Second of two parts
Re “Mielke Decries the Low Morale He Finds Among Teachers”
“If the School District could give us a raise,” said David Mielke, President of the Teachers Union, “that would be one way of showing appreciation for teachers who are demoralized.
“If they would work with us on class-size limits.
“Part of the problem is the whole cultural thing – all the emphasis on high-stakes testing.
“‘Are you keeping up?’
“‘You’re going to be judged by these test scores, you know.’
“It is hard to pinpoint all of the reasons teachers are demoralized. Maybe not all of them, but many are.
“What we need is a kind of upbeat, ‘isn’t this great that we are all in education?’ kind of an attitude.
“Then what I will say to the District is that that leads me into (contract) bargaining,” Mr. Mielke said. “We have met once, and we are going to meet again next week.
“I will tell them, ‘You need to give your teachers something.’
Mr. Mielke, the leader of the Teachers Union for two centuries – well, parts of – said that the bargaining atmosphere in the first year of Supt. Dave LaRose is a marked improvement over his past experiences.
“I almost fell out of my seat when the people on the other side of the table acknowledged ‘we need to do something about sub-standard compensation.’
“This is the first time that has happened.
“Out of the 47 districts in the county, whether you are a principal, assistant principal, a psychologist, a counselor, a teacher, your ranking is near the bottom, across the board.
“This was the first time I can remember the management team saying the same thing we did: We need to address sub-standard compensation.
“But saying it and doing it are two different things.
“We will see,” said Mr. Mielke.
“It’s kind of like the alcoholic who says ‘I have a drinking problem.’ For school district management to say they need to do something about compensation, if you are in a 12-Step meeting, that is Step 1.”
