Maybe he'll hit his head.
Posted on 11/08/2013 6:12:56 AM PST by MichCapCon
Students at Eastern Michigan University pursuing teaching degrees are not happy with a union promoted boycott of their services.
The Washtenaw County Education Association, which is an affiliate of the Michigan Education Association, sent letters to each of the eight districts its members represent urging them not to accept student teachers from EMU because of the university affiliation with the Education Achievement Authority, MLive reported. Gov. Rick Snyder started the EAA, which is a special borderless district the state's most severely under-performing schools are placed in.
Six of the eight districts in Washtenaw County support locking student teachers from EMU from working in their schools.
Anthony Wozniak, a secondary education student at EMU, called the boycott "outrageus."
"[T]his directly affects me and a lot of my classmates," Wozniak said. "The WCEA [is] punishing the students for what Eastern Michigan University is doing, and whether or not you think Eastern should be part of the EAA, the WCEA should not be boycotting student teachers."
To make matters worse, the president of the union is ducking the chance to explain the union's action to lawmakers.
Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons, R-Alto, said WCEA President Tim Heim has informed her that he won't be available to testify about the boycott before the House Education Committee, which Rep. Lyons chairs. Heim's lack of availability apparently is a permanent status.
On Oct. 30, Rep. Lyons publicly invited Heim to testify before the House Education Committee, but she said this week that he can't find any time in his schedule to testify.
"We just heard back from him that he can't make it,” Rep. Lyons said Wednesday. "But this was an open invitation (which is not limited to a specific date or time) to come before the committee. So, he says he can't make it — even when it is an open invitation?"
In April, the union sent letters on behalf of school union presidents in Dexter, Chelsea, Lincoln, Saline, Whitmore Lake and Manchester schools, advising teachers not to accept student teachers from EMU. The individual school district unions involved with the boycott are all chapters of the MEA.
"No matter how you look at this action, the Washtenaw County Education Association, an MEA affiliate, is truly a bully," said F. Vincent Vernuccio, director of Labor Policy with Mackinac Center for Public Policy. "Worse, it is bullying a group of students who have no control over the issue. Union President Tim Heim should be ashamed of his organization's attempt to harm the careers of young teachers to make a political point. Thankfully, when many of these students graduate they will have the ability to choose whether to support a union or not and these students will have long memories."
EMU officials have reported that the union instigated boycott has had a negative impact on its student teacher placements.
"This concerns us deeply, as the welfare and career path of our students is our primary concern," said Leigh R. Greden, EMU's vice president of government and community relations. "We agree with many in our state and community who do not think it is appropriate for an organization to take actions that could potentially affect the careers of our high quality teaching students, and the education of young people in our state.
"A large majority of our teaching students are from Michigan, and most plan to stay and teach in Michigan," he said. "Having a roadblock in their career development could lead them to look for opportunities outside Michigan."
The boycott won't force EMU to drop its affiliation with the EAA, he said.
Wozniak said he is going into teaching "because I want to help future generations of children" and the it's wrong for the union try and stand in the way of that.
"When politics get in the way, we can't do our jobs and we certainly can't help anyone if we are not allowed to student teach," Wozniak said. "I don't agree with the teachers union on many things, and I think this is just another reason why the teachers union wants to flex its muscle and hurt everyone involved."
This is not the first time the MEA has tried to bully student teachers. In 1994, the MEA threatened to stop accepting Saginaw Valley State University student teachers from getting into classrooms to pursue their careers because SVSU was approved to charter schools in Michigan. The MEA also said it would tell its members who were alumni of SVSU to stop donating to the school if it worked to charter schools against the MEA's wishes.
WCEA President Heim could not be reached for comment. MEA spokesperson Nancy Knight did not respond to a request for comment.
Our education system is very, very, very biased.
That needs to change. Completely.
Our education system needs real competition.
Not unions. Not flunkies. Real teachers, motivated by students.
We conservatives have overlooked a very important battleground, and liberals are walking all over us as a result.
We need real conservative education.
Now.
quite a story all right. I wanted to read some of the sidebar articles and clicked on them to get some facebook thing with a security warning- what in the world is that? I’ve been on fb many times and never seen such. I’m not registered into facebook.
no need to reply.
Hillsdale college has chosen the right path by refusing to give stand alone teaching degrees. You have to get a 4 year degree in something real first.
Teacher’s unions are the worst thing that has happened for our children for many years. They are also one of the biggest political donors so they continue to get away with it and to gain power.
They spent millions to defeat a modest proposal in CA to increase the time they have to work before getting tenure.
Ann Arbor, MI is a bit of a Madison, WI as we can see here.
I call it Berkley East. Its the Dingell district.
I only live about 30 miles to the west and its a whole different country.
I would honestly say that every community with a big super size university in its midst is in danger of having its political patterns changed.
They’re busy trying to turn our little community college into a 4 year university and they’ve seen a 30% drop in enrollment as a result. We’ve already got too many universities soaking up taxpayer dollars.
I’m within a 2 hour drive of at least 6 major universities without even leaving the state and I’m excluding Hillsdale and Spring Arbor college. Eastern, Western, Ferris state, MSU, UofM, Wayne state.
There is no bottomless pit of taxpayer dollars to pay for higher education which needs to be put on a diet including salary caps for employees and cuts for the six-figure top salary employees.
Yet another story our “watchdog” media will ignore.
Maybe he'll hit his head.
They’re still teaching useful things at Jackson but the place is being buried under a lot of crap directed toward teaching, alternative energy, medical administration type crap.
http://www.jccmi.edu/Department/
The excess crap is driving up the costs that locals used to pay for refresher courses or things required for jobs they already had.
The Michigan Education Association (MEA) is a self-governing education association, representing about 150,000 teachers, education support professionals and higher-education employees throughout the state.
Through collective action, MEA is dedicated to the purpose of serving our members’ employment goals, interests and needs, while advocating for quality public education. By so doing, MEA is committed to creating and maintaining an effective education system that:
• Supports the development of successful, empowered students;
• advances the principles of democracy, human and civil rights;
• meets the needs of our global society; and
• improves the quality of life for all.
Mission statement: “The mission of the MEA is to ensure that the education of our students and the working environments of our members are of the highest quality.”
So let me see if I’ve got this right—It’s bad to discriminate on the basis of a deviant/bogus sexual orientation, but OK to discriminate on the basis of political ideology?
Do you think a conservative can get a job at the NY Times or ABC or in Hollywood? It is the same thing in schools and colleges, known conservatives are a very small minority and this was not happenstance.
Thanks MichCapCon.
Teacher’s Union Investigates Jewish Dad Who Complained about Liberal Bias
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3089002/posts
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