Upload
coreymitchell4043
View
214
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
CSA 1
ContractForStudentAchievement
November 1, 2011
Dear Minneapolis School Board and Minneapolis Federation of Teachers,
We passionately believe in public education as a democratic institution that requires
public investment and community trust.
The teachers’ contract you are currently negotiating represents almost $240 million in
annual wages and benefits and directly controls who is teaching our children in the
classroom. This is in addition to the district administration costs of $19 million annually.
All of this is paid for with our public tax dollars.
In the past, teacher contract negotiations have been treated as exclusive talks between
private parties. Unfortunately, the result has been a legacy of contracts that repeatedly
put the needs of adults over the academic needs of students—causing a breakdown in
trust between both the community and the MFT and the community and the district.
Today, our schools work very well for some of our students while completely failing
others. Minneapolis has the largest achievement gap in Minnesota, with white students
more than twice as likely to pass state tests than their black, Latino and American Indian
peers and with less than 35 percent of our students of color graduating on time. This
human crisis represents an enormous loss of talent, creativity and income for
individuals, families and our entire city.
We all have a moral and economic obligation to address the long-term issues of
opportunity and equity that contribute to this mass academic failure to thrive.
So we call on the district and the MFT to negotiate a different kind of contract---one
that recognizes the academic crisis in our schools and makes student achievement the
top focus.
********************
As you continue negotiations for the 2011-2013 teachers’ contract, we call on you to
ratify a contract that recognizes the power of effective teaching and will:
1. Shift to performance-based staffing.
Make effectiveness, not seniority, the chief criteria for teachers’ hiring, placement and
lay-off decisions. Further, tie staffing decisions to a transparent teacher evaluation
2 CSA
ContractForStudentAchievement
process that include student growth data, classroom observations by trained evaluators,
student surveys and feedback from parents.
2. Allow every Minneapolis school to hire from the widest possible talent pool.
School leadership teams need the authority to choose the licensed teacher they believe
will be most effective with their students, whether or not the candidate currently works
for the district. End the practice of forcing schools to hire from the limited pool of
tenured or excessed MPS teachers.
3. End forced placements of teachers in schools that do not choose to hire them.
Under our current contract, all tenured teachers are guaranteed a job if there are any
openings that fit their licensure. Each year hundreds of teachers are placed in schools,
even if site leadership teams do not believe these teachers are an appropriate fit for their
school or students.
This must stop.
Under our proposed open hiring system, tenured teachers who are not selected by any
school should be given alternative work assignments for one year. If after one year they
are still unable to find work within MPS they should be released with the right to re-
apply at any time. Taxpayers should not have to continually to pay the salaries and
benefits of teachers that MPS schools do not want to hire.
4. Extend learning time for those who need it.
Successful schools have realized the benefit of increasing opportunities for students to
learn by extending the time they receive quality instruction. The district has the right to
give underperforming schools extended instruction time; the teachers have the right to
be compensated for it.
5. Remove poor performers.
Simplify and shorten the process for discharging chronically ineffective teachers to
under 12 months.
According to The New Teacher Project’s study, only one percent of tenured MPS
teachers are referred to the Peer Assessment Review process (PAR), which under our
current contract rules is the sanctioned method for dealing with under-performing
teachers. Out of this one percent less than half are dismissed, resign, or retire. That
means under the current PAR criteria 99.5 percent of our tenured teachers are
CSA 3
ContractForStudentAchievement
considered effective. This isn’t credible for any profession. The PAR process either
needs to be scrapped or drastically changed.
********************
As active parents, citizens and stakeholders we call on you to put student
achievement at the center of contract negotiations.
The five proposals above are based on sound research and best practices from school
districts across the country. They align with the district’s own strategic plan and the
recommendations of The New Teacher’s Project report on MPS staffing.
Last August, School Board Director Dick Mammen eloquently spoke about the need for
more transparency and conversation before decisions on staff contracts were made. He
called on fellow board members to “be more open about this…. to talk truth to each
other, it's time to turn on the lights, open the windows, and the doors.”
We agree.
In this spirit, we hope the negotiations continue to be open to public observation under
the state’s open meeting laws.
We also call on our elected school board members to push for a contract that puts the
needs of students and families first and honors the public investment of taxpayers.
Respectfully,
Faith Adams
MPS Parent
Christa Anders
MPS Parent
Jim Bartholomew
Director, Education Policy
MN. Business Partnership
Maureen Bazinet Beck
Former MPS Principal
CEO, Edward R. Bazinet
Foundation
Ian Bethel, Pastor
New Beginning Missionary
Baptist Church
Rev. Laurie Bushbaum
MPS Parent
Sally Centner
MPS Parent
Yvonne Cheek, Founder
Millennium Consulting
Group
Laurie Davis
Advance Consulting
MPS Parent
4 CSA
ContractForStudentAchievement
Fred Easter
Former public school leader
John Cairn
Former City Council
President and member
Dr. Eleanor Coleman
Former MPS cabinet
member
John Eaton
MPS Parent Alumni
Bill English
Education Chair
Coalition of Black Churches
Al Fan, Executive Director
Charter School Partners
Judy Griedsedieck
MPS Parent Alumni
Eric Hanson
MPS Parent
Jeffrey Hassan
African American
Leadership Forum Member
Sharon Henry-Blythe
Former Board Director
Minneapolis Public Schools
Seth Kirk, Co-Founder
Put Kids First Minneapolis
Rev. Jerry McAfee,
President
MN. State Baptist
Convention
Lynnell Mickelson
Co-Founder
Put Kids First Minneapolis
Hon. Don Samuels
Council Member
Minneapolis City Council
Dennis Shapiro
Former Board Director
Minneapolis Public Schools
Rev. Randolph Staten
Board Chair
Coalition of Black Churches
Chris Stewart
Former Board Director
Minneapolis Public Schools
Alana Ramadan
Life-long MPLS resident
and MPS alumni
Katy and Kerry Vermeer
MPS Parents
Dr. Betty Webb
Education Consultant
Dr. Betty Webb Consulting
Catherine Shreves
Former Board Director
Minneapolis Public Schools
Meg Tuthill
Council Member
Minneapolis City Council
T. Williams
Former Board Director
Minneapolis Public Schools