Friday, February 18, 2011

Former board member Mary P. has a thing or two to say...

To the Monona Grove School Board,
The group of people in this school district who have sat across the bargaining table from the MGEA is rather small, and I am one of them. Bargaining with the MGEA was, hands down, the most bizarre and surreal trip through the looking glass I have ever experienced. I could drone on about a myriad of frustrations, but all else aside, I could never understand their complete and utter failure to realize the MG school board was not only not their enemy, but we also lacked the statutory power to improve their wages and benefits. While we could partake in rearranging the deck chairs on our own little Titanic, purchasing additional life boats was not within our power. Simply put, they directed a whole lot of energy toward a group who was essentially powerless all the while engaging in job actions that did little but harm students, demoralize many of their own members and generate ill will among the public. At times my own children were targeted, so please understand what I say next comes within this context.
Things are different now. Finally, the members of the MGEA have directed their energy toward the group of people who hold all the power, and all I can say is that it’s about damn time. For this reason, I urge the MG board to be measured in your response to the recent job actions that shut down our schools. I do not have knowledge of the relevant contract language, and while docking pay of those who did not report is reasonable, I urge you to not take disciplinary actions. Quite frankly, I find the message to the community on the MG web page today to be unsupportive of what our teachers are doing. I would have hoped for a more neutral statement.
What is going on right now is bigger than this district. Isn't it amazing to be living through this extraordinary time in Wisconsin history? I have seen nothing like this since I was a child in the 60’s. What happens in the coming days will certainly have an impact on Wisconsin public education for years to come. We should be proud that our teachers are standing up for what is right, and our Senator Miller is one of the brave individuals standing in front of the bulldozers. On the flip side, I don’t see organized buses of school board members pouring into Madison, so let’s support the teachers who are turning out by the thousands. Further, this may not end this weekend. This will take as much time it takes, and public educations stands to lose too much to blink first – however long this takes. If this grows more difficult, I beg of you to hang in there.
Last, while I suppose it’s too much to ask for the board to pass a resolution supporting the teachers’ actions, there is nothing stopping individual board members from expressing a little old fashioned solidarity, explicitly, and in a very public manner. It may not make you popular among some folks, but so what? I’m guessing most of you have long quit worrying about that and besides, what’s the worst thing that could happen? Not getting re-elected? I’m gonna go out on a limb and make another guess that most of you wouldn’t see that as the end of the world.
Thanks for your service. I wish you all the best as you grapple with the challenges of the coming months.

Mary Possin
4509 Midmooor
Monona, WI 53716

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mary, your letter is quite eloquent. I appreciate your points. I struggle only because our teachers in Monona have squandered their good will by working the contract during most negotiating cycles. I deeply wish that MG teachers had realized long ago that the Monona and Cottage Grove communities were filled with people who supported them. They routinely turned their backs on us and tried to manipulate us by punishing our children. I did not and I will not vote for Scott Walker or any like-minded politicians, but I will also not walk alongside MG teachers. For me, the bridges were burned long ago.

Anonymous said...

Maybe you should stop watching FOX NEWS and try the ED show.

Local actions by the MGEA have been for MGEA members, these actions are for a much bigger caus, all members of the United States. Every modern textbook will need to update the portion of the book about civil rights and have WI be an addendum. Of course, after cutting 900 million for the education budget and turning back another 160 million or so in Title one to the Fed Govt, public education in WI will have over 1 BILLION in cuts for next year.
With this being know, I question if the District will get the new textooks any time soon.
Additionally, you can expect class size to go up by about 10 kids per class and MG does not have the space to accomodate the furnitiure in many cases.
Many specials and/or encore classes will be gone with the wind.
First, they came for the teachers. Then, they came for all public employees. Who is next on the food chain and where do you fit in?
For those parents not looking forward to a referendum, be prepared to pay for tuition, yes to the only schools that will be open in Wisconsin, the private ones. One does not just change the funding quantities without having a severe overhall of the way one needs to conduct business.

Anonymous said...

Mary Possin is Awesome, and right on many points, but I agree with the first poster. Completely.
Bridges Burned.

Mary P. said...

Come on people, this is so much bigger than us or our school district. To me, what we have struggled with in MG is trivial compared to the time we are living in, so that is why I choose to let it go. That is why I choose to stick my neck out by signing my name to this.

There can come a time when former foes need to put aside differences to fight together for something bigger, and that's my point. We can get back to our little MG dramas later, but for now there is much more at stake.

I'm not a lefty wing nut, but the more I find out, the more I realize this is a well-funded, well-organized attack on organized labor and the middle class. Check it out. Do a little investigating on your own. Why do you think, now that Marty Beil and Mary Bell have conceded the fiscal issues, Walker pushes on?

Labor/management relations are not perfect. They never will be. Sometimes management behaves very badly. Sometimes unions behave very badly. Not only have a I chased my tail with the MGEA, I am a UW academic staff member who is one of the group that AFT was trying to force into their union through "unit clarifcation." I was actually put into a situation where the likes of Glenn Grothman came to our rescue. Talk about needing a shower, ick. And you would need asbestos glasses to read the email I sent AFT about that. In fact, not too many months ago this nearly drove me to the dark side. Imagine my outrage at this naked power grab by AFT. But still, I had to come to the conclusion that a society with organized labor is much better for the middle class than a society without.

That's why solidarity is so important now. Even with people we don't always agree. Pick up a sign and join us downtown.

Anonymous said...

Mary P,

Monona's teachers have failed us, and they are failing us again. Why? Because these "job actions" and "working the contract" have WORKED FOR THEM! How has it worked for them? Raises, continued cadillac health care coverage, and fully paid pensions. So, they leave their classrooms and our kids continue to show dismally in standardized testing. In fact, the principal of MG opened his speech at the incoming-freshman orientation a few weeks ago by sharing that 70 MG kids enrolled at MATC last year. Of those 70 kids, 2/3 of them had to take remedial math before MATC would enroll them in an entry level class, and 1/3 of them had to take remedial english. Add that to the fact that we are the biggest feeder school into MATC and it is a SAD state of affairs. Why would we continue to endorse a process that rewards bad teachers? These union protections are making it easy for bad teachers to keep their jobs - and retire early with far higher pension balances than most private sector workers. The MG teachers have repeatedly looked like idiots as they petulantly made demands in the media throughout this past year by demanding a compensation package that taxpayers simply CAN'T afford. I'm with the other posters.

Anonymous said...

And paying them less would fix the situation how?

Anonymous said...

I agree! Paying them more hasn't helped a bit - student performance has gone down as their salaries have gone up. Obviously, it is time to re-work the system from the ground up. Walker's plan is a good start.

Anonymous said...

Walker's plan doesn't "rework" anything. It just cuts a million dollars out of public education without any plans for improvement. Its not a "plan" at all.

Anonymous said...

Mary, do you think MGEA might consider temporarily suspending the MG-specific job actions during this time of crisis? It would be a strong statement of solidarity with the community and commitment to educating the children, and it would reinforce the argument that the current job actions are not only about personal finances (e.g. paychecks). It wouldn't end the sick-outs, but it might get the letters of recommendation out more quickly and reignite some general involvement in after-school activities, among other things. Moving forward, it might also help mend the fences.

Anonymous said...

Mary, do you think MGEA might consider temporarily suspending the MG-specific job actions during this time of crisis? It would be a strong statement of solidarity with the community and commitment to educating the children, and it would reinforce the argument that the current job actions are not only about personal finances (e.g. paychecks). It wouldn't end the sick-outs, but it might get the letters of recommendation out more quickly and reignite some general involvement in after-school activities, among other things. Moving forward, it might also help mend the fences.

Anonymous said...

Peter, I keep trying to leave a comment but it's gone every time I come back. Are you deleting it or is there some kind of glitch?

Anonymous said...

Mary, would it be at all possible for MGEA to temporarily suspend the MG-specific job actions during this crisis? It would show solidarity with the community and communicate that the job actions are as much about education as they are about money.

Anonymous said...

All current MGEA job actions are things that
1) are not covered in the collective bargaining agreement.
2) require time outside the regular work day.

Looking at the future if this Bill becomes a law, stripping workers rights is only part of the issue.

Stopping current local action will not result in seeing more opportunities for the children or the teachers doing more free committee work for the District.

Many members are using their time to fight for democracy regularly. Labor laws across the country ar ein jeopardy! The deomcratic process is at jeopardy!

FUN FUN FUN

Anonymous said...

So teachers can continue job actions targeted at district administration and leadership, actions that deliberately harm students and alienate parents, and yet expect the same administrators, leaders and parents to turn around and support them in job actions targeted at Wisconsin lawmakers when the stakes get really high? Whether I am your enemy or your ally should not depend on the direction the wind blows.

Mary is a better person than I am.

Peter Sobol said...

I haven't deleted anything lately. Is anyone else having problems?

Jen said...

Mary,

I wanted to write to thank you for your letter. I feel like you captured the MG situation perfectly. I am one of the parents struggling with the MG-directed job actions. My kids are young, so the "working the contract" effects are subtle. It comes across more as indifference than anything else, but even indifference is damaging to a school culture and educational climate. I am also on the PTO board (although I am not writing on behalf of the board), and there has been little teacher participation--with a few notable exceptions that I won't draw attention to here--this year beyond requesting approval for allocations.

It all has been disheartening at best. I know it isn't required to attend a PTO meeting or hang up artwork on school bulletin boards, and I know that these are small things. The stakes at the high school are much greater. I just often find myself quite conflicted about many of the issues facing our district.

Understand that I support the protests and I wouldn't have voted for Scott Walker if he had been running against a donkey, a dog or a toaster. This isn't the kind of state I want to live in, and I certainly would never want to throw our education system into such crisis. However, I do often struggle to reconcile some of my feelings, and your letter--more than anything else I've read in the past week--helped me do that. The stakes are much greater and the issues much larger than our school district.

Thank you for offering me some perspective.

Best,

Jennifer Garrett

Mary P. said...

Yes, I hope the MGEA would set aside their personal agenda at the moment in favor of something much more important, much more fundamental. But they do not represent me. Only the school board does, so that's where I directed my opinion. What would be fantastic is if the board and the MGEA would issues a joint statement against the governor's proposal.

In fact, after listening carefully to Gov. Walker this weekend, I think our board is compelled take a position. Gov. Walker has said the union laws need to be changed in order to "give tools to local units of government." He is using our local units of government as his reason for not reaching a compromise. Thus, these local units of government are compelled to respond in either agreement or disagreement. We can discuss the intricacies and shades of gray in this issue endlessly, but at the end of the day, it's thumbs up or down on the bill, as it currently stands, before our legislature. Pretty sure it's obvious where I would like to see our board stand on this issue.

Anonymous said...

Mary, Mary, quite contrary. When will you ever learn?
:-)

As long as I have known you, you always expect people to act in the interest of the common good. That is not how it works. People put their own self interest first. I cannot believe you have not learned that yet. You are the eternal optimist. Don't ever stop the good fight.

Anonymous said...

To above anon, poor you! You live in a world of only self serving people and groups? No one (except Mary?) working for the common good? I am so sorry for you!

Anonymous said...

I say to Governor Walker, we don't want any more tools in our local government. We have always had plenty of tools in our local government. Too many, really.