Comments on: Off again: Contract talks with Oakland teachers

By: localed

localed — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:51:16 +0000

a comment on RBB and consultant expenditures: principals and site leaders have discretion on how to best spend their allocated budget. a good site leader will involve all stakeholders in site budget expenditures. with any luck, parents and teachers participate in these leadership decisions. yes, OUSD pays consultants, and in many cases, some schools need specific resources that aren’t available from current staffing, or area of expertise. i think the tired complaint that OUSD spends too much on consultants is a sign the community isn’t involved in the process.

By: J.R.

J.R. — Thu, 27 May 2010 22:15:14 +0000

Lets get this straight,
The teachers don’t want the district to impose a contract on them, but they want to impose teachers who principals do not want, on those same principals. Can it be any more ironic than that.

By: J.R.

J.R. — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:56:01 +0000

Where is the money going? Do we want “status quo” or “real” change? Time to wake up parents, and insist on the best education for your child. This system must be gutted and recreated.

http://www.thecartelmovie.com/

By: concerned parent

concerned parent — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:23:05 +0000

When looking at salaries for OUSD teachers, I and others still want to know about those “consultant contracts” that are so expensive. Are they really needed? Why hasn’t anyone addressed this in a accurate, bi-partisan way? A joint OUSD and OEA committee?

By the way, our Principal and Montera is horrible. We are just finding out the magnitude of the money he has send back to OUSD over the last 3 years he has been here. The teacher brave enough to file suit was turned down as “untimely” by OUSD. Many teachers are scared and have been harrassed. Nothing is done. I guess it will take more lawsuits. Meanwhile, good families and teachers leave OUSD. Check out his history at Lodi on the web–including Michelle Wilbourne’s experiences. Check out the large settlement Lodi paid out for CV034869–$250k. Why do we keep getting these lemons? What I wouldn’t give for a decent principal. Hire decent folks and save alot of money!

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:04:54 +0000

It sounds like an implosion so familair with OUSD is looming! I would not be suprised if many of the above aboves begin to leave.

Just a matter of time before the old way of education is reformed. The current state and cost of education and pensions is disastrous.

Good luck Mr. Smith……you’ll need it!

By: Ms. J.

Ms. J. — Thu, 27 May 2010 01:34:20 +0000

I appreciate the comments of each poster on this thread, and feel that I have learned while reading them. And I haven’t felt mad either! Hoorah. Complicated situation, with a lot of nuance.

By: Starshaped

Starshaped — Wed, 26 May 2010 21:23:16 +0000

1. In a way, Owen is right. If we want to be treated like professionals, we need to expect what every other professional must go through. On the other hand, O-Town is right, you automatically become less disirable if you cost more money because of Results Based Budgets set at the school level. If we are professionals, we should be hired based on our abilities, not the size of our salaries.

2. Cheuy is right as well. The district may be setting itself up for future law suits about discrimination.

3. OUSD Fun, experience doesn’t mean the best always, true. But the constant turnover of teachers who never make it past the 3rd year in Oakland isn’t doing wonders for the kids of Oakland either. It should be a balance of newer and older teachers. More experienced teachers have greater resources, class room management techniques, ect. While younger teachers come in with a lot of passion. This is great balance for school. I wish it was like this at every school. Sharing a principal can be tricky though. Your second point, I know my principal works hard everyday and comes in during the weekends to get her paperwork done. She knows the names of all the students. She makes sure that she runs a tight ship. I don’t think she’d last year running two schools.

4. Lara, I think that they are taking the summer off because it their vacation time. I know it’d be easier to have them suck it up and work the overtime without pay would be a lot nicer for those of us who aren’t on the bargaining team, it wouldn’t be a great summer for them. I know for a fact that several of the bargining team members are going to the big RA in New Orleans this summer, that’s another reason. Also, district people can take their vacation days whenever and are paid all summer long as opposed to the teacher volunteers who have the 10 weeks in the summer without pay.

By: Lara

Lara — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:51:38 +0000

Why won’t the union bargain during the summer? It seems like it would be nice to get it over while we have a little less on our plates!

By: TheTruthHurts

TheTruthHurts — Wed, 26 May 2010 04:22:55 +0000

Maybe by fall the Governor will find more money for the educrats to kick the can down the road and let OUSD give a “real” pay raise. Then again, maybe Greece will pay off its debts and teachers will think it makes sense for principals to have choice in their staff. Not holding my breath.

Katy, I went an reread that bumping article. It doesn’t sound like OUSD is asking the same thing as back then. What changed and why?

By: ousd funemployed

ousd funemployed — Wed, 26 May 2010 02:54:49 +0000

Principals should be allowed to determine the appropriate balance of experienced teachers and inexperienced teachers for their sites. If they hire all cheap, inexperienced teachers, student performance will suffer (assuming you believe that expensive=good, which is a BIG assumption with teachers). If they hire all the best and most expensive teachers, they will run over budget. In either case, they would be fired. If they strike the right balance, do everything else right, and succeed, their school will improve and will see increased enrollment(and money) in the future.

And here is a really crazy idea. If a principal does an amazing job at a single school, why not allow him or her to manage a second school? (Perhaps with an extra VP to help with some of the administrative duties….) This seems to make MUCH more sense than having Nexos. To make this plan even better perhaps their second school could be located in a neighborhood with dwindling enrollment (like West Oakland). This would attract the best leaders (and probably some great teachers who will only work with great leaders) into the areas that need them most.

What we are doing is not working. That is why everyone (including the District staff) is fleeing. Why aren’t we being more innovative?