What’s the deal with Unit C negotiations?

After three meetings with the administration since Memorial Day, there isn’t much news coming out about negotiations to replace the Unit C contract due to expire at the end of this month.  There are two reasons for that:

1. As with most other labor negotiations, both sides agreed to “ground rules” that specified that details would be closely held until a tentative agreement was reached.  Unit C members will of course vote on that agreement, but until then these negotiations can only continue if both sides stay with the ground rules.

2. In late July, the superintendent and our WEA’s MTA representative left their positions.  This changeover necessitated a delay.

Our negotiating team is still vigorously pursuing a fair contract, and updates will continue until a tentative agreement is reached.

NEASC

Of course, the NEASC report has been out for a while. I know that conversations at WHS about the report have been ongoing, but I ask any WEA member reading this to contact the WEA with recommendations that cause worry, or possible solutions. The recommendations numbered 16-20, and 43, are pretty tall orders. I know that the NEASC Committee shared a Google document with draft ideas. I want to hear your reactions and your ideas. The contract must and will be defended, but in the long run it would be helpful to find a way to calm NEASC down. Better we present our ideas than react to theirs...comment here, or send an email to the addresses listed on the website. Thanks for the time and help to make sure that this latest issue is resolved fairly to all members.

Yet more workload????

More time on paperwork=less time with students. It's really that simple, and if our priority is students achievement, it has to be taken to heart. Thus when there is mention of offloading central office tasks on individual members regarding professional development, tracking PDPs, and maintaining the district's obligations on teacher training to individual educators, one wonders "in place of what?" There is much to be said about allowing each educator greater control over their professional development, but adding yet another initiative, website, and forms to educators' workload is going to hurt student achievement. More time on paperwork = less time helping students. I look forward to hearing what the district is planning to take off educators' workload to achieve this, otherwise this constitutes an attempt to change working conditions without negotiation. Paperwork cannot shove its way in front of pupils for educators' attention.

My guiding principle on evaluations

I think we'd all known for quite some time that there were going to be a lot of questions this time of year regarding evaluations as the process completed for the year. The Commonwealth rushed through a new system before they'd thought it out, much less written it out. They're still doing that regarding "district-determined measures" meant to supplement the MCAS as a purported measure of educator impact -- a lassitude that would be unacceptable in a classroom but somehow okay coming from an education bureaucrat. Regardless, the system was new to everyone, from setting goals to writing up observations. Then a software package was layered on, all as the system is implementation spread across several buildings. Let's be clear: any chaotic, wobbly implementation is going to discover and create mistakes. That's foreseeable and understandable. Hundreds of people working together in good faith are still going to stumble badly under such circumstances. However, my guiding principle as president of the WEA is that these mistakes should not cost any person their job security, nor should an error of omission or commission bring into question the integrity and skill of an accomplished educator. This is not to question all negative evaluation results, but to set the highest standard for the way they are reached. If you have any question or concern, even the vaguest one, please contact a building rep or WEA officer including me. If a mistake costs you this year, your colleague may be affected the next. Speak up, and you will find help.

Health insurance rates

A word to clarify the recent email from the district about health insurance rates. The second column (100%) is the cost to the town of each plan, the third column (30%), is the total that all Wareham employees will pay for that year. The further columns divide that amount by differing numbers of paychecks. Those WEA members receiving a paycheck every other week, which is nearly all, would pay anywhere from $88.48 up per paycheck, depending on the plan. The full text of the signed agreement will be on the website by 5/13/13.

Deadline delay

Colleagues, You may have noticed a slight change in the WEA calendar. That is because of the revent weekend outage in TeachPoint. To ensure that summative reports for those on one-year plans reach the required standard of accuracy, rigor, and reliability, the deadline has been pushed from May 15 to May 20. This was upon a vote by the WEA Board of Directors.

Our next superintendent

In all likelihood, I met Wareham's next superintendent today. However, I also met four others who want that job and won't be offered the post. The afternoon was a valuable one, and a reminder of the range of people working for the best for Wareham's schools in the community. While the parents, business and non-profit leaders, staff, administration and town government officials don't all agree on how to get to success, or what "success" even looks like, it needs to be remembered that we're all on the same side. It is also a good opportunity to remember that there are so many routes -- and the different choices before the school committee are as much among different ways to envision and judge success as among different candidates for the post. The process of selecting a superintendent has changed even since it began earlier this year. The candidate slate wasn't too predictable, but neither are Wareham's challenges. It's not easy to pick the right person for the moment and the future. It's not easy to separate the right answers in an interview from the right person for a post. Here's hoping the school committee makes the right choice to find the best fit for the schools of Wareham, and everyone who is working for their success.