The article in Portland Press Herald this Saturday drew my attention to my work with Maine Enterprise Schools...just now getting a chance to reply to comments on last weeks. 3-part "What will Paul LePage's win mean for school reform in Maine?"
Will try to tackle Nancy's comment today (in italics below), the comments of Mr. Shaw tomorrow, and some superb questions from Portland legislator Steve Lovejoy on Thursday.
Not being part of any organization now, but formerly employed by MEA, I would strongly urge a different model than a single face-to-face summit. Maine is a large state (by eastern standards) and too many people who care about issues are left out of discussions because of travel concerns (weather, time, etc). A virtual summit that could be kept active and moderated for a relatively long period of time would be either a valuable (1) alternative or (2) addition.
Yes, a more inclusive, rigorously representative summit would be preferable. And yes, a virtual summit could be part of such an effort. My questions are: who would convene and facilitate such a summit? How long would it take to organize and complete? Is it likely to lead us to some sort of concerted action?
My recommendation for swift action is based on a few things: an estimated short window for potentially far-reaching, truly bi-partisan legislation, a conviction that the building blocks we need are out there, and that now we need to put ideas into action...so that Maine's young people begin, as soon as possible, to benefit. Will more conversation - especially with every interest group in the state taking their pound of flesh - produce better legislation? Or will it, as in every wave of reform to have come to Maine so far, be compromised to a near-crippling degree before ever getting a chance to work?
Too, there needs to be a broad understanding of the current intersection of Maine education statutes and labor law. The whole idea of "educational policy" being controlled by school boards/committees (and their law firms) without a truly realistic avenue for teacher/educator input and influence creates a stalemate that should not exist.
I could not agree more with this comment. But I hope that those of us, like the writer and myself, who have been members of teachers unions, are willing to wrestle with the extent that labor law currently does, or does not, contribute to effective learning. Quite simply, if unions try to hang on to outmoded contracts without putting real performance in the table, the same thing that will happen to every other union that tried to hold on for dear life will. The old-timers keep the jobs that exist while the industry loses job after job to a more innovative model. The young people - who might someday have been union members - have gone out and done what they had to do, seeing the unions as an obstacle not an ally.
What matters is what happens for kids - labor laws, contracts, etc. all CAN and should encourage the best results. But they do not now.
As for a a "truly realistic avenue for teacher/educator input and influence," the school governance model Maine Enterprise Schools' proposes ensures that key autonomies with the school-based decision makers - who are accountable to the state and local authorities for results, but are not "controlled" in the way this comment might imply. Not only that, but our model collective bargaining agreement puts the "professional learning community" model at the center - the educational professionals in our buildings make key decisions (within certain best-practive frameworks that apply to all of our schools). That includes teachers having a much more meaningful role in their own professional growth, a defined role in the professional growth of their colleagues - and, after a rigorous and fair process, the responsibility of re-hiring only those teachers who prove themselves, over time, able to produce consistently excellent outcomes for all of our students.
Thanks for acknowledging the comments and then responding.
ReplyDeleteThe virtual conference: there are lots of Maine-based education organizations (not MEA) who use online conference mechanisms regularly. Ask some of them what works, what doesn't and what they would suggest.
For an example, see the K12 Online Conference [http://k12onlineconference.org/] which has had involved Maine educators for years. Check in with ACTEM and MLTI folks (Crystal Priest, Richard Byrne, Bob Sprankle, Sharon Betts and many others). You could use a Twitter hashtag (like #edchat does) to have smaller, time-limited conversations. There's lots of options, but virtual is necessary in this day-and-age for many reasons.
As to the educational policy issue: it's more complicated than you probably want to know about, but that's the problem. Under Maine law (26 MRSA 965), teachers and their employers are NOT permitted to negotiate matters of educational policy (defined by court cases since 1969 as textbook selection, class size, transfers, planning periods, lunch breaks, curriculum, and more). The alternate legal avenue for input is for the parties to "meet and consult" but that's time-consuming, confusing, not binding on the parties and, all-in-all, an unsatisfactory process.
The law would have to change for your long-term proposal to work. I don't see that happening any time soon.