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Union blocks teacher bonuses
Boston Herald ^ | 18 Nov 2009 | Edward Mason

Posted on 11/18/2009 10:14:18 AM PST by AreaMan

Union blocks teacher bonuses


By Edward Mason  |   Wednesday, November 18, 2009  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

Photo
Photo by Matthew West

Grinchlike union bosses are blocking at least 200 of Boston’s best teachers from pocketing bonuses for their classroom heroics in a puzzling move that gets a failing grade from education experts.

The Boston Teachers Union staunchly opposes a performance bonus plan for top teachers - launched at the John D. O’Bryant School in 2008 and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates and Exxon Mobil foundations - insisting the dough be divvied up among all of a school’s teachers, good and bad.

“It’s insanity,” said Jim Stergios, executive director of the nonpartisan Pioneer Institute. “They’re less concerned about promoting the interest of individual members than maintaining control over their members.”

The incentive program pays Advanced Placement teachers $100 bonuses for each student who passes the test, and up to $3,000 a year for meeting other goals. Students also can also receive $100 for passing.

“(The union) is standing in the way of innovation,” school Superintendent Carol R. Johnson told the Herald. “I think we have to realize we can’t do business as usual. . . . We have to be willing to make changes and give kids the opportunities they need.”

The program also pays for after-school study sessions for AP classes, which can count toward college credit and which some universities use to evaluate applicants.

The incentive program - part of a series of innovations Boston Public Schools wants to roll out - includes drawing outside money to the city’s cash-strapped schools to boost academic performance.

Union head Richard Stutman bristled at criticism he doesn’t have his members’ interest at heart. “We’re not taking money away from teachers,” Stutman claimed.

He also objected to the suggestions his union is a foe of school reform, insisting he backs the incentive program - so long as the bonus goes to all teachers, not just AP instructors.

“There’s no one solely responsible for the development of these students,” Stutman said. “They should all share in the money.”

But by thwarting performance bonuses, the union is hurting students, argued Morton Orlov, president of the Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative at MassINSIGHT, the business-backed group that administers the bonuses.

Orlov said the 10 state schools that accept the bonuses saw a 39 percent increase in students who passed the AP exam.

“You can think of this as smart money,” Orlov said.

Ligia Noriega, headmaster at the Excel High in South Boston, wants the bonus program at her school.

“These incentives push people to work a little bit harder,” Noriega said. “We have to start thinking outside the box.”

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1212771


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: boston; bustunions; education; publiceducation; teachers; teachersunions; unioncorruption; unions; unionthugs
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Is there anything Unions can't f**k up?

I swear that unions are like a cancer.

Also,
But by thwarting performance bonuses, the union is hurting students, ...

It's a Teacher's Union...is there any doubt what their priority is?

1 posted on 11/18/2009 10:14:18 AM PST by AreaMan
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To: AreaMan

Defend our socialist mediocra-cy.


2 posted on 11/18/2009 10:16:47 AM PST by Eleutheria5 (www.publishedauthors.net/benmaxwell/index.html, http://sites.google.com/site/thevuzvuz/)
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To: AreaMan

Union or not, it seems organizations flouting performance pay/bonuses leave the criteria for getting such a bonus very vague. I can see unions pushing back on this.


3 posted on 11/18/2009 10:17:20 AM PST by DonaldC (A nation cannot stand in the absence of religious principle.)
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To: Eleutheria5

Do it for Teddy. Sniff.


4 posted on 11/18/2009 10:17:46 AM PST by Eleutheria5 (www.publishedauthors.net/benmaxwell/index.html, http://sites.google.com/site/thevuzvuz/)
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To: AreaMan

Unions reward mediocrity and discourage achievement.

Nothing new.....It’s what they do.


5 posted on 11/18/2009 10:18:18 AM PST by digger48
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To: AreaMan

It’s the basic, basic, basic union position.

Seniority is everything. Competence and hard work are nothing.

Seniority is everything. Repeat after me . . . .


6 posted on 11/18/2009 10:18:42 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: AreaMan

It’s all about equality of outcome. Bring everyone down to the level of the least capable in the group. That’s the progressives’ idea of leveling the playing field.

I’m surprised the program got past the planning and talking stages without this silliness raising it’s ugly head.


7 posted on 11/18/2009 10:18:42 AM PST by PubliusMM (RKBA; a matter of fact, not opinion. 01-20-2013: Change we can look forward to.)
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To: AreaMan

We have this bonus system....The problem is...only 43% of the kids graduate from High school....MONEY does not a scholar make!!!


8 posted on 11/18/2009 10:19:06 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: AreaMan

“They should all share in the money.” That’s wise thinking Stutman. The math teacher that worked hard to teach his or her student’s to pass the test and increase student aptitude really should share that bonus with the gym teacher.


9 posted on 11/18/2009 10:19:59 AM PST by VA_Gentleman (Everybody says they have a plan, until they get punched in the face. - Mike Tyson)
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To: AreaMan
It's a Teacher's Union...is there any doubt what their priority is?

Not the teachers, apparently. Like any long-standing union, it has given into making support of the union itself the top priority.

10 posted on 11/18/2009 10:20:45 AM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: AreaMan

Public schools are one of the best arguments against socialism. This is yet just another example of how it will ALWAYS fail.


11 posted on 11/18/2009 10:22:48 AM PST by rottndog (WOOF!!! Be prepared for what's coming AFTER America.....)
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To: AreaMan

Unions don’t like the idea of pay for performance. Their mantra is “from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs.” - the loser’s motto.


12 posted on 11/18/2009 10:22:48 AM PST by -YYZ- (Strong like bull, smart like ox.)
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To: AreaMan
...insisting the dough be divvied up among all of a school’s teachers, good and bad.

Reward BAD teachers at the expense of GOOD teachers. Socialism in action...................

13 posted on 11/18/2009 10:24:56 AM PST by Red Badger (If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
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To: -YYZ-

The loser’s motto? It’s in The Communist Manifesto!.................


14 posted on 11/18/2009 10:25:53 AM PST by Red Badger (If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
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To: antiRepublicrat
Not the teachers, apparently. Like any long-standing union, it has given into making support of the union itself the top priority.

True, but I was wondering why Mr. Orlov (quoted below) seemed to be astonished that the teacher's union didn't really care about screwing over the kids. But yes, ultimately the union is all about the union, not even the individual teacher.

But by thwarting performance bonuses, the union is hurting students, argued Morton Orlov, president of the Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative at MassINSIGHT, the business-backed group that administers the bonuses.

15 posted on 11/18/2009 10:26:19 AM PST by AreaMan
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To: DonaldC
the criteria for getting such a bonus very vague.

The part that's vague is the the requirement that the union bosses get to use these as payoffs to the union members that serve them best. That's the only thing that concerns the union.

16 posted on 11/18/2009 10:26:21 AM PST by Navy Patriot (Sarah and the Conservatives will rock your world.)
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To: AreaMan

“Orlov said the 10 state schools that accept the bonuses saw a 39 percent increase in students who passed the AP exam.”

The NEA is a communist front. On their home page, there is a place to click for “must read” and Saul Alinsky is listed there.

Gates should have known better, but he was seduced by the liberalism of his mother and father.


17 posted on 11/18/2009 10:26:31 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (Support our troops, and vote out the RINO's!)
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To: Eleutheria5
Do it for Teddy. Sniff.

LOLOLOL EXCELLENT

18 posted on 11/18/2009 10:39:56 AM PST by SF_Redux
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To: stephenjohnbanker

That is what Bernie Marcus founder of Home Depot said about Unions and if Home Depot were unionized the best people couldn’t have helped build the business because Unions only allow promotions on seniority not Merit.


19 posted on 11/18/2009 10:42:09 AM PST by scooby321
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To: Red Badger

“The loser’s motto? It’s in The Communist Manifesto!.................”

Exactly - the loser’s motto.


20 posted on 11/18/2009 10:58:24 AM PST by -YYZ- (Strong like bull, smart like ox.)
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