Someone who is not brave enough to post their name said that parents are being played like fiddles; this is incredibily insensitive, incorrect, and insulting! You, Ms. or Mr. Anonymous, have completely lost credibility when you talk about stepping back.My family, and our many friends here in Shoreline, support the teachers, their union, and will honor their strike! You are the one who may want to step back and take a look at the big picture. Ask yourself some questions about equity, accountability, transparency, and priorities involved in this situation. Then get back to us...
-Shelley Olebar
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Parents Being Played Like Fiddles?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Anytime kids are involved an issue gets colored with more emotion than is warranted. It's useful to step back from the emotional aspect and consider that this is a garden variety labor agreement negotiation. Nothing ever gets settled quickly when powerful, well-financed labor unions are involved. Both parties need the just-before-school-starts deadline to present the final offer they have in their hip pocket. Of course they won't reveal this fact to the public..it's a negotiation, for crying out loud! As is always the case in teacher/administration collective bargaining, both sides play the parents like a fiddle. I would be very surprised if a strike happens. And if there are any potential voters out there, consider this your wakeup call to start paying attention to the people that get elected to the School Board. The disinterest over the last several years is disappointing. Now, of course, those chickens have come home to roost.
August 30, 2007 1:35 PM
I am the anonymous poster being attacked as "insensitive". If you read my post closely, you will see that it is certainly not anti-teacher. You will also note that I suggest those unhappy with the actions of the school board are free to become politically active to change the situation. The collective bargaining situation turned out to be exactly as I described it..settled at the last minute. I'm not saying teachers got a great deal. I'm saying that well financed teachers unions are powerful and are in a perfect position to always paint school administrators as the "bad" party in negotiations and teachers as "good". We all have had teachers that we and our kids really liked and consider them our friends. So it's a challenge to step back from the emotion of the issue and take a pragmatic view. I have heard all manner of hyperbole and untruths from parents about the issue. Where are they getting their information? In most cases, it appears to be the grapevine.
I suggest the way you jumped to a somewhat personal attack on me based on my comments is a timely example of the point I was making about emotion. This is an economic issue. I don't defend the District administration. I agree about the need for transparency, etc. Did my post defend the status quo? I suggest you reread it carefully.
I stand by my comment that parents are played like fiddles. You may not know much about unions, but I do. You may note that the Washington Education Association has 160 full time employees. A tiny bit of investigation reveals that this group spends a substantial amount of teachers' money on "establishing a clear public image of WEA as an effective and responsible advocate...". Consider for the sake of argument a business that maintains a good public image by its acts, as opposed to one that needs to employ special efforts lest this value go unnoticed.
I welcome an alternate viewpoint. I'm not an expert. And I won't attack those with alternate viewpoints. Now get out there and vote those bums out.
Post a Comment