Isn’t this exactly what the school board said should not happen? Isn’t that why they reinstated money to the budget last year?

My child’s SDC started the year with 12 students–unprecedented for this program in past years but within advisable limits.

Then, there were 13, then 14, then 15…

The classroom, which has diverse disability needs including some children with behavioral support needs and on the autism spectrum has only a handful of students less than the General Ed classrooms and it is supposed to teach to 3 grade levels.

These are students who can come close to grade level work with a carefully constructed setting, a small enough grouping and specialized support.

Our community has our work cut out in reversing these trends.

Unfortunately, PEC is going to have a hard time finding qualified teachers at this time of year. Other districts advertise in the early spring for the following year. They also pay higher salaries than here to their teachers.

If you want to make noise, let’s talk special education teacher attrition and the difficulty of finding qualified people to fill vacancies in PEC.

Glad to hear that your son’s classroom is staffed, SpedMom–to my knowledge, there are still a few that aren’t.

Get over it. This is not a function of the teachers union, no matter how much you want to blame this on teachers and or unions.

The union does not have the kind of power you ascribe to it. Look to the administration for not adequately preparing for credentialed personal and to the law.

Ditto public unions.

Of course the employers are free to seek other workers.

It’s all good.

And as far as working within a legal system goes… When you’re not King, you can’t dictate…

It’s difficult I know to have to work with others, but there it is.

I believe *public* unions should be banned.

Nobody can force me to purchase a product that contains the union label.

Public unions work to force me to pay higher taxes to support their contracts.

That’s a big difference.

#14′s sad story is a consequence of the schools having been politicized by the special interests about 175 years ago.

Other legacies of that era include the teachers union and that monstrosity known as the “education code”.

This blog seems to be dominated by those who believe that opinions issued by socialist judges are incontrovertible and conclusive.

The Williams Case, which prevents substitutes from filling positions is the most important civil rights case in education since Brown vs Board of Education. I suggest you do some reading. It had nothing to do with teachers unions; it was filed by the ACLU on behalf of a student.

Please do your research before you post inaccurate rants. Now we know that you are just another teacher and union hater, and will turn any topic into being about your hate. This blog was about special education students in Oakland who are not receiving the education they are entitled to.

Please take your bile somewhere else.

Of course the union will not be fully satisfied until it can fill that position with a *member*. It can tolerate filling the position with a non-member who holds a credential since such a candidate would not put downward pressure on wages; union penetration is still large enough that credentialing means OUSD will *always* have little choice but to hire union teachers in its traditional schools.

There’s the monopoly.

It’s really disgusting how the union will NOT tolerate #14′s (or anyone else’s) kid having lengthy continuity without that candidate possessing a “credential”. It is a mystery to me why so many parents continue to support teacher credentialing.

For that matter I don’t understand why they support all the other forms of protectionism for the teachers union, such as:

#1) The 180 day, six+ hour per day school “year”
#2) mandated curricula
#3) compulsory attendance
#4) civil service (“merit”) employment laws
#5) collective bargaining for public unions

etc and so forth, all of which serve no purpose except to:

artifically *spike* demand
restrict supply
make it next to *impossible* to fire someone
keep wages at above-market levels