Letters to the Editor
Lobbyist’s ads are trash
Apr 10, 2008 12:43 PM
To the Editor:
I first became aware of the anti-teacher union ads put out by the Center for Union Facts (CUF) when UFT President Randi Weingarten voiced her objections, and held up the full-page ad from The New York Times in Albany on Lobby Day, March 11.
Richard Berman, the lobbyist who is the author of this trash, claims that bad teachers stay in school systems because unions make it practically impossible to get rid of them.
I, along with several teachers at my school, disagree.
First, New York City public school teachers are on probation for their first three years. During that time they are rigorously observed up to 18 times before being considered for tenure. If a poorly performing teacher cannot be identified in three years, the supervisor, not the teacher, isn’t doing his or her job.
Second, the UFT supports the highest professionalism by insisting on mentoring for new teachers, offering in-service courses through its Teacher Center, and having a Peer Intervention Program to assist teachers in danger of an unsatisfactory rating; if PIP can’t help these teachers, then it offers career change counseling. The reason that so few teachers are fired for incompetence is that these supports work.
Third, the document commonly referred to as the teachers’ contract is properly called the “Agreement between the Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York and United Federation of Teachers Local 2, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO covering teachers.” It ensures that the process whereby a teacher is evaluated, and if need be terminated, is fair and equitable. Unfortunately, half of new teachers leave the profession within five years, not because they can’t teach or are underpaid, but because of unsafe working conditions and lack of respect for what they do.
Finally, as a teacher since 1974, and as the chapter leader in my school, I am uniquely privy to the goings-on in every department and have come to know our faculty as never before. I can honestly say that my colleagues are an altruistic lot who always put the welfare of their students first. If Richard Berman wants to identify the worst teachers, he has only to look at those who tried to teach him honesty and integrity.
Paula S. Washington,
LaGuardia HS of Music & Art and Performing Arts
