From today's NYT:
The Bloomberg administration has made getting rid of inadequate teachers a linchpin of its efforts to improve city schools. But in the two years since the Education Department began an intensive effort to root out such teachers from the more than 55,000 who have tenure, officials have managed to fire only three for incompetence.
If you ever doubted that the public education system is more rigged than a Vince McMahon promoted wrestling match, then just look at the statistic cited above.
Bloomberg has only been able to fire three teachers for incompetence. In two years. And this is after making it a priority. Three is the tragic number.
Tragic for the kids trapped in these educational hell holes. Tragic for their parents who are powerless against an unrelenting bureaucracy & an all powerful Teacher's Union.
You know what that number three means? It means that the public education system's primary purpose is to provide citizens with JOBS FOR LIFE. Jobs where there is no accountability. Jobs where being incompetent means you get to collect a check for life, and there is nothing anybody can do about it.
You can be drunk and not get fired. You can molest kids and not get fired. You can know less about teaching than Plaxico Burress knows about handgun safety & not get fired.
Union rules protect all of the above & more.
It's easier to remove a pope than to fire a public school teacher.
Collective bargaining agreements between NYC & the Teacher's Union have for GENERATIONS sold our kids down the river.
Once the city identifies an incompetent teacher and targets them for removal, that's when the fun begins. The teacher gets a union lawyer. And an arbitration hearing. These hearing drag on longer than the OJ trial. They go on for years. And years. Tragically, I'm not even slightly exaggerating. All during that time, the teacher is still on the public payroll. While the case is dragging on, the teacher reports to the "Rubber Room". They stay in the Rubber Room all day, hanging out, reading the newspaper, playing cards etc. All on the public tit.
As for the arbitrators, lets face it: they won't be in the arbitration business for long if they constantly rule against the Union. So they "split the baby". Moreover, the longer the arbitration process, the more the arbitrator gets paid.
Recently,we all saw the horrible effects of the earthquake in Haiti. Images of people buried under the rubble are seared into our collective memory.
But everyday, we have kids here that are being crushed underneath an unrelenting, unaccountable public education system.
They don't need charity telethons, "We Are The World" remakes, or Anderson Cooper reporting from the carnage.
But what they do need is a way out. And that way out is a school voucher or a charter school.
The time has come.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
In private schools, if the school does a bad job educating children, parents can take their child out of that school. If enough parents take their kids out of the public school,then maybe they will understand that they are failing the children in NY however if you take your child out of school in NY then the ACS will deam you a bad parent and you the parent will be in trouble. A private school depends on the voluntary consent and tuition payments of its parents to stay in business.Unlike private schools, public schools are a government-controlled education system that stays in business through naked compulsion. Local governments pass laws that give school authorities near monopoly powers over our children's education. Compulsory attendance laws force children to go to these schools. Taxes force parents to pay for these schools. Unlike private schools, public schools rarely go out of business, no matter how bad they are, because they get their childern, teachers and their money by force. So maybe we all have to stand up as tax payers for our future generations , and stop the failure. just maybe these teachers who are failing our children will learn that they can not get away with all the b/s and start being responsible adults. American laws are also responsible for our failing school system . I went to a RC all girls school growing up and the nuns wopped my behind and I turned out OK (I Guess) however now worldwide you can not correct children, teachers or parents because everyone has too many stupid rights . How about the rights to do the right thing ( that does nor exist anymore )
Post a Comment