[ Home ] [ September, 2000 ] [ November, 2000 ] [ February, 2001 ] [ April, 2001 ] [ June, 2001 ] [ December, 2001 ] [ May, 2002 ] [ June, 2002 ] [ October, 2002 ] [ November, 2002 ] [ December, 2002 ] [ February, 2003 ] [ June, 2003 ] [ May, 2003 ] [ September, 2003 ] [ January, 2004 ] [ February, 2004 ] [ March, 2004 ] [ April, 2004 ] [ May-June 2004 ] [ September, 2004 ] [ October, 2004 ] [ November, 2004 ] [ January, 2005 ] [ February, 2005 ] [ March-April, 2005 ] [ May-June, 2005 ] [ September, 2005 ] [ March, 2006 ] [ June, 2006 ] [ October, 2006 ] [ November, 2006 ] [ January, 2007 ] [ March, 2007 ]

ROEA REPORTER

Contract Feature

VACANCIES AND TRANSFERS

One of the most important and beneficial changes in the new contract is the language about vacancies and our rights to apply for those vacancies and attain them. For years we have experienced difficulties in getting the District to post vacancies. The posting wars may finally be over thanks to the combination of the favorable arbitration decision in the Kitty Stone grievance and new contract language.

The old contract language obligated the District to post positions that were newly created or that the District declared open. The intent of this language was that when a job was vacated, it would be posted. The District intentionally misinterpreted the language to our disadvantage, claiming that regardless of the origins of the open position, the position literally had to be declared open by them in order for them to have to post it. (This always conjured for me the image of an administrator in medieval court regalia, trumpet and scrolled document in hand, proclaiming throughout the kingdom of Royal Oak that a position is now open.) In Kitty's arbitration case, the arbitrator commented on the District's practice of not declaring a position open noting that after a teacher transferred out of Dondero, "One would expect that such a personnel move would result in an 'open' position." The arbitrator prefaced that by saying, "like all management rights, that discretion (to post a position) may not be exercised in an arbitrary manner." As a result, the concept of 'reasonable' becomes very important to us. It is a standard for the ROEA to apply to administrative actions in other areas of the contract.

Nevertheless, the new posting language is more specific. In Article IX, Section D.1, the contract now states that a vacancy is created whenever there is a newly created position; a retirement, resignation, or termination of a teacher; or an approved leave of absence or a long term disability. All of these conditions cause a position to be posted automatically and all bargaining unit members have potential access to positions for which they are qualified. Section D.3 of the same article states that if the superintendent judges that qualifications of applicants are equal, then district seniority prevails. It is important to keep in mind the reasonable standard established in the arbitration case. It applies here as well. The superintendent cannot arbitrarily declare the qualifications of teachers to be unequal in order to avoid a seniority based selection for an available position. The superintendent's judgment must be reasonable.

The other claim that Administration has made in the past is that they can keep a teacher in any position at their behest. There is no contract language to back up this claim. The Administration cannot preclude a member from a contractual right. In this case it was the right to apply for a job and reasonably expect to attain that job. When this claim was made, it was a ruse by the administration to avoid their obligation to allow teachers access to new positions.

The new language in concert with the standards established in the Stone case gives us reason to expect an increase in a teacher's ability to voluntarily move to a newly vacated position. However, we need to be vigilant. When a new position opens that you are aware of, please let the ROEA know via your building AR. Although we receive postings at the union office, they are sometimes late. Additionally, if you are resigning or retiring, please let us know. This will help to insure that a fellow union member has fair access to your job.

Things are looking up in terms of our ability to have access to new positions and new professional challenges. This will translate into higher teacher morale and a better working environment. That translates into a better learning environment as well.

Schools, Baseball, and the No Child Left Behind Act

Sid wrote this editorial which was published in the Oakland Press in response to Hickory Grove Elementary School's status as a failing school. 

Editor Neil Monroe is off base in concluding that the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (misleadingly named the "No Child Left Behind" Act) should be greeted with excitement by educators. (Schools should be excited about No Child Left Behind Law, 1/26/04.) NCLB has been greeted with worry and upset by most educators. And rightly so as the goals of NCLB, which in Michigan is 100% of students attaining proficiency on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program, are not only a statistical improbability; they are a human impossibility. When the impossible is not achieved, our schools will then be irreparably harmed by the punitive consequences of NCLB.

Look in any direction and failure abounds. At one end of the spectrum of eventual failure is the plight of Hickory Grove Elementary School in Bloomfield Hills which was recently described in the Oakland Press. Hickory Grove has done well over the years. Its students have routinely scored high on the MEAP. What then is Hickory Grove's NCLB problem? Under NCLB schools must show continual improvement. Hickory Grove*s scores vacillate slightly. Never mind that even when the scores are at the low end of the vacillation wave they are still far above the majority of elementary schools in the state. The fact that a continual upward spiral in scores cannot be produced makes Hickory Grove an NCLB failure.

Under NCLB standards baseball greats Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds would be considered failing baseball players. In the year following their home run records (60 home runs for Ruth, 70 for McGwire, and 73 for Bonds) they suffered a decline in performance. Ruth followed with 54 home runs; McGwire hit 65 and Bonds hit 46 home runs. Even though Ruth still led all players (doubling the home run total of Lou Gehrig, his closest rival) as did McGwire, they are nevertheless NCLB failures based on their declining number of home runs. Bonds* decline was precipitous as he hit only 46 home runs. He did lead all of baseball with a .370 batting average and garnered his fifth most valuable player award, but we are talking NCLB standards here: Bonds fails.

At the other end of the spectrum of eventual failure are our underfunded schools. In these schools the per pupil state foundation allowance is low. Pontiac, for example, receives $6,884 per pupil compared to $11,995 per pupil in Bloomfield Hills. Underfunded districts tend to score low on standardized tests. Indeed, Pontiac has failing schools. In between the Bloomfield Hills*s and the Pontiacs are the rest of us, biding our time until we eventually fail as well. The only question is how. Will our scores increase for a few years, reaching a level of achievement that in effect creates a barrier to NCLB defined success? Will 5% of our students not show on test day-automatically failing the entire school? Will a legally defined subgroup of students (students who aren*t native English speakers, for example) fail the MEAP and despite stellar test performances from every other student cause the school to be labeled a failure? Waiting for certain failure is not an exciting part of teaching or learning.

Mr. Monroe correctly notes the continuing historical disparities between the educational haves and have nots. Perhaps the kernel of hope unintentionally embedded in NCLB is that in it's zeal for failure it treats everyone equally. Blacks and Whites, rich and poor will all ultimately fail. Maybe that will lead us to identify our common interest in taking back our public schools from the test makers and privateers and their political allies.

ROEA Web Site - ROEA.com

Our web site is a convenient tool for sharing news about ROEA activities. When you visit ROEA.com you'll find previous issues of the Reporter and minutes from Representative Assembly meetings, General Membership meetings, Joint Committee meetings and Curriculum Subcommittee meetings. New teachers have their own page where they'll find tips from the MEA. Elementary, middle school, high school and special education teachers will find teaching tips geared to students at their level. If you're not sure about the district calendar or need to know just how much you paid in dues last year, you'll find the answers on the web site.

Classified ads that are distributed in the Reporter are available everyday on ROEA.com. If you'd like to connect to another Oakland County school district or Education Association check the "Links" page. You'll find links to web sites for the credit union, MESSA, Michigan Voter Information, VSP Vision Insurance, the City of Royal Oak, and many more. Pledge forms and application forms for ROEA scholarships can be printed out from the ROEA Scholarships page.

We hope you'll visit ROEA.com, find it interesting and useful and let us know how we can make our web site even better. Email Cadine Nicholson (retired ROEA member) at Cadinen@aol.com to share your ideas.

CLASSIFIED

All of the people who advertise in the REPORTER are connected to the ROEA. They are either members of the union, spouses of members, or retired teachers. You can expect a high quality of service and commitment to the needs of fellow union members as a result. Classified ads are also posted on our web site, ROEA.com!