Assorted News Notes
File this under “There’s a Shocker.” The Burlington School District and the Burlington teachers union cannot agree on contract negotiations. Read the Free Press coverage here.
Burlington teachers and the district's School Board were unable to agree on terms for a new teacher contract Wednesday night, making it more likely that both sides will have to resort to a fact-finding process scheduled for this month.
Teachers and the board met for more than three hours at the district's Taft building to hash out terms, but they were not able to reach an agreement.
The groups reached an impasse in March after several months of negotiations but had agreed to meet Wednesday as "a good-faith effort," said Burlington School Superintendent Jeanne Collins.
"We went back to the table thinking we'd have some movement, but we did not come to agreeable terms," Collins said.
...Neither side will divulge salary-related offers, but there is a significant disparity on the benefits side, according to school administrators. Collins said the board is looking to increase health benefit co-pays to 20 percent, while teachers want co-pays to stay at 10 percent.
Where have I heard this story before?
In other news…The Free Press had a story today about the widow of former Republican Governor and US Senator George Aiken - often championed as a moderate - and a certain Republican Senate hopeful. Lola Aiken came out yesterday in support of Rich Tarrant. For some reason the Free Press does not have the story on-line.
Update: Here is a link to a story about this on Politics VT.
Speaking of politics…The two Democratic candidates for Lt. Governor, Rep. John Tracy from Burlington and Sen. Matt Dunne from Windsor, will be making the rounds. There is a lasagna dinner at 5:30PM Sunday at the St. John’s Club on Lakeside Ave in Burlington, where you can meet the two. The cost is $25. Reservations can be made by contacting BurlingtonDems@yahoo.com or calling 598-8139.
If you don’t feel like financially supporting the Dems, you can go to the Visitor Center of the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station in Grand Isle on June 19th at 7:00PM for a debate between the two candidates.
The two men will face off on the Democratic Party ballot in the September Primary, which is of no consequence to me, since I plan to take the Republican ballot. The winner will face Lt. Governor Brian Dubie in November.
That’s about it for now. If I don’t have a chance to post again, have a great weekend!
12 comments:
Good write-ups, Charity. Gotta hand it to those educators and school boards. They sure know how to drag it out.
Sorry I've neglected to comment about this post until now. As you probably know, all the action is still happening at your "Experience money can't buy" post. Quite a debate. Good thing it's only the internet. People would probably be using their fists if they were face to face. But then again, all those anonymous posters probably wouldn't show up.
Hopefully the rest of Burlington is as fed up with this BS as I am. The lowest paid teacher makes $33K for 9 months' work and they're concerned with a new contract that they can "live on"?
The school board should just skip ahead to the day when the union calls a strike and start taking resumes now. After all, what's the point of jacking up salaries if they can't buy you the best talent available?
"I also wish I wasn't so subject to my emotions, but I am."
It's your thing, Haik. It's why people keep reading your blog (when it's up). Be yourself, don't be ashamed. Ann Coulter is a total raging bitch and people pay her for it. That's why America is such an awesome place. We're all nuts in our own way.
"The school board should just skip ahead to the day when the union calls a strike ..."
Yeah, except they won't take resumes. It's like a dance, or a scripted play, and we all know how it will end. They could skip Act 2 (the strike) and jump ahead to the finale where the teachers get most of what they want, the tax payers get shafted, and the children still get stuck with mediocrity.
Then the taxpayers should make it clear that they're not going to continue to sponsor this lunacy. Getting your budget denied every year is a lot worse than making a few contract concessions.
Being a teacher would be awesome. I think I'll try again to become one. It's true that they have a ridiculously sweet deal. And it's also true, from what I've seen, that most of them are totally mediocre. A lot of them downright suck.
It’s not so much that I think the teachers are mediocre individuals, I just think the system they are currently under does not reward excellence and therefore produces mediocre results.
But then again, they do that with the students, too. I guess it’s just a fundamental flaw with our education system. That’s what happens when the system is beholden to what’s best for the union instead of what’s best for the people the system is supposed to serve – the children.
I'm not sure it's the unions' fault, but there is a problem.
Of course it's the union's fault. Every symptom of the problem - if you recognize what Charity described as a problem - is directly attributable to the VT NEA. I've never heard even the most rabid "pro-teacher" zealots dispute this.
Form a union. Why is this a race to the bottom. Everyone should be as miserable as everyone else. Organize!
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