\doc\web\99\01\mcteach.txt +OK 6473 octets Received: from mail.ior.com (qmailr@on-ramp.ior.com [199.79.239.12]) by mail1.halcyon.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id QAA25277 for ; Mon, 4 Jan 1999 16:58:33 -0800 (PST) Received: (qmail 21767 invoked from network); 5 Jan 1999 00:53:04 -0000 Received: from pm4-09.ior.com (HELO aoirex.ior.com) (204.212.119.73) by on-ramp.ior.com with SMTP; 5 Jan 1999 00:53:04 -0000 Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19990104165812.00848250@mail.ior.com> X-Sender: cjo@mail.ior.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.5 (32) Date: Mon, 04 Jan 1999 16:58:12 -0500 To: cjo@ior.com From: EducIntel@aol.com (by way of Cindy Omlin ) Subject: EIA Communique - 1/4/99 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by mail1.halcyon.com id QAA25277 Status: The Education Intelligence Agency COMMUNIQUÉ — January 4, 1999 + Back on August 3, EIA reported on the efforts of 3,500 health care workers in Rhode Island to form their own union. Their former union, the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals (an AFT affiliate) sought a temporary injunction to prevent the disaffiliation. The motion was denied, but RIFTHP did not give up. It filed unfair labor practice complaints against hospitals that recognized the new union, now named United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP). RIFTHP then sued its former organizer, John V. Callaci, who now works for UNAP, for fraud and breach of contract. "We trusted Jack and gave him a lot of responsibility," RIFTHP President Marcia Reback told the Providence Journal- Bulletin. "We paid him $90,000 a year to work as an organizer and as a negotiator — and he repaid us with acts of sabotage and conspiracy." UNAP says it will fight RIFTHP on all fronts. "We feel it's a last-ditch effort, it's really sour grapes by the teachers, who can't deal with the fact that we have become independent," said UNAP President Lynn Blais. + Rhode Island is not the only place where a breach-of-contract suit entered the world of public education. The Harlan School District in Iowa is suing a former teacher and the district that hired her as a principal. Sara Oswald had signed a one-year contract to teach French and Spanish at Harlan Community High School. Soon after, she accepted a position as a high school principal in the Eastern Allamakee School District. Harlan officials claim her resignation, only a few weeks before the start of the school year, made it impossible for them to find a replacement in time. Public education professionals began to take sides almost immediately. The Iowa State Education Association blamed the incident on low teacher salaries in the state. The Institute for Educational Leadership, an organization affiliated with the University of Northern Iowa, blamed the one-sidedness of teacher contracts. Districts have onerous procedures to follow to dismiss a teacher under contract, but are expected to let teachers go if they desire to leave. Until the suit is settled, the district is without a language teacher and Oswald is without a job. + While the voucher wars rage on, there are also skirmishes over the issue of public school choice. In Illinois, Joliet High School District 202 went to court to block an effort by parents to place their children in an adjacent district. The parents say they simply want their children to attend the same high school as their friends. "We've got an elementary school district that 99 percent in one high school district and 1 percent in another," said parent Becky Deutschman. "It's emotionally and physically traumatic to take these children out of the neighborhood based on boundaries set 50 years ago." Joliet officials say the parents' move is racially motivated. "This has been used exclusively by white parents to have their children sent from multicultural school districts to white school districts," said school attorney Tim Rathbun. + Reporter Larry Slonaker of the San Jose Mercury News deserves applause for delving "one yard below." In an article entitled "Schools find hidden costs of high tech," Slonaker revealed that the costs of popular school technology programs are coming out of the budgets for supplies, maintenance and personnel. Music and art specialists, along with librarians, have been especially hard hit. Many districts received computers and wiring through start-up grants or private donations, but didn't realize that annual maintenance and upgrade costs can run as much as 30 percent of acquisition costs. "We bought all this stuff, and extended ourselves all the way out on skinny branches," said Larry Aceves, superintendent of the Franklin- McKinley School District. + On October 20, EIA reported on missing ballots in an election for the California Teachers Association State Council. The last person to handle the ballots, former Banning Teachers Association President Sonia Schroeder, won by five votes. Now, after a protest and new election, Schroeder has been defeated by opponent Alta Kavanaugh by 65 votes. Kavanaugh will begin her three-year term this month. + Quote of the Week: "Coming out of college, why would I teach for $21,000 when I could go to McDonald's, make the same thing, have better insurance, not have homework to take home and grade, not have to worry about faculty meetings and not have to put up with all the harassment that sometimes comes with education?" — Mississippi Association of Educators President Michael Marks. Applying statistics from The Urban Institute, a full-time entry-level worker at McDonald's in Mississippi (with a spouse and child) earns $14,580 in a year, including earned income tax credits and the cash value of food stamps. For a 240 day work-year, that comes to $60.75 per workday. An entry-level teacher in Mississippi earns $113.51 per workday (87% higher), plus $27.47 per workday in benefits. Should new teachers in Mississippi get a raise? Probably. Should they earn a lot more than fast food employees? Absolutely. Should union presidents avoid hyperbole and gross exaggeration? Definitely. # # # The Education Intelligence Agency conducts public education research, analysis and investigations. Director: Mike Antonucci. Ph: 916-422-4373. Fax: 916-392-1482. E-Mail: EducIntel@aol.com