Posted on 10/23/2005 2:57:27 PM PDT by indianrightwinger
Prop. 74 Has Some Teachers at Odds # The governor's initiative to make it easier to fire problem instructors pits colleagues against one another. Many are not at ease airing their views.
By Erika Hayasaki, Times Staff Writer
Throughout California, teachers can barely make a photocopy or check a school mailbox these days without getting slapped by competing campaign slogans over a controversial teacher quality initiative.
The issue has pitted teachers against each other. Some hold quiet conversations in campus corners, avoid volunteering for union phone banks and keep their heads down when the subject arises in the faculty lounge.
Public schoolteachers are nervously wondering who among them will lose their jobs if voters on Nov. 8 approve Proposition 74, which would lengthen probationary periods for teachers and ease the rules for firing poor-performing veteran instructors.
In such a politically divisive campus climate, some "don't want to pipe up and say whether or not they support it," said Jacqueline Watson, 33, an instructor at Kramer Middle School in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. Those who do, she said, sometimes get cold stares or the silent treatment from colleagues.
If the measure is approved, some teachers say, it could rid California schools of ineffective instructors who curse at students, or talk on cellphones and show "Legally Blonde" during class. Other teachers fear that it would drive talented, low-paid teachers with master's degrees into more lucrative professions.
For the last several months, the California Teachers Assn., which represents 335,000 educators, has tried to convince its members — and the public — that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot initiative misses the mark and could unintentionally make it harder to remove poor teachers.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
That's tough, Gandara.
classroom politics, cliques, infighting, gossip... should be description of the kids, but usually its the teachers.
If the principals continued employment IS based on performance, then she will try hard to get rid of bad teachers and keep effective ones
Bottom line: If a teacher is good, he/she will be able to achieve the five-year probationary period. If he/she is bad, good riddance!
I'm a product of CA schools in the early 60's, and I got a fine high school education. Now, the schools in Kalifornia are abysmal. I feel for the kids, and think two years to achieve tenure are ridiculous, and an example of "teachers before students" -- the union goal.
My wife is a California teacher and she supports prop 74. I would say maybe 25% of the teachers support the measure.
Is your wife vocal about her choice? Just curious. I'm a new teacher in Los Angeles and thank goodness I have so much work to do that I don't have time to visit in the lunchroom about politics. What I can't believe is that they pass "bad" teachers around from schools to schools just because the can't fire them easily. Boy it sure is an interesting transition to make going from the business culture to that of education! All I know is that I want to excel in education as a teacher in the same manner that I did in my job in the computer technology field!
I wonder when we will at least require that teachers be citizens...Doesnt that make sense?
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