Aliyya Swaby Photo
Criscuolo, Hopes-McFadden at teach-in: “Not raising widgets.”
New Haven schoolteachers concerned about “corporatization” want to be more included this time when their union leaders negotiate a new contract — so they started by organizing each other.
That process started Thursday afternoon, when more than a dozen teachers showed up to a teach-in at their union hall on Chapel Street in Fair Haven.
They discussed the basics of the negotiation process and shared thoughts on how they want the contract to look different next time around. The current contract expires June 30, 2017; negotiations are about to begin.
For the first time in years, teachers will be negotiating with a new political administration in place, which has been heavily involved in district affairs. After she was elected Board of Education President, Mayor Toni Harp began working to implement a 10-point plan to boost literacy, address trauma and increase standardized test scores, with the help of city Youth Services Director Jason Bartlett, her liaison to the board.
The current contract built on a landmark 2009 agreement between the union and district that allowed for teachers to be graded in part based on test scores and for low-performing schools to be overhauled as “turnaround” schools.
The most recent version of the contract, which took effect in 2013, attached stipends and leadership opportunities to high teacher evaluation scores, using a $53 million federal Teacher Incentive Fund grant.
Engineering and Science University Magnet School teacher Eric Maroney called the 2013 contract negotiation “un-transparent” because members were not allowed to know the details of the proposed deal until the day before they were supposed to vote on it.
He called it important to “engage a larger group of union members” to send back to their schools as ambassadors for their peers this time around. Maroney said teachers are warier now that they have seen two reform contracts negotiated, in 2009 and 2013. Teachers have given up a lot in those contracts, he said.
“We need to get our negotiation team in a position where they have the chance to come away with a better contract,” he said.
“Close To Vest”
Burns.
Teachers union President Dave Cicarella told the Independent that the process has intentionally not been transparent, to avoid giving away secrets in the media. Each team negotiates with a “wish list” of about 50 proposals and then pares them down, he said.
“We ask for a lot of stuff and hang on stuff that’s really important. You keep close to the vest what’s really important,” he said. “I’m going to do that, because it’s good negotiating.”
Any teacher can join the contract working group that advises the diverse team of 13 teachers that actually participates in the negotiation, he said. Working group meetings are open to everyone.
Cicarella said he doesn’t fear worry negotiations will be more difficult with the Harp administration.
“I don’t think the process should really be much different. We have a couple of different players. I’m cautious that things should go pretty well,” he said.
Cicarella was not at Thursday’s teachers meeting.
New Haven Federation of Teachers Vice-President Tom Burns, the union’s lead negotiator, did show up. He explained the timeline of the process to teachers. Negotiations officially start Aug. 3, though a deal can technically be made before that if teachers agree they would like to vote earlier, he said.
The bulk of the negotiation happens during the summer. If the parties cannot come to a decision before Sept. 22, they must go into arbitration, by state law, which happened during the 2013 negotiations.
“Not Trying To Raise Widgets
Blatteau.
The teach-in was spearheaded by leaders of a group called the New Haven Educators’ Collective, which organizes against what members perceive as the increased corporatization of public education in New Haven.
Maroney urged teachers at the meeting to “be more public” about their concerns, to drum up support and put pressure on district leaders before the negotiations.
Teachers offered suggestions for an ideal contract. Metropolitan Business Academy teacher Leslie Blatteau called for smaller class sizes, below the maximum 27:1 student teacher ratio for grades 3 – 12 allowed in the current contract.
“Twenty-seven is too many,” she said. “Twenty to 25 would be a better experience” for teachers and students.
Maroney suggested the contract include an ideal ratio as well as a maximum cap.
Blatteau and Metro teacher Nataliya Braginsky said they would like paid leave to be part of the upcoming contract. Braginsky specified paid parental leave; Blatteau said she is nervous district officials plan to “hack away at the 15 sick days” teachers are allowed yearly.
District officials sent out a letter this winter notifying teachers they had developed a new system to more closely track teacher attendance. In response many teachers said they feel attacked for taking allotted sick days off.
ESUMS teacher Toni Criscuolo said the upcoming contract needs better insurance coverage for newer teachers on par with veteran teachers, or “we’re going to lose them.”
Others mentioned getting more time to prepare for lessons, additional support for students undergoing trauma, tuition reimbursements for higher education, and curriculum materials provided for languages other than English.
They examined contracts from Chicago and Seattle public school districts as models for proposals to consider. Chicago’s contract requires administrators to provide interpreters for teachers to converse with parents who don’t speak English. And it requires the Board of Education to pay a teacher leader who exceeds 80 hours of work in any payroll period at an hourly rate.
Seattle’s contract requires yearly meetings with staff of color to discuss how to make the school system diverse, as part of its affirmative action program. It also has a clause promising teachers “unrestricted” free speech.
“I feel the wall up against my back,” said Criscuolo, who has been a teacher for 22 years. “What else are you going to give back?”
With the new reforms, officials have attempted to “quantify” student and teacher achievement, with changes to the teacher evaluation system and the emphasis on Common Core-aligned state test results, added Kirsten Hopes-McFadden, an ESUMS teacher. Her mother was a New Haven public school teacher, and Hopes-McFadden has taught in New Haven since 1997. When her mother was a teacher, she said, “administrators and teachers got along,” and teachers were more valued, she said.
She said a “climate of fear” hangs over the upcoming negotiation, leaving teachers stressed about tense relationships with administrators and district officials.
“We’re not trying to raise widgets. We’re trying to raise human beings,” she said.
The group will meet to continue the discussion in about a month.
Teachers work 180 days a year and they are worried that someone will "hack" into their 15 sick days?
Most people work 250 days a year, which would mean, at the same rate, they'd get a full month of work off because of "not feeling well."
This group of folks does itself no favors when it comes to public relations. The most vocal teachers always seem to be far more concerned about themselves than the students. And that continues the generational harm that they inflict on the community.