The observations I am making are not necessarily site based. I serve on the Grievance Committee for our union so I see not only what happens at our site, but throughout the district.

Teacher’s Unions

After watching John Stossel’s video Stupid in America, I realized that I do not have a clear-cut stance on unions/assocations, even though I belong to one.

I do believe the a union should not protect an incompetent teacher, and that dismissing such a person should not be a lengthy and enormously expensive process. However, a union should insure that there are checks and balances, to make sure that the dismissal is valid.

As a member of our teacher’s union and of VUEA’s executive board, I have seen the other side of the coin. A teacher who was out for legitimate injuries and illnesses has been stalemated on his/her return to work. Without union represenation this person could legally have been dismissed after 36 months of down time.

Within just a few years, I have seen:

• Teachers intimidated by school politics, and again, without union representation, a negative situation would be perpetuated.
• A Principal manipulating students and incident reports to prepare a negative case against a teacher.
• District offices allowing unhealthy work environments. Unions have insured that serious situations be dealt with immediately.
• Special education teachers given inadequate resources to operate safe classrooms, requiring union intervention to correct the situation.
• School sites place ‘dangerous’ students with staff without proper notification.
• School districts fill 56 district specialist positions, rather than fund more urgent needs.
• School districts becoming top-heavy with bureaucrats, whose compensations are far superior to those who work in the schools.
• School districts trying to manipulate union members by offering them ‘district site based positions’, to woo them away and “into the fold” of district influence.

Yes, Teacher’s unions do have a place, and it’s an important one They are needed to promote fair treatment of teachers, by districts which are increasingly large, unwieldy, and impersonal in their nature. Ultimately, the “customers” are the students, and their tax-paying parents. They look primarily to the teachers, not the administrations, and not the districts, to “deliver the product”. Teacher’s unions are our best tool for ensuring that these important providers continue to have the means, and the desire, to deliver.

Is there room for change – yes, unions can rewrite their contracts.

Linda Kapala
Career/Media Specialist
289-0023 x 1033

" Change your thoughts and you change your world."
Norman Vincent Peale