In recent times the word union/association as it pertains to public schools has evoked, among many, a negative connotation. Whether the naysayers think that unions/associations are simply out to make big bucks or that they are merely protecting union/association members they haven't been paying attention to events in the past three years in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona.
The strikes in the above three states have proven that public school unions/associations are more concerned with other teacher and student issues beyond pay. Yes, some of the issues do involve pay and benefits but a closer examination of these strikes is warranted.
Class size, types of teacher assignments (ie assigning a person to a subject area they aren't qualified to teach), curriculum development, tying teacher pay to test scores, and the incursion of charter schools into the areas served by the neighborhood schools are all current issues that unions/associations see as impacting them. Guess what? They should be concerned!!
Administrators and school boards, if they were to function without union/association input and influence, would likely move in a negative direction with regard to the issues in the previous paragraph.
As a person who has negotiated in good faith with school boards and their attorneys, cooperation to the benefit of all can be achieved.
Dick
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