Look for the union label,
when you are buying
that coat, dress or blouse ...
--Union jingle, back in the day
Over the weekend, the paper said that Little Rock's school district and the Little Rock Education Association have agreed to a "work agreement" for next year. Minus salary considerations. Which sounds a lot like agreeing with a dealership to buy a car--without the minor detail of deciding on a price.
But what do amateurs like us know about it? The agreement ran a reported 10 pages, and it was ratified by the union last week. Johnny Key, the state's education commissioner, has the paperwork on his desk now.
Teresa Gordon, the association's president, told the paper that negotiating teams made only a few, relatively slight, changes as compared to this year's contract.
More's the pity.
This is the season of endorsement meetings in this outfit. It's amazing how often the conversation comes back to education, even in the race for Little Rock mayor. Those running in that contest won't have a direct impact on the city's school district. One even told us he wasn't running for school board.
But in conversation, they all come back to education. Eventually. Because every candidate for mayor realizes that with a low-performing school district, the city can never fully succeed. Without an educated workforce, without an educated populace, without an educated citizenry, Little Rock will continue to look northwest for an example of a quality economic, civic and intellectual life.
Baby steps, even in the right direction, aren't what's needed. Little Rock's schools have been taken over by the state for a reason. Charter schools are springing up all over for a reason. Parents are moving or putting their kids in private schools, or in schools in surrounding towns, for a reason. A "few, relatively slight" changes might only produce relatively slight change.
Even union members might realize this, even if they won't admit it. And surely most politicians know this to be true too, but many of them dare not mention it: Little Rock's schools will never be able to successfully educate all their charges until school leaders have the ability to place teachers where they need them. That is, hire and fire teachers based on performance. And do away with seniority rules that now require teachers with the most time in office get priority over everybody else. Regardless of ability. Call it from bad to bureaucracy.
What state and local leaders should do is reconstitute failing schools, like Baker Kurrus did with Baseline Elementary, which means bringing in a whole new crew. But under union contracts, all such displaced teachers get priority at teaching jobs throughout the district. The way to upend this apple-cart is to replace the current contract. With a brand new one.
Allowing under-performing teachers to stay in jobs simply because they've been in those jobs longest also puts the district at a competitive disadvantage with charters, which have the flexibility to grab up the best teachers doing the best jobs.
State and district leaders have the ability to seek waivers from the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act for the Little Rock School District. But apparently they don't have the courage to do so. Maybe they will after the election. Because, as a president named Barack Obama once noted, after elections politicians have "more flexibility." Besides, we wouldn't want to reach for excellence, and upset the unions, before the voters speak, right?
If you hear a wooden clomping noise, it's the deadwood in the district applauding. It's an awful sound.
Editorial on 10/09/2018