Monday, October 22, 2007

Merit Pay - The Play's the Thing


Schoolwide Merit Pay is now playing in a school in New York City near you.

ACT 1 Scene 1


A Principal's Office in a school that will be dividing pay for performance. A meeting is taking place. Present: principal, Assistant Principal, two teachers elected by the staff which also voted to participate with 65% of the vote. The principal campaigned aggressively, going from room to room for 2 days to lobby.

When the vote came in at 45%, the principal called a "do-over," claiming the air conditioning wasn't
working that day and teachers must have been addled. She told people the air would never be turned on again if she lost the vote. She also claimed irregularities. When the chapter leader complained, he received a visit from the AP that afternoon and was given an Unsatisfactory because his trash can was 4 inches away from the designated spot. He went to the UFT to complain he was being harassed for union activity. "Welllll, you can't grieve the letter because we gave up that right in the 2005 contract. Keep a log."

Some teachers went to the UFT to complain. "Ummmmm, file a grievance," said the UFT district rep. "But that will take a year and in the meantime the school will be divided over merit pay," the teachers responded. "Ummmmmmm," said the UFT rep.

Principal: Okay, I want Schmeril to get the bonus money.
Teacher 1: But Schmeril had nothing to do with the academic program. She hangs out in your office all day.
Principal: That's the point. She keeps my papers in order, does all the paperwork my incredible difficult job requires, and most importantly, takes care of all my responsibilities on the computer, which I still don't know how to turn on. Schmeril also dusts my shelves and gets me lunch and coffee. All this frees me to manage the school, which is why the scores went up and we are getting the bonus. You don't think our success is due to any teacher in the classroom, do you?
Teacher 2: But...
AP: Quiet. Don't you know Ms. Z has been empowered by the mayor and chancellor and the UFT to do whatever she wants?

TO BE CONTINUED

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why do your opponents from Unity always have to resort to personal insults and name-calling? Why can't they engage in honest debate?

Oops, I just answered the question there. I used the word "honest."

Anonymous said...

11:41 anon was pointed out at the delegate assembly. Honest? Can't spell the word (or much else). Also one of the most incompetent union hacks.

Anonymous said...

Anon said,
"BTW, you're not funny, WITTY, nor clever.

Stick a fork in you, you're done!"

WITTY!

I bet it's the buffoon that got the UFT award named after me. I'm still pissed about that.

Anonymous said...

My ICE Chapter leader is now giving pension conultations. Isn't he brilliant. I wonder how many future's he's going to screw up!

Anonymous said...

Norm you are going to win a Tony. Can I get a ticket to the award show. By the way, who is going to play the Principal and the poor teacher in the movie. I have some ideas.

Anonymous said...

Why are you ICE guys like my Chapter Leader now giving pension consultations? Do you think you know that much? Talk about arrogant

Anonymous said...

Why do you get upset? That is the true. The BONUS/MERIT/INCENTIVE money will be divided among the principal and her/his best friends, not among the teachers who really work. All this a complete corruption.