Top Issues
In the classroom and at the bargaining table, Tacoma teachers and support staff are focused on what’s best for kids.
That’s why we’re negotiating a new contract that:
- Protects students from overcrowded classrooms. Allow teachers to provide students the individual attention they need to succeed. (Protect class sizes.)
- Treats teachers fairly. The school district administration continues to demand school staffing policies that are subjective and would result in discrimination against teachers. The administration has refused to drop its demand to use subjective and discriminatory criteria in making school staffing decisions. Tacoma teachers have made it clear they cannot approve a contract that includes that policy language. This is the biggest obstacle to settlement.
- Protects teachers from falling behind. Tacoma teachers are not advocating for a pay raise, but the district administration is pushing a pay cut. Most surrounding school districts, including Puyallup and University Place, have not cut their teachers’ pay, despite reduction in state funding. If we fall behind other districts, Tacoma’s students will lose their best teachers to neighboring suburban school districts.
- Makes student learning the top budget and administrative priority. Provide educators with the classroom resources and administrative support they need. (Administration policies and budget decisions that support teachers and kids.)
Yeah, that’s going to happen….. (Above) Their whole history is just the opposite! They made their line in the sand months ago- now it’s time for us to erase it. See you all Mon. eve. Jon
Tacoma Teachers- Please follow your heart today when voting. You know what is fair, honest and respectful to yourselves and others. Was Orwell correct in saying we have become a Nation of sheep? I certainly hope not! I know I am not one. We all know it’s time to stop the bleeding of our profession so let it be us- it’s obvious no one else can do it. Do you really feel going back to work without a contract is showing your own self-respect, respect for our students and parents? I don’t. Do you want a hit squad entering your room and telling you how to teach when they are not even Teachers? How dissrespectful and stupid is that? Have Teachers suddenly become so inept that non-Teachers are going to observe and develop a plan they think will improve Teacher and student’s outcomes? Have they noticed how their increased intervention and reduced support has worked the last five plus years? I have. Are the Teachers the root cause of educational concerns today? I don’t see it. I see us working harder and harder each year with less and less support, resources and compensation. I have seen three math programs that are amazingly expensive and completely ill conceived for elementary students and Teachers in the last six years. I see a board making unbelievable mistakes in judgement that would equal termination IF they took any responsibility for their actions- which they don’t. And they are going to direct us?? This must be some kind of cruel joke! I see human resources trying to bully Teachers on a consistent basis when it’s obvious there is no validity in their charges and consistently devalue Teacher’s input and put more credibility in statements from students and parents- as art, cab administrators, and the board are attempting to do presently- great professional role models for us and our community! Art, bring on your legal eagles to try to manipulate/intimidate us- because of human resources- I have developed a network of very capable lawyers whom would be eager represent us in this action. Go Tacoma professional Teachers-follow your hearts.
GREAT CHOICE TACOMA TEACHERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JON
THANK YOU TEA- WITHOUT YOU ALL WE WOULD BE IN A TERRIBLE SITUATION. I’m PROUD TO BE A MEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JON
Why not just come out and tell the truth, all you care about is your pay check
That’s simply not true.
The education of our children needs to be between parents and educators. Just like the attention to health issues needs to be between a patient and a doctor. No third parties.
Remove the “State” (read public apparatus) from the equation. You purchase your child’s education in alignment with your beliefs. The educators compete for parent’s money. The free market is released to provide the innovation and efficiency of market pricing. Good teachers get wealthy; poor ones find a new vocation; people’s children win; fat cat union bosses find an honest living; the warehousing of kids ends. We have completely lost any notion of how people learn to become productive members of society with this pathetic “education system”. Yes, I am well aware of the screams coming from the statists frantically nibbling at their nails about the poor, and what do they do? Read “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass Lynn”. If education is what you desire it is freely available today more than ever. No-one but the teacher’s unions would deny a child the opportunity to learn in today’s America, unlike in his time.
Of course they care about their paycheck, doesn’t everyone? Especially in these tough times? Do YOU work for free, Corey Forbis? I hope you were being ironic or sarcastic or something. I doubt it, however. But does it not also go with out saying that they care about the other issues as well? What other profession is asked to compromise on resources in every aspect AND still put out a high quality product? It doesn’t work that way….people are so short-sided, and it makes me very sad. Do you want children of today and tomorrow to be inspired and inventive enough to invent things like autos and aircraft and landing people on the moon? Or do you want them all marching to the same mindless beat, producing nothing and innovating nothing? To get a quality education you must have quality resources and that INCLUDES quality teachers!!! My family stands firmly behind these brave individuals who go out there every day and shape young minds…I proudly come from a family of teachers and know first hand home much of the family income, time and effort is put into the school year, even during the summer! Do the math (and thank your teachers that you can!) and they actually make pretty close to minimum wage if not worse…
how is 63K average anywhere near minimum wage? get real!!
Well, I question where you are getting 63K as the average teacher’s salary….but for arguments sake let’s work with that. You have to count that they use their own funds to buy classroom supplies; like the garage FULL of classrooms sets of required reading that my sister has stashed because her school district couldn’t afford the book, yet still required the reading, like the paper, glue, scissors, pens, pencils etc. that elementary teachers keep on hand for extra supplies. How about you count the parent phone calls at 8am that interupt the family breakfast that teachers have to field, the 8pm call at the innterupted family dinner that teachers have to field (if they were lawyers they would get to charge by the hour!!!!), the sumer prep time (yes, they get paid in the summer, but they get 12 months of pro-rated pay for 9 months of work), the weekend prep time. And yes they get some prep time built into their schedules, but as more and more teachers are forced to move from roon to room to teach, their prep hours are now filled with basic organisation and pushing carts around a campus….lets see what else did we sacrifice as a family….? Don’t even make me add it all up. HOw about all my birthday parties that ended up as “ask the teacher” sessions…..I’m just saying that there are VERY FEW other professions who would put in as much extra time and effort for even 63K a year…..
And by the way shchmaja, thanks for perpetuating the myth of greedy teachers by focusing in on that part of post or disagreement here. Should the discussion really be about the state of education in the US? Our nation keepd talking about how we are falling behind in eduation and yet we continue to undercut, underfund and shortchange the educational process….HELLO! It doesn’t make sense! You know why we have such great Armed Forces in this country??? Because we fund it pretty much unconditionally. What they want, they get and therefore we are a dominant force, if not THE dominant force in the world. If we backed education even half as well as if should be funded, we would dominate there too. So you get real!!!!
I would also remind people that 80-100K a year is now considered middle class…so even an average of 63K is well below that figure….pathetic.