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Letter from Hartford

Putting a face on the problem in education.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, picture this.  Your sitting in a room in your local school with school administrators and elected officials .  For the last decade or so, the school has been cutting programs, streamlining services and raising the parents portion of every activity offered at the school.  It’s budget time and once again the teachers union is lobbying hard for a raise.  This time around however, families are struggling to meet their basic needs, the foreclosure rate on homes is higher than anyone of us can remember and the unemployment rate is through the roof.

Your at the meeting because you have heard (although, certainly not though the mainstream media) that the teachers union is rejecting a 2.75% raise this year.  Just then, a shop teacher, former WEAC President Kieth Kohls at a salary (2008/9 ) of $70,796.00 a year plus another $23,280.00 in benefits gets up wearing a Scott Henke sticker and asks when the taxpayers are going to pony up and pay him some decent money.  Let’s forget that he is a member of WEAC, who supported Jim Doyle while we watched him introduce budget after budget that squandered away every penny the Wisconsin taxpayer could muster.  He only works 185 or so days a years and he has never worked a holiday, ever.  He’s wearing a Scott Henke sticker to show his support for a guy who has never put the taxpayer first. As a matter of fact Scott Henke’s most recent triumph is a 82% water rate increase that he hid until he was out of office. WOW!   Sounds like Kieth Kohls and Scott Henke have a lot in common.  Now we know why Wisconsin schools are in trouble.  The money has to go through WEAC and no child is left a dime.

As a member of this community, it is time to call it as it is.  Kieth Kohls is all about Kieth Kohls and he along with the rest of his WEAC cronies should stop trying to pretend that the children come first.

JR Nelson is a Hartford Resident.

 

Posted by Owen at 0719 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

1. Unfortunately he paints a pretty accurate picture.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 02, 2010 at 0838 hrs
   
   
   

2. Right Bill, it doesn’t matter that those who pay the taxes his wages come from are losing their jobs and homes, just make sure the part timers continue to get paid exceptionally well and continue to receive their benefits. Too bad Mr. Kohls isn’t smart enough to see the system is out of whack, nor caring enough to be willing to share in the pain his employers are feeling. A former WEAC president? His mindset isn’t surprising. Like all of us, if he feels he isn’t getting what he’s worth, no one is stopping him from seeking employment where he will be satisfied. Mr. Kohls, Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 02, 2010 at 1122 hrs
   
   
   

3. Typical WEAC scum. If your offended, prove me wrong.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 02, 2010 at 1315 hrs
   
   
   

4. JP
   Enlighten me please. Do you find Mr.Kohls conduct out of line?
   If one of your loyal subjects pulled a stunt like this would they be feeling the wrath of the newly elected fearless leader, or do you slap him on the back and give him a big atta boy?

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 02, 2010 at 1344 hrs
   
   
   

5. Lets light the straw man on fire.

   teachers are ungrateful, lazy, over paid cretins who are treated like kings while we peasants suffer in the field

   we work hard, they don’t

   we pay taxes- they ...whoops

   They have a union-I hate unions because i have to negotiate for myself and I’m not getting anywhere , and they get vacations and all kinds of good stuff.

   and they’re all just like this jackass in Hartford, exactly like him

   I get it- Next!

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 02, 2010 at 1658 hrs
   
   
   

6. Yes Mark, this jackass in Hartford is the only public school teacher in all the land that feels this way. 

   You must have missed the Meno Falls teachers that wouldn’t do concerts or sporting events or write recommendations.  You must have missed the 35,000 teachers in NJ that marched to reject a 1-year pay freeze and having to pay about $700 per year for family medical coverage.  Or the teachers in RI that initially refused to eat lunch with students a couple times per week and to add 20 minutes to their school day for extra tutoring (at least until they all got fired) even though they made more than 3X than their student’s families.

   Yes, teaching can be a very difficult job.  There are lots of jobs that are very difficult.  Very few of them include the amount of time off along with the salaries and benefits that people like this jackass have.  I’m with Scott(I-C), if he doesn’t feel the taxpayers of the district are appropriately ponying up - go peddle your wares in the private sector and DLTDHYAOTWO.  The Marie Antoinette act has worn very thin.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 02, 2010 at 1817 hrs
   
   
   

7. 1. Kieth Kohls is a member of WEAC.
   2. WEAC supported Jim Doyle (because he appeared to be the better choice of the two candidates at the time).
   3. That Jim Doyle “introduce[ed] budget after budget that squandered away every penny the Wisconsin taxpayer could muster” is a un-objective hyperbole.
   4. “He only works 185 or so days a years and he has never worked a holiday, ever.”  185 days likely averaging 10hrs a day - decent pay, good benefits, no bonuses.
   5. Agree with Mr. Maley - “Kieth Kohls and Scott Henke” - an unsophisticated straw man fallacy
   6. The comment (if accurately quoted here by Mr. Nelson) made about the public “ponying up” is fair (freedom of speech); however, the word choice (if correctly quoted) is in poor taste.  Considering the tone and word choice of this letter, Mr. Nelson is likely taking some artistic license.  However, if the quote is accurate, I and the colleague who said this would have a word in private.

   @6 Meno Falls teachers sample - Here you contradict yourself with this Black Friday example.  The teachers don’t strike (that’s illegal), but they stop engaging work outside the school day outside their contract as an act of protest against something you do not detail.  The time off work you and Mr. Nelson vehemently criticize is made up for by the time you admit is spent engaging work outside the school (by the vast majority of public/private teachers).  Schools are not widget factories.

   NJ teachers are victims of a $46 billion funding hole in the pension system because of investment losses and a failure of employers to make full contributions.

   RI teachers - Even “pro-union” Obama OK’d their firing (though most were hired back).  The demand to work an extra 20 minutes per day was a breaking of the contract by the school district.  If you’re OK with government organizations breaking contracts whenever they fancy, um, ...well, I disagree with authoritarian right or left state imposed collectivism.  I experienced it overseas - It’s too unpredictable; too much cronyism.

   And yes, I make 3X more than some of my student’s families - so do you.  Wages and benefits come with the job’s demands and requirements.  We do not work in widget factories.  If teachers were restricted to the average wage of the people they serve, what do you think would happen?

   @2 Scott, from Madison, yes?  In West Bend, WI, teachers who work less than 85% do not receive benefits.  I imagine Hartford and Madison are the same.  Interesting - Some folks want teachers to live in the community they work, form a bond, grow roots.  Some don’t.

   June 2010 WI dept of workforce dev
   Washington Cty unemployment rate now 7.7%; year ago 9.7%
   Hartford unemployment rate???

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 02, 2010 at 2001 hrs
   
   
   

8. Mr. Penterman. 

   I believe the sentiment would be that of perceived entitlement.  For the majority of the workforce that is not in a union, or has had the (dis)pleasure of working in a company with a union - these explanations ring hollow.

   A great number of those lucky enough to still be gainfully employed, a 10-hour day is not unheard of for us either.  But get on average 2-3 weeks of vacation and 10-12 holidays.  Some have to be on-call on weekends and holidays as well. 

   What else rings hollow is when the teacher’s put out their “But It Is For The Children - If You Don’t Give Us More You Must Hate Kids And Education” schtick for every school referendum or eliminating the QEO, yada yada…  The Meno Falls example very clearly shows that when they refuse to write a letter of recommendation or an elementary choir concert gets cancelled, it is quite clearly not for the children.  You do understand how petty it is to refuse 20 minutes a day because it isn’t in the contract, right?

   Regarding breaking contracts…  Somehow I would guess that you were perfectly OK with all the contract-breaking the government did last year with the GM and Chrysler bond-holders. 

   As far as salaries and pensions.  I may make more than some in my school district, but I don’t ask my neighbors to pay my salary either.  Most of your neighbors don’t get bonuses, don’t have employer-funded pensions, and most likely have to pay quite a bit into their health insurance.  So you are basically asking for people to “pony up” to provide you a better salary, better benefits, and a pension with a nice early retirement age. 

   At the very least you could say thank you once in a while.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 02, 2010 at 2037 hrs
   
   
   

9. Somehow, everyone knows that if the market for teachers were more open it would be possible to find someone who would do the job that the shop teacher does for a total compensation package of $50-$60,000.  Yet, taxpayers pay twice as much.  And why is that?

   1. The state and the union put in place barriers to employment—one must obtain certification.  As they say, if Einstein were still alive, he’d not be “qualified” to teach high school physics.  Teachers unions consistently oppose alternate certifications, and with the aid of union-friendly politicians they are able to prevail.  To state the obvious (?), one might look to unemployed engineers to at least temporarily fill teaching positions in math, ‘hard’ sicences, and computer science.

   2. Teacher salaries are disconnected from results.  Starting salaries are deliberately set low (per union contract), presumably to minimize competition for higher-paid teachers.  In any case, in most jobs pay reaches a plateau after about five years, unless one is promoted or otherwise takes on additional responsibilities.  That’s because if you haven’t learned to do a job well in five years, you’re probably never going to.  Yet teachers continue to receive seniority increases year after year, through year twenty and beyond.

   3. The number of teachers fired every year is a tiny fraction of a percent.  Perhaps that means all teachers are good teachers, yet we know that just isn’t so.  Perhaps we can’t move teaching to “GE-style management” (the bottom ten percent get fired every year, and the top five percent get promoted) but we can and should be able to cull the lemons.  WITHOUT spending $100,000 and up for each attempt.

   4. Ultimately, the public rightly and righteously despises the teachers unions because their job has been both to protect the weakest, crummiest teachers; because they insist that all teachers with equal seniority are equal when we know that isn’t so, because they insist that years-of-service beyond five years are automatically worth more (often much more) compensation, when we know that’s not so; because they insist that smaller classes (below 35 students) are essential, even though research shows smaller classes do not improve educational outcomes.

   OK, I could go on—but, the teachers’ unions and the poltiicians supported by them insure that public education will never be more than mediocre even though its cost will continue to increase.

   And therefore, it is time to declare political war on the teachers’ unions.  Because, education is too important to leave to the unions, and no meaninfgul reform is possible unless the unions’ power is curtailed.

   Finally, this ‘war’ needs to be persued at the state and federal level, as no school district has the resources to effectively go up against the unions (and the education establishment that supports them).

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 03, 2010 at 0858 hrs
   
   
   

10. I stand in awe of the clarity and truth of your post #11 Albigensian.

    Public education has become populated by bullies who apparently are never going to be satisfied to be exceptionally compensated for their mediocre product.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 03, 2010 at 1112 hrs
    
    
    

11. Einstein may not be qualified to teach high school physics, but neither would many physics professors at high level universities.

    Certifications make sense at the primary and secondary levels.  It’s a specific skill set.

    As far as unions are concerned…that’s the nature of the beast, I suppose.  But we’ve all benefited from them, so it’s a double-edged sword.  Maybe if you’re unhappy, you’ve chosen the wrong career path?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 03, 2010 at 1134 hrs
    
    
    

12. @9 I am a public school employee and union member, but I was never for automotive company or bank bailouts or gov home mortgage bailouts.  Sorry, you are wrong.  Thank you for paying taxes.  I’ll thank the citizens of WB in Sept.

    @11
    …you will find someone to do the job “that the shop teacher does for a total compensation package of $50-$60,000”, but will they do it as well?  Second, based on this theory, one should be able to open up some really profitable (for the owner) high performing charter schools.  Where are they?  Third, shop teachers are not being graduated at the rate of K-5 teachers; you’re opening bid will not be considered by any graduate or professional. 

    “the public rightly and righteously despises the teachers unions because their job has been both to protect the weakest, crummiest teachers” Unsubstantiated myth

    Teachers plateau after 5 years – Personal research study, eh?. 
    Bad data: “The number of teachers fired every year is a tiny fraction of a percent.”  Truth: Teacher are non-renewed; more often they resign after they are told they are about to be nonrenewed.  That way they do not have a nonrenewal in their file when future employers contact them. “Half of Teachers Quit in 5 Years” washingtonpost.com

    Study pours cold water on performance-based teacher pay

    
    Study: N.Y. teacher performance pay program flops

    I know of research supporting union led school perform as well if not better than private schools, but why support my statements further?

    
    Albigensian, to your health, wealth and happiness and your charter school.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 05, 2010 at 0846 hrs
    
    
    

13. JP
    Why not put the teachers positions out for public bid, this is the publics money, let everyone have a fair crack at winning the positions.
    Your response to me is,” how well will these teachers perform”, ” would you risk your childs education to a low ball bidder”.
    But JP every day you drive your car over a bridge or walk through a public building your putting your family at risk as all these items are determined by the lowest bidder. I bet when speeding down the turnpike at 65 going over a bridge it has never crossed your mind that the low bidder the cheapest bid erected the bridge?
    And yet you risk the health and welfare of your family by driving down state constructed roads, shame, shame, JP.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 05, 2010 at 1303 hrs
    
    
    

14. Crusher,

    Any public bid will have an RFP process that will set minimum qualifications to complete the work.  So, its not like my neighbor can bid a bridge or some other specialized piece of construction.  I am sure that you understand that there are certain specs that any project must meet due to gov’t regulations.

    That is the story with teachers.  NCLB and state law says that teachers must have a certain level of training.  I meet teachers frequently that started in business and went through the process of becoming certified and each one told me that they didn’t like the idea of having to take the classes but afterwards said that they saw the value.  There are things that teachers need to know and understand that those classed teach.  Instructional methods and so on.

    Before some of you go off on the whole, what type of training do teachers need to lecture, tirade.  Instructional training is advancing every year, because of the immense amount of brain research that has been done over the last 20-30 years.  This is research that is done by people outside of education.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 05, 2010 at 1500 hrs
    
    
    

15. Crusher,
    All those buildings and bridges (I hope and pray) were inspected.  If not, I am sure an attorney angel will be watching over us.  If we die due to a poor inspection, I am sure s/h’d make sure our wives were well taken care of after the 50/50 split.

    On Mr. Beaver’s note, WI teachers now need professional development plans on three year cycles and 6 credits every three years from an accredited institution.  Lifetime certification/licensure is grandfathered but essentially gone.  No biggie - I like going back to school.  Certifications have some state protections - Cross the state line and one needs re-certification.  I can get quite cycnical about it too - arguing that the rules are in place to justify another job, but all in all it keeps the chaff leaving the workplace.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 05, 2010 at 1627 hrs
    
    
    

16. JP
    Dont worry the parking structure in Milwaukee also passed inspection.
    I realize there are certifications, credits , qualifications, as there are in any public bidding scenario. If they meet the criteria let them throw there hat in the ring. We could even have online reverse auctions and teachers could compete for the lowest wage, think the limbo “how low will they go”. Competition is always good for the consumer.

    Goverment does this all the time with all goods and services even consultation, teaching is not all that unique a system and specifications could be created that would insure a fair bidding system.
    If the bidding system made certain all teaching qualifications were met I guess you would not have a problem.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 05, 2010 at 1711 hrs
    
    
    

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    Posted by LPN Schools on August 24, 2010 at 0405 hrs
    
    
    

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