Below is the text of an April 18th letter from County Executive David Craig to Harford School Board President Rick Grambo in response to a recent press release from Harford County Public Schools. The press release noted that seven county high schools made the “Challenge Index” list compiled by the Washington Post, which identifies schools with high numbers of students taking Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests. Craig also sent copies of his letter to Gov. Martin O’Malley, Maryland Schools Superintendent Dr. Lillian M. Lowery, and selected members of the Harford Delegation and County Council, among other recipients.
“Dear President Grambo:
I read with joy on one side and dismay on the other, the press release “Seven HCPS high schools among most rigorous in nation.” I am proud that five of those seven schools were rebuilt while I have been county executive.
The dismay is about two of those not on the list – Havre de Grace High School and Joppatowne High School. Both are in a sad state of construction. Both have been included on my budget for capital projects. Unfortunately neither has had the strong support of the Board of Education.
It is also unfortunate that while several of the ones on the proud list have signature or magnet programs which have assisted them in obtaining the “Challenge Index” goals, one does not – Havre de Grace High School. Many of the students of HHS who could help reach this goal are pulled away because there is no magnet program. I am actually highly offended by this inequality.
The time is now to change this situation. If children and students in Joppatowne and Havre de Grace are to be treated equally with the rest of Harford County, action needs to be taken. The capital projects need to move forward, the scope study needs to be completed and the magnet program needs to be expanded.
I would like someone from your staff to inform me where Havre de Grace High School and Joppatowne High School are on the Washington Post list. I would also like a time frame on when this status will change.
Cordially,
David R. Craig
HARFORD COUNTY EXECUTIVE”
It is truly astounding that the man with the primary control over providing more rigor to both Joppatowne High and Havre De Grace High has the gaul to question why they lag behind. The reason that there are not more magnet programs and more signature programs available to Harford County students is funding.
Mr. Craig, properly fund our schools and perhaps none will lag behind. Properly fund our schools and perhaps HCPS can expand programing rather than be forced to cut programs.
Instead of playing games, we should move the SMA and IB programs to a different campus (move all JHS students to EHS, bring SMA and IB to JHS, etc) or eliminate the programs entirely. Let everyone see what AHS and EHS are really like for the average student instead of covering it up by busing in the county’s best and brightest.
Mr. Kharn…while I take exception with your comments, I am compelled to add the word “some” to your last sentence. Please don’t imply that the “best and brightest” students only attend magnet programs. There are many many “bright” students who do not attend magnet programs.
So how much less is he spending in those schools than the rest? Or could it be that the better teachers just don’t want to mess with those students?
Just sayin’…. Money isn’t everything. You’re the union head – how about providing a solution for a change.
It is not that less is being spent on those schools but rather that the sum total of funds provided by County Executive Craig is not sufficient to provide all of the available programing at every school. That is why magnet schools have become popularized. Magnets allow the school system to offer more programing at a lower cost but not at every school. Expanding programing so that more IB or AP classes are offered at smaller schools, like Havre De Grace, requires additional funding. Joppatowne was scheduled to develop a magnet program but those plans were scuttled due to a lack of available funding.
The solution is to fund HCPS at a level which allows the school system to build and expand programing. As it stands, County Executive Craig’s proposed budget will force position cuts which will likely necessitate cuts to programing. I wish that this problem could be solved without additional funding but I just don’t see how it can be.
As to teachers “not wanting to mess with those students”, I am not really sure what you mean. Many teachers actively choose to teach in at risk schools. I personally have always taught in either Title I on at risk schools. The teachers who are leaving are not leaving because of their students. They are leaving because they cannot afford to stay, cannot see opportunities for improved working conditions and are not afforded the security of knowing that their contractual salary steps will be honored. If you were offered or were aware of a higher paying position where you were appreciated, your salary scale was secure, you had more resources and could see hope for greater equity for your students; would you stay? HCPS is becoming the teacher farm system for Baltimore and Cecil County Schools.
Mr Burbey,
I think you missed the original intent of magnet schools: To attract high-performing students voluntarily to an otherwise failing school that their parents would normally never consent to their child attending, boosting the school’s performance numbers. It is not a coincidence that magnet schools are very rarely located at successful schools.
That is not the point of magnet schools at all. The magnet schools in Harford County have been place at new and renovated schools. Likewise in the case of both AHS and NHHS the magnet programs were place there due to geographic proximity to community partners and interest groups. Harford Tech was located centrally to facilitate access to the entire county. Likewise, I reject the notion that AHS, EHS, NHHS and Harford Tech are “failing schools”.
HCPS did not invent magnet schools, nor were they the first to implement them. Initially they were intended to bring whites into majority-black schools during desegregation, with the hopes of increasing both the overall test scores and the scores of black students, but the school-within-a-school approach was found to only boost the former.
You’ve been drinking the Koolaid too long if you think AHS and EHS could stand on their own two feet without the magnet programs.
So are you saying that black students need white students to increase their test scores? That is the most racist statement I’ve read on the Dagger yet.
In reviewing an article from the Sun last Spring, it states that Edgewood High School’s first IB graduating class was 21 students. This appears to make up a very small percentage of the total school population. Further, many of the IB students are already in the Edgewood School district, including the student who was interviewed for the article.
How many good teachers are we going to lose because they are forced to pay a union they don’t want to join?
Perhaps Kharn should be given the silent treatment.
Hank,
That was the intent of magnet schools in the 1960s when they were first implemented.
B,
HCPS will lose few teachers as a result of having to pay partial dues to the HCEA because teachers will have to leave the state to teach, teach at a private school or change careers in order to avoid the partial dues. This is a state law and teachers in all school districts in MD will have to pay the partial dues to their education associations. In my opinion, anyone that is represented by a labor organization should have to pay the cost of the representation they receive during labor negotiations. After all, even without being a member of the association, they benefit from the negotiations process. Since labor negotiations are required between local school boards and education associations, teachers should have to pay for the benefits they receive from those negotiations. Otherwise they are simply scabs, benefiting without any investment. Unless education is privatized, which I am becoming more and more in favor of although it won’t happen in any of our lifetimes barring some major disaster, education associations will continue to represent teachers at the negotiating table.
Hasn’t Craig announced in the budget they will be contributing as much as they did last year, despite the fact that enrollment in HCPS has gone down?
Isn’t the real story that it is the state who is really to blame for lack of funding for HCPS (having decreased funding drastically)?
And isn’t it true that we will never hear the Union complaining about the lack of funding from the state because the Union and O’Malley are bosom buddies?
Might it have something to do with the fact that the state just passed a law forcing ALL teachers to contribute union dues even if they aren’t union members. That’s right. If you aren’t a union member, the state is forcing school systems to automatically deduct the dues from teachers’ paychecks and send it to the union. (Look it up, it’s SB 422 passed last month.) This amounts to a pay reduction for the 40%-50% of teachers that aren’t in the union.
HCEA’s silence on the continued state reduction of HCPS funding is deafening. At least now we know why.
None of the above are in actuality truthful.
The year to year reduction in enrollment is negligible.
State funding is calculated by a wealth formula. Harford County’s measured wealth has increased over the past ten years substantially, thus the funding has decreased. Were the state funding tied to politics or subject to individual whims, HCEA would actively protest it. However, it does not appear that there is a systemic inequity. We are working with state officials to examine this.
HCEA is not “bosom buddies” with anyone. We actively seek out candidates who support education regardless of their party.
No law was passed requiring union dues be paid by non-members.
Non-members’ pay will not be reduced by 40-50%.
Burbey, you are being misleading (shocker). Nobody said non-members pay would be reduced 40%-50%. What was said is that the 40%-50% of teachers who are not union members would see a reduction in their paychecks due to SB 422, with that money going to the union. While you might not want to call it “dues,” the fact is that non-members of the union will now be paying into the union.
Mr Burbey,
TR said it would be a pay reduction for the 40-50% of teachers who are not HCEA members, not that it would be a 40-50% reduction.
You’re being very disingenuous on the law regarding representation fees. SB422 passed both the Senate (34-14) and House (99-41) without amendments, it awaits Governor O’Malley’s signature and will go into effect in 1 July 2013. SB-422 allows the association and the district to negotiate an appropriate service/representation fee that will be charged to all non-association members, except when the employee has a religious objection to a collective bargaining association, and then they must donate an equivalent amount of money to a non-union, non-religious charity agreed upon by both the association and the employee. Given that Harford does not currently pay a representation fee, the levying of the fee must be approved by a vote of the combined association membership and teachers that would be affected by a representation fee.
So, if 51% of teachers vote to enforce a representation fee (and IIRC, more than 50% of teachers in HCPS are members in HCEA and could reasonably be expected to agree with the association), every teacher in HCPS will have to pay a fee to HCEA, or donate their money to a charity HCEA finds acceptable.
This is a major piece of legislation that greatly increases the power and coffers of HCEA and you’re trying to use weasel words to say it’s not true.
I again apologize I read TR’s post quickly and misread it.
It is still inaccurate as 40-50% of teachers are not non-members. Likewise, whatever fee is negotiated will not be equivalent to union dues, nor will anyone be forced to be a member. I am not trying to use “weasel words”. I am trying, as I do in all cases, to present facts honestly.
Ryan, how many dues-paying members in good standing does HCEA have for the 2012-2013 school year?
Mr Burbey,
While the representation fee may not be equal to the current dues, it is still certain to be non-trivial and all teachers (assuming the vote goes as expected) will be forced to pay that amount.
Forcing someone to give their money to an organization they did not voluntary join, or to a charity approved by that organization (and by an exemption only for those with religious beliefs, what about the atheists opposed to collective bargaining?), is wrong. Tyranny of the majority is not how the American system of government is supposed to work, and it should not apply in our schools or to our public employees.
It’s “gall.” You’re a teacher?
Spell check strikes again!
OOps. That’s an entirely different Gaul… My apologies… I must have had dictators on the mind.
Are you saying Charles de Gaul was a dictator? The guy who led the underground French Forces against Hitler and the Nazi’s during World War 2?
No Gaul as in the Gallic Wars and Julius Caesar. It was really just a typo…
Charles de Gaulle was the leader of the French. Gaul was a region in Europe, now Belgium, France, etc.
Come on, Neon, teachers aren’t perfect! Everyone’s entitled to a spelling mistake… even teachers!
So Mr. Craig wants to see Joppatowne and Havre de Grace on the challenge list… (I noticed one other school also absent from the list-Harford Tech). Clearly he doesn’t understand the challenges of scheduling and staffing at our schools and is merely interested in being able to boast of the number of schools on the list that have been rebuilt while on his watch. Rebuilding and capitol projects are not the end all solution to students enrolling in AP. Yes, making physical room for a magnet program can inflate the numbers of a school while masking how many of the non-magnet students are in AP classes. I believe the 3 schools not on the list are also our county’s smallest as far as enrollment. What Mr. Craig doesn’t understand is with the Board’s formula of teacher to student staffing, lower enrolled schools get lower amount of staffing. With the 4 period day there isn’t necessarily a lot of room in the schedule to offer the full range of AP classes while still serving the staffing needs of the general school population. If there are 230 juniors that need to schedule English 11 and 20 that want AP English and you only have 5 English teachers allotted to your school, it severely impacts the ability to schedule AP English for 20 while other English teachers have class sizes of 40 to accommodate the rest of the student population. Staffing is determined by a mysterious formula of one teacher per so many students (let’s use 30 even though that’s actually not true) -if a principal chooses to run a class that has only 20 students in it, those other 10 still need to be scheduled somewhere-tipping the numbers in another teacher’s class higher. So let’s elevate those 20 at the expense of the class that now has almost 40 students in it. Don’t forget that last year every principal was forced to cut one teaching position. One way Mr. Craig can see some change is to increase funding for staffing so there is actually available teachers to teach AP classes so that more than one period of that class can be offered. At smaller schools if AP Calc is taught the same period as AP Biology, it forces the student to choose only one. At our larger schools, there’s more staffing and the possibility that there would be a second section to avoid scheduling conflicts.
And that’s not even getting into the issue of how many students take the classes but not the tests…..
Grambo and the Board,
Please tell Craig he has himself to blame for HDG and Joppatowne students being treated “unequally”. It is amazing how someone can ask to improve our schools when the same person in charge of providing the funding for schools continually underfunds what the school board requests. How did this guy get elected to anything?
Maybe this is the bargaining chip the school board can use to increase funding…doubtful.
Really Mr. County Executive? You want to know why your pet projects have not been enacted. Every teacher wants to know why you violate our contract each year and screw us when it comes to our step increases. Why is it you can find the money for your pet projects but there seems to be a lack of funding for such minor issues as honoring the contracts of teachers who work their asses off each and every day to make this school system look great! Ironic, isn’t it?
Your terminology is incorrect, exercising a clause in a contract is not a violation of said contract.
Dilligaf, I hope you aren’t a teacher because it is very apparent that you either can’t read and understand English or don’t care to read the document you ratified. In my view, either forfeits your right to complain. Your contract is NOT broken if you don’t get a raise in some circumstances. I am not saying you either deserve or do not deserve a raise. I am simply saying the contract you and your fellow HCEA members ratified does not REQUIRE you to get a raise. If Mr. Burbey did not explain that to you then you should consider new leadership at HCEA. If he did explain that to you then why weren’t you listening?
Alex,
I am a teacher and it is apparent that you are the one who can’t read. I never commented on raises. I commented on step increases which are completely different and which were promised to each and every teacher when they signed their contract. If there is money according to our county executive to renovate schools, then their should be money to honor the step increases every teacher was promised. Are you listening?
Yep. I hear you loud and clear. Now hear me. Your contract does not mandate step increases just as it doesn’t mandate raises. Read it.
Believe me, if it mandated step increases your union would be in court suing for them. If you don’t believe me, ask the HCEA if step increases are mandated by the contract. If you can get a one word, yes or no answer, then the answer will be ‘no’. If the answer is yes, your next question is then why haven’t you filed suit to compel payment?
Alex,
first off, we don’t have a union. We have an association. If we had a union, we would have raked HCPS over the coals long ago and that little escape clause that was tossed in their related to our step increases “if funds available” would never have been added. Again, I never said the contract “mandated” steps. My point is that if the executive can allocate money to renovate schools, then he can allocate money to fund step increases. I and my colleagues have earned those step increases and we want them and need them.
We are a union. The clause to which you refer is so that our contract aligns with state law. It is meant to indemnify the schools in the case of severe economic hardship. Unfortunately, it has recently been used as an excuse to fill budget holes. I need teachers to be prepared to fight for the steps the so desperately need and deserve.
Mr Burbey,
Maybe when you renegotiate the contract, you could come to agreement with HCPS regarding a quantifiable trigger that would be the justification for not paying steps? That would give HCPS and HCEA certainty in the situation instead of mud-slinging and further drama.
@Ryan
Yes, I see that the teachers are ever so desperate.
In fact a saw a throng of teachers with signs on the I95 Bel Air exist saying “I Will Tutor for Food”.
I also bumped into a Harco teacher at the McDonald’s drive-thru window who was just trying to to make ends meet.
It so sad to see all those homeless teacher families seeking shelter every night all over Harford County.
Can’t we build homeless shelters for homeless teachers?
What kind of county are we when we can’t provide a three hots and cot for teachers and their families?
Come’on Ryan teachers are dying in the streets.
Your sarcasm does not help in brining all of us together to fix the education problem in this county. You’re right, teachers are not homeless or unable to buy groceries. However, most teachers I know now have to work second jobs, which means they are not as available to help their students outside of class or put as much time and energy into planning their lessons, grading papers, and completing paper work. Also, due to lack of funding, staffing in schools is at the lowest levels I’ve seen in 15 years, increasing class sizes, making it more difficult to provide attention to the students that need it most as wells as offer elective classes and programs that enhance the educational environment. Not to mention the decreasing state of the educational infrastructure that even the county exec realizes is a problem, but doesn’t want to pay for it. Increasing education funding is not all about teacher salaries. It’s also about improving the education system, which as so many who post here who are not in favor of increasing education funding have said over and over, is not at the exceptional level we should all expect it to be.
If you do not want a second job, start living within your means.
Sure, Abingdon may not be as ritzy as Fallston, vacations to Williamsburg can’t compare to Napa or Europe, a Civic isn’t as nice as a Porsche, etc, but people do not go into teaching believing they’re going to live a life of champagne & caviar.
dilligaf, you should probably read your contract, because if you do you’ll find that it is not negotiated, agreed, or signed to by the County Executive, the County Council, or Harford County Government. It is with the Board of Education, a wholly separate entity. Any violation of that contract is by the HCPS and the Board of Ed, not the county.
It’s wonderful to have new buildings, but new buildings don’t miraculously change how instruction is delivered or how students learn. It is the teaching staff that bring about the change, not the bricks and mortar. Teachers deserve the praise, not Mr. Craig for so called funding for capital projects. Wow how he forgets about the human element behind teaching. You want HDGHS and JHS on the list??? Then fund the HCPS budget so we don’t lose more teachers and programs.
It astounds me that he is
New school buildings make students learn more – that has always been the argument
on the left.
Back in the old days, schools didn’t even have a/c but students still excelled. Now
we spend hundreds of billions of dollars on education and we are still ranked 17th
out of the 40 developed countries with the best education systems.
The United States spends an average $10,995 in public dollars on each US elementary and secondary student, but other countries spend less to get better reading, math and science test scores. Japan spends $8,301 per student and South Korea spends less, at $6,723, but both outpace US academic performance. The US outlay per student is $2,826 more than the average in industrialized countries. Then again, the biggest spenders per student – Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland – have mixed results compared to the US.
Nice try Mr. Craig and the teachers union – just another excuse to reach into our wallets.
Please remeber that no other country besides the USA provides the same public education for all students, regardless of level or disability, from K-12. That costs an incredible amount of money, significantly more than those countries that select those students that they want to educate at various levels. Also, international assessments include performance data from our diverse population (ability, disability, socioeconomic, etc.), which few other countries have to deal with.
I am in favor of modifying our existing education system to force students into specific education tracks once they enter high school, but that would likely involve amending state constitutions, which is unlikely to happen.
What do the average spending per student look like if you consider special ed spending a separate expense? I bet you’d find the US spends much more for special ed students, but less for the average student. Another factor is Korea and Japan have a very different culture from the US, education is paramount, there are substantially more two-parent homes with stay-at-home mothers, and the stay-at-home mother’s entire existence is defined as having dinner on the table and overseeing Junior’s homework to make sure he gets into a good university. How many American parents could tell you what their child’s math homework involved last night?
But that is exactly what Mr. Craig is arguing – new schools in HDG and JT will improve student scores. Is Mr. Craig a left leaning politician? This is just another ploy by Mr. Craig to get a new high school in HDG, a building that is old but certainly not dilapidated. So far the county council, school board and the state funding authorities are not buying it. The tone of his letter is an example of a written temper tantrum.
Craig is a RINO.
My only question is why don’t the “teachers” use their real name? Scared of being fired?
Is that how you all roll? Anonymous smack talk on “social media”?
Lots of thumbs down for me, but I’m right.
You only need to spend a likttle while here in this forum before you realizer you can attract unwanted attention from some character that feels a need to know everything about you and display it for ewveryone to see. And as always, context is everything, and the favorite ploy of many malicious arrogant or incompetent people is to sieze on something they can turn into an issue. Give it time Steve, in time, you will find a nemesis you never knew before on this forum too.
The simple answer – yes. The fear is real and with good reason. Isn’t it a shame when people are forced to think like that?
Fair enough answers.
Much like the fear at the Sheriff’s Office. Make your feelings known and your a goner.
Teachers do not use their real names because some are already suffering under abusive administrative leadership and would be retaliated against. Others do not want to bring on the abuse, as they see it happening to others in their buildings.
Maybe if they had an effective local educational association, with professional leadership on good terms with HCPS…
And, maybe if their was actually accountability for some administrators who are incompetent and bullies.
Typo…there. Sorry
Kharn, the association has little to do with it… it’s the leadership at the top that is responsible and allows or ignores what’ going on in some schools.
Any teacher who is being abused or is living in fear at their workplace should immediately contact HCEA.
Yes, they could contact HCEA, but, Ryan, so many have been pushed out or forced to leave that it’s sad and disgusting for HCPS!
In my case, one factor is the paper I was required to sign a few years ago that stated I had read and understood the employee handbook given to me that had something along the lines of “actions which reflect negatively upon the school system, superintendent and administrative decisions was cause for termination”. My understanding is the wording was made more vague in later editions but my signed paper is still somewhere at the Board of Ed. Many of us felt that was violating our freedom of speech but it was sign or leave.
Our Negotiated Agreement and numerous Supreme Court decisions protect your citizenship rights. Don’t live in fear. Take a stand.
22.4* Teachers’ Citizenship Rights. The Board of Education recognizes the citizenship
rights of teachers. Should any section of this agreement be held to be violative of a
teacher’s citizenship rights under the law by a court of competent jurisdiction, such
section of this agreement shall be deemed null and void.
Well, maybe you could explain that to John Hickey.
I was at Havre de Grace HS for all county chorus a few months ago. I could not believe the condition of the school, hallways, restrooms…ect. Its a shame. All of our county students deserve nice campuses.
All of our students deserve a meaningful education first.
A certificate of attendance is worthless.
How much does a “meaningful education” cost? I ask because it seems to me that if the education students are receiving now is worthless, it would make sense to at least fund the budget that the school board proposed instead of underfunding it.
It wouldn’t be very expensive, stopping social promotion would be a gigantic step towards that goal. Requiring high school students average a C- between four quarters and the final to pass a class would be another.
How does anything you mentioned reduce the cost of education? Stopping social promotion still requires educating failing students. So does requiring students to have a C average. Are you suggesting that students should be kicked out of high school if they don’t have a C average? I’m pretty sure that would violate state and federal law, which is unlikely to change.
I didn’t say it would reduce the cost, it would not significantly add to HCPS’s current expenditures as class sizes could be increased to meet the need. Current HCPS policy allows students to pass with less than a C- average (my understanding of the policy is a single A and four Es between the five grades counts as passing), I’m saying those students should repeat the class.
The Teacher,
The cost of “a meaningful education” is more than money. It includes teacher compensation based on individual performance. It includes stopping the nonsense of just about everyone passes no matter their performance. It requires kids to be in school and not disrupting others by their behavior, or out on their ear with repercussions to parents. It requires breaking the non-productive stranglehold of principals like Klima over their personal kingdoms. It means getting rid of a bunch of bureaucrats and replacing them with real teachers. It means getting the MSEA and the NEA and the US Dept of Educ and the Maryland State Dept of Educ out of the mix.
You are aware MSDE handles the Constiutitional madate of Public Education in this state?
Go to William Paca Old Post road or Youth’s Benifit…..it looks far worse.
Indeed! Becky needs to take a tour of several other school buildings in Harford County. HdG HS is in no way the worst school building in our county.
This country is full of talent with not enough jobs. I know one thing, I would be out the door way faster than most ofthese ‘teachers’ complain about every single Harford county public school news.article.
In this day of age, most people would rather receive a paycheck, have a pissed off working environment, and come home to liking facebook posts and posting pictures of vacations, etc. Etc. Then repeat again the next day.
and there’s a reason many families choose to send their children to private high schools, in Bel Air, Baltimore, Towson, Hunt Valley, and Wilmington, or for other reasons have chosen to home school. Where the influence of the NEA and teachers unions have no sway, where grade inflation and teaching to the test does not occur. Schools that base their curriculum on getting into a good college and being well prepared, as opposed to meeting a lowest common denominator for passing.
“THE Teacher says” asks how much does a meaningful education cost? The cost is irrelevant to the outcome. These families, the majority being tax paying homeowners in Harford County, choose to pay for the “worthless” education of the masses, and then choose to invest, to the tune of $15,000 to $30,000 per year, in their children by keeping them out of the Maryland Public School system.
I would like someone from your staff to inform me where Havre de Grace High School and Joppatowne High School are on the Washington Post list. I would also like a time frame on when this status will change.
Cordially,
David R. Craig
HARFORD COUNTY EXECUTIVE
There is nothing cordial about this correspondence. Union dues aside can we move back to a discussion about why HdG, Joppatowne and Har Tect did not make the list and what is the motivation for Mr. Craig to publish such a letter?
I believe the motivation is only due to the fact that Mr. Craig is from HDG and his community school isn’t on the list. This is not a new problem. Why wait until now to bring it up.
A letter from a public official is open to the public. However, the county executive did not ask for this letter to be published.
Thank you for publishing it.
Craig is upset because no new HDG High School that is why he wrote the letter. When is his term over so we can move on.
New buildings will not make crappy teachers better.
I realize that people love to argue about all sorts of things, but did anyone read the article below this one concerning Edgewood Middle School? It has only two comments about a great thing going on at the school. This article has at least seventy-seven posts. I guess good news isn’t very interesting.
Big Man – you are quite right. Positive articles about the schools are ignored by this anti-education rabble.