Ed Notes Extended

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Sunday, March 3, 2019

Oakland Strike Settled - This contract caps a historic seven-day strike that united a community to save public education in Oakland


New agreement: district will lower class sizes caps in K to 23 students; 1st-3rd grade to 26 ; 4th-5th gr to 29 & HS core subjects to 31; & by 2021 by another student. (All these caps lower than current contract hasn't changed in 50 yrs

Updated:

Some highlights of the 4-year tentative agreement include:

 * Experienced teachers stay in the classroom. 11% salary increase, 3% bonus at ratification

 * Lower class sizes. Phased-in class size reductions at all schools

 * School closures. 5-month pause in any school closures

 * More student supports. Lower caseloads for special education teachers and counselors

 * A charter cap. The school board will vote to push the state for a charter school moratorium
------ As reported on Diane Ravitch blog: Oakland Settlement: The Union’s View
While some are emphasizing what looks like a massive salary increase compared to what the UFT won recently, the victory for the Oakland teachers seems to be bigger than the sum of its parts. Now I'm sure that some groups will not be happy and may start calling this a sellout - well, because anything less than ever asked for becomes a sellout. Key - remember this is a strike in an urban blue state.



There will also be people saying why can't it happen here? Starting salaries for teachers at Oakland schools is $46,500 a year and the average salary in the district is $63,000 a year. We know that in every strike - blue, red or purple, low salaries were a factor - Here in NYC with a top salary of 130K and starting at around 60K, there won't be many people risking their jobs, tenure and two for one penalties until they are practically on bread lines.

Now as Leonie points out in her twitter post, class sizes haven't changed here in 50 years. Would NYC teachers strike over class size? Or abusive admins? Or other working conditions? We see how many critics of Unity Caucus remain anonymous. Can you see them actually walking out? And pleas for the rank and file to force the leadership to strike is ridiculous -- the only way to ever get a strike is to throw Unity out and anyone out there saying something else is blowing smoke.

Some photos sent over by my former colleague (1969) Pete Farrugio:









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1 comment:

  1. Leonie HaimsonSunday, March 3, 2019 at 10:36:00 AM EST

    Class size caps in the UFT contract haven't changed in 50 years - average class sizes have been reduced. More here. https://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2019/02/update-on-class-size-caps-violations.html

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