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1) EIA Coverage of NEA Representative Assembly
Begins July 1. For the ninth consecutive year, EIA will provide daily
gavel-to-gavel coverage from the floor of the National Education Association
Representative Assembly. The first communiqué will be issued from Orlando,
Florida, the evening of Saturday, July 1, and each evening thereafter until
the convention closes on July 5. Subscribers will automatically receive
those bulletins via e-mail as usual, and they will also be posted on the EIA
web site shortly after transmission. The direct link is
http://www.eiaonline.com/convention.htm and there will also be a
permanent link to the bulletins on the home page at
http://www.eiaonline.com.
This year, I also hope to add some informal items about
the convention and its delegates on the pages of EIA's blog,
Intercepts. So keep an eye out there as well.
I will be available via e-mail for your questions and
comments during the convention, but please make allowances for delays in my
response. Members of the media not present at the convention should contact
me before Friday for telephone contact information. Delegates and guests are
welcome to visit with me by the press section (left of the stage as you face
it), but be aware I am restricted from wandering around the convention
floor.
As always, conversations with me at the convention are
kept in confidence - not for publication unless you explicitly agree
otherwise – from the first-time delegate all the way up to Reg. Feel free to
ask anyone who knows about my track record in this regard. Anonymous blurbs
– hostile or laudatory – are always welcome.
2) Alteration to NEA Gay Marriage Resolution in Works.
In case you didn't see
Friday's late bulletin on Intercepts, NEA's Resolutions Committee
has already put together an alternate resolution on gay marriage and
adoption that would supersede the one offered by the union's Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Caucus. The new amendment would
move the issue from Resolution B-8 to B-10, and insert this language:
"The Association also believes that
these factors should not affect the legal rights and obligations of the
partners in a legally-recognized domestic partnership, civil union, or
marriage in regard to matters involving the other partner, such as medical
decisions, taxes, inheritance, adoption, and immigration."
In a communication
to state affiliate leaders that notes the e-mail protests of the American
Family Association, NEA President Reg Weaver wrote: "While I understand that
the e-mails and phone calls you are receiving are generating concern, we
must not allow the tactics and manipulations of these divisive groups to
derail our process. NEA has no position on same-sex marriages, and
leadership is not seeking to establish such a position."
3) NEA Alaska Executive Director Resigns.
Last
Tuesday on Intercepts,
EIA broke the story that NEA Alaska Executive Director Tom Harvey resigned.
Citing medical and family reasons for his decision, Harvey will stay on
until the end of August. His contract was to run until June 2007.
Harvey came under fire for his treatment of female
employees, and was the subject of a
landmark lawsuit filed by three former NEA Alaska staffers.
4) Los Angeles Takeover: Union Reaches for
Champagne, Mobs Reach for Pitchforks. Webster's defines "compromise" as
"to settle or adjust by concessions on both
sides," and also "to weaken or give up (one's principles, ideals, etc.) as
for reasons of expediency," as well as "to weaken or otherwise impair." We
got all of that and more in the compromise reached by Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa over control of the city's schools.
You can link to the
stories of the deal here, and the
reactions of the major players here, though you can't do much better for
analysis than the
editorial page of Sunday's Los Angeles Times, which supported the
mayor's plan until five minutes after the compromise was announced.
Here are just a few of the adjectives the Times
uses: convoluted, lamentable, garbled, confused, alarming, appalling.
One criticism EIA hasn't heard mentioned is that United
Teachers Los Angeles and the California Teachers Association, staunch
defenders of the collective bargaining process (tellingly, collective
bargaining is the one operation that lies untouched in this compromise), had
no qualms about chucking the process out the window when they stood to
benefit from a different negotiating arrangement. It would be ironically
sweet if the other nine unions that bargain with LA Unified, but had no
presence at the negotiating table, challenged the compromise based on
violation of their collective bargaining rights.
5) What a Difference a State Makes.
Meanwhile,
across the state line in Arizona, Governor Janet Napolitano (Democrat)
reached a budget compromise with Senate President Ken Bennett and House
Speaker Jim Weiers (Republicans) that included tuition tax credits and
school vouchers.
In his response to this news, Arizona Education
Association President John Wright wrote, "The Arizona Education Association
opposes this budget and takes offense that it was negotiated in secrecy,
voted on in the middle of the night, and that educators were not consulted
about, or alerted to, the inclusion of vouchers."
Wright's anguish can best be assuaged by a 372.48 mile
drive west, where his sister union embraces what he decries.
6) Ohio Education Association Puts Funding
Initiative on Front Burner. Sources with first-hand knowledge tell EIA
that the Ohio Education Association will develop a state ballot initiative
for more school funding if the legislature does not come through with more
money in this session. The initial plan is to place such a measure on the
November 2007 ballot.
7) Almost $220,000 to Fire a Tenured Teacher in
Illinois. As a follow-up to his series on
The Hidden Cost of Tenure for Small Newspaper Group, Scott Reeder
addressed some criticism his reports received from Illinois teachers'
unions.
"In the original series, which was published in
December," Reeder wrote, "the newspapers said school districts reasonably
could expect to spend at least $100,000 to try to fire a tenured teacher.
"That figure, which was based on attorney estimates,
was immediately called into question by one of the state's two major teacher
unions, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, which contends such cases
usually cost school districts less than $50,000.
"To settle the question, Small Newspaper Group filed
Freedom of Information Act requests for every attorney bill paid by a school
district in a tenured teacher dismissal case during the last five years.
"Those bills indicate school districts have spent an
average of $219,504.21 in legal fees for dismissal cases and related
litigation from the beginning of 2001 until the end of 2005.
"As staggering as that number is, it actually
understates the ultimate cost of these lawsuits because 44 percent of these
cases are still on appeal and the lawyer bills continue to grow."
Reeder's latest report is currently only available to
subscribers of
Quad-Cities Online.
8) Tornillo: The Gift That Keeps on Giving. I pass along this story
to you, dear readers, knowing in advance that some of you will not get to
read it because your spam filter will recognize certain words as
objectionable and emblematic of spam. Nevertheless, here it is.
Last Monday I received the following e-mail:
"I noticed you link to bettersex.com on your webpage
http://www.eiaonline.com/archives/20030519.htm. I am emailing to ask you
to link to our site, AdultSexToys.com, since we also offer adult toys. You
can put a free link to your site in our directory if you would like."
The link appeared in a 2003 story about what former United Teachers of Dade
President Pat Tornillo did with the millions of dollars in union dues he
misappropriated. The relevant portion of that story read:
"He charged python-print pajamas and a matching robe to the union, plus made
a purchase from the Sinclair Intimacy Institute. You can visit their web
site at
http://www.bettersex.com for a full list of products your brain
really doesn't want to associate with Pat Tornillo."
Maybe the adult toy industry knows something I don't, thinking that a link
on a web site about public education and teachers' unions would translate
into more sales for its products. EIA will not, however, pursue this
business opportunity.
9)
Quote of the Week.
"It was some
party, but as we tip-toe through the confetti, our ears ringing from all the
giddy gush about the joys of compromise, we're beginning to notice a very
strong smell in the corners. The anniversary of the mayor's first year in
office loomed and the teachers unions that run the state were threatening to
spoil it. The mayor, a long-time labor guy, struck a hasty deal and teachers
unions threw a wild rumpus to celebrate. As California starts to sober up,
sunlight's going to bring out the deal's still fuzzy, though clearly
unattractive features." – from School Me, the education blog of the
Los Angeles Times, on the mayoral control compromise. (June 22
School Me) |
