Alabama plans to transform low-performing schools by giving cash bonuses to good teachers who transfer there. The teacher's union, predictably, is not amused:
The Mobile County school system is putting its plan to "transform" five low-performing schools on television sets throughout the area to win public support for the controversial effort...[the TV spots] tell viewers about the purported benefits of the plan, which uses cash bonuses to attract better teachers and gives each school millions of dollars to improve.
The plan has drawn ire from representatives of the local teachers union who have said that by restaffing the schools, the system is unfairly blaming teachers for the failures.
Let me get this straight. Teachers are important people and good teachers can have a profound impact on students. Why is the union so unwilling to recognize that bad teachers can indeed be part of the cause of a failing school? Getting good teachers in the door won't fix every problem, but it certainly won't hurt, and I believe the union's insistence that teacher quality has nothing to do with school quality is bizarre, not to mention self-defeating.
The students, on the other hand, get it:
"I'm excited about it, because I'm concerned about my future," Mobile County Training School student Lashandria Hill says of the transformation plan during the longer public service announcement.
"We're ready to be better," says Mae Eanes Middle School student Rebecca Harris.
"We're all equal, and we all deserve an education," adds Mae Eanes Middle School student Marquita Peters
Posted by kswygert at June 16, 2004 10:26 AM