The Next Step… possible?

after organizing my staff to a pleasing turnout at our union action to protest proposed district cuts to our health care, increased class size, and other cuts to the classroom… the question becomes, what is the next step?
Will teachers every unite against their ineffective own in the name of students?
although i have not written recently about the specifics of Muir lately, rest assured that i still work in south central… a middle school with over 2000 students and many teachers… not all of them up to par (and that is putting it very nicely due to the hour and sentiment of the day).

the other day i grabbed a Time magazine from Best Buy (it was the best kind – 5 finger discount… i felt justified since the cashier watched me take it from her hands). the title alone “How to fix America’s Schools” relegated the magazine into the right hands. and even though the cover and subsequent article features yet another TFA alumni (see my previous rants for background knowledge), this TFAer is doing something that i have long given thought to. and it looks like Michelle Rhee (read the shorter NY times version here)has outlasted the average shelf life of a TFA teacher.

teacher unions protecting shitty teachers was exactly why i did not want to become involved at all with out union… and now look at my dumb ass. waist deep in union politics. yet this could prove to be a good thing. there is a need at our campus to address ineffective instruction (at times the code word for detrimental daily interaction between certain adults on campus with our students). there are teachers who just simply ruin lives on the daily. lately i have been hearing a stronger call to address those individuals now. put them “on notice” in house and not wait for some district juggernaut to come and do it for us. yet there is one key thing that stands in the way… the very union that i represent.

clay burell addresses the surface of the idea at the end of this post as heretical close, as does this blog post by corey (i believe)…

curious to see how our staff unifies around dialogue of this issue. for i intend on bringing it up soon. there is so much shrapnel flying around our district at this point, i have nothing to lose (or do i?) i find my self at a very interesting crossroads between representing teachers and serving in the best interest of students. luckily i just remembered that the former (although elected by the staff) was a voluntary position… the later is not only my job. it is my passion and my duty.

The Next Step… possible?

Archives

Meta