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Hannah Bell (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 05:02 AMOriginal message Detroit Federation of Teachers agrees to new concessions contract The three-year deal was announced Thursday night, and teachers will be presented with the details at a mass meeting at Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit on Sunday. Voting will take place over the following two weeks.The agreement includes projected savings for the school district of $30-$40 million over three years. The $28 million reduction in health care costs includes the elimination of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield health care plan...Wages for teachers will be frozen for two years, with a one-percent increase in the third year of the deal...The contract also includes sweeping change pushed by the Obama administration to tie teacher pay to evaluations and “performance†(merit pay).According to the Detroit News, in a separate measure, the DFT has agreed to “a $250 deduction from paychecks, or $500 a month,†under the so-called Termination Incentive Plan, and the placement of this money in a separate account. The collected sums would only be returned to the teachers when they leave the district. This will allow the district to delay payment on taxes for the deducted sums.In effect, this is a massive pay cut in terms of what teachers will take home each week. It would have the added intended consequence of forcing many teachers to retire early.The deal received the enthusiastic endorsement of Michigan’s Democratic governor Jennifer Granholm. “I am deeply thankful to Robert Bobb and Keith Johnson for the extraordinary leadership it took to achieve an agreement that will move the Detroit Public Schools forward, even while we struggle with an ongoing school finance crisis in Michigan,†Granholm said.Bobb continues to hold out the threat of sending the school district into bankruptcy court, where the contract revisions would be imposed by force, if teachers do not accept the concessions...All of these cuts have the implicit backing of the Obama administration, which has refused to bail out state and local governments facing unprecedented budget crises, even as it has handed out trillions to the banks and recently announced an escalation of the war in Afghanistan that will cost $30 billion a year. The administration has explicitly endorsed the overhaul being carried out by Bobb, holding up the transformation of the Detroit Public Schools as a model for the entire country.Obama is also pushing state governments to implement right-wing education policies, including charter schools and merit pay, by withholding the very limited funds for public education made available by the federal government from states that do not carry out such policies. In order to meet these criteria, the Michigan Senate, with the support of the Democrats and Republicans, passed legislation this week expanding the use of charter schools.http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/teac-d05.shtm...
proud2BlibKansan (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 05:43 AMNOMINEE FOR TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009Response to Original message 1. Good Lord what is happening to us when we applaud treating teachers like shit? No health insurance and a $500 a month deduction in take home pay???And a DEMOCRATIC governor thinks this is good?!?!?!I am just blown away. Absolutely blown away.
michreject (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 08:45 AMResponse to Reply #1 2. What would you suggest as a bonus for educators of students with a graduation rate of 30%?
proud2BlibKansan (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 09:18 AMNOMINEE FOR TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009Response to Reply #2 3. Why are you implying it is the teachers' fault? And they deserve to be penalized?
michreject (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 09:55 AMResponse to Reply #3 4. I don't advocate rewarding failure regardless of fault.The test results indicate that some fault does lie with educators.I'm not going to get into a bash teachers argument.
Deja Q (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 11:05 AMResponse to Reply #4 8. If you added criteria in your first post, we'd believe you. A one-liner blaming teachers IS bashing. Don't spin it to blame everyone responding to you to make them the aggressors.
michreject (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 12:44 PMResponse to Reply #8 11. It's been posted before. Either you ignored the thread or ignored the data.http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/07/hs-graduation-rate-... http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-06-20-dropo... From above link:21.7 Detroit
proud2BlibKansan (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 11:34 AMNOMINEE FOR TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009Response to Reply #4 10. Which test results? Please share your formula for assigning blame to teachers when students fail to score at a particular level on a fill in the bubble standardized test. Please share your formula for assigning blame to parents. Please share your formula for assigning blame to school administrators. Please share your formula for assigning blame to students.This can be done without bashing teachers.
michreject (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 12:51 PMResponse to Reply #10 13. No You want to inundate someone with useless question that you already know the answers to, go find someone else to play with.
Deja Q (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 11:04 AMResponse to Reply #2 7. How do you know it's solely the fault of the teachers? Lack of parenting (unwilling or, worse, unable), principals without principles, discipline, stopping bullies...Oh, the teachers have to work within the rules or get lambasted by everybody too...Oh, the students have to take it upon themselves to learn too, you know...
michreject (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 12:49 PMResponse to Reply #7 12. I just posted the facts Because of ever decreasing test scores and graduation rates, parents are sending their kids to charter schools or private schools. At least those that can afford it.I gotta tell you that's it's a brilliant idea to give those in a failing system a raise. Why have any motivation or incentive if if will be given to you regardless.
Deja Q (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 11:06 AMResponse to Reply #1 9. Seconded. This is a multi-faceted issue.
Starry Messenger (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-05-09 10:57 AMResponse to Original message 5. "The beatings will continue until morale improves"
michreject Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Sat Dec-05-09 09:55 AMResponse to Reply #34. I don't advocate rewarding failure regardless of fault.The test results indicate that some fault does lie with educators.I'm not going to get into a bash teachers argument.
Fading Captain (719 posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Sat Dec-05-09 01:53 PMResponse to Reply #433. You are clueless The Teachers Unions have been known to be rather selfish.But you're a douchebag if you're going to blame teachers for poor graduation rates and test scores in Detroit, which is a black hole of violence, despair, poverty, drug addiction and broken families.
Bringing out the best. He seems to be against the Rejected and everyone else.
Did he just call Detroit a black hole?
