The absolute minimum requirement for any job is to be to work on time.
he nevertheless delivers a superb educational experience to his grateful students
OK, now we know heâs phony. Thereâs no such thing as a grateful elementary student.
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I was involved in exactly the same situation, though not in education. We had a problem employee (union member) who screwed up continually, but somehow management always screwed up the paperwork and he couldnât be axed. The union rep came to me (I was part of management) and candidly admitted they would like to be done with him too. He pleaded with me to see that the proper sequence was followed. Oddly, I got exactly the same message from my boss, even though the guy didnât actually work for me. I guess I was seen as the one supervisor who could do proper paperwork.
Short story. The guy continued to screw up, and I made certain each step was properly documented. In almost no time, he was gone, and the union refused to back him. While this guy is clearly a problem, and unlikely to change his behavior, it is up to management to follow the steps. If they canât, they have no one to blame but themselves.
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As pathetic as this is, at least he isnât a cop that shot an innocent person and got to keep his job. I would rather have one time challenged teacher in place, than one cop with a gun thatâs doesnât know when to use it.
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In theory I agree with you, but in practice, what are we talking about? Teachers almost always spend way more time on their jobs than their contract calls for. Say the contract calls for 7 am to 4 pm. plus assorted Back-to-School nights, Open Houses, and special programs. Find me the teacher who doesnât spend way more than the 40 hours per week contracted for. So if a teacher routinely comes in 5 min past 7 am (kids come in at 7:45) and routinely stays until 4:30, do we have a performance issue? Itâs not like anything particular is going on between 7:00 and 7:05. Weâre not even covering all the time at home preparing lessons, etc.
Actually, itâs entirely likely that this isnât about tardiness at all. Unless the administrator is a totally anal SOB, this is probably about some other issue and the time thing is just a way to get rid of this particular teacher. If so, the administrator went about it all the wrong way.
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My point was he was tardy 111 times in a two year period, during which he did not work the usual 50 work week year. So that 111 tardies is a lot worse ratio. They didnât mention what he did during the summer.
Yes, summer off might be two months, buts let us not forget the two weeks each fall and spring break and the two addition weeks off for the holiday break, all total at least 3 months off and still tardy 111/2 = 55.5 days per school year.
WOW!
I would love to know how many of us can be late to work 55.5 days per school year and NOT get fired.
Counseling be damned! This guy knew he how many days he was late, and against the rules for appropriate workplace behavior.
AP dutifully pushing anti-Union ALEC dog-whistle âstoriesâ.
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Spot on. There is an almost guaranteed lock that there is more to this story, but we will never see it from AP?
Did I click on the link to RedState by mistake?
Iâm with you on this. I feel like I donât have enough information to make a judgment call here. Was he late arriving to class or was he late arriving to school before class begins? Is this a school where teachers clock in on their computers or punch a clock? Years ago, I worked with a guy who could never, ever remember to log onto his computer to clock in. His time clock always showed that he was late, yet he was always there early.
Also, for this to have been allowed to go on for so long, it sounds like there may have been some kind of agreement with the administration. Maybe thereâs an issue with a family member and the administration had agreed to allow him to come in ten minutes late in the morning, they had a falling out, and then suddenly the administration decided to use his tardiness against him. And I question it further because it seems a bit suspect that this behavior apparently only started two years ago. Thereâs a lot more to this story than just some guy being late everyday.
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I wonder how much theyâre paying the administrator who allowed this to go on for almost 2 years? I work in school district HR/PAY systems. Those HR directors make a pretty good living, some earn it and some donât.
The guy has been a teacher for 15 years. Itâs unlikely his âtardinessâ started only in the last two years. So why is now so important that each âinfractionâ is documented over the past two years? It could be a way to replace an experienced $90k teacher with a lower-paid untenured teacher. There were (are?) school districts on Long Island infamous for such work-arounds of the tenure law.
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I posted similar comments before I read yours. Obviously, I agree with you.
ahemâŚwe know because he was late about 109 times more than behooves professional behavior. This teacher is clearly a slacker playing the system up to its limits.
The Administration screwed up but I also believe the Union had a hand in this⌠why does a Union Official allow this type of work ethic stand. I sat on both sides during negotiations and you can bet that management would bring something like this up to counter something the Union wishes. Example: I took an economics class and another student recorded the âprofessorâ telling this story. WWII came along and I knew Iâd be drafted so I looked around and volunteered for P38 pilot. I already had a pilot license so they readily took me. Why P38, because I looked at where the majority of pilots went for overseas duty. When I got out used the GI Bill to become a teacher. Why because once I got tenure then I knew it was movies, movies, movies, see I am lazy and just donât want to work. That recording ending up with the local school board during contract negotiations, boy did the Union mumble and fumble when they were asked if they knew this was happening. The school board then turned to the admin folks taking part and ask why they also did nothing. Neither party was able to answer, needless to say the Union had to pull a couple of wishes when it came to tenure in the contract.
The Union has to stick up for the due process part of it so that some non-legal practice doesnât become accepted and affect future disputes.
If the school can document that the guy has been late 100 times they might as well do it right and be done with him.
True, on the other hand. As a new school board member back in '89 I was tasked to put comparative figures together so that the board could easily equate teachers salaries to other like professionals. I found that some 90% of elementary teachers arrived 5 minutes before scheduled and usually had cleared the parking lot after dismissal before the buses did. Also found that about 80% of teachers taught to the textbook publishers teachers guide adding nothing. When I asked how much time the teachers spent âoff the clockâ so to speak on prep, scoring tests, etc all said hours per evening, when asked to see the typical off hours work very few could provide examples. In my district teachers had at least one 4 day weekend every month if not an actual week off due to holidays. When that time was added to the summer 2 months most teachers worked 7-8 months per year. For our figures we took 8 months then figured a per hour rate for each and compared to per hour rate for like professionals, example: consultants, plant foremen, etc. Net result was teachers earned on a per hour basis equal or slightly better than counterparts. When you added the time off, 4 months to 4 weeks and other parts of the benefit packages they were doing just fine. Next contract negotiations basically shut folks down who used the old claim of being underpaid compared to other professionals. Iâm not saying all do but in this district they for sure did all right.
Being late is a big deal. I worked for years in an office where everyone knew we had to jump from the moment the clock struck 8 am. When one employee resigned and a new one was hired â who was late EVERY SINGLE day with a different excuse (this person lived closer to the office than any of the rest of us), it ruined the way the office worked. The Late-Person was given talk after talk, and write-up after write-up,. and she just could not manage to get her ass in to the office on time.
After months of this (because it is a very specialized job, and it is hard to get a new person oriented) FINALLY, she was shown the door.
In my situation, the rest of us covered for the tardy person but in an elementary school, not only do others have to cover, but a very bad example is being set. The fact is that if you are due at a certain time, you need to set your alarm, fix your breakfast, and have your clothes ready â OR WHATEVER ELSE IT TAKES â to be on time! It isnât rocket science!
If he was such a stellar teacher he should have had enough respect for his students to show them how to behave. I hope he loses his job. Tardiness is a classic example of lack of respect. He deserves to lose his job.
BTW, for $90,000, he could just make an effort, no?
Not only was he not âexoneratedâ, the arbitrator was pretty unimpressed with the seemingly bullshit arguments put forth by the teacher.
In reality, this should reflect badly on the teacher in question, and the administrators at that school.
Instead, this will be used to crap all over public unions. Particularly teachers in public schools. Who have been tasked with solving a societal problem. Presto, magic, children will learn, learn, learn, magically, once entering an underfunded school system. That societal problem will remain unsolved, because, you know, society isnât interested in solving it, period. But thereâs a very convenient scapegoat that is politically pleasing to so very many people: unions.
âI love my son/daughterâs teachers. Theyâre wonderful. I just wish that awful teacherâs union would stop being so greedy.â
The disconnect between the fact that those wonderful teachers are there because they love what they do, accept pitiful salaries in return for things like health benefits and pensions down the road? And that a union is the only thing able to get those benefits that theyâll only get a long time down the road? Edited: itâs not a disconnect. Itâs not a bug. Itâs a feature. âUnions are bad. Period.â âThose teachers are wonderful.â âThose teachers donât deserve a pension.â âWHY ARENâT MY KIDS LEARNING?â âIf it werenât for the unionsâŚâ
You devalue a position, you demonize the members of that particular profession for being members of that profession, you take away the resources for that profession, you demonize the one entity trying to protect that profession? And wow. No one any longer wants to pursue that profession. See: Kansas. Gosh, who could have predicted any of that??? Itâs a mystery!!!
Not a hs, grade school teacher here, just a college professor. Member of a union. Not just a member, an elected chapter president. And weâre next in the line of fire.
So sure, itâs hardly surprising that thereâs a shortage of teachers now. Who wants to try and do their best under crummy circumstances while legislators cripple you, and introduce legislation that neuters the one thing that could actually get you some benefits after you retire after a lifetime of doing a job that you wanted to do, were willing to do, loved doing, with a pitiful salary, while being the scapegoat for a societal problem?
Who would want this?
And while people may be upset over Mr. Tardiness, his repeated failures to show up on time isnât for the union to police: itâs for the administration to police. And for everyone saying the union is protecting this particular turdbucket?
NO. Itâs protecting due process, so that your wonderful thoughtful third grade teacher doesnât get railroaded because some admin person is all upset over the fact that your wonderful thoughtful third grade teacher might happen to love someone of the same sex. ITâS CALLED DUE PROCESS.
And it wasnât followed, here. He might be a turdbucket of a teacher. I donât defend people because theyâre AWESOME and decline to defend people because theyâre turdbuckets. I defend the damn contract, which protects everyone from witch-hunts.
/RantOver
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