Opinion
Editor’s note: Katy Warner wrote this opinion piece before the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and ESPs, Local 59 and the Minneapolis School board voted to ratify the proposed teachers’ contract, granting school principals — among other things — an increased say in teacher transfers.
I have been a teacher for Minneapolis Public Schools for eight years. I did my student teaching here, and that first year I waited for the Minneapolis jobs to hire in late August. I turned down other positions in other areas of the state because I want to work in Minneapolis. I love looking out into my classroom and seeing students from all over the world working together. I want to foster a sense of community and respect in my classes. I want students to learn and feel safe in school. I chose to be here, and I still choose to be here, but we need some community support more than ever.
As I watch Chanel 15 broadcast the [Minneapolis] School Board meetings, I am struck by their negative tone towards teachers and their unsupported beliefs about what impacts student achievement. There is a ton of real data that shows that reducing class size helps students learn more, feel connected to school and closes the achievement gap. Yet, when this is brought up, it is basically ignored. The board is promoting “interview and select” as a cure for failing test scores; they are blaming teachers and wrongly promoting the idea that having a principal “choose” a teacher will increase achievement.
Sadly, they are wrong. What will increase student achievement is smaller class size. As the class size has grown over the past eight years, our struggles to keep students learning have increased dramatically. Little ones need lots of attention, encouragement, and support as they attempt to grasp new ideas and skills. Imagine being new to the country or living in a homeless shelter and coming to school every day. You’d need support, encouragement and time of the teacher to do that. As our attention and time devoted to each individual student gets divided, and divided, this task becomes harder and harder. Having my principal “choose” me doesn’t make that task easier or more successful.
The contract that the School Board and school district have offered the teachers in this round of bargaining is insulting. Minneapolis has some of the best teachers in the country, and we can’t afford to lose them. We need a supportive structure in place for us, just as you trust us to create that daily for your students. Currently, there is a process in place if a teacher is underperforming. The principal has a system for getting that teacher mentoring and, if that doesn’t work, recommending dismissal. There is a process and it works if people use it. If that process is unsatisfactory, that process needs to be changed. I have a pile of observation forms all the way from student teaching to last week when my current principal popped in to observe me. They are good observations; I am proud of them. I teach, students learn — we succeed together. The vast majority of the teachers in Minneapolis are successful professionals who work extended hours for no pay — they work for the joy on your children’s faces when they learn something new. We really need your support.
Please e-mail the Minneapolis School Board, or go to a meeting and tell them that it is not acceptable to take away teachers’ rights to job security and is not acceptable to balance the budget on the backs of the hardest-working bunch in the district. We need to work together to do what is best for the children. That has always been our interest — and will continue to be.
Warner is a visual arts teacher at Pratt Community School.
last revised: January 17, 2008