Uh, thanks for all of your kind emails offlist to my last post on salaries for teachers. I have a feeling it might be fruitless to answer some personally, but there is one more thing I want to say.
I have been a HUGE supporter of unions since I was a school board member in the White Bear Area School District in the early 90's. At that time we were going through some huge financial difficulties with the defeat of our levy and some huge cutbacks by the state. One year we had to cut 20% from our budget and another year 10%. We had to let over 120 teachers go, had 45 kids in our classrooms, and had to close schools. During all this turmoil we had hundreds (literally) of parents in the board room telling us to fire the teachers that had been there the longest because they made the most money. Now can you imagine if we fired our most experienced teachers during all of this turmoil, the teachers that mentored the younger teachers, the teachers that could handle 45 kids in a classroom, the teachers with all the experience and knowledge? Luckily there was a union that prevented that kind of foolishness. And yes, I believe in the step and lane system of reward for our teachers too. It rewards them for keeping their education current and for years of experience-which is very necessary when you put kids with learning difficulties, kids that don't speak english, kids with handicaps or mental difficuties, etc- in their classroom. I had one first grade teacher with 35 kids in her classroom and 3 autistic kids. Luckily she was one of our most experienced and best teachers. Besides, who wants a teacher in the classroom with knowledge that isn't current? So yeah, I support our teachers, and I support their union. They need it especially whne resources are tight and the public is screaming to fire them after they have given their lives to kids and their professions because they "make too much money". Ren�e Jenson Como _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [email protected] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
