From Gainsville.com
by Jackie Alexander
Karen McCann knows her position as leader of the local teachers union is not an enviable one.
The state Legislature is expected to pass policies that would drastically alter how teachers are evaluated and paid. Budget cuts are a matter of when and not if. Other states are busting unions, and education reformers view the union as an affront to their efforts.
Still, McCann says she and her 1,300 union members are doing the right thing.
“When you’re working with teachers and helping teachers, you’re helping kids,” she said. “That’s our focus.”
McCann, 61, took over the Alachua County Educators Association seven months ago after Gunnar Paulson left to run for the School Board. She has worked in county schools for more than 25 years as a counselor.
As the economy worsened and reports surfaced of American students failing to match up to their international counterparts, fingers were pointed at teachers -- and indirectly at the unions that support them.
‘’What has happened, because of the economy, when things get bad, people look for somebody to blame. And right now, the blame is teachers,” she said. “That all of the problems we have in education has become the teacher’s fault and the unions are supporting these teachers who aren’t doing their job.”
ACEA supported the One Mill for Education effort as well as the failed changes to the class-size amendment.
State legislators and President Barack Obama have attacked teacher tenure.
“In South Korea, teachers are known as nation builders,” Obama said in his 2011 State of the Union address. “Here in America, it’s time we treated the people who educate our children with the same level of respect. We want to reward good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones.”
The truth, McCann said, is that Alachua County has never had “teacher tenure.” Instead, teachers are hired for several years on an annual contract. After the initial phase, teachers can be offered a professional service contract, which still can be yanked at any time.
ACEA created the Alachua County Teachers Assistance Program to help struggling teachers, McCann said. A mentor teacher spends 45 classroom days with the teacher, pointing out strengths and faults.
“There isn’t a teacher I know -- whether they’re in the union or not -- that wants to work with an ineffective teacher,” McCann said.
Gov. Rick Scott’s education team has proposed approving multi-year contracts that don’t exceed three years.
Michelle Rhee of Students First also has publicly attacked teacher tenure as unnecessary, following the same mantra of legislators who favor merit pay.
"Good teachers know they don’t need tenure,” she said. “There is no reason to have it except to protect those that don’t perform as they should.”
In the past, the School Board and the teachers union have worked collaboratively, most recently with McCann accompanying Superintendent Dan Boyd to the “Leading the Way” conference in Hillsborough County.
But the two entities have had run-ins, most recently during the November reorganization meeting when McCann chastised board members for passing over Eileen Roy for chair.
School Board member Carol Oyenarte disagreed with McCann’s mantra that looking out for teachers benefits children.
Through her years of experience, “a teacher was a teacher,” Oyenarte said. “When you’re taking care of children, you’re taking care of teachers.”
Oyenarte also has said in the past that she hopes the union plays fair.
“I’m a team player. I hope the union will be,” she said in a previous interview with The Sun.
Oyenarte declined to be interviewed for this story, saying she did not have time.
School Board chair Barbara Sharpe said she respects the union despite never being part of it.
“We’ve always had a good relationship since I’ve been on the board,” she said. “Our teachers are a very important part of the school system.”
Sharpe said the board hasn’t always been able to give teachers what they wanted, namely raises.
“It’s always been important for me, for us to be able to provide that for them,” she said. “I know what they’re there for, and I know what our limitations are.”
Alachua County teachers haven’t received raises in three years, McCann said.
“You don’t hear teachers crying about extra pay,” she said. “Really they just want respect, respect from the public.”
After 25 years of teaching, a teacher’s annual salary will have increased $17,000, averaging about $700 more each year, McCann said.
“This is not a profession that people go into to get rich,” she said.
Paulson said he’s concerned about Scott’s efforts to kill state pension plans for teachers.
“I don’t know when teachers became the enemy in this country,” he said. “There’s going to be a tipping point where we won’t have the quality of teachers we have now.”
Cutting the pension plan is essentially a 5 percent pay cut for teachers, Paulson said.
“We have a governor that’s going to make teachers pay for the mistakes of others,” he said. “Does that seem right?”
McCann said she doesn’t think legislators realize the havoc they will unleash on the state school system with the changes to public schools anticipated in the upcoming legislative session. Scott has proposed education savings accounts in which parents can use the money that would be spent in a public school to pay for private school tuition.
“They’re creating a situation where children can go to a charter or private school and have inflated grades and make the parents feel good,” she said. “They (private and charter schools) don’t have to come up to the same bar. It’s going to be the exact reverse of what the Legislature says it wants.”
Roy, a longtime union member in addition to being on the School Board, agreed.
“We’re the favorite whipping boy right now,” she said. “Most people are very fond of and trust their child’s school, but then they will jump on the bandwagon to beat up teachers, which includes the very ones their children have prospered under.”
McCann said she worries about the future of all teachers.
“There are going to be changes; I hope that it’s collaborative,” she said. “My fear is really for my profession, for what I love.”
“In South Korea, teachers are known as nation builders,” Obama said in his 2011 State of the Union address. “Here in America, it’s time we treated the people who educate our children with the same level of respect. We want to reward good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones.”
The truth, McCann said, is that Alachua County has never had “teacher tenure.” Instead, teachers are hired for several years on an annual contract. After the initial phase, teachers can be offered a professional service contract, which still can be yanked at any time.
ACEA created the Alachua County Teachers Assistance Program to help struggling teachers, McCann said. A mentor teacher spends 45 classroom days with the teacher, pointing out strengths and faults.
“There isn’t a teacher I know -- whether they’re in the union or not -- that wants to work with an ineffective teacher,” McCann said.
Gov. Rick Scott’s education team has proposed approving multi-year contracts that don’t exceed three years.
Michelle Rhee of Students First also has publicly attacked teacher tenure as unnecessary, following the same mantra of legislators who favor merit pay.
"Good teachers know they don’t need tenure,” she said. “There is no reason to have it except to protect those that don’t perform as they should.”
In the past, the School Board and the teachers union have worked collaboratively, most recently with McCann accompanying Superintendent Dan Boyd to the “Leading the Way” conference in Hillsborough County.
But the two entities have had run-ins, most recently during the November reorganization meeting when McCann chastised board members for passing over Eileen Roy for chair.
School Board member Carol Oyenarte disagreed with McCann’s mantra that looking out for teachers benefits children.
Through her years of experience, “a teacher was a teacher,” Oyenarte said. “When you’re taking care of children, you’re taking care of teachers.”
Oyenarte also has said in the past that she hopes the union plays fair.
“I’m a team player. I hope the union will be,” she said in a previous interview with The Sun.
Oyenarte declined to be interviewed for this story, saying she did not have time.
School Board chair Barbara Sharpe said she respects the union despite never being part of it.
“We’ve always had a good relationship since I’ve been on the board,” she said. “Our teachers are a very important part of the school system.”
Sharpe said the board hasn’t always been able to give teachers what they wanted, namely raises.
“It’s always been important for me, for us to be able to provide that for them,” she said. “I know what they’re there for, and I know what our limitations are.”
Alachua County teachers haven’t received raises in three years, McCann said.
“You don’t hear teachers crying about extra pay,” she said. “Really they just want respect, respect from the public.”
After 25 years of teaching, a teacher’s annual salary will have increased $17,000, averaging about $700 more each year, McCann said.
“This is not a profession that people go into to get rich,” she said.
Paulson said he’s concerned about Scott’s efforts to kill state pension plans for teachers.
“I don’t know when teachers became the enemy in this country,” he said. “There’s going to be a tipping point where we won’t have the quality of teachers we have now.”
Cutting the pension plan is essentially a 5 percent pay cut for teachers, Paulson said.
“We have a governor that’s going to make teachers pay for the mistakes of others,” he said. “Does that seem right?”
McCann said she doesn’t think legislators realize the havoc they will unleash on the state school system with the changes to public schools anticipated in the upcoming legislative session. Scott has proposed education savings accounts in which parents can use the money that would be spent in a public school to pay for private school tuition.
“They’re creating a situation where children can go to a charter or private school and have inflated grades and make the parents feel good,” she said. “They (private and charter schools) don’t have to come up to the same bar. It’s going to be the exact reverse of what the Legislature says it wants.”
Roy, a longtime union member in addition to being on the School Board, agreed.
“We’re the favorite whipping boy right now,” she said. “Most people are very fond of and trust their child’s school, but then they will jump on the bandwagon to beat up teachers, which includes the very ones their children have prospered under.”
McCann said she worries about the future of all teachers.
“There are going to be changes; I hope that it’s collaborative,” she said. “My fear is really for my profession, for what I love.”
McCann said she doesn’t think legislators realize the havoc they will unleash on the state school system with the changes to public schools anticipated in the upcoming legislative session. Scott has proposed education savings accounts in which parents can use the money that would be spent in a public school to pay for private school tuition.
“They’re creating a situation where children can go to a charter or private school and have inflated grades and make the parents feel good,” she said. “They (private and charter schools) don’t have to come up to the same bar. It’s going to be the exact reverse of what the Legislature says it wants.”
Roy, a longtime union member in addition to being on the School Board, agreed.
“We’re the favorite whipping boy right now,” she said. “Most people are very fond of and trust their child’s school, but then they will jump on the bandwagon to beat up teachers, which includes the very ones their children have prospered under.”
McCann said she worries about the future of all teachers.
“There are going to be changes; I hope that it’s collaborative,” she said. “My fear is really for my profession, for what I love.”
Contact Jackie Alexander at jackie.alexander@gvillesun.com or 338-3166.
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110205/ARTICLES/110209649/1169?p=4&tc=pg
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