The preceding personal attacks against someone who identifies the deleterious effect labor unions have on education, further proves the author’s position. You enact that which is described in “Trees & Forests.” You vilify everyone who does not goose step to your marching orders. You have proven yourselves intolerant of differing opinions and criticism. Rather than asking yourselves how the problem can be fixed, you attack, telling your detractors to sit down and shut up. You despise freedom of speech, hoping to squelch 1st amendment rights…how “Union” of you. When bullying fails, you resort to direct personal attacks by name calling, “tea-bagger, union hater,” or implied defamation, insinuating that it is only people with a “personality issue” who experience problems at “union run” pubic schools.

You are not victimized. It is your “bully or be bullied” mentality that must change because it feeds your waring, unprofessional, non collegial behavior. Teachers, like the rest of us, should maintain employment based on quality of work, not tenure. No one is entitled to a job. As for “used and abused,” it is union brethren who slap down their colleagues when they dare go against union doctrine.

Ray: I feel your pain and frustration! I have experienced exactly what you describe, i.e., nonsensical policies that are counterproductive to meaningful improvements. We are not adversaries. Your principal needs to hear you. We need to listen to each other with sincerity, identify our needs, speak to each other with honesty, hear each other with mutual respect and innovate solutions, together. My children are now in schools that model this philosophy and they are thriving. It is a grace I give thanks for, everyday! I hope either you find a better school or are able to effect change where you teach, currently. Good Luck.

I am a NYS parent of 3 students who have been in public schools, private schools and a taxpayer and… wait for it …a NYC high school math teacher (6yrs).

Yes I belong to my union…you know the awful organization with the contract that limits the DOE to placing ONLY 34 students in each of my five classes. My union automatically grieves all classes with over subscribed class periods. This protects our children/students’ right to not only an appropriate but a quality education.

Does anyone realize that on a daily basis special ed AND general ed teachers speak out, point out and advocate for special needs students even at the risk of letters to our file or other retaliatory actions.
We all know that there are mediocre and bad members of any profession but that is not how we should define that organization. Does the union protect its membership, of course, and that protection enables me to advocate for my students without fear of losing my job.

The original post states that teachers are against setting goals for their students. That is a disingenuous and downright ludicrous twisting of the underlying facts. We all set goals for AND WITH our students. We revise those goals as our students develop their scholarship. The union grievance is about the amount of paperwork the DOE is requiring per student to document the goal setting, the rigid, inflexible documents necessary to document the goal setting, the specific type of individual conferencing with 150-170 students (5 classes with up to 34 students each) during a 45 min. class period. Remember HS students have 7 classes a day and each teacher is required to over document these goals. If you really want to hear a grievance come talk to HS students after they’ve endured this 7 times.
As professionals my colleagues and I talk in our weekly Small Learning Communitiy meetings and we set goals for ourselves and our students. When we have concerns about any students we compare notes and observations about that student and then develop a plan and strategy of support. We have usually already been in touch with the parents or guardians and then arrange a meeting at their convenience. This is our formal meeting, but we talk daily informally.
A professional teacher will not turn the other cheek to be hit upside the head again. As professionals we will take a stand, we will speak out for ourselves and our students. We will use our union organization to protect ourselves from baseless retaliation, and mindless and redundant paperwork.

As a parent and taxpayer my children and I have seen a multitude of “new and improved” programs, structures, etc. but the real difference always came down to the teacher in the room. This is the human being that taught and interacted with my child. In my 20 plus years as a parent I never heard a teacher bring their union up in any conversation relating to my children’s education. When we did on very rare occasions run up against a not so great teacher I checked myself to be sure it wasn’t just a personality issue and then my children and I would figure out a way to handle the situation. Only once did it require my going over a teacher’s head. My daughters who are in college, now have the tools necessary to deal with adults in an adult manner. The fact that our city had a teachers’ union didn’t interfere with my children’s education nor would it with any other child’s education.

It amazes me that in some quarters the underlying premise to being a teaching professional is that we can be used, abused, fired and then should say thank you sir more.

Try as you might; I will not let that happen…ever.

So who protects the needs and wants of the children…teacher union reps? Who advocates for the rights of the students, making their educational requirements top priority…the president of the NEA or the NEO? Of course, not. Unions only benefit people outside their membership when those goals coincide with the interests of their card carriers. Logically and unemotionally, this is how the system works. Every union has only one master…their membership. It was constructed to be adversarial. Teacher unions are doing an excellent job for their members. I give them an A+.

Let me be clear: This issue is not about liking or disliking unions. The problem is that teachers, using union representation, have forced the satisfaction of their requirements to take priority over student achievement. The mission of public school eduction is to achieve student success, not meet employee demands. Students first, parents/taxpayers second, employees third.

DC Lawyer: You’re right, my lawyer joke was a cheap shot…it was too easy! Lighten up. You’re a lawyer, for goodness sake, and one who even works for a non-profit organization…like a labor union, perhaps? They are non-profits, you know.

If anyone should be humorless about this issue it is we, students, parents and taxpayers, who stand alone against the force of unionized teachers gone mad with power. Perhaps the only way we can return to the mission of public education, where student need receives top priority, is if we unionize. It would be an extreme force of reckoning. We can call it: Taxpayers Rally Organization Of Parents & Students and then we can send in our TROOPS!

I’m with Attorney DC, in that you appear to be quick with the rhetorical bashing, and your choice of words belies your so-called “moments of humor.” Tripping over your rhetoric wasn’t a compliment. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t twisting your words. I’m not the one who chose phrases like “anti-Americanism” or “organized crime boss.” I’m glad that in the case of nurses, you can see the value in a stronger bargaining force. That said, I’m not convinced (from what you’ve said so far) that if nurses’ unions got as strong as you say teachers unions are that you’d maintain that position. And doctors don’t need a union?

Without going too far afield, I might ask the question of what a union’s role is or should be. In the case of nurses, you state that they are being exploited. Some would argue the same thing is happening to teachers. I suppose it all depends on your frame of reference.

@Martropolis: Why can’t you admit that teacher unions have run amok? Why must you twist my words into assuming I have hatred for all unions? Why can’t you acknowledge that some unions are bad? And I’ll take, “tripping over some of your rhetoric,” as a compliment. Thank you.

@Attorney DC: From union teacher to DC lawyer…that’s an improvement? What’s next, organized crime boss? My conclusions about the deleterious effects unions have on education in NY State are based on over twenty years of experience educating four children, two without and two with special needs, within NY State & Ohio. To focus only on the “special needs” portion of my comments is a mistake. It is my experience that most NY State residents are extremely unhappy about the strangle hold unions have on public schools. As for having “an antagonistic relationship with my schools,” that is a pejorative remark that reflects your bias, not my sentiment.

I have complex and genuine experience with many educational venues, in many capacities and the truth is, the better the school, the weaker the union connection. The worst schools have the strongest teacher union. The best schools have no unions.

I’ve enjoyed the exchange of opinions. We may agree to disagree. Hope you’ve appreciated my moments of humor. It’s been fun. Thanks.

Your quote: “Unions have corrupted teacher professionalism.” Unions arise out of situations where teachers are working conditions are unprofessional and where teachers have had no voice in changing those condtions; hence, collective bargaining. If administrations and unions would bargain better contracts, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. There is plenty of blame to share.

Teachers, administrators, and parents all have difficulty seeing the “forest for the trees blocking their view.” Especially since children are involved.