don't try to tell me that frickin' means anything other than the other "F" word.

Who gets to decide who the "outstanding" teachers are? Competition with a monetary reward often brings cheating or shortcuts. MLB, NFL, etc. The teaching profession is no different than any other. There are some who don't belong in the classroom and some who should be cloned. Districts that care about the overall education of all students and the performance of their teachers take a pro-active, supportive, team building approach to ineffective teachers. These same districts take the same approach to ineffective students.

I agree that there are some teachers who should consider a career change. Not because the job is so hoorible but because they are burned out. It is a tremendous responsibility to be in a classroom full of students. However your characterization of young, talented and motivated professionals applied to almost every teacher at one time. This characterization has also been twisted by some districts into naive, cheaper and able to get rid of any time in the first three years for no reason at all so they'll keep their mouth shut.

I was a teacher at MPS for a part of my career and at an adolescent treatment center. Let me repeat what I told Janet. Kids, no matter where they come from, will treat society the way society treats them. If education is a priority in our actions and not just words, then it will be valued in their lives.

Tough times call for tough choices. Why does that always sound like the school district has to lose out? Isn't it diversionary to always blame the school district? Isn't providing the best paid teachers and the best technology and the best facilities for the future of our chidren also a choice?

"... please don't try to tell me that frickin' means anything other than the other "F" word."

You're exactly right, but I'm not one of your students, so save your scolding for when one of them fires off the actual "F-word," in class or in the hall.

I remind you that someone has to pay for your so-called "best paid teachers and the best technology and the best facilities for the future of our chidren."

You might have more support in the teaching field if you would insist upon having "THE BEST" teachers in classrooms versus the "BEST PAID" teachers.  One doesn't ensure the the other.

So, when Franklin has the BEST SCHOOL DISTRICT in the state, come see me.  Until then, the district (school board) should be held accountable for how it spends taxpayer dollars and the results it delivers to the its "customers."

As far a competing for jobs, it's done every day in the private sector.  You yourself said "The teaching profession is no different than any other."  So, let teachers compete for their jobs.  May the "best teachers" win.

And as long as you’re quoting Mark Twain, maybe you’ve read this one:

“In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.”

No offense to Franklin's BEST board members.

Rick,

It’s great that you are passionate about your “profession.”  But excuse me if I don’t believe that you have totally removed that chip.    And no apologies necessary regarding the “teacher bashing.”  You may not have intended that comment directly toward me, but I will tell you, while I was not doing any of that at all in my post regarding the School Board budget meeting, you have opened the door on the topic and brought up a few things.  

You see, I have had two children go through Franklin Public Schools, and I am very familiar with school districts.  Your rant appears to be that of someone who has listened to Mark Belling one to many times when he has gone off on teachers.  You sound like one of the teachers that has called in to his show.

As far as the Salary Calculator goes…your take on it is just way off.  I don’t believe the NOW staff has any motive behind where they placed the calculator.  And, as I said, the more in-depth version, with birth dates and other data can be found on the DPI website and always had been there.  When I look at that main page and see the salary calculator, that’s all that I think…never in my wildest dreams would I have put political or advertising schemes together with it.  Also, teachers salaries and their benefits make up the largest portion of the budget...that is a fact.  There is no changing it.  We all know we can't teach children without teachers.  Unless we use more virtual schools.....

Regarding testing and students (you also commented about this on my For the Children blog from Sunday)….Do you really believe that the previous testing methods were working?  How many students were getting past grade 8 and into high school without being able to read?  The answer is many.  There should not be one.  Not one.  “No Child Left Behind.”

No teacher should be passing along a student who can’t read or do simple math into high school.  If that school loses funding, well too bad.  Not only is it time to look at that School District, But it is time to look at what is wrong with the teachers in that district.  Yes, the testing takes time away from your classes.  You have to learn to teach in a different manner.  The amazing thing is, the younger a student is, the easier it is to memorize.  Most testing is memorization.  Maybe there has to be more time management on the part of teachers to get the required testing business out of the way so you can get back to what you want to be teaching.  

You are hung up on the term “professional” for some reason.  Why is that?  Because you are required to test that is not allowing you to be a professional?  Testing a student is a measure of what they have been taught and what they have retained.

You mention competition with monetary reward brings cheating and shortcuts.  I believe in reward-based compensation for teachers.  I think we would get the best of the best in teachers that way and get rid of the dead  wood.  And I’ve got news for you…we all get burned out at our jobs.  At least teachers have their summers to take courses to improve themselves and regroup, or travel.  Those in other jobs don’t always have that luxury.  “It is a tremendous responsibility to be in a classroom of students.”  It is also a tremendous responsibility to run a company, or to be a scientist, or to be a nurse, or a police officer, or a soldier, or many , many other professions.  I’m not taking your value away…but your profession is important and so are the other ones.

Fred Keller brought up the wearing of the black by teachers in his comment.  I was thinking the same thing.  Teachers have been shoving politics down the throats of students for ages in order to bring their politics home to the parents...Wear black, wear pins during class, participate in work slowdowns, refuse to write letters of recommendation for students.  They know students go home and talk.  And for every sympathetic parent they find, I can tell you there are most likely two upset parents.  The Teacher’s Union has Governor Doyle in their back pocket.  They own him.  

So, you opened the door, Rick.  How many citizens work 180 days a year, make between an average of $45,000 and $65,000 a year with an additional $30,000 in benefits, get to retire at 55, and are practically guaranteed at least a 3.2% raise each year?  And I’m not talking about Administrators…I won’t even go there.  

You say the District is under “pressure?”  Every taxpayer is under pressure.  You keep mentioning “kids will treat society the way society treats them.”  These are not country clubs.  Are you saying you are not being given the tools you need?  Are you really going to blame everything on bureaucracy?

That aside…I'm not personally attacking you.  Thank you for your last paragraph about me attending meetings and good luck to your wife.

Teachers and the administration at FPS can't organize to set standards of conformity at each and every school concerning the homework assignment load to make it equitable for the students at the various levels of ability.

If they are unwilling or incapable of accomplishing that and do not care how this inequity frustrates and damages the spirit of students, what can we expect from them in other areas?

With all the hype and promises made in the April School Board election, the time has come when the tires