Posted on 06/18/2012 5:43:00 AM PDT by Kaslin
I have a great deal of sympathy for Michelle Apperson, the Sacramento "Teacher of the Year" who was laid off. Assuming she deserved the award, she should not have been laid off.
Sixth-grade teacher Michelle Apperson passed down a simple message to her students.Does Apperson Really "Get Why it Happens"?
"My favorite teachers growing up were the ones who challenged me to go out of my comfort level a little bit, strive for the stars, and work hard," the veteran California educator wrote on her school's bio page.
Despite just being named Sacramento's "Teacher of the Year," Apperson was laid off as part of a massive budget cut.
"It hurts on a personal level because I really love what I do," Apperson, who taught all subjects, told KXTV-News 10. "But professionally and politically or economically, I get why it happens."
Her pink slip comes just days after President Barack Obama prodded Washington lawmakers to help cash-strapped states with education funding.
The Sacramento City Unified School District has suffered approximately $143 million in budget cuts in recent years. School spokesperson Gabe Ross told News 10 that who gets laid off is mandated by state law and is based on seniority, not performance.
"It's an awful situation," Ross said. "It's another sign of how education's funding really needs an overhaul."
According to her bio, Apperson's goal was to teach her students "how to solve problems with peers, other adults, and the world around them."
Now they know firsthand how difficult that can sometimes be.
In one case, a male teacher in Manhattan was accused of inappropriately touching a female student in 2010, but the arbitrator imposed only a suspension without pay. And now — after more disturbing episodes — we’ve filed charges against this individual for a third time.Rest assured there are thousands of cases like that nationwide. Want some articles?
As it stands, public school teachers accused of sexual misconduct enjoy protections that no other city employee has. That puts children in danger, and we cannot allow it to continue.
Hundreds of New York City public school teachers accused of offenses ranging from insubordination to sexual misconduct are being paid their full salaries to sit around all day playing Scrabble, surfing the Internet or just staring at the wall, if that's what they want to do.Here is a Google search of Teachers Paid to Sit if you want more examples.
Because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them, the teachers have been banished by the school system to its "rubber rooms" _ off-campus office space where they wait months, even years, for their disciplinary hearings.
The 700 or so teachers can practice yoga, work on their novels, paint portraits of their colleagues _ pretty much anything but school work. They have summer vacation just like their classroom colleagues and enjoy weekends and holidays through the school year.
Because the teachers collect their full salaries of $70,000 or more, the city Department of Education estimates the practice costs the taxpayers $65 million a year. The department blames union rules.
Obonghit will say that it is Bush’s fault.
Still.
After three years.
Who is to blame? I don’t care.
When governments are forced to cut spending, they always choose the most visible, and painful cuts to make. I think they hit the bullseye by firing the teacher of the year.
In Kalifornia many teachers are publicly laid off each Spring (usually a “potential layoff notice”) and miraculously rehired when school starts up again. If the laid off teacher is really good they could easily get a better teaching job in the private sector.
I’d like to know if the district has actually made spending cuts ... you know, fewer dollars spent than in a previous year ... or if they just had “budget cuts,” which means, “We submitted our ‘everything solid-gold’ budget request, but the county/state would only give us gold-plate.”
Anyhoo, to make this all go away, fully privatize education. Private pay or private charity.
She prolly didn’t have enough “seniority” to survive the cuts, while others who were there 30 years and on “suspension” were kept on. Unions create the ultimate cronyism in that the union members themsellves have no say to what goes on and the union bosses are in unelected positions of power.
I thought unions created a “worker’s paradise”?
Nope, like all other systems, once they get power they get corruption, and power is the ultimate corruption.
This the genius of the founders they realized that if you limit the power of the government you will limit the corruption inherent in it.
Here's a link to the list if anyone is so inclined....
Right gender, wrong color. Had she been an affirmative action hire, she would have had a better chance of retaining her job. Merit and performance have little to do with who gets to teach your children.
I know! I know! I know! Teacher, please call me. I know! I know!
> “If the laid off teacher is really good they could easily get a better teaching job in the private sector.”
Bullseye, so true.
Layoffs should be 3 to 2. Three teachers to two district staffers. That’s about the ratio of teachers to staff in the school districts.
I did some work for California Highway Patrol. It was three uniformed to two non uniformed in the department. Should have been four to one.
But media and their dimwit government counterparts will only mention teachers, firefighters and police when it comes to layoffs.
Teachers being laid off, but the taxpayer-supported Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center is still open.
Am I the ONLY one that sees a problem here??
Government is the problem here. If the citizens got to spend their own money, those who want teachers for their children would pay teachers, and those who want homosexual activity would pay for that. Problem solved.
It’s her own fault, she was making the other teachers look bad by comparison.
“In Kalifornia many teachers are publicly laid off each Spring (usually a “potential layoff notice”) and miraculously rehired when school starts up again.”
Thats so they can collect “unemployment insurance” pay for the summer to supplement their generous salary, when they’d normally be off for the summer.
Over 60% of California’s fiscal budgets are used for teacher’s pay........
Yeah the first couple of years are low paying, but soon their in the money.....the unions always decry the low (starting) wages every few years looking to pad their already generous salaries (+unemployment every summer). It’s one big scam........”for the children.”
A relative in an adjoining district says she's done. Gone!
Because of her obvious abilities, she will easily be rehired by another district which has the budget to rehire, but looses all but 3 years of the seniority she accrued in the Sacramento City Unified School District.
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