[Peace-discuss] Re: [ucprogressives] Fw: RELEASE: $1 million Anti-Teachers Union Campaign Begins Today

Tue Mar 25 23:55:53 CDT 2008

Quoting Jenifer Cartwright <jencart13 at yahoo.com>:

> Thanks for the info, John. Of course the allegations are a total   
> crock. CUF's efforts are a not-even-thinly veiled attempt at   
> union-busting cloaked in presentation of so-called "facts" and using  
>  words of concern for students and their schools, while CUF and   
> others would love nothing more than to get rid of teachers' unions   
> altogether and to privatize public education. And the contest   
> allowing students to publicly criticize their teachers is   
> encouraging and legalizing slander!! If teachers are "incompetent"   
> the place to point the finger is at management -- school districts   
> have legal and contractual ways of getting rid of incompetent   
> teachers. It's harder to get rid of incompetent principals,   
> superintendents, and other administrators if an entrenched school   
> board wants to keep them on. The billboard is obscene -- an unfair   
> and underhanded way to attack members of the strong and necessary   
> union(s) that protect teachers' rights (NOT their incompetencies)   
> against allegations of
>  incompetency or wrong-doing by dissatisfied parents and students   
> who may or may not have reason on their side: incompetent teachers   
> can and should be fired (and, in my experience, there are legal   
> channels for doing so).
>
>   And re merit pay for teachers (which btw Obama supports, another   
> thing I have against him): that's just another barely disguised   
> attempt to divide and conquer, inho. There are already ways to give   
> teachers "merit pay" -- they can get more coursework and move up on   
> the salary schedule, or add to their skills and credentials (also   
> thru education/testing and proof of mastery)  and become  "master   
> teachers."
>    --Jenifer
>
> "John W." <jbw292002 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> There was an interesting article in Time Magazine a couple of weeks   
> ago about merit pay for teachers.  Some teachers' unions are   
> beginning to be a bit open to the concept of merit pay, provided   
> that there's some empirical way of measuring teacher effectiveness,   
> and it's not just a case of butt-kissing the principal.
>
> John Wason
>
>
>
> At 11:55 AM 3/11/2008, unionyes wrote:
>
>   From: "Tim Miller" <miller at unionfacts.com>
> To: "Bill Gorrell " <laborhour at yahoo.com>
> Subject: RELEASE: $1 million Anti-Teachers Union Campaign Begins Today
> Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:32:41 -0400
>
>
>
> For Immediate Release
> Center for Union Facts
> March 11th, 2008
> For More Information Contact:
> Tim Miller or Sarah Longwell- 202-463-7106
>
> New Campaign Exposes Teachers Unions for Protecting Bad Teachers
> Center for Union Facts Announces “Ten Worst
> (Union-Protected) Teachers” Contest
>
>
> Washington – Today the Center for Union Facts (CUF) launched an  
> aggressive national campaign to educate Americans about how teachers  
> unions protect incompetent teachers, demoralize good teachers, block  
> reform, and ultimately hurt our public education system.
>
> The million dollar advertising blitz features full-page ads this   
> morning in USA TODAY as well as the New York Times, and a television  
>  commercial airing on CNN and Fox News.
>
> The ad in USA TODAY announces CUF’s “Ten Worst (union-protected)  
> Teachers” contest, which will be further publicized by a seven-story  
> billboard going up in Times Square later this week. The contest will  
> allow anyone 13 and up to nominate the worst union-protected  
> teachers in America. Once CUF has identified the ten worst, we will  
> offer each of them $10,000 to quit the profession forever. The  
> purpose of the contest is to encourage teachers known to be  
> incompetent to quit the profession because it is too difficult to  
> have them terminated.
>
> The ads also announce a new website called TeachersUnionExposed.com,  
> which features original, previously unreported research about the  
> union’s stranglehold on America’s schools. The site also highlights  
> 20 cities for which we have obtained detailed information about how  
> protections insulate against turnover despite poor student  
> achievement.
>
> “Teachers unions are failing children all over the country by  
> protecting incompetent teachers and fighting to maintain the status  
> quo,” said CUF Executive Director Richard Berman. “Worst of all,  
> teachers unions hurt all of the amazing teachers in America by  
> treating them exactly the same as incompetent teachers who shouldn’t  
> be in the profession.”
>
> Berman continued, “This campaign is an effort to shine a bright  
> light on the damage inflicted on our education system by  
> self-interested teachers unions. Furthermore, we are advocating on  
> behalf of all the great teachers who deserve better than to be  
> subject to old-fashioned union rules that deny them merit pay and  
> other incentives to continue their excellent work.”
>
>   To learn more visit: www.TeachersUnionExposed.com. For further   
> information or to arrange an interview please call Sarah Longwell at  
>  (202) 463-7106.
>
>
> TeachersUnionExposed.com is a project of the Center for Union Facts   
> (www.UnionFacts.com). CUF is a non-profit organization supported by   
> foundations, businesses, union members, and the general public. We   
> are dedicated to showing Americans the facts about today's union   
> leadership._______________________________________________
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>
>
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Senior Research Programmer, Psychology
453B Psychology
University of Illinois