-By Larry Sand
Does a recent court ruling in Los Angeles really signal the beginning of the end of an unjust teacher seniority system? Or does the decision amount to nothing more than a zero-sum game, favoring some at the expense of others?
A recent “landmark decision” in Los Angeles is said to have made inroads into the way staffing decisions are made in the city’s massive school district. In fact, some say the decision will have national ramifications. But are these claims valid?
When teachers lose their jobs due to layoffs, the state education code says that they must be done by seniority. Hence the last hired is the first fired. Typically, the lowest performing schools are the most impacted because they invariably have a much greater percentage of new hires.
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Tempest in a Seniority Teapot?”
In the race for the Chicago Mayor’s office we have seen quite a lot of evidence that Chicago’s union bosses are not big Rahm Emanuelites. This week we got another hint in that direction as several more unions came out in support of Emanuel’s most serious opponent, Gery Chico.
Now this is more like it. Back in October of 2010 the Summer County, Tennessee School Board decertified the Sumner County Education Association (SCEA), the union for county teachers, because it no longer satisfied the law by counting as members fifty percent plus one of the total number of employees requiring a teaching certificate. This, school board officials said, means that the SCEA can no longer engage in collective bargaining for teachers.
Without question we are living through the worst economic times in generations and Barack Obama’s policies aren’t helping alleviate the pain. Pain is, indeed, the watchword, too. Nearly everyone knows someone that has lost his job. Nearly everyone has lost money for their retirement. Everyone is feeling the pain. And no one is very sanguine that it’s getting any better. Well, no one but unionized university professors in California, anyway. They are so sure that things are better than ever that they expect constantly growing pay and even richer benefits to be borne on the backs of the taxpayers.
It isn’t just national issues that the Old Media misreports. As we focus on the “big” stories of the day, we often overlook the local scene and the left-wing excuse for “reporting,” therefrom. This is a perfect example of that.
What was it that our apologizer in chief and his minions have told us? Wasn’t it that we all have to sacrifice because the U.S. is less than she used to be? Well American Federation of Teachers union chief, Rhonda “Randi” Weingarten, says phooey on that. Sacrifice if for the unwashed masses, not her.
In this era of severe budget cuts, layoffs, and job loss, people in the real world are making due with less. Businesses are cutting back and people are hurting everywhere in this era of Obama. Local governments are also starting to find this economic climate challenging. But even as local budgets are taking hits, unions seem to think it’s still the same flush economy they’ve been taking advantage of for decades.
Oh, it was a thing to be celebrated when 
In Mississippi, Nettleton Middle School is finally doing away with its policy of 
Now, this story is a bit confusing (he says tongue in cheek). We have our friend Mr. Jim Callaghan who works — or used to work, anyway — for the United Federation of Teachers, America’s biggest teachers union. Yet, this happy union organizer was fired by the UFT this week. Why was he fired?