Trading in US Citizenship rights for a Teaching Certificate

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1 No. 7 In this Issue: Trading in US Citizenship rights for a Teaching Certificate, Educator s Comedy Night, Our Health Benefits, Strength & Solidarity, Union Plus Home Financing, Years end Happy Hour at Ferg s, Red Shirt Fridays My Union brothers and sisters, Trading in US Citizenship rights for a Teaching Certificate It is a sad irony that the people who are expected to teach the next generation of Americans about their rights and responsibilities as citizens, are the people who have apparently given up a great deal of their rights in exchange for a teaching certificate. Teachers, it would seem are not entitled to some of the most basic rights our society would not consider depriving convicted criminals. When a student lodges a complaint against a teacher, the teacher is always the last to be notified of the complaint. Every student in the classroom can be interviewed as the investigation proceeds but the teacher will not be made aware of the investigation until the investigation is all but complete. The burden of proof is put on the teacher who may have been able to clear things up by sitting in a meeting with the administrator and all parties involved had they been given the opportunity. The result is too often a disciplinary action handed down from the Office of Professional Standards (OPS). The folks at OPS usually have never met the teacher, do not know what kind of teacher/person they are dealing with but in most cases they will pass judgement on the word of a student, regardless of what type of behavior or disciplinary problems the child may suffer from. As a teacher, you are guilty until proven innocent! Welcome to a career in education. The fact that there may be teachers who should not be teaching is not in dispute. This is the case in every profession but given the fact that in the past several years the state has pulled out all the stops to identify these teachers, and the State s own VAM scores suggest that 95% of teachers are doing their jobs effectively, it s a safe bet to say that the percentage of bad teachers is by far eclipsed by the percentage of bad legislators. Which brings me to a second injustice.

2 If we are willing to say that there are teachers who should not be teaching, it goes without saying that there are administrators that should not be in charge of educational communities. Given the fact that all teachers are protected by a contract agreed upon by PCTA and the School Board of Pinellas, the effects of ineffective administrators should be minimal. Sadly, that is not the case. There are some administrators that are so embolden by the power they have over annual contract teachers that they throw caution to the wind and outwardly flaunt their power. The following example comes to mind. A teacher on annual contract who had just started at a new school mentioned to their principal at the beginning of the school year that they were considering becoming the PCTA faculty rep. The Principal responded by saying that If I had known you were a Union member, I would never have hired you. The upset teacher reported this threat to me but fearing she would be out of a job at the end of the year, she allowed this threat to go unanswered and I was unable to move forward on this without her statement. Her reward for allowing her Principal to get away with this threat was a year of unrealistic expectations and her contract was placed on the non-renewal list anyway. OPS has accused me of being unprofessional for stating the obvious but I have to call it like it is. Pinellas County Schools suffers from a climate of fear and nowhere does that fear thrive more so than in the hearts of annual contract teachers. As a teacher of History, I would find it difficult to teach American values to my students while being submissive to these types of conditions in my professional life. It would be like telling kids not to smoke as I light up. The loss of due process for thousands of teachers is without a doubt a sure indication that teachers no longer have the rights other citizens have. There are those who claim that termination without cause is the business model used in the real world. This is absolutely not the case. If you know of a business anywhere, that terminates employees without telling them why, please let me know. I was a small business owner for 18 years and on the few occasions that I had to fire an employee, I made sure they knew why they were being let go. Every office and organization I have had contact with had some kind of due process, a three strike rule for example. Even the large corporations that shut down whole units of employees because they are downsizing, let those employees know the reason they are being let go is because they are downsizing and not due to their job performance, and there is no two strike rule to prevent them from applying to the company at a later date like we have in PCS. Termination without cause is a reprehensible practice and in my view, there is nothing more cowardly than to refuse to give a person a reason for their termination. This practice allows teachers to be targets for discriminatory practice. If you have been doing a good job all year long and your students test scores show academic growth and all year long your supervisors failed to bring any shortcomings to your attention, what reasons are left for your dismissal? What does being told that you are not a good fit mean? Are you not the right color, religion, sexual orientation, or are you one of those pesky union members that expect their administrators to honor the terms of the contract? The teaching profession should be an honored profession as it once was. Teachers are American citizens and they have not traded in their rights in exchange for a teaching certificate. Nathan Hale was a teacher and a patriot and he is best remembered for his last words before being executed by his British captures as a spy. My only regret is that I have but one life to give for my county. I wonder what Mr. Hale would have to say if he could comment on teachers being asked to teach young students what it means to be American when they themselves are subject to un-american practices such as termination without cause.

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4 OUR HEALTH BENEFITS PCTA-PESPA has dedicated members who represent the bargaining unit on the Employee Well-Being and Satisfaction Committee. They look out for the interests of our members and bargain for the Health Benefits that the District offers to their employees. Occasionally, I have heard people complain about the Health plans offered and the benefits we currently have. I have taken the time to examine the health care benefits negotiated in other school districts and I can assure you that the EWBS members that represent us have done an amazing job negotiating one of the best benefits packages provided to educators in Florida. We are one of the few districts that provide family insurance and the 80/20 split on premiums remains the envy of other districts. It is unfortunate that the cost of health care rises each year, often at a higher rate than pay raises, but this is not unique to our plan, nor our industry. Our members need to take full advantage of every benefit and resource provided them. There is no reason anyone should be frustrated over finding answers to questions regarding any aspect of our health benefits. The District has three professionals on hand to answer questions and guide you through any of the processes attached to health care, including billing questions and how a claim is processed. It is important that we use the full potential of our benefits including access to these helpful professionals, whose job it is to serve district employees. Jody Lowry: Registered Nurse & former Teacher Jody s main focus is prevention and annual screenings. She can answer questions about general health care, medications, and wellness needs pcs.lowryj@pcsb.org Janet Lang: Humana Account Advisor (Customer Service and Account management) Janet s main focus is Health, Comp Benefits, Dental, and FSA programs. She can help you understand how to read your explanation of benefits, billing issues, how to navigate the Humana Provider Network, she can explain the MyHumana.com website pcs.langj@pcsb.org Heather Keegan: Patient Advocate & Registered Nurse Heather can assist with utilizing Humana Resources: Disease management programs Personalized health coaching Prescription benefits Preventive Care screenings pcs.keeganh@pcsb.org FOR MORE INFORMATION CHECK OUT THE DISTRICT VIDEO:

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8 Just Let Us Teach is the message all educators need to send to the District, the School Board, and to our lawmakers. This shirt, however, says a lot more. It says we are united in our commitment to take back our profession. It says we have had enough of the corporate model reforms that are destroying Public Education and hurting our kids. It says we demand to be treated as professionals. Wear it to School Board meetings. Wear it on Red Shirt Fridays. Wear it as a show of solidarity. Order your shirt today!