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

Wed Mar 26 13:19:37 CDT 2008

If it's the same article I saw, it made me want to scream NO NO NO! (sorry, John). Maybe I'm paranoid and hypersensitive on the subject, but reading between the lines it all sounds to me like union-busting and privatizing the public schools.
   --Jenifer

jbarrett at cyrus.psych.uiuc.edu wrote:
  Quoting Jenifer Cartwright :

> 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." 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" 
> To: "Bill Gorrell " 
> 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


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