Teachers are not happy with “No Child Left Behind”

Teachers are upset about not having a contract to begin school year again.

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama each propose for U.S. education. McCain believes that many schools are failing and (NCLB) helps to illustrate the problem. Obama believes that public education was broken before NCLB –and that NCLB was intended to fix the problem, but was poorly conceived, never properly funded, and was poorly implemented . As the election nears, campaigns come forward with a plan for educational change…

And I had a chance to talk with the president of National City Elementary Teachers Association (NCETA) Linda Cartwright about educational processes, NCLB and more for Turkish Journal…

Could you tell us about you and your experience as a teacher with National School District please?

I have been a teacher in that district for about 25 years. This is also my 5th year as the president of National City Elementary Teachers Association (NCETA), our teachers’ union. I started getting more involved in the union because I saw things changing for the worse. Teachers were getting harassed and intimidated if they didn’t follow the administrators’ directions without question. And of course, if teachers have to go to work in a hostile work environment this is going to affect the type of job they do in teaching children. Even though I personally was not having problems, I saw other colleagues who were. And since I have always felt that a person should not turn a blind eye to those that are suffering, I became involved in the union to help other teachers and ultimately the children of National City.

How was it when you first started?

When I first started teaching it was a joy to go to work. Teachers were given academic freedom to use their expertise for the good of the children. In addition to the academic subjects; music, art, science, P.E. and holiday celebrations were allowed. Unfortunately, all that changed in our district when the NCLB federal legislation passed.

Why?

Our district was only concerned about test scores and since the tests were originally just given for language arts and math, that’s all we were told we should teach. If you taught other things, your could be called on the carpet unless you had a principal that was brave enough to stand up to the superintendent.

What about principal?

Unfortunately, the principal I’ve had for the last 7 years goes with the superintendent’s “party line”, as do most of the other current principals in our district. So teachers who do not teach using the cookie cutter approach of teaching everything exactly how the district dictates are often in trouble. I have seen good teachers with many years of successful teaching behind them, all of sudden get bad evaluations for not doing everything just like everybody else.

Could it be a reason?

Of course, that’s not the reason given. They tell these teachers that they’re not good teachers anymore. Some are even but on “helping plans” so they can change to teach as the districts wants them to. You see the district must make a paper trail to document why these teachers ultimately should be fired. The harassment to get rid of a teacher the district has targeted often lasts quite a few years trying to get the teacher to retire early. Because you see not only are these teachers outspoken but also more expensive than beginning teachers. Oh yes, many of the district’s decisions come down to money even though they always say their decisions are always based on, “What’s best for kids”. Ha, ha, ha. That’s a joke and one of their biggest lies.

Could you give us an example?

One of the most recent examples of a decision made concerning money which disrespects teachers has to do with our negotiation process. We have been working on trying to develop a new contract for 17 months now. At our last meeting, we had to declare impasse because even though the district wanted to meet with us one last time, they offered us nothing new in their proposal that day.

“Actions speak louder than words”

Why then did they waste your time? 

Because they don’t value our time or respect us as professionals. The problem is that even though the district received over 4.5% in money from the state this year, they only want to offer the teachers a 2% salary increase. This is for the teachers that have met what the state demands in test scores at every school even though few districts have done as well. We have no program improvement schools in our district again due to the hard work of our dedicated teachers. And even though the district says they appreciate how great a job the teachers have done to make them look good, I say actions speak louder than words. Each year the district has spent less of a percentage of its budget on its great teachers.

Did something change this year?

No, this year, they want to do the same. And as they have done with individual teachers, they are now doing with teachers as a whole. They have threatened us by saying that now we will have pay for our own health benefits. For the month of June, I will pay about $600 whereas I usually only pay $125. Of course since you don’t get rich teaching and many teachers live from paycheck to paycheck, this is financial hardship for many. The district counts on this though so they can try to get us to settle for the 2% offer. They don’t care about hurting teachers that they supposedly value. Well, many teachers are fed up with these kinds of threats so they have instructed the bargaining team to hold firm with our proposal of a 3% raise. The district always cries poor but spends millions on buildings and technology. We feel with the rising cost of living in Southern California, that the teachers deserve a decent raise.

You met with the mediator to start the impasse process yesterday, how was it? 

It didn’t go too well. Because we did not make any process. District basically were going to change their mind about anything, they were going to show that they do really appreciate teachers by giving them a salary increase and they have originally offered we even presented them with the charge of other district San Diego County. It is always their excuse to loosing their students. So they don’t have money, but even in those districts county average ways, they don’t want to make any movement.

Next step?

We haven’t made another meeting for letting teacher knows what is going on. We are trying to talk with the board members because they are charge for the district and we can get them to understand why we feel that there is enough money for teachers. In this point there is no new meetings.

What could be the solution?

Teachers are upset about not having a contract to begin school year again. This year is going to be the same thing. The solution will be to get rid of NCLB for academic freedom.

Linda Cartwright was born in 1952, San Diego. She went to school here through college. She went to San Diego State University (SDSU) to get a BA in psychology. After graduation, she went to work at various businesses then she went back to school to get her teaching credential at SDSU in two years time. She started teaching as substitute teacher for one and a half years. Then she got her first contract teaching 1,2,3 grade. Her next assignment was to teach first and second grades for about ten years. After her son (Jack) was born, she started teaching fifth, sixth grade. She is being teaching those grades for fourteen years. She has been a teacher in National School District district for about 25 years. This is also her 5th year as the president of National City Elementary Teachers Association (NCETA)