It’s for the children – Tacoma teacher strike hits day seven

Is this strike about quality school text books, student supplies or a quality curriculum?  Nope, it’s supposedly a little about teacher pay and class size, but mostly about tenured teachers and their ability to transfer to schools they want to teach at.

From the Associated Press via Breitbart, with a hat tip to Big Government.

The two sides have been disputing issues including pay and class size, but the major sticking point is how the district handles teacher transfers. The district wants to consider some factors in addition to seniority.

The Tacoma Education Association, the union for 1,900 teachers, is defying a court order for them to return to work.

Court order? Who cares … we’re standing up for our rights.

For those of you who think there is a correlation between class size and test scores, show me the proof.

Update: Michelle Malkin has thoughts, including a full collection of links to other sites and information about the Tacoma strike.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

7 Comments

  1. JBS on September 21, 2011 at 7:42 pm

    The Tacoma Education Association, the UNION, is what this is all about. The UNION has decided to prove a point. Flex its muscles, so to speak. Namely, that any teacher who has the seniority can transfer to any school within the Tacoma system whenever they want. On the surface it sounds O.K. But, isn’t that all covered in the TEA’s contract with the Tacoma Board? It should be.
    But, what the teachers’ UNION is NOT saying is, WHY do these teachers need to transfer, more than the contract allows, around from school to school? Hmmmmm . . . Usually teachers only transfer from one school to another due to a position opening up due to a resignation, retirement, lay-off, or new position. The UNION posts these openings. Teachers also transfer to take new positions (for them) such as department head or an administrative job. Hmmmmm . . . Not all is right in Tacoma.
    So, why fabricate a strike, defy a court order, jeopardize the education of thousands of children, all on such flimsy grounds? For the children? HA! Don’t think for a minute that transfers, or text books and class size, is the real reason.?
    Something else is…



  2. Plainvillian on September 21, 2011 at 8:23 pm

    The proof for which you ask is in the vast improvement in American education since the Department of Education was established, concomitant with the rise of teacher’s unions.



  3. ricbee on September 21, 2011 at 11:12 pm

    ?I hope that all the teachers will be fired & made ineligible for rehire. There’s enough unemployed business people that will step in to help out at a lot less than the teachers are getting,I’m betting.



  4. Eric on September 22, 2011 at 5:16 am

    Years ago I remember having a lot of respect for teachers, as a whole. ?That respect is gone now. ?The majority of these people behave like a bunch of whores, showing their disrespect for the rule of law, and showing us all what really makes them tick… it’s all about the money! What a wonderful example they set for our kids! ?If I never hear another fat-cat politician tell me how dedicated these people are and how much they “sacrifice” for the children, it’ll be too soon! ?Their “sacrifice” isn’t worth the money we’re spending. ?All you have to do is compare our system of education to that of one of the Asian countries and you’ll see what real teaching can accomplish. ?So much for unions… again!



  5. NH-Jim on September 22, 2011 at 10:16 am

    Harken back to Reagan.? The unions stand in the way.
    Fire them all and bring in new ones.? That’ll TEACH ’em!



  6. Dimsdale on September 22, 2011 at 10:23 am

    Sing with me now:? “Look for the union fable….”!!!



  7. Dimsdale on September 23, 2011 at 8:13 am

    Isn’t Washington state one of those liberal “utopias”??
    ?
    Why would a union be having any issues at all?



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