The Stockholm syndrome of Florida's teachers and unions. (draft)

Before I get started let me ask you a question. Would you thank a thief who broke into your house and terrorized your family, for not stealing the television, as he walked away with your other valuables? Come back to this.

When governor DeSantis made his proposal to raise first year teacher salaries to 47,500, while leaving out veteran teachers, guidance counselors, school psychologists, social workers, and support staff, I wasn't excited about it, in fact I was outraged. 

It was nothing but a proposal and a gimmick designed to grab headlines. It wasn't a serious idea.

As outraged as I was, what happened next, outraged me even more. I had to read about the FEA and numerous other union's thanking him for bringing up the subject of teacher salary. Something teachers, and democrats in Tallahassee have been talking about for years. Did any of them get a thanks? Absolutely not.

I want to remind you that DeSantis represents the same party and politicians who for a decade have done all they can to bludgeon public education and the teaching profession into oblivion.   

Why are we thanking them for another ridiculous proposal. It's like we are to afraid to speak truth to power and say that idea sucks, we expect better.

It had gotten so bad, I was beginning to think the unions had Stockholm Syndrome. 

Stock·holm syn·drome

noun

1. feelings of trust or affection felt in many cases of kidnapping or hostage-taking by a victim toward a captor.

DeSantis is not our friend, he wants to destroy public ed and the teaching profession and you and especially our unions shouldn't think anything different, not even for a second. 

Now before I continue let me let you know, I am proud union guy, and I attended the rally in Tallahassee though why it was held the day before the session began is beyond me. It's like we wanted to protest but you know we didn't want to inconvenience any one.   

We should not be thanking DeSantis for his proposal. Instead we should be yelling from the roof tops about how bad it is.

What's he going to do if we speak truth to power? Make public education worse? Take more away from us? 

Then the Unions did it again after Chris Latvalla found nearly 500 million for teacher raises.

From the Tampa Times, 

At the end of a morning House PreK-12 Appropriations subcommittee session, chairman Rep. Chris Latvala unveiled leadership recommendations to reallocate funds within the budget for the coming fiscal year. It represented a first pass, or an exercise, to find where the House might be able to move existing resources, said Fred Piccolo, Oliva’s spokesman. 

The total shift would reach $520 million, with $462.6 of that going into the base student allocation with the intent of it being directed toward teacher pay. 

The money would come from line items previously used to fund other areas, with the biggest reductions coming from the disliked Best and Brightest teacher bonus ($284.5 million), supplemental academic instruction funds ($150 million) and funding compression appropriations ($54.2 million). 

Other smaller areas targeted for cuts included declining enrollment supplements ($1.8 million), virtual education ($2.2 million), and digital classroom expenses ($20 million). 

Rep. Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville, quickly noted that Latvala’s list did not match the governor’s plan. It offered less for raises, and did not mention the $300 million bonus plan that DeSantis has spoken of. 

https://www.tampabay.com/news/gradebook/2020/01/16/florida-house-proposes-4626-million-for-teacher-raises/

Um so most of the money was going to education anyways? The majority of that was going in teachers pockets too?

Okay, I don't want to say this isn't a marginally better use of the monay than what it was going to be spent on, but come on, should we be high fiving Latvala?

No, not in the least.

There is no new money in this guys proposal, he's just moving it around, please unions lets hold off on the parade.

So many teachers are afraid of the word strike? What are they going to do fire us? Polk county teachers looked them in the eye and said go for it, and they backed off their threats pretty quickly.

Friends if you speak truth to power are they going to make your jobs harder or more miserable? Most of the teachers I know love their kids, and love the idea of teaching but they don't love what teaching has become. It's time we fought for what it should be and part of that is no longer thanking those who have been bashing teachers and public ed for whatever crazy idea they throw out or when they do a little more than the nothing, they have been doing for years.

We can't be afraid any longer.

So now take a second and answer my question, because in that analogy DeSants and the republican dominated legislature are the burglar. I know my answer, what about yours? 

Jason Fischer and the J1 bill

Jason Fischer's J1 bill which calls for an elected rather than appointed superintendent gets it's first committee meeting this week in Tallahassee. I think people would be interested in a time line of the bill.

Jason Fischer, 30 years as a private citizen, no call for an elected superintendent.

Jason Fischer 3.5 years on the school board, no call for an elected superintendent.

Jason Fischer, 3 years in the state house, no call for an elected superintendent.

Superintendent Greene refuses Fischer's donors demand to give hundreds of millions extra to charter schools and he called for an elected superintendent in weeks. Of course the first version of his bill called for an appointed school board, which means he was for appointments and against elections, before he was for elections and against appointments. In politics they call that a flip flop.

Nobody should think for a second Jason Fischer's proposal has anything to do with giving voters more power or improving education, nope, instead it is all about political payback, and since it is payback that could end up hurting students, it's reprehensible. 

Some more things about electing a superintendent. The school board and the city council could have called for having an elected super and they didn't. 99 percent of the children in the country and all the students in 48 states attend schools under appointed superintendents. Only two states allow elected supers, Alabama and Florida and in those states over 90 percent of children attend schools with appointed superintendents. The reason the vast majority of the country has appointed supers is it gives schools a greater chance of success, when the best candidates no mater where they might live are eligible and we keep politics, as much as we can out of it.

In short it's a bad idea, proposed for bad reasons, by a bad Representative. 

The state of Florida is doing nothing serious to address the teaching shortage, because the powers that be, want it!

But Chris what about Governor DeSantis's proposal to start first year teacher salaries at 47,500 and to have another bonus plan?

Well, ten thousand teachers and education advocates showed up in Tallahassee this past week to tell the governor they wanted no part of what he was selling.

Who wants a plan that leaves out 80k veteran teachers, who have actually seen their salaries go backwards over the last decade, and to never ever get a raise again? 

Who wants a plan that leaves out all the support staff, many of who don't make a living wage?

Who wants a plan where first year teachers will be making what, 12, 16 and 17 year teachers depending on where you are make the same wage? I get it they have never appreciated experience but come on that's ridiculous.

But friends it;s even worse than that. People who have been paying attention and who have actually talked to a teacher, know where salary is important there are other important issues driving people out of the field and stopping people from entering.

Nobody wants to teach to a high stakes test, especially when they have all the responsibility and none of the authority or enter a job where there are no employment protections. Every teacher hired since 2010 can be fired at the end of a year for any or no reason. That by the way means the majority of teachers have no protections.  

DeSantis, Corcoran, and the state board might say they care, that they want to address the problem, well friends their actions speak louder than their words.

From USNEWS,

Teacher preparation programs have experienced sharp enrollment declines over the last eight years in nearly every state across the country, a new analysis shows.

In Oklahoma, college and university programs designed to prepare educators for the classroom saw an 80% drop in enrollment since 2010 – just one of nine states where enrollment has nose-dived by more than half.

Coupled with low pay and historic levels of unrest among educators, the long, stubborn downward trend line has those responsible for building the next generation of teachers wondering whether the profession can overcome its sullied reputation.

The declines are notable on their own, but even more so considering they occurred alongside increasing enrollment in bachelor's degree programs over the same time period.

"This is going to take a decade to turn around if we act now," says Bryan Duke, interim associate dean in the College of Education and Professional Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma, as well as the director of educator preparation.

Duke has seen Central Oklahoma's enrollment fall off a cliff since 2012, when the school enrolled about 1,800 students. Last year, it enrolled just 856, a 49% decrease.

"We have made it flat-out unattractive to be a teacher," he says. "That message is not going to change overnight."

https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-12-03/sharp-nationwide-enrollment-drop-in-teacher-prep-programs-cause-for-alarm

We are never going to get enough applicants if we keep doing things the same way, and salary is just one part of the picture.  

Governor DeSantis called this the year of the teacher, more like this is the year teachers will take whatever  we decide to ram down their throat and the will like it, you know, the same as last year, and the year before that, and the year before that... He could listen to teachers, he could make sure they are all taken care of but thus far he hasn't and the only reason that makes sense, is he wants the teaching profession, to shrink and ultimately fail and is anybody really surprised by this.

I believe he thinks, why should we invest in professional teachers, because if he has anything to do with eventually all children will be at voucher schools, where teachers don't have to have certifications or degrees, and there is plenty of people who say, sure I will try that for 15 bucks an hour, looks easy .  

Florida is setting the profession up for failure and their actions are all the evidence we need.

Lenny Curry dashes hope for decency

I had hoped after the JEA debacle and with the city losing what I am sure will be the first of many lawsuits, that the mayor and city council could help heal the city by agreeing to put the referendum on the ballot, but nope, the Mayor doubled down on his disdain for public education.

At the COJ MLK breakfast which looks like it was a disaster, the mayor was asked about the referendum.

From the Florida Times Union,

TU: The last thing is the school board. I know there was the recent ruling that said they have the right to retain outside counsel. With that, another fracture point, how do you deal with the tense relationship now between the city and the School Board?

We’ve reached out, both sides, and I would say that I said in 2019, I didn’t think 2019 was the year. I thought it was moving too fast. I also believed I would like to see timelines. There were other stakeholders that had other interests. I believed we could work through those and get on a 2020 ballot. It’s a 2020 ballot. I believe we can work through those and get on a 2020 ballot.

In fact, they did provide timelines to the City Council just before their vote, and the City Council didn’t feel it had enough time to vet it. We are where we are right now.

They have timelines. I want to get in a room. Let’s figure all this stuff out with stakeholders. Let’s get it on the ballot and let’s get it done.

TU: Let’s get it done meaning you’ll support it as well? 

We get everybody in the room and we agree to move forward? Yes, I want to be there. I believe we need to move forward with this. There are people with interests. Look, charter schools. There are people who care deeply about charter schools.

I cared about timelines. Timelines were presented to City Council. I’m not going to judge those timelines. I’d like to get us in a room and figure out how to move forward together.

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200117/mayor-curry-jacksonville-residents-want-jea-to-be-publicly-owned?fbclid=IwAR027bKPTmK0iUZ-D24essOk0GQ-

By other stakeholders, he means Gary Chartrand who must know where the bodies are buried. The rest of the civic council through Curry under the bus with the JEA sale but here the mayor is still carrying Chartrand's water.

The School Board should refuse to get in a room with this mayor and "work out the details" the mayor and city council had their chance. Every recent court case has said the referendum will be on the ballot and if Curry hasn't picked up on that then, well he's even worse than we thought.

What's even more amazing is the state legislature is probably going to pass a dreadful districts must share on a proportional basis with charters bill. They are doing his dirty work for him. Spoiler, if somebody else is going to do the dirty work, don't get down in the mud with them.

Curry, could have had a clean victory that unites the city and gives him a much needed victory, but instead he gave the city's schools and children, his middle finger. 

The real danger in Florida’s legislative session, isn’t a lack of pay, it’s Privatization

This is Florida, even when times were good for education they weren’t that good. So yes teacher pay and resources for education is a big problem, but even bigger is the Governor’s plan to privatize our schools. While they were pushing bad teacher pay ideas through the front door, they are slipping a massive expansion of vouchers and charters, almost unopposed through the back.

The Governor has proposed a massive expansion of vouchers for private schools, private schools, that I remind you that can take and keep whoever they want, and teach whatever they want too. If the governor has his way, any student not receiving a three on the FSA reading would now be eligible for a voucher, where ironically there is no FSA, and gone will be the requirement that children at least had to try public schools for a year. Furthermore, those families eligible will be well into the middle class. Hundreds of thousands of students that at least had some modest hoops to jump through will now have none.

Then there is charters. Despite over 400 failing, you would have thought the legislature would have gotten a clue by now, they continue to push for their expansion. You ever notice how republicans rail against waste and duplication, well friends, there’s nothing more wasteful, than an unnecessary charter school in the same neighborhood as a public one, and holy duplication Batman.

Once again, the republicans in Tallahassee want to ignore the state constitution and circumnavigate school boards and give the power to authorize charters to an appointed body, sorry make that something like 30 different appointed bodies.  

This measure has been declared unconstitutional time and time again, but that never stopped Tallahassee from trying to kneecap public ed, not that the constitution is really a hallowed document at this point, it’s more like a list of suggestions written on the back of a cocktail napkin during happy hour.

From the Tampa Times:

So for yet another year, they’re proposing legislation to allow other entities to authorize charters and enter contracts for their operation. The latest comes in the Florida House, where state Rep. Stan McClain, an Ocala Republican, has revived a bill (HB 953) that would give state public colleges and universities the power to approve charter schools…

… In debate, some of the bill’s drivers including McClain, who also is vice chairman of PreK-12 Appropriations, suggested the measure would do something other than allow public colleges and universities to serve as charter authorizers if they wish.

They spoke about the need to improve career training, and the importance of having colleges and universities create and operate charter schools that fit with their missions. The bill speaks more broadly, though, about allowing colleges and universities to sponsor charter schools operated by others to pursue workforce needs.

At the bottom, though, the supporters focused on one key point: Making it easier to open charters, in order to give families more choices. They said public universities, already entrusted with billions in state funds, seemed a logical choice to expand charter authorization.

“To me the question here isn’t about public vs. private. This is all public education,” Fischer said. “We’re talking about trusting public universities. ... It comes down to trust.”

Some Democrats on the committee saw it otherwise. Already leery of charters, they suggested the issue centered on keeping K-12 education within the realm of elected school boards.

“The school board is elected individuals responsible for expenditures of public funds,” said Rep. Geraldine Thompson, D-Windermere. “What is proposed is authorization of charter schools by people who are not elected and not accountable to the people.”

https://www.tampabay.com/news/gradebook/2020/01/16/florida-lawmakers-still-seeking-new-paths-for-charter-schools-to-open/

Um Fischer??? That guy is my rep and nothing he says should be taken at face value, because the only thing he values is who gives him campaign cash, and if you guessed most of that comes from charters you guessed right.

Friends, they may throw some nickels at public ed teachers this year, but what’s it going to matter if in ten years there aren’t many public schools left.

I get it, as a teacher, teacher pay is a huge issue, but the reality is their privatization agenda is more pervasive and damaging and needs to be stopped both for the future of the profession and the future of public ed.   

It’s time for the City Council to do the right thing

Last Summer Duval County Public Schools went to the City Council to have them put a referendum on the ballot, so they could generate money to fix its aging and crumbling schools, something that was universally agreed should happen. Unfortunately, politics got in the way and it didn’t and the district felt obligated to hire a team of lawyers and sue city hall. A recent judge’s decision affirmed that was their right to do because they are a unique body not beholden to city hall. This is without a doubt the first of several court victories that will ultimately see the referendum placed on the ballot, but it doesn’t have to be.

The City Council could just take up the referendum and have it placed on the 2020 ballot and they should do so as soon as possible.

I think everyone would agree that City Hall has had a terrible year, what with them fighting against the referendum, the debacle with JEA, zero solutions for the murder rate, the Landing, and I could go on, so instead of continuing to fight a losing battle, in both the legal courts and the one of public opinion, where they law and other decisions go against them, why not generate some good will and take this matter off their already full plate.

When the mayor and city council fought against the referendum they didn’t just fight against the city’s schools and children, but they also fought against revitalizing neighborhoods, a stimulus for the city and jobs, things that are generally considered good policy, victories. Well if anybody could use a victory right about now, it’s the city council and city hall.

I urge them to do the right thing, take up the referendum and put it on the 2020 ballot as soon as possible.

Governor DeSantis says he doesn’t care what teachers have to say.

The actual quote from the WFSU article was, Governor Ron DeSantis says he’s confident in public support for his proposal to boost starting teacher salaries to $47,500 dollars.

Now he probably missed it because he fled Tallahassee Monday, but ten thousand teachers and their supporters showed up in to tell him they didn’t want what he was selling but that wasn’t the only disturbing thing the article mentioned.

From WFSU.com

"We live in a very polarized time. If you attach a Democrat’s name to something, Republicans tend not to like it and vice versa. Even with my name attached as a Republican, you still had over 90 percent of Democrat voters think that having a minimum salary of $47,500 is a good thing." 

DeSantis says he "thinks we're going to be able to get a lot of this done," referring to the legislature passing a teacher pay plan along the lines of what he's asked for - which would take an investment of $600 million. 

"What I say is, what's the broader public want on some of this stuff? And if you're with what the broader people want, you're going to be okay," the governor told reporters. 

https://news.wfsu.org/post/desantis-brushes-fea-rally-touts-public-support-his-teacher-pay-plan

DeSantis is a real piece of work. Protesting his pay proposal has nothing to do with being a democrat or republican and it has everything to do with what’s right and wrong. I guarantee you if he said every teacher gets X raise or we’re going to send the 900 million to the districts and let them figure it out, very few people, regardless of political party would be complaining.

Also the uniformed might think his proposal is a good idea but I guaranty that support would drop like a red balloon if the next quest was, is it okay to lead 80k veteran teachers out.

Then he says what he says is what the broader people want, um what the what, come on, what the “broader” people want is for DeSantis to support public ed, something he thus far has proven incapable of doing.

Shameful.

You should ask yourself, if teachers don’t want it, then what’s wrong with it, and if teachers don’t want what he is selling, then friends, instead of dismissing teachers, shouldn’t he be listening to them?

The WNBA just agreed to give its player pay hikes and why you should care

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and its players’ union have agreed to a new contract that will increase players’ pay by 53% and provide additional performance bonuses and benefits. 

https://nowthisnews.com/news/wnba-agreed-to-pay-increase-maternity-benefits-for-players?&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=nowthisnews

That's great but why should you care.

The WNBA agreed to give ALL their players a raise. Not some of their players, not just the guards or the centers, not just the players over six feet tall too but ALL of them. What do you think would have happened has the WNBA said, we're just giving players over six foot tall a raise and everyone else can just keep their current contract? Well friends that's what DeSantis is saying, when he says, it's fine to leave 80k veteran teachers out. It's fine to leave support staff out too? It's all fine.

The truth is it's not fine and nobody should think it is.

Veteran teachers have sen their salaries go backwards over the last decade.

Many of our support personnel don't make a living wage.

DeSantis instead of raising all boats prefers a headline grabbing gimmick.

What's maddening is there are two fixes, teachers, unions and districts would readily sign off on. Give every teacher and support staff member X raise, or better yet just give the money to the districts and let them and the unions figure it out.

Nobody would be complaining and if it was a decent amount, people would even be applauding him.

The gimmick governor like the one before him thinks he knows whats best for education. A massive rally of educators just told him he was wrong. 

Jason Fischer's tin foil hat. (draft)

Jason Fischer in the Times Union said, if you don't support his J1 bill to have an elected superintendent you should take off your tin foil hat. Rich from a man whose entire career has been doing the bidding of others so he could advance. You might think you know Fischer, the bad and the ugly because there certainly isn't any good, but maybe you don't.

Jason Fischer ran for soil and water and lost before he discovered his passion for education and ran for school board.

While running he presented himself as a Navy veteran, he wasn't and had to backtrack those assertions.

He arguably barely won by getting the endorsement of Jeb Bush, yes that Jeb Bush, turning what was supposed to be a non partisan race into a very partisan one.

While on the school board he was generally considered by his peers unprepared and antagonistic. If I was Mr. Marcus, his democratic opponent for SH 16 I would ask all the school board members he worked with for a comment and their endorsement. It's my bet not one except for Scott Shine would support Fischer.

He quit the school board to run for the house where he again narrowly won against Dick Kravitz by a thousand votes. There was no democratic opponent that year, which means just 11k Fischer voters chose the rep for the 120k people who live in District 16.

While in the house he took a job with John Kirtley the states voucher king, often championing voucher legislation but never recusing himself from legislation that would benefit his employer.

He also, after getting tens of thousands in donations from his super donor Gary Chartrand, inserted millions into the budget for Chartrand's charter school. MILLIONS EXTRA! The school is not in his district and I doubt one kid that goes there lives in his district too.

Speaking of charter schools, you would be hard pressed to find another state politician who has taken more money from charters and not coincidentally, there hasn't been any pro charter school or anti public school legislation he hasn't supported.   

Also after Vitti left, the district had to dip into its reverses, and even though it never went below what was statutorily required, Fischer called for an audit of their budget (his request was rejected), implying the district was irresponsible. That may be the definition of chutzpah because he both championed for Vitti and voted for the last budget. It's safe to say he has taken every opportunity, sorry manufactured opportunity, to attack the district he can.

Then that takes us to his infamous J1 bill. His first version called for an appointed school board but when Mayor Curry, also the recipient of over 6 figures from Gary Chartrand said he preferred an elected superintendent, Fischer promptly flip flopped.

This also all happened as Chartrand used all his influence to fight against a special referendum, to fix the districts aging infrastructure.

Some things about an elected super. Mississippi, yes that Mississippi, recently said it was a bad idea leaving only Florida and Alabama with the option. In Florida and Alabama most districts have still gone with an appointed super and in Florida 90 percent of children go to schools with an appointed super.

The school board and city council could both ask for a referendum to have an elected superintendent,  but have declined to do so, and when a white man was super and he was on the board, he never suggested the idea but now that we have a black woman who has arguably performed very well, he can't have it happen quick enough.

He may claim it's about giving people a choice, but its not, its about inserting politics into choosing who runs our schools, with him betting his guy can buy the race.



Fischer has not been a good representative, neither on the school board nor in the house, I mean for regular folks, because for a handful of super donors and special interests he has been all they could have dreamed on and more, but he is the one wearing the tin foil hat if he doesn't think people know it.   

Superintendent Greene says help is on the way for teachers that need reading endorsements though I think she kind of missed the point.

To refresh your memory the state with little direction said many teachers now had to get a new reading endorsement which can be an arduous years long task, if they are going to work with certain students. Several teachers reached out to me and said this was overwhelming and there seemed to be little rhyme or reason to who had to take the classes so I reached out to Greene and the school board with their concerns.

First let me say I appreciate superintendent Greene for getting back to me, it can't always be especially to someone who can be a critic, and it's to her credit that she did.

That being said I think she may have missed the point a little.

This was her note, where she explains what the district has and is doing.

Dear Mr. Guerrieri,

Thank you for sharing feedback from our teachers regarding the reading endorsement requirement as outlined in HB 7055. As a point of clarification based on teacher feedback, HB 7055 requires endorsements for reading teachers instructing all K-12 students in need of Tier III intensive reading interventions. This feedback is valuable as the district prepares for implementation of this requirement effective July 1, 2020.

The Office of Professional Development has communicated the requirements of this ruling to teachers through a variety of communication tools and has provided information to school-based administrators to share with their teachers.  Attached are supporting documents sent to teachers and administrators to use as a guide to make decisions regarding this requirement.  We do recognize that some teachers are just learning about this requirement, and others have just recently been put in a classroom situation that would require the Reading Endorsement.   The addition of face-to-face Q&A sessions regarding the reading endorsement may have alleviated some of the concerns regarding access to courses and the length of time to complete the required coursework.  Our professional development team has worked diligently to open new online classes as the existing classes fill up, and will continue to do so to meet the state deadline.

I am pleased to share that the district continues to be reflective of this demand on teachers who provide instruction to students in need of Tier III reading interventions.  Although teachers of other content areas are welcome to become reading endorsed, it is not a requirement as outlined in HB7055.  Enhancements made to the Winter 2020 Reading Endorsement course of study include a reduced number of assignments, extended time to better understand the navigation of the course, and increased communication regarding enrollment updates.

In addition, the PD department is currently piloting a course rollout combining Reading Competencies 1 and 2; and 3 and 4.  Each combined course is 10 weeks in length. For the 2020-21 school year, the district will offer additional competency combination courses, as described above, for teachers who need to take all or nearly all of the reading endorsement coursework.  We are currently piloting this modified course delivery model at two sites with 106 participants. The district currently employs 17 part-time reading endorsement facilitators. This allows for an increase in offering Face-to-Face and Online courses to maximize access for teachers who need to obtain or maintain high quality status.

Teachers with additional questions or concerns should contact Endorsement Specialist, C. Renee Jackson, jacksonc9@duvalschools.org, or Professional Development Supervisor, Altina Fenelon-Silva, fenelona2@duvalschools.org.  They understand this is a priority and are eager to assist teachers. 

Kind regards,

I hope this helps some, and again I appreciate that she wrote back but I think she missed a very important piece and that's teachers are already feeling overwhelmed and this isn't helpong, so I wrote her back and made some suggestions.

 Thank you for getting back to me. I will put this information out there on the blog  Education Matters in case some of the readers are unaware.

I think where this may address several concerns it does not address them all. Another complaint perhaps the biggest was teachers already had to much on their plate and this just added even more causing further stress and frustration.

Let me suggest a TDE day for everyone taking a course each course and an alleviation of  responsibilities during common planning and early release days. If the goal of those two things is to provide extra professional development, surely the classes can fill that function. I just want to remind you the better things are for teachers the better they will be for students.

Thank You again

Friends what some people, especially people not doing the actual work don't seem to get, is we can't continue to bury teachers, marginalize teachers and over work teachers and not expect something to give. The district hiring extra trainers for reading is good, giving teachers the time to do the work is much, much better.