The unions here stick to their nationals' party lines, insisting that Miles ruined the school system, the reforms he put in place didn't work and the teachers all hate him and the reforms. The silver thread of hope here, I think, is that the party line grows more widely divorced from plain reality the more the system racks up successes. I guess I'm an optimist. I believe there's a point
somewhere at which good teachers and younger teachers recognize that the unions are protecting people who are desecrating their profession. My brother-in-law sent me a great podcast in which the guy who was defeated for mayor in Chicago was talking about appealing to the rest of organized labor, saying, these guys in the teachers' unions are really bad for the rest of you. But the truth is, it's not just the unions, it's this whole empire of bullshit diploma mill ed schools, consultants, publishers. Lotta pigs at the trough, really big trough.
Shoots, the part of the puzzle I’d love to hear more about is the fate of the teachers union(s) in Dallas. Have they accepted the new regime and adapted? (Yea, sure.) Are they still fighting like crazy? Has membership imploded? Parenthetically, in New York you can’t get rid of a teacher for pedophilia, let alone doing a lousy job.
As long as the commentariat is serving as assignment editor:
What the heck is going on in Grand Prairie ISD? How did a superintendent who failed in HOUSTON ISD wind up in a smaller district and then a few months into the new job, get put on suspension? Might be easier to visit and talk to some sources in the Dallas suburb than to visit Houston.
As fond as I might be of bashing teachers' unions, I'm equally (equitably) happy to critique the associations supposedly representing school boards and school administrators, (in Texas, TASB and TASA.) TASA in particular has much the same problem as NEA/AFT, in being chartered to protect and defend bureaucrats even at the expense of children (students or otherwise), parents, taxpayers, and teachers. TASA even runs a headhunter service so that unemployed superintendents moving up from, (or exiled from) one district get consideration for jobs in another. Even if voters and parents can sustain a decade-long effort to ride the local district of an innumerate, corrupt, and sleazy superintendent, such a character winds up in another district in another high profile position drawing another six-figure salary. (Yes, I speak from personal experience....)
This is supposed to be a reply to Livy:
The unions here stick to their nationals' party lines, insisting that Miles ruined the school system, the reforms he put in place didn't work and the teachers all hate him and the reforms. The silver thread of hope here, I think, is that the party line grows more widely divorced from plain reality the more the system racks up successes. I guess I'm an optimist. I believe there's a point
somewhere at which good teachers and younger teachers recognize that the unions are protecting people who are desecrating their profession. My brother-in-law sent me a great podcast in which the guy who was defeated for mayor in Chicago was talking about appealing to the rest of organized labor, saying, these guys in the teachers' unions are really bad for the rest of you. But the truth is, it's not just the unions, it's this whole empire of bullshit diploma mill ed schools, consultants, publishers. Lotta pigs at the trough, really big trough.
Shoots, the part of the puzzle I’d love to hear more about is the fate of the teachers union(s) in Dallas. Have they accepted the new regime and adapted? (Yea, sure.) Are they still fighting like crazy? Has membership imploded? Parenthetically, in New York you can’t get rid of a teacher for pedophilia, let alone doing a lousy job.
As long as the commentariat is serving as assignment editor:
What the heck is going on in Grand Prairie ISD? How did a superintendent who failed in HOUSTON ISD wind up in a smaller district and then a few months into the new job, get put on suspension? Might be easier to visit and talk to some sources in the Dallas suburb than to visit Houston.
As fond as I might be of bashing teachers' unions, I'm equally (equitably) happy to critique the associations supposedly representing school boards and school administrators, (in Texas, TASB and TASA.) TASA in particular has much the same problem as NEA/AFT, in being chartered to protect and defend bureaucrats even at the expense of children (students or otherwise), parents, taxpayers, and teachers. TASA even runs a headhunter service so that unemployed superintendents moving up from, (or exiled from) one district get consideration for jobs in another. Even if voters and parents can sustain a decade-long effort to ride the local district of an innumerate, corrupt, and sleazy superintendent, such a character winds up in another district in another high profile position drawing another six-figure salary. (Yes, I speak from personal experience....)
"Rid" not "ride". Rid the district.
Also, try to rid districts of peculating ISD chief financial officers, whenever possible. In the exercise, see what TASA tells you about it...
Just go ahead and say what you know is true in your heart, Jim.
It takes a loon.
The politicians should love Miles. He is doing the hard work and taking the brickbats so they don’t have to.