Teacher World

The recent SAT cheating scandal, in which Sam Eshaghoff, an alumni of Great Neck North High School, was paid by high school students at his alma mater to take their SAT tests for them, has raised many questions regarding high-stakes testing.

The first question raised by this scandalous issue is just how much cheating is going on when it comes to SAT and ACT testing. Since these college admission tests generally play a major role in whether a student gets admitted to a school, as well as the types of grants or other financial aid they are awarded, it probably should not come as a huge surprise that some students are tempted to cheat.

According to a Josephson Institute of Ethics survey of 43,000 students this year, the majority of American students feel that cheating on tests is justified. In fact, 59% of them admitted to cheating on a test during the past year, and 34% admitted to cheating more than two times. Ironically, 92% of the 43,000 students surveyed said they were satisfied with both their character and personal ethics.

Robert Schaeffer, spokesman for the National Center for Fair and Open Testing in Boston, Massachusetts, which tracks and critiques standardized tests, said it’s very hard to determine how widespread various forms of cheating are on these tests. He said reports of students sharing answers during the tests were not uncommon due to the fact that the proctors monitoring them are often underpaid and overworked. But he said that prosecutions for impersonations, as in this case, have been very rare.

Tom Ewing, spokesman for the Educational Testing Service, which administers about 2.3 million SAT tests a year, says that about 1,000 scores are canceled every year due primarily to students copying answers. He claimed that test proctors do a good job overall and are better paid recently.

For those of us who still might not believe that testing is taking place, here are some anonymous comments posted on the website CollegeComfidential.com, a college-admission forum, regarding examples of how students are cheating:

• “My school’s valedictorian from last year got 600 dollars for taking the SAT for this other kid who made him a fake school ID.” The valedictorian went to Harvard, the other student went to Amherst College, according to the post.
• “One kid at my school was desperate and paid about $2,000” for an imposter to take the SAT.
• “At my highly competitive school, lots of people (knowing my SAT) have approached me about it, offering hundreds of dollars. Though I have of course refused, it’s clear that someone could easily make thousands of dollars doing so. There’s a massive market of wealthy kids whose parents have deep pockets and high expectations.”

District Attorney Rice suggested beefing up security around the SATs by taking photos of the students who come to take the test and attaching those photos to their scores so that guidance counselors would be able to spot discrepancies.

The second concern raised by this scandal is the pressure a single test places on students to score well, since it plays such a big role in determining their academic future, and whether that pressure is actually encouraging them to cheat.

Schaeffer commented on the scandal at the wealthy community of Great Neck, saying that the fact that the scandal played out there “is an illustration of the SAT arms race that takes place, particularly in very affluent towns where kids think they are failures unless they go to a school where their parents would be proud to put the bumper sticker in their back window.”

Massachusetts-based senior advisor with College Confidential, Sally Rubenstone, said, “This emphasis on test prepping goes hand in hand with the escalating cheating, and the pressure these kids feel to do well on the tests … makes kids feel cheating is necessary. If any good comes out of this [arrest], it’s to send admission officials back to the drawing board to design a process that is fairer.”

As a matter of fact, Schaeffer says about 865 colleges and universities have ceased using SAT or ACT scores for most of the decisions they make regarding admission, in part to cut down on the pressure that students feel regarding the testing and admissions process.

But according to Michael Josephson, the founder and president of Josephson Institute, “The real question is, as a society do we really want to take this seriously or only deal with it when people are unlucky enough to get caught? We’re raising the next generation of corporate villains and pirates if we don’t reinforce with vigor and consistency the absolute essentiality of integrity.”

I tend to agree with Josephson. I understand that pressure can make people do things they would not ordinarily do, but cheating is cheating. And how many colleges would want to admit students who have rationalized that it’s okay to cheat if the pressure is too consuming? If they’ll cheat on the SATs or ACTs, they’ll cheat in college, too.

The lesson to learn here is that cheating has serious consequences no matter what the reason or situation.

Higher education, Teacher-World's Blog ACT tests, college admissions, Sam Eshaghoff, SAT cheating scandal, SAT tests

Have you heard that Rhode Island will now be the 13th state to allow some type of lower tuition for undocumented immigrants who wish to attend their colleges? At a meeting late Monday night, the Board of Governors for Higher Education approved a measure allowing illegal immigrants to pay lower in-state college tuition.

In spite of Rhode Island’s state legislature’s failure to take action on this issue for the past six years, the 11 members who attended Monday’s meeting all voted for the measure. Two of the board’s members were not in attendance, but about 400 people from the community crowded into the Community College of Rhode Island where the meeting was held.

Board spokesman Michael Trainor said that independent Governor Lincoln Chafee had been instrumental in urging the board to adopt the measure, which will take effect in September 2012.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, thirteen states nationwide now have laws which allow undocumented immigrant students to pay in-state tuition fees under certain conditions. The other twelve states include California, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. Rhode Island, however, is the only state that has introduced the measure without going through its state legislature first.

Students who immigrated illegally must have completed at least three years of high school in the state of Rhode Island, must have graduated from a high school or received a GED in the state, and must have signed an affidavit saying that they will pursue citizenship as soon as possible, in order to be eligible under Rhode Island’s new policy, Trainor explained.

Meanwhile, Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement opposes the measure. This group stated on its website that illegal immigration caused a “tremendous financial drain” on Rhode Island. The group’s executive director, Terry Gorman, said the group felt the board’s decision was a “travesty” and was considering taking legal action to oppose it.

Trainor spoke up for the new policy, saying that public schools have been teaching undocumented students through the twelfth grade for years without question. Therefore, advocates of the new policy pushed for the measure partly to maintain a consistent policy when these students are old enough for college.

He said that advocates also consider the policy as a means of ensuring a highly trained work force which would generate tax revenue and would contribute to the economy, making it, in their eyes, a strategy for economic development.

At Rhode Island’s universities and community colleges, tuition is much lower for residents of the state than it is for out-of-state students.

According to Reuters, here are some examples of how this policy would impact illegal immigrant students:

* University of Rhode Island: out-of-state tuition-$27,262/ in-state tuition-$10,556
* Rhode Island College: out-of-state tuition-$16,878/ in-state tuition-$6,986
* Community College of Rhode Island: out-of-state tuition-$9,792/ in-state tuition-$3,652

The question is this: Is it fair to offer lower tuition to students who are here illegally, when students who are citizens of this country have to pay the going rate? When I look around and see the tremendous college debts our kids walk away with, it makes me a little angry. Why do we call it illegal but reward it with monetary concessions?

What do you think? Fair or foul? Weigh in and let us know how you feel about the policies of these 13 states.

Teacher-World's Blog college tuition, illegal immigrants, Rhode Island

Just when I think I can’t be surprised anymore by ridiculous news in the education field, I am. If you haven’t heard about this one yet, hold on to your hats; it’s pretty crazy!

Sam Eshaghoff was a 2010 graduate of Long Island’s Great Neck North, a public high school that is ranked among the nation’s best. In fact, the school has some notable alumni: Nobel Prize-winning biologist, David Baltimore, Olympic figure skating champion, Sarah Hughes, and filmmaker, Francis Ford Coppola.

Apparently 19-year old Eshaghoff has been a busy and enterprising, young man since his graduation. Now a sophomore at Emory University in Atlanta, this young man has been providing his services to some of the students at his old Alma Mater. Okay, get your head out of the gutter; I don’t mean sexual services. No, his services have been of the cerebral kind.

According to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, between 2010 and 2011, Eshaghoff has been paid by six students at Great Neck North High School to take the SAT for them. Eshaghoff flew home on various occasions in order to impersonate these high school students on test day. In fact, on one weekend, he took the test twice under two different identities! For his services, he received between $1,500 and $2,500 per student.

Prosecutors explained that the six students involved registered to take the SAT’s at different schools so that they wouldn’t be recognized, and Eshaghoff would show up presenting a forged driver’s license with his picture and the name of the paying student.

A perfect score on the SAT is 2400, so when he took the test for these students, Eshaghoff would score between 2140 and 2220.

The cheating ring was busted when faculty members at the high school became suspicious after hearing rumors of students paying a third party to take the SAT for them early this year. Prosecutors reported that the faculty was able to bust the six suspected students by comparing their past academic performance to SAT scores of students who had taken the test at a different school.

Rice reported to FOX News that the giveaway was “large discrepancies between [the six students’] academic performance records and their SAT scores.” She explained that administrators were able to track the tests to Eshaghoff after analyzing his handwriting.

All of the seven students were arrested Tuesday morning for their alleged roles in this bizarre cheating scandal. Eshaghoff faces up to four years in prison, while the six who are being charged with hiring him, whose names are not being made public due to their ages, face misdemeanor charges.

And the district attorney’s office is also investigating the possibility that Eshaghoff took the exam for other students and whether similar cheating has occurred at at least two other high schools in the county.

Eshaghoff’s bond was set at $1,000, while the other six were released on their own recognizance.

Matin Emouna, Eshaghoff’s attorney, said of his client, “He has cooperated with the investigation, and he denies the charges.”

Rice said, “Colleges look for the best and brightest students, yet these six defendants tried to cheat the system and may have kept honest and qualified students from getting into their dream school.”

A statement released by the Great Neck School District said it “does not tolerate cheating” and remains “committed to cooperating with law enforcement in the matter.”

I don’t know why stories like this still surprise me, but they do. I am always amazed at the nefarious lengths people will go to in order to get what they want, rather than just working to get what they want.

These students had all the right resources at their disposal, in this highly ranked school in an affluent part of New York, to earn their own college-appropriate scores on their SAT’s. Instead, they have quite possibly destroyed any chance of being accepted into the type of college they had aspired to, and will have to work very hard to overcome the cheating-stigma which has become associated with their name.

And Sam Eshaghoff, who is clearly a very intelligent, young man, may find his intelligence squandered in a jail cell.

I guess all the brains in the world don’t necessarily make you smart!

High Caliber Schools, Teacher-World's Blog Great Neck North High School, Long Island, Sam Eshaghoff, SAT, testing cheating

We all know that this recession has severely hurt the teaching profession, but the impact it is having on people coming out of college looking for jobs in education is tragic. Just how bad is it? Well, let’s take a look.

A national survey conducted in June by the Center on Education Policy estimated that 48% of school districts cut teaching positions in the last school year, while 84% are preparing for additional funding cuts in this new school year.

And a survey of more than 1,000 school superintendents in the United States by the American Association of School Administrators conducted in May revealed that 74% are expecting to cut jobs this year. The majority of these jobs are expected to be teachers or paraprofessionals. And in a survey of 692 school administrators, 48% reported that they laid off employees last year.

Budget cuts in California alone have led to the layoffs of approximately 30,000 teachers and upwards of 10,000 support staff in the past three years, according to their district’s unions.

In Michigan, the number of public school teachers has dropped by 9% since the 2004-05 school year, when they peaked at 118,000 teachers. That translates to a loss of about 10,000 jobs, which is attributed to shrinking state aid as well as an 8% decrease in public school students in that state.

This is all frightening news for young people desperately looking for teaching jobs, especially since districts still follow rules of seniority, which leaves newly hired teachers more vulnerable to layoffs.

Principal Andrea Ross-Woody, who works at a private school in Sacramento, California, said she received 50 applications for a teaching job paying $1,700 a month without benefits, and some of those who applied had been looking for a full-time teaching job for several years. Worse, some of those who applied had just completed credential programs at for-profit colleges, where they had racked up huge student loans.

Ross-Woody said, “It just amazes me that they keep putting more teachers out there and there are no jobs. We just have a lot of teachers who are out of work. It’s just a very sad situation.”

Austin, Texas is a district with 86,000 students. Six years ago, the district hired 800 teachers, but this year it only hired 72, with most of those positions in specialties like bilingual elementary school teachers or science and math teachers for middle schools and high schools. According to Michael Houser, a recruiter for the Austin Independent School District, those who graduated with degrees in early childhood education face tremendous competition for very few positions.

Education professor at the University of California, in Los Angeles, Wellford “Buzz” Wilms, who has been training new teachers for thirty years, said, “It’s a triple tragedy in a way. The kids invest all this time and they face such a bleak job market. These are some of the best kids in the world, and we miss putting them where they are needed the most.”

It seems that college students are getting the message though. Wilms said that the number of applicants for its teaching program has decreased by more than a third since 2003 at UCLA. And California State University, which graduates the majority of the state’s teachers, reported a decrease since 2002 from 31,000 students to 13,500 students majoring in education, according to its spokeman, Mike Uhlenkamp.

This appears to be a national trend, as the number of bachelor’s degrees in education declined after 2006, while the number of degrees in fields such as nursing and business increased, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

It is impossible to predict when things will look up for aspiring teachers. President Obama talked about investing $35 billion to prevent the layoffs of up to 280,000 teachers as well as hiring tens of thousands more, in his recent national address on job creation. Unfortunately, for those in the teaching profession or hoping to break into the teaching profession, his plan faces an uncertain future in a divided Congress.

So what would education professors and school district recruiters recommend to those who are out there looking for teaching positions? They advise finding a job as a paraprofessional or a substitute (if a teaching degree is not required in that district) before graduating, which might lead eventually to a full-time job. 

Or it might not be a bad idea to explore other options until things look more promising in the education field.

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Another devastating story of a young man, only 14-years old, who has taken his life in what looks to be another case of bullying, hit the news on September 18, and people across the United States are mourning along with the family in the wake of this recent tragedy.

Jamey Rodemeyer, from Williamsville, New York, was found dead outside his home, after taking his own life. His parents, Tracy and Tim, reported that Jamey has been bullied due to his sexuality for years, but things got worse for him when he was in middle school.

According to Jamey’s parents and friends, he was tormented relentlessly on social networking websites where people posted hateful comments because of his sexuality. One post said, “JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND [sic] UGLY. HE MUST DIE!”

Another post read, “I wouldn’t care if you died. No one would. So just do it It would make everyone WAY more happier!”

Jamey blogged about being bullied and even wrote of his thoughts of committing suicide. He posted this comment on his Facebook page, “I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens. …What do I have to do so people will listen to me?” And he wrote, “No one in my school cares about preventing suicide, while you’re the ones calling me [gay slur] and tearing me down.”

Tracy and Tim had gone to the school to try to get some help for their son, and Jamey had also spent some time talking to the counselor. And when he came out, telling people he was bisexual, he received encouragement from his friends and family, which seemed to give him hope.

Jamey even posted a message in May to other kids like him on the YouTube website, It Gets Better project. In it, he talks about how difficult and relentless the bullying had been and that it felt at times that he couldn’t escape it. Yet, he encouraged those listening to fight off the bullies, and told them he was doing better.

He spoke about Lady Gaga who has staunchly supported gays and lesbians and has spoken out about bullying. He said she had given him hope, and made his life easier. He said, “She makes me so happy, and she lets me know that I was born this way.”

He ended his message saying, “So, just listen here. It gets better, and look at me. I’m doing fine…”

Jamey was a freshman this year at Williamsville North High School, and he seemed to be doing better. His parents said he seemed happy and stronger, and his friends described him as caring and friendly. Jamey had been getting help from a social worker and therapist to deal with his issues.

In spite of signs that seemed to indicate Jamey was doing better, he took his own life on September 18, leaving behind grieving parents and friends.

The Rodemeyers hope to use this tragedy to spread a message of acceptance and anti-bullying. Tim told reporters, “To the kids who are bullying they have to realize that words are very powerful and what you think is just fun and games isn’t to some people, and you are destroying a lot of lives.”

And Tracy hopes that the tragic loss of their son will help teach a message of tolerance. “It took him away from our family way too early and we’re just convinced that he had a purpose on this planet and it was to touch as many people as he could.”

Jamey’s hero, Lady Gaga was clearly saddened by Jamey’s unnecessary death. She paid tribute to Jamey at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas this past weekend, dedicating her song “Hair” to young Jamey.

With Jamey’s picture on the big screen, Lady Gaga made this emotional comment before she sang her song, “I wrote this record about how your identity is really all you’ve got when you’re in school … so tonight, Jamey, I know you’re up there looking at us, and you’re not a victim.”

Earlier, Lady Gaga had expressed her grief on twitter, writing: “The past days I’ve spent reflecting, crying, and yelling. I have so much anger. It is hard to feel love when cruelty takes someones life. Bullying must become illegal. It is a hate crime. I am meeting with our President. I will not stop fighting. This must end. Our generation has the power to end it. Trend it #MakeALawForJamey.”

Tracy Rodemeyer said that her son would be buried in the shirt that meant so much to him. It proudly proclaims: “Born This Way.”

I leave you with these sobering statistics, as reported on ABC World News: In the last year that statistics are available, it was reported that 39% of America’s sixth-graders reported being bullied. Those statistics shrunk in high school, where it was reported that about 20% of seniors reported being bullied.

But here is the tragedy: While the numbers shrunk for most high school students, they remained the same for gay and lesbian students, with 90% reporting being bullied.

Lady Gaga is absolutely right when she says this is a hate crime, and it must be stopped.

Bullying, Teacher-World's Blog, teen suicide bisexual, Bullying, Jamey Rodemeyer, Lady Gaga, teen suicide

On Saturday, September 17, the second annual 5K walk and race was held in Springfield, Massachusetts in loving memory of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, but this year’s 5K had a little something extra.

I’m sure you remember the story that broke our hearts in April of 2009, when 11-year old Carl hung himself after bullies at his school repeatedly harassed him calling him gay.

In spite of Sirdeaner L. Walker’s repeated pleas to the New Leadership Charter School to address the problem, the bullying was relentless. Sadly, Sirdeaner found Carl’s dead body just minutes before she was going to meet with school authorities again to confront them regarding her son’s ordeal.

Since this tragic incident, Sirdeaner has become a national spokesperson for anti-bullying, even appearing at the White House to spread her message. And this annual 5K race and walk is another way for her to get the message out: “Be a Buddy, not a Bully,” the message hundreds of teens rallied around at this event. (Follow this link to the Carl Joseph Foundation website.) 

Many of the participants of this year’s event were friends of the family, although some were simply drawn by the cause. Sabrina Bolden, a Springfield resident who knows the family well, said of Carl’s suicide, “It was really devastating to the whole community… It touched all of us.”

One thousand people participated in the event last year, but that was nothing compared to this year’s event. You see, Sirdeaner’s appearance at the White House attracted the attention of the television show, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” who decided they wanted to help out this family.

Michael Moloney and his team rebuilt Carl’s mother’s home in the hopes that the publicity it brought would provide a platform which would allow the Walker-Hoover family to share what they have lived through with millions of people. “When we heard the family’s story, what they’ve been through and what they are doing with their story, the difference they are making, we knew that we needed to be here.”

Ty Pennington and Celtics’ guard Ray Allen showed up at this year’s 5K with the production staff of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” adding to the excitement and drawing a much larger crowd compared to last year’s. Organizers of the event were thrilled by the increased participation saying that their message is resonating more than ever, while acknowledging the need to keep fighting against bullying.

In an effort to keep the crowd hyped-up, Sirdeaner and her three children were kept in an SUV for a surprise introduction to the crowd before the race began. And the slogan of the 5K, “Be a Buddy, not a Bully” was joined with the shows message of “Stand Together,” while a website in Carl’s honor was revealed live on stage, and runners were greeted with cheers and the show’s balloon message at the end of the race.

Sirdeaner, who held back tears as she crossed the finish line with her children said, “The past two years have been really difficult. Part of it is … when I go around and speak, I have to share Carl’s story and so I have to relive the most horrible day of my life over and over.”

But she continued, “Carl would just be so honored and so proud the Greater Springfield community has rallied together around the issue.”

The proceeds from the race went to a scholarship fund for local students. And, the family’s new home was unveiled on September 16. (I do not know when that show will air, however.)

Thank you, Sirdeaner, for being willing to bear the pain each time you tell Carl’s story. By doing so, you bring new awareness to those who need to understand how destructive bullying can be to our youth.

And thank you “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” for treating this family to a new beginning and for helping to spread the message that we do need to “Stand Together Against Bullying” if we hope to put an end to bullying once and for all.

Bullying, Teacher-World's Blog, teen suicide "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition", Bullying, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, Sirdeaner L. Walker, Springfield, Stand Together Against Bullying, suicide

The story I’m about to tell you is quite literally dripping with irony. It is the story of a private Christian school with a decidedly un-Christian attitude. And it’s about a girl who was sacrificed in the process.

Rachel Aviles attended The Master’s School, a K-12 Christian school located in West Simsbury, Connecticut, until recently. While there, she played sports, did well academically, willingly signed up for any and all extracurricular activities, and was an extremely popular girl. She would have been a senior this year, and her former coach reported that she would have been up for many awards.

While she herself is not a Christian, she maintained a respect for the faith. It seemed that she was a good fit for Master’s, and Master’s was a good fit for her.

But all of that fell apart this past spring, when she went on a class trip with several students. The girls decided to be silly, and pretended to be married, making “wifey” phone calls to one another and holding hands. According to Aviles, holding hands with their female friends was not unusual at the school.

After the fact, Aviles said, “Looking back, it was kind of stupid. But it was harmless.” Extremely harmless, don’t you think?

Well, maybe to the girls, but not to the administration of the school, who, upon hearing what had transpired, called the girls in one by one to question them about their sexual orientation. When Aviles was called in to face them, she told them what her friends already knew; she is a lesbian.

Now, I find her confession to be refreshingly honest and brave. She could have lied, but she told the truth. And she had every right to deny what for most girls at this age would be a tough thing to openly confess to in a room full of authority figures who were clearly not going to respond well to the truth about her sexuality. That much was clear by the manner in which the girls were interrogated one-by-one.

So, it should come as no real surprise that, upon her revelation, she was encouraged to withdraw rather than face expulsion.

Beth Miller, who met Aviles when she applied to Hartford Youth Scholars Foundation in ‘07, an organization which trains students to apply for scholarships to private schools, said, “It was not a thinly veiled threat.”

Here is a case, which I have mentioned frequently, in which private schools are so different from public schools. Legally, private schools have considerable freedom to decide who to accept and who to reject from their schools. So, unfortunately, this decision was a legal one, although it was clearly misguided.

After she withdrew, Aviles texted Heather Lodovico, her former coach, to tell her what had happened. “She texted me and said something like ‘They kicked me out,’ and I made a joke, ‘What, are you pregnant?’ and she said, ‘No, worse. I’m gay,’” said Lodovico.

Lodovico said that she got on the phone immediately to see if there was any way the decision could be reversed, but she was told no.

“She’s a fantastic kid. My reaction was: ‘Wow! Your God’s really small.’ Whether it’s a sin or not, take that out of the picture, and this is still wrong. I think God’s up there shaking His head going, ‘Really? Really?’” said Aviles’ former coach.

Lodovico admitted to being surprised at the decision that was made concerning Aviles. She characterized the school as being laid-back, and she added, “I never saw anything about Master’s that would lead me to believe they would do something like this. One of the things they pride themselves on is they let kids be unique and express themselves.”

She went on to say that one of the problems with Christian schools like Master’s is that, while they accept students who are outside their religion, they don’t make clear to them what the standards are at the school based on their religious affiliation. “If you don’t make those clear, then let’s let kids know what they’re getting in to. Let parents know.”

In this case specifically, she side that The Master’s School’s website doesn’t make any mention of sexual orientation, nor is there a faith clause.

Miller said Aviles was a stand-out at the foundation. “She stood out right away as super confident with a great sense of humor. She always stuck out that way. She wasn’t a perfect kid, but none of our kids were. We took kids who had potential, the kids who got lost in the shuffle. That’s the kind of kid Rachel was.”

And what was this stand-out’s reaction when she went to see Miller after being forced to leave her school? According to Miller, the first thing she said was that she didn’t want her old school to look bad.

 Aviles said, “Just because you’ve been wronged doesn’t mean you have the right to wrong back.”

Aviles, the newest member of Watkinson Class of 2012, seems to be much more charitable than the administrators of her previous school. If it wasn’t for the anger I feel over the cruel way this girl was treated, I would find this story quite laughable!

In a world where Christianity is the rock on which this school was built, I can’t help but ask: Who behaved more like a Christian in this story? Who showed compassion? And who refused to judge or seek vengeance?

Aviles, you would make a very good Christian. Perhaps the administrators of The Master’s School could take a lesson or two from you.

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     Art Jarvis, Gov. Gregoire, Kurt Miller, and Andy Coons

What welcome news! The Tacoma teachers’ strike is over, and its teachers and students returned to school today as everyone let out a sigh of relief.

On Wednesday night, after Governor Christine Gregoire had summoned both sides to her office in Olympia for a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement, and after seven hours of intense negotiations which were mediated by Gregoire herself, both sides made the necessary concessions to end this week-long strike.

The new three-year labor deal keeps the previous class-size limits in place as the teachers agreed to drop their demands for lower overall ratios of students to teachers. The district agreed to abandon their proposal to cut salaries, although teachers lost one paid training day.

The biggest arguments occurred over the district’s demands to revise staffing policies allowing them to reassign teachers between schools based on criteria such as performance evaluations rather than seniority. Ultimately, it was agreed that a joint panel of school officials and teachers would be established to set new teacher evaluation standards to be used along with seniority to determine future staffing reassignments.

The settlement includes an amnesty clause which guarantees that union members who participated in the strike would not be adversely affected by that participation in their performance appraisals.

On Thursday, Tacoma’s teachers showed up at Mount Tahoma High School to vote on the new three-year contract. Of the 1,701 who voted, only 15 teachers voted against the contract. The atmosphere was a celebratory one mixed with chants, standing ovations, and teachers dancing in the bleachers.

Tacoma Education Association president Andy Coons told the crowd, “We need to start healing. We need to get back to our classrooms. We need to focus on why we did this … we need to get back to that work tomorrow.” And of the teachers, Coons said, “I have never been more proud to be a teacher. This was not an easy process, but … we did what had to be done and we did it together.”

Dan Voelpel, the district spokesman said, “I think there’s a sense of elation not only at getting students and teachers back in the class but that we came up with an agreement that sets the stage for innovation in how we match up teachers with the needs of schools.”

Steve Jacobson, a 35-year old high school health and physical education teacher, who had his daughter, Bianca, perched on his shoulders during the celebration, said, “I’m excited to get back to work, and I’m excited for my daughter because she gets to go back to school.”

District officials celebrated as well. Tacoma Superintendent Art Jarvis and school board president Kurt Miller rang the ceremonial bell which stands above the district’s central office, something that hasn’t been done in almost 10 years.

As he rang the bell which echoed throughout downtown Tacoma, Jarvis declared, “We call all the children back to school.”

And to parents who have had to search for and pay for day care and for many students, the news has been a welcome relief.

“We were thrilled,” said Jill Furman after the strike ended. She was preparing to go grocery shopping with her ninth-grade daughter Rebecca, who said she was running out of things to do in the days off. “It just got boring after a while,” she said.

Some loose ends will still need to be tied up. For instance, the judge must still decide whether he will drop the contempt-of-court citations, although district officials said that they consider the issue closed. And the district will still need to determine how they will spend down its reserve funds by $15.4 million this year in order to avoid deeper cuts in student programs and staffing.

On Thursday, the district’s website announced that school would reopen Friday, and today, teachers and students returned to their classrooms.

What a relief for this district who reached a fair compromise and can now get back to doing what it does best; educating and guiding its students!

Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog Governor Chris Gregoire, Superintendent Art Jarvis, Tacoma Education Association, Tacoma Teacher's Strike

This is the kind of story that I just can’t pass up. It’s a story of a high school junior who proved that he was a man on September 16.

In the middle of the Applejack Invite in Lakeville, Minnesota, an Andover High School student, Josh Ripley, was competing in a cross country 2-mile junior varsity race when he heard the screams emanating from a Lakeville South Runner.

While the other runners ran on by, ignoring Mark Paulauskas in their quest to win the 2-mile race, Josh stopped to help his opponent who was bleeding profusely from the ankle. Concerned that Mark might have punctured his Achilles heel, Josh forgot about the race, picked up the wounded runner, and carried him for a half a mile to get him back to his coach and parents. Once he was certain that Mark was in capable hands, Josh got back into the race.

Josh stated in the Anoka-Hennepin school district press release, “I didn’t think about my race, I knew I needed to stop and help him. It was something I would expect my other teammates to do. I’m nothing special; I was just in the right place at the right time.”

As it turned out, it was a very good thing that Josh acted so quickly, because when Paulauskas arrived at the hospital, doctors discovered that he had been spiked accidentally by another runner’s shoe during the race, an injury which required 20 stitches to close properly. Paulauskas left in a walking boot to protect the wounded area from further injury.

Both Mark’s parents and his coach were extremely grateful for Josh’s selfless actions.

“I was stunned and so proud of the sportsmanship and kindness he showed to our runner who was injured,” said Jessica Just, the Lakeville South team’s coach. “The family, our Lakeville South coaching staff and our whole team were so thankful and appreciative of Josh’s act of kindness and selflessness to a rival competitor.”

And Mark’s father, Gene Paulauskas reported, “While I was running with Mark in my arms [to get medical attention], he told me that it was a runner from another team who had stopped and helped him to an area of the course where he could get some help. It was horrible to see Mark with such a bad injury, but we were all struck by the selfless act of compassion, kindness and sportsmanship exhibited by Josh Ripely, the Andover runner.”

Meanwhile, when Scott Clark, Josh’s coach, was told that Josh was carrying a runner, he admitted that he assumed he had heard incorrectly, a notion which was quickly proven wrong.  

“Then Josh comes jogging into view carrying a runner,” Clark said. “I noticed the blood on the runner’s ankle as Josh handed him off to one of the coaches from Lakeville. Josh was tired and you could tell his focus was off as he started back on the course, clearly he intended to finish, this happening inside the first mile. I got his attention and told him to relax and get his focus back for racing and not worry about his place. Josh continued to run and finished.”

What this boy did was remarkable! His willingness to sacrifice his own chances of winning an important race, his calm, quick thinking that allowed him to get this boy to those who could help him, and the physical endurance it took to carry this injured boy a half mile and then finish the race he started, speaks volumes as to his character, his determination, and his kindness.

Coach Clark said that what Josh did told a lot about him as an individual. “Clearly Josh is a compassionate and caring person. We consistently talk about being a team and caring about how each person on the team does. Cross country is filled with quality athletes at each school. It is always gratifying to see it exhibited in such a way as Josh did.”

Josh will be honored by the Anoka-Hennepin School Board on Monday, September 26, at 6:30 in Coon Rapids.

We all honor you, Josh. Your sacrifice and sportsmanship have not gone unnoticed. What an amazing young man! This is the stuff of which heroes are born!

Teacher-World's Blog Anoka-Hennipin school district, cross country, Josh Ripley, sportsmanship

Is this a first? Has a governor ever gotten involved in a teachers’ strike to the degree that Washington’s governor has?

Motivated by frustration over the cancellation of school for seven days in Tacoma, Governor Chris Gregoire called both sides involved in Tacoma’s teachers strike into her office today in hopes of reaching a resolution to the district’s stalemate.

Negotiators traveled to Olympia to continue their discussions under Gregoire’s watchful eye when talks throughout the day today failed to reach an agreement. Representatives from both sides arrived before 3 p.m. to begin closed-door talks.

In spite of the fact that the governor has no direct control of the schools in her state, she has been putting pressure on both sides to reach an agreement.

Karina Shagren, a spokeswoman for the governor, said, “She is incredibly anxious. She wants to get those kids back in school.”

Wednesday marked the seventh day of Tacoma’s teacher strike and the seventh day that the students in the state’s third-largest school district have not been able to attend school. The two sides continue to battle over issues involving pay, class size, and, most importantly, how the district handles teacher transfers.

Gregoire stated that she wants negotiators from the district and the union to remain in her office “until their differences are reconciled and the school doors reopen.”

The governor is right to be concerned, as a strike that lasts a long time hugely impacts the students and the parents of the community which can erode needed cooperation between the community and the schools.

Jennifer Boutell, a mother of two girls who attend the Tacoma school district, said that she is very lucky that she can stay home and watch her young daughters while this strike continues, but she points out that many cannot, and parents’ patience is running out.

Boutell told a reporter that the strike has forced her to delay freelance web development projects, and she said she knows of parents from her daughter’s school who have had to skip work in order to take care of their children. With the cost of day care escalating to $35 per day per child during the strike (apparently day care centers are reaping the benefits of the strike-gouging at its finest) some parents simply can’t afford not to stay home with their children.

Those who have been involved in any way in a teachers’ strike know the emotional toll it takes on all those involved. It will take years for this district, once it finally reaches a resolution, to get back to normal.

Having been through a strike at one time in my teaching career, I can honestly say that it was the most difficult point in all my years of teaching, as it did tremendous damage to relationships in the school and in our community. Healing that damage took several years.

I earnestly hope that issues can be resolved soon in this Tacoma strike. Cooler heads need to win out here and concessions need to be made on both sides of the table to end this for the sake of Tacoma’s children who need to be in school and for the parents who need to go to work.

I applaud Governor Gregoire for showing the leadership that these negotiators need to get this resolved. I hope she stands firm and keeps those doors closed until reason is restored and true negotiation leads to the reopening of Tacoma’s schools.

Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog Governor Chris Gregoire, negotiations, Tacoma Teacher's Strike