The Philadelphia School District and its 16,000 member union are in negotiations to reach a new contract agreement before their current pact expires at this month’s end. Superintendent Arelene Ackerman wants to bring changes to a district where half of students can’t read or do math on grade level.
Proposals sent to the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers include lengthening the teacher work day, tying teacher pay to student test scores, eliminating traditional teacher transfer nights, and cutting excess pay for teachers who teach a sixth class each day.
In addition, teachers would need to arrive 10 minutes prior to their students’ arrival and stay 10 minutes later, middle school teachers would have less prep time, and the administration would dictate all teachers’ prep time for a portion of the week. For the 95 lowest-performing schools, the principals would set the terms and benefits for the teachers and make teaching summer school a requirement.
Union President Jerry Jordan said they may arrive at an agreement before the deadline, but they won’t be able to seal the deal until the budget is approved and the district knows how much state funding they will receive.
Comments
At my school, teachers already arrive 10 minutes before students, and many of us stay well beyond 10 minutes after student departure.
If the administration dictates how to spend the preparation time for most of the week, when and how do I grade papers and lesson plan? Are we assuming that I will do those things on the weekends and in the evenings as I do now for no extra pay? Will I receive monies for the incentives I purchase to engage kids in their learning, or for the consummable science supplies needed to help kids have a hands-on learning experience?
Academics is not a product on the assembly line that can absolutely show perfection or its opposite, or be modified to be new and improved, or sold at a discount.
Each child is an individual whose educational needs and abilities are different. Tying teacher salary to student performance is not equitable. Some teachers have students who have strong parental support, a vast background of knowledge introduced to them by their first teachers–the parent–, and a clue that a good education is the ticket to success in America. Some teachers have students whose goal is to survive the streets, the weather, lack of sleep, the hunger in their belly, and the lack of nurturing—not getting a free tax-payer funded education. Those teachers struggle with inspiring kids to be social creatures, let alone good academic students.
Would I have to teach summer school in a school with no air conditioning? Will there be compensation for this mandatory position? Will the kids get free baby sitting services from teachers, or will they really have lower class sizes where learning 180 days of lessons in less than 25 days is really going to happen? Will they automatically be passed onto the new grade even though they failed the academic year? will children receive free breakfast and lunches? At whose cost?
Will parents and students be held accountable for their part? Too many children raise themselves or are in charge of younger siblings and cousins. They have jobs and chores and can’t get to the studies, or have families who enable them to slack off the studying by complaining to the principal when their little one comes home with a bad grade or interim report.
The solution is a hard one. The answers are hard too. Teachers granted a one-year breaking in period for Mrs. Ackerman. I hope we can work together to find the right answers for everyone involved.
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