A confidentiality agreement is supposed to prevent both the Harford County Board of Education and the Harford County Education Association (HCEA) from discussing labor negotiations in public. Those talks are normally conducted behind closed doors and so far, they have yet to result in a teachers’ contract for the 2009 –10 school year. But Board Member John Smilko gave a robust presentation of what seemed to be the board’s position, at the board business meeting Monday night in Bel Air.
Smilko said “every other bargaining unit has settled for no COLA and no step”, referring to wage increases related to the cost of living and length of service. And he urged the HCEA to reconsider its position and settle on a contract with the school board.
Leading up to that conclusion, Smilko delivered what he called a “reality check” to HCEA President Randy Cerveny and the crowd of about 75 teachers who wore red t-shirts and filled the board meeting room for the third time in recent weeks to reiterate their theme of “Respect & Time”.
Smilko said he didn’t question the dedication of staff, but he felt compelled to respond and “review how we got here.” Smilko told teachers the economy was “in the tank”, unemployment was up, tax revenues “which fund your paycheck” were down, healthcare costs were up and while some cuts had been absorbed elsewhere in the school system, “the magic is used up.”
He told the educators a reality check was in order as they were not losing their jobs, their wages and benefits were not being gutted and their retirements were not being ravaged. Smilko added, “That’s what’s going on in the rest of the world.”
HCEA President Randy Cerveny later declined to comment on the specifics of contract negotiations, citing the confidentially agreement. But he did talk about the meaning of the teachers’ call for respect in the following email:
The issue of respect is not a new issue. Just think back to the process for Secondary School Reform. HCEA leadership and teachers have spoken to the BOE many times over the last few years regarding teacher respect and input. Teachers want to have input into the changes that affect the job they do with students on a daily basis. They want to be actively engaged in their profession. They want to make a difference for their student and their school.
Research has shown that actively engaging teachers as one of valued stakeholders in the decision-making process will greatly enhance education for all of our students and in the process, help the teachers feel respected and empowered.
If the Board truly wants to attract and retain highly qualified teachers in our county, it cannot continue to exclude teachers from any meaningful discussion of how best to address students’ needs.
It’s about time someone gets these teachers’ heads out of their butts. They’ve had it so good for so long, that they don’t remember how the real world works. If they don’t like it, leave.
How does the old saying go? Something about them who can do, them who can’t teach and them who have absolutely no clue go into government, I think.
Respect? I lost my respect for teachers as a group when they went on strike while I was in school back in the 70’s. That’s when “we do it for the kids” became “we do it for the bigger payout” became apparent to my young eyes.
I can handle rallies, cute little message shirts and other forms of expression and protest, but when they put my education on hold so they could grab a bigger piece of the pie, I saw and took notes.
Of course, there were individual exceptions that actually acted profesionally back then and there are numerous ones like that in the system today, but my opinion of them as a group was irreversibly damaged when they stood in front of my dad’s car in their picket line in an attempt to stop me from going to my school.
Let the Teachers strike – based on the nonsense and wasted time in our schools these days a strike would be a good excuse for us to start home schooling our kids – no doubt that we could accomplish the same thing in 2 days that schools manage in 5 days.
btw – I don’t need my kids taught that Muslim’s have an exuse to commit terrorism because of their religious beliefs. What is happening to our Country?
Phil Dirt I remember that strike. simply because at the time. I was and employee of the Hcps system. I was expecting it to turn violent. there’s plenty’ of fat that could be trimed from that budget.
Funny MD law prohibits teachers from striking! They do not even get binding arbitration.
Although I am not in favor of raises for teachers at this point, no one else is getting raises either. But I do have to stand with the teachers on the respect issue. CSSRP seriously hurt our school system, seriously hurt it! The teachers and parents were blown aside. And right now, the number of students is shrinking, the number of teachers is shrinking, the number of custodians are shrinking, but the number of bureacrats in the system is staying the same! Lets cut some of the upper management to match the other cuts. Trust me, this could do nothing but help in educating our children.
Sandy: Your comment about cutting the upper management is the #1 answer to the problem facing the county and not just with the Bd of Ed. The ratio of chiefs to indians is incredible. And I’m sure most if not all of them have take home cars. Craig created many upper management positions when he came into office and so did Bane. I believe he promoted 5 or so captains, when the department ran quite well with the number it had before he took office. But it’s the little guys who have to make do and sacrifice. There is no way the bureaucrats and going to give anything up.
Cdev let’s get in our time machine & go back 30+ plus years. there was most certainly a teachers strike in Harford County.
I feel for the teachers just as I feel for all employees that are getting the shaft this year with raises and cutbacks. I do however, have a bone to pick when it comes to education. I think teachers should be paid to educate not just teach what is on the achievement tests. It has become a pattern where real life experience and real life lessons are replaced with practice questions for the achievement tests.
If the teachers want to take a stand, stand tall, stand proud, and stand for the children’s education. There won’t be a strike and hold off on the universal sick days, want to prove your point, don’t teach what is on the achievement test. Tell the kids to draw surf boards on the scan sheets (a’la Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Let the HCPS end up at rock bottom when it comes to those achievement tests. Use the time to educate your students to what is going on in the real world, apply lessons to real world situations, and for Christ’s sake cut out revised history and the liberal doctrine.
One year of that and you’ll get whatever you want in your contract because of the local mess that you will cause and the fear that there could be a national trend.
RWinger, you are awesome! I agree with you and when they make me Queen of the Universe, I will give the teachers their own palaces and a raise, too!
What would happen if the teachers taught English and math and history and not the tests? I sure would like to see that!
I would like to see the teachers have a major say in what they teach and how they teach it, too. I think that the gifts that teachers share with our kids is priceless. The teachers, given the choice of astro turf ( I am picking on that, today) and a cola increase, which is most important?
I would like to see the teachers speak out on the changes they need, what would help them teach our kids and what they want. The teachers I have spoken with are afraid to speak for fear of retribution and that is sad.
I hope our new superintendent is more open to the needs of both staff and students. God bless!
Cdev is correct. Teachers can’t strike under law. Neither can police. That’s why the union has difficulty in negotiations because the ultimate threat can’t be delivered.
They can and did strike in Bel Air Md senior High School Building number #2 in may of 1976.
Vietnam Vet–Teachers may have been able to strike then. However, now, and that is what we are discussing, they are not allowed by law to strike. Issue over with.
Blue–I would like to see you teach for one week and then see what your opinion. We have several people who substitute in our building (and I work at a “good” school) and frequently comment “I don’t know how you do this every day.”
To those of you standing up for teachers–God Bless You! We DO know how lucky we are to have secure jobs in this economy–it has been discussed in the lunch room more than once. I am thankful for having such great health benefits. To assume, we are ungrateful is a vast generalization that I am sure you would not like to me make about your profession. However, that being said, compared to otehr professionals who are required to have a MASTER’S degree to teach (which is a requirement after your first 10 years fo teaching in MD), teachers are disproportionately underpaid. The best and bightest want to become doctors, lawyers, and engineers because they know they can make a good living doing so. How would our educational system look if those people were drawn to education? As someone who had a 3.96 in high school, a 3.9 in college, and a 4.0 in grad school, I am no academic slacker, but I know of several classmates who wouldn’t go into teaching because of the pay. If you want what is best for your kids, then you compensate those responsible for their education accordingly.
RWinger and Pat–Hallelujah on teaching to the test! Do not be fooled; teachers are sickened and tired of teaching to the test as much as you are! If you sat down and had a heart-to-heart with a teacher, I think you would find they had the same opinions you do about the tests. We want to teach what we know kids need–how to THINK! how to master the BASICS! how to thrive in the REAL WORLD! However, raising these issues in schools often gets you labeled a trouble maker and can fall on dead ears.
Although, Rwinger–I have to disagree with your politics a bit. ONe of the most frustrating things for me about living in Harf Co is how BEHIND it is when it comes to the world. I know some, if not most residents, would say that is part of what they like. However, many of these kids are being raised in a bubble that is going to quickly be burst once they leave the county. Heck, even if they go to Towson they are in for a shock. Some of the comments I hear are ridiculous and show not conservativeness, which is one thing, but pur ignorance. Kids need to be taught about the actual world around them, and, NEWS FLASH, in the real world not everyone has the same opinion or views the same events in the same way.
R Winger & Pat – Teacher get no say in curriculum. That is MSDE. How they deliver it is slightly flexible but NCLB is what it is. Don’t like it….(like most teachers)….change it. The Voluntary State Curriculum is not really voluntary.
Sandy – I don’t think they want a “raise” in fact they are getting a pay cut in the end as they have to pay more for their insurance and more into the retirment. Even with step increases they will still take home less.
Terp – I may be wrong but they can’t even have a union just an association. and Vietnam Vet they are not allowed to strike. The worst they can do is work to the rule which is to work only the contracted 7.5 hour day and take no work home and leave lots of ungraded work from the kids and offer no extras. That said I do not know many teachers truly willing to do this for more then a day because the only loser in the end is the kids. Why punish kids for their cheap parents who elect cheap pushovers. The BOE knows this and doesn’t really take it seriously. But many states including MD can and do lock up teachers for striking!
Cdev
What part of the government do you or did you work for?
Terp, That must be a change in the law since, as vietnam vet accurately remembers, they did strike in 1976.
I can’t imagine that they would have been bold (or stupid?) enough to strike if it was illegal. If it was, then it’s too bad that they didn’t meet the same fate as the air traffic controllers when they pulled their strike stunt with President Reagan. We trusted them to guide the planes to safety but they couldn’t even follow the rules in the contract that they had previously agreed to?
It is quite simple, they don’t strike (doesn’t matter if they can or can’t), the Tuesday after Labor Day, they all call in sick and they do it again on the Wednesday. When Friday comes and they’ve all been out for 4 days in the beginning of the school year (before meat and potatoes teaching time) the teachers will have the attention of the administration.
Instead of going over the same math problems that appear on the standardized tests, the teachers simply close the classroom doors and teach the children how to balance a check book, how to write a check, how to calculate interest on a debt, and how to read over a mortgage application. With all of the foreclosures because people got loans on house that they could never afford in the first place, this apparently needs to be taught so that we don’t have a repeat 20 years from now. Oh yeah, when those standardized tests come out and the schools are graded, when Harford County gets a big zero then maybe the yuck yucks calling the shots will actually rethink what is best for the children.
BTW, why is it that the Spelling Bee champs, and Geography Challenge champ, and Math Bee champ are always home schooled? Just wondering.
Terp: Check your sources, unless there is a No Strike clause in a contract, MOU, or labor agreement then there is nothing that prevents a strike. Of course just about occupation out there that has one of those documents and is not represented by the Teamsters has one of those clauses. Administrations put them in in order for collective bargaining to run it’s course. I don’t know how teachers contracts or labor agreements read, but one thing is for sure, a sick out or working to the letter of the agreement is not a strike and isn’t covered under a No Strike clause.
bill id do not I work as an educator in a private program for kids with severe special needs in all fairness my wife does work for HCPS.
One of the reasons the home school kids win these extracurricular events, is that HCPS has no gifted and talented education – NONE. If it is done it is by parents/volunteers who work with the students but are usually only able to capture a small group that can benefit. I know firsthand over the years, that teachers have been forced to dilute their curriculum under the guise of “one size fits all.” I know of excellent young teachers who have left the school system and the profession because of this – that also falls under the “respect” category. Part of the problem is that if a teacher and/or a particular school come up with something, you would think the school system could embrace it and see if they could duplicate it other schools but usually not because they didn’t think of it first.
I am not a teacher and I don’t always agree with them but in this case I have seen over the years how they have been treated by HCPS and they have been shut down numerous times. Hopeful the new superintendent is the person he claims he is and honors people over process (one of the biggest mistakes that is made in education).
Elaine,
I agree with you. In a similar example of dilution, Fallston Middle School moves learning troubled children into advanced classes so the troubled child can “learn” in that environment. The troubled child is still tought his normal curriculum. It is simply a learning environment issue.
The result – daily and weekly the kid DISRUPTS THE CLASS. He isn’t helped at all. The kids that are there to learn are simply disrupted. Teachers are helpless because the administration makes it tough to discipline kids.
When approaching the school system on this matter, I was told that I should have some compasion for the troubled kid because of his “tough” home life.
Unbelievable….
They did strike in the 70s when I was in Bel Air Elementary. They since may have a no strike clause but they did it then.
Thank you. Muzzy I was beginning to think I was getting senile.
Muzzy I was not here in the early 70’s so I will believe you that they may have “striked” but I know for a fact that since at least 1990 teachers are prohibted by COMAR (Code of Mayland Annotated and revised) from going on strike. Doing so is a jailable offense. Many states prohibit public workers from going on strike. A few states have recently allowed teachers to strike under certian situations such as California and Michigan. Usually they require impasse to occur and have gone to arbitration and the local BOE to reject the arbitrators recomendation before they can. In MD currently if the two sides call for an impasse the State Superintendent sends it to an arbitrator who makes a recomendation but the BOE is not required to accept the recomendation of the arbitrator at all. Most teachers are unwilling to do things that hurt children. I remember when I was little teachers got furloughed 5 days. We still went to school they still taught and did not get paid for the week of work they still had to work. That sucks and is patently unfair.
It probably wasn’t illegal for teachers (or cops, or other essential service jobs) to strike 30 years ago, but it is now.
Teachers are getting furloughed two days next year and are paying more for health insurance so not only are they not getting a step increase and COLA increase (which over the long term significantly decreases their earnings since raises are % based) they’re actually getting a pay cut.
I agree about teaching to the test. I think it’s ridiculous, but that’s what happens when there is mandated standardized testing. My wife works as teacher and hates that she can no longer cover certain units (which HCPS paid to have her go to a special class so she could teach them) because they’re not on the test and she doesn’t have time to cover that material and prepare her students for the test. So now she’s managed to transition into teaching at least a couple classes that aren’t tested so she can cover what she feels is important.
Saying teachers should just teach ignore the test and teach things like balancing a checkbook, reading a clock (seriously…my wife tutored a high school student who had no idea how to read an analog clock…) isn’t practical. If they refuse to cover the test material then not only will they have administrators ripping them apart, but parents as well, along with likely getting fired.
I here you on the analog clock but to some extent they have become archaic. How many kids can use a rotary phone? Do we need to know this skill anymore?
There are still plenty of places that have analog clocks (and sayings like “Check your six” or “It’s at 3 o’clock” don’t make any sense at all unless you know how to read an analog clock.) Rotary phones…well probably the only place you might find one of those is in grandma’s house.
I agree it still has a place but not as prominent as it once was.
So I guess kids don’t need to know how to write checks because they can pay bills online, they don’t need to know how to make a withdrawal from a bank teller because there are atm’s, they don’t need to know how to drive through a fast food restaurant pick up window because there is carryout, they don’t need to know how to use a camera because their cellphones have one–come on we’re getting crazy here. Going back to the title of this article REALITY CHECK, these are things that kids today don’t know how to do! Back to basics people!
Teaching a child how to learn or how to reason is one place the schools are failing. You learn to read the clock because you can put different parts of the problem, or clock, together and get an answer.
I’d rather have a teacher work on teaching algebra, history, English, math, etc. so I can learn, pass tests, go to college and succeed, not waste time on the following:
“So I guess kids don’t need to know how to write checks because they can pay bills online, they don’t need to know how to make a withdrawal from a bank teller because there are atm’s, they don’t need to know how to drive through a fast food restaurant pick up window because there is carryout, they don’t need to know how to use a camera because their cellphones have one”
THAT’S WHAT PARENTS ARE FOR.
Never in my life have I ever seen so much disgust and contempt for a profession that is working its hardest to further the population…and so many requests for teachers to “teach the basics” which actually end up being life skills that you learn at home.
And as far as the homeschooled students…let’s face it, their lack of social skills and opportunities to use such skills provided them with ample time to brush up on spelling 😉
I was really confused, and this answered all my qsueotins.