MTA Today - Fall 2015

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The power of organizing and collective action made the difference for the Leominster Education Association this fall as members concluded negotiations on a new three-year contract. Educators showed up in force at School Committee meetings, as they did in the photo above on Oct. 5, proudly displayed their “Public Funds for Public Schools” stickers and distributed fliers at public events. In the end, the School Committee withdrew some of its most onerous proposals and educators got a contract that includes more teaching time, raises and more professional development.

Photo by Sarah Nathan
percent raise if they liked you. If they
just tolerated you, you might get a 1
percent raise. And then there was one
teacher whose kids had high scores on
the Iowa Test of Basic Skills who got

$10,000. But it was all random. You never knew what you were going to get.

The environment was toxic. The administrators claimed they wanted you to collaborate with one another, but there was a disincentive to collaborate since teachers were competing against each other for money.

As bad as it was for teachers, the environment for kids was often worse. I also saw a system designed to remove kids who needed the most help. For example, a number of our kids were Haitian Creole English language learners. Now, on paper these students got ELL services, but compared to real ELL services at a public school, they got no ELL services. Some of these students were kept back multiple times until their families said, “I’ve had enough of this” and moved them back to the public school.

The same was true for students on
Individualized Education Programs. I
sat in IEP meetings with parents who
didn’t speak English and whose kids
were being held back. The parents
were never offered translators. I felt
they were coerced into accepting the
IEP determination without any real
understanding of what it meant.

All this worked well for the charter schools, as they were able to remove kids who needed the most services and would lower test scores. For me, teaching these kids without them getting adequate support was like swimming in handcuffs.

Watertown is very diverse. I find the kids in my classroom fascinating, and they have varied needs and wants. The kids in the charter school were just the same. But there was no conversation about what made them special. It was all about meeting your objective, and the objective was the same every day: Improve their test scores. Now, the classroom is a learning experience for me. I am proud to call teaching both a career and a profession and to be able to do what I truly love every day.

Milton Campus

617-333-2364

Plymouth Campus 508-747-2424

For more information, visit curry.edu/education

CURRY COLLEGE DIVISION OF CONTINUING AND GRADUATE STUDIES Master of Education

• Elementary Education: Grades 1-6

• Special Education: Moderate Disabilities, Grades PreK- 8

• Hybrid format – a combination of in-class and
online meetings
• Experienced teachers can earn a second license in elementary
education or special education by completing just two courses
and a practicum