Excerpts from some International newspapers!
Thousands of teachers take part in sickout, The Miami Herald, Tue Apr 13 2010. Patricia Mazzei, Hannah Sampson, and Kathleen McGrory.
…..more than 6,300 of Miami-Dade's 21,260 public-school teachers took a personal or sick day Monday to protest controversial legislation that would overhaul their pay.
……more than 1,000 teachers gathered at Tropical Park in Westchester to drive the point home.
That Monday's protest took place in the diverse, largely low-income Miami- Dade school district -- the state's largest -- was enough to catch the attention of Gov. Charlie Crist, who has until Friday to sign or veto the bill.
``I ran to be the people's governor and it's very helpful to hear from the people,'' Crist told The Miami Herald on Monday. ``It's enormously helpful.''
The message he's hearing from most people: Veto the bill.
Between March 1 and Monday, Gov. Crist's office had logged 15,694 calls, 1, 869 letters and more than 18,000 individual e-mails opposing the bill. That's compared to 264 calls, 11 letters and 80 e-mails in support. He's gotten an additional 33,000 calls that staffers haven't yet been able to categorize.
…..Monday's coordinated absences were a grassroots effort. The idea bubbled up among teachers Friday afternoon -- and grew over the weekend via text messages and on social networking sites like Facebook.
…..``No determination has yet been made on disciplinary actions although we have an expectation that employees will follow the terms of their contract and state statute regarding the obligations of their position,'' said John Schuster, spokesman for the school district.
The United Teachers of Dade did not support Monday's absences. Instead, union leaders urged teachers to protest outside of school -- as did officials for the Broward Teachers Union.
Under Florida law, teachers are not allowed to strike.
…..
Union blasts city schools overhaul plan; Teachers' hours, pay, and seniority affected,
The Boston Globe, Tue Apr 13 2010. James Vaznis
The Boston Teachers Union started galvanizing opposition yesterday to parts of Superintendent Carol R. Johnson's plan to overhaul 12 underperforming schools, after she called for teachers to work dozens of additional hours without extra pay.
The proposal is part of an initial negotiating package Johnson sent to union officials over the weekend, under a new state law that gives superintendents greater leverage to make dramatic changes at state-designated underperforming schools over the objections of unions.
…. said that her plan reflects economic realities.
``One of the challenges everyone is aware of is that we have a very difficult fiscal situation,'' she said. ``If we had all the resources in the world, we would want to compensate them'' for the additional time.
Under the law enacted in January, school superintendents still must negotiate changes with their respective unions, but only under a 30-day timeline, much shorter than traditional bargaining. If negotiations on a proposal fail, the union has the right to appeal in an arbitration-like process. If that breaks down, a state education commissioner could ultimately decide the dispute.
…
Johnson held a press conference, saying she would force teachers at about half those city schools to reapply for their jobs,…..Among Johnson's proposals, which are considered drafts because negotiations are just beginning: not paying teachers for additional time when extending the school day by up to an hour; requiring 50 hours of additional teacher training without pay; nullifying layoff and seniority provisions; and tying annual pay raises to job performance.
Another proposal seeks to increase class sizes for programs that teach fluency in English, beyond limits set in the teachers' contract.
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Teaching unions want boycott on controversial Sats, The Western Morning News (Plymouth, UK), Mon Apr 12 2010. Olivier Vergnault
Hundreds of pupils in the Westcountry could be banned from sitting Sats exams if a boycott of the controversial test by two leading teachers unions is successful.
The National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) are currently balloting their leadership group members over the boycott of the national curriculum tests.
The two unions hope to see the end of Sats, which they say are flawed and lead to the publication of performance tables which destroy the careers of school leaders. If successful, the NUT's Executive would call its 22,000 South West members to action on April 21.
As part of the boycott, teachers refuse to follow any and all of the test opening, checking and administrative procedures for English and mathematics Sats, refuse to carry out the tests and refuse to ensure that all eligible and able pupils take the test.
NUT officials said the science sample tests, which will take place in a limited number of schools, was not to be included in this action.
The schools department has confirmed the results of the science tests would only be used for national sampling, not for school accountability.
The results would not be provided to Ofsted or local authorities.
Andy Woolley, regional secretary for the NUT in the South West, said pupils would benefit more from extra lessons than from taking part in the decried Sats.
He said: "This is not a strike action and other work in schools will continue as normal, and children will benefit from being taught instead of tested.
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"We want schools' accountability not to be narrowed by using Sat test scores as a proxy for school achievement.
….
"There should also be a national sampling test system,…., to provide information about national standards in English, mathematics and science so that trends in performance can be monitored over time."
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'We want to see the end of time-wasting rehearsal for high- stakes testing'
