My brother the Navy captain and I write to each other frequently
via email. One of his latest missives included the following:
”
We have tons of decorations around sent by people back home who
care. My favorites are the American flags made by school kids out
of their hand prints, with little encouraging statements written by
them all over it, calling us all heroes and signed by obviously
little elementary kids. Makes my eyes tear up seeing them. Nice
projects to get.
”
My brother the Navy captain and I write to each other frequently via email. One of his latest missives included the following: “We have tons of decorations around sent by people back home who care. My favorites are the American flags made by school kids out of their hand prints, with little encouraging statements written by them all over it, calling us all heroes and signed by obviously little elementary kids. Makes my eyes tear up seeing them. Nice projects to get.”
So, thanks to all those classrooms and scouting groups, and volunteers like Operation Interdependence for sending things to soldiers over there.
On the home front, I have to respond to the latest letter from Gilroy Teachers Association president Michelle Nelson, who asserted that though she provides the editorial board with clear communication, we still continue to show a bias against the teachers union. Boy, are we a stubborn bunch!
Here’s what the real deal is, and my response comes from the point of view of someone who typically sympathizes with unions and who is getting increasingly exasperated with the teachers union.
Speaking of bias, I first approached teachers issues with a bias toward the union. However, though Ms. Nelson has smartly employed a strategy of personal presentations before the editorial board to get the union’s view across to the public, her presentations that I have witnessed have been anything but clear, dating back to the first one I attended, which was against Gilroy Unified School District’s Accountability Plan.
During that presentation, she repeatedly asserted that implementation of the plan was going to take more time from teachers, yet she repeatedly could not provide specific answers to the question “how much time?” She also revealed that she doesn’t routinely survey her membership in a timely manner and that her communication mechanisms with her school representatives don’t work well, as her reps don’t convey to her the information she needs. Having worked with effective community organizers since 1988, I just thought she needed some good organizer training.
Then, this last time, she brought us bunch of “paper back-up,” copies of emails that confirmed her assertion that in the recent decision to extend the middle school day to provide more math instruction, district officials didn’t follow proper communication procedures, certainly not commensurate with the “openness” they tout. However, Ms. Nelson’s letter demonstrates she didn’t seem to notice the Dispatch’s subsequent editorials actually supported her on that point.
What frustrates the heck out of me and the others is that at no time has the teachers union presented to us anything that resembles an alternative plan to address the gross deficiencies in student performance that hampers this district. The message I continually discern is that their plan is just “not the district’s plan.”
Though I share the union’s frustration with portions of the district, I want to see more evidence from the union representation – or maybe the rank and file should break out and speak up – that they have answers. I’m sure that front lines workers have ideas. However, know right now that what has been submitted previously, such as pointing fingers at community conditions, parents, administrators – or, in one case of a high school teacher, other teachers at the feeder schools – does little to convince me that the district’s proposed plans are wrong.
I have seen firsthand school reform in low income and “majority minority” schools work and I understand that teachers are often under siege and the last ones consulted in any plan. Yet, I am consistently disappointed that teachers have not offered any specific plan for addressing the math problems or the drop in achievement in fourth grade.
As a taxpayer, someone who works with human services that serve district children and as a district volunteer, I see that there is an educational and social crisis in our schools, and I don’t see the teachers union coming to the table with anything constructive on what to do about it.
As you might guess from our respective columns, the composition of the editorial board is diverse in terms of life experience, politics, and points of view. The union should know its support is on very shaky ground when the likes of me and Rose Barry (left leaning Liberation Theology Catholics) agree with Cynthia Walker and Jack Foley (at the other end of the spectrum), creating a rare united front like we have.
Columnist Dina Campeau is a wife and mother of two teens. Her work for the last seven years has focused on affordable housing and homeless issues. Reach her at [email protected]
