The Real Face of the Evil Union

In one form or another, most people have pretty strong opinions about unions. They either love them or hate them.

Behold, the evil UNION!

The Union: guardian of the little people.

As soon as contract negotiations caught the public's attention this summer, people (and by "people" I mean PSD and their ever forth coming Q & A  messages) began shouting these warnings:



"We don't want the union taking over our schools."

"The union wants to decide what books your children read."

"The union is using scare tactics to stir up public anger against the district."

"There is no problem with curriculum. The union has tricked the teachers into striking."

"The union is trying to make an example of PSD as part of a national power grab."

"The union has taken over Pasco."

"The union ate my baby."

Eventually things settled down. The district agreed to resolve the curriculum issue, and teachers went back to work. That should have been the end of it.

But it wasn't.

Strangely enough, there are still board members bemoaning the evils of the union. Still.  Now it'd be one thing if an average uninformed citizen was spouting off about how unions are the devil. But a board member isn't just anybody. They are elected to represent the public and inform decision making at the highest level of the school district. So when board members (yes, more than one) talk about he union like it's some type of evil boogie man, that is something worth noticing.

Is the union the root of all evil in Pasco? Has the union been sent by the devil himself to stir up contention and unrest? I decided to take a closer look at see exactly what kind of devil we are up against here in Pasco.

Behold, the face of EVIL!

The evil union in all it's might!

Ahhhhh!!!!

Pretty hideous right? I mean could anything be more frightening than a smiling, young woman wearing mittens and a mid-calf length skirt, spending her free time out on the street corner encouraging voters to support a school levy?  GROSS!

What about these monsters?

Wow, showing up to work and pretending to be happy. What Creeps!

Attending a community prayer meeting and praying with school board members.
Where does this kind of scum even come from? Seriously!

Oh gross! Not more levy supporters. These monsters just don't know when to quit.

So are unions really evil? The fulfillment of prophecy sent to usher in the apocalypses?

?????

Here's the thing about things: they are just things.
Things aren't good or evil, they just are. A blanket isn't inherently good or evil. It can do good things, like warm you up when you are cold. It can do bad things, like transmit disease to susceptible populations. A blanket is just a blanket. It's what you do with it that matters.

A union is just a union. They aren't inherently bad or good. The people in them may do bad or good things. But the thing itself is just a thing.

So let's not talk anymore about whether unions are good or bad (let the politicians duke that one out). Instead let's talk about whether PAE (the Pasco Association of Educators) is good or bad.  Let's judge it by who is in it and what they do.

Well, we all know who is in it. Teachers. These loving, smiling, amazing people who take care of our children every day, and who even take time outside of the classroom to fight for what's best for our kids (even if it's so cold you need mittens).

And what has PAE done? I mean besides come to work every day ready to do their best to love and teach our children and prepare them for the world ahead of them?

• They participated in a number of activities including a state-wide walk out in hopes of persuading our legislator to fully fund our schools and stop over-testing our children.
• They shed a giant spotlight on Pasco's atrocious lack of curriculum forcing the district to finally take action on an issue they've been avoiding and denying for more than a decade. Although the district continued to try and persuade teachers with money, the union held strong and refused to return to work until the district agreed to a contract that included books for all children, in all grades, in all subjects.
• They worked side by side with parents to help pass a much needed levy.
• They demanded (and are getting) much needed repairs to schools such as New Horizon's High School, as well as getting hot water back on in the bathrooms at Pasco High.
• They fought to keep the heater running in the winter and the air conditioner running in the spring in classrooms where children were being forced to learn in nearly uninhabitable classrooms (yeah, that really happened).
• They have been strong advocates fighting for safe and age appropriate playgrounds for students.
• They are continuing to fight the district on a number of issues including using our children for guinea pigs to line the pockets of researchers (Literacy Squared) and to fight illegal hiring practices that can lead to huge disparity in quality between schools (like when administrators narrowly tailor job listing in order to hire their unqualified friends instead of hiring actual teachers with job appropriate qualifications).

So the next time you find yourself face to face with that awful scary evil union, be sure to thank them.  After you, they are your child's greatest advocate. They are our partners in educating our community. 

So to all my friends in PAE, thank you.

My Child Works at the PSD Sweat Shop

Remember the good old days of child labor? Those were fun times. No pesky laws to keep kids from pulling their own weight. Even the tiniest tot could head on over to the factory and earn his penny a day wage. Good times. Good times. Sadly the days of children working away in factories is behind us here in America.

The good ol' days, back before them fancy schmancy internuts
and them fancy schmancy intelligent walkie phones.

If you're lucky you can travel to a third world country and catch a glimpse of one of these child-centric economies still at work. Most of us, however, will never get to experience this kind of "opportunity."

Bob learns a life skill instead of a word problem

Steve here is banking trade skills. What did your littl'un bank at school today?

Luckily we have an educational system that believes we can still find a way for these little moochers to pull their own weight. We don't let kids into the factory anymore, that would be too dangerous. Instead we've found some great "white color" jobs for them to do.

Roy Junior had a hard time with the commodities market, so he's trying a little standardized testing.

The testing industry is booming right now and they've got plenty of positions open in research and development. You don't even need to apply. In fact, it's likely your child has already been hired! Every day our kids are sitting behind desks typing away for hours at a time testing out the legitimacy of dozens of methods, models, and modes of education...

A little faster there, Franny. We only get the bonus bucks if you finish in 4 hours or less. 

Strangely, though, it turns out not every parent and teacher is thrilled with the idea that students are spending so much of their learning time taking tests. Apparently this white collar work isn't as harmless as it looks. Those who know children best are seeing all kinds of harmful side effects. Kids are becoming agitated and ill. More fighting and more vomiting (the two most oft cited reasons for joining the teaching profession I'm sure) are occurring. Kids aren't happy and they aren't healthy. Recently in Pasco (and nationally) there has been some push back against excessive testing. In fact, reduced testing is one of the stipulations teachers held out for before agreeing to this year's contract. Teachers demanded that the district cut back on the number of standardized tests given to students each year.

And it worked! Right? Didn't it?

Not exactly. It turns out there are a lot of reasons people like kids to take tests. The number one reason cited in Pasco for all the excess standardized testing..... MONEY.

Well, we SHOULD be limiting testing for the sake of the childrens' psychological and intellectual health
but there's this big old bucket of cash we want...

Every time a test has been brought to the chopping block, a district admin has been there to say we need this test for the simple reason that it's tied to funding.

Yup. Pasco School District gets paid money for the tests your child is taking.

Of course it's not all that black and white. There are a lot of complicated ways the district can make money off of testing. And most of them aren't even that nefarious. The government likes schools to prove they are doing a good job before they just hand over our tax dollars. This means that in order for a school to get the money from the government that we've already paid in taxes, our kids have to first take a test to prove they are actually getting an education.

Also some grants are based on proving that we are serving a particular demographic. In order to prove that, we need a test. Frequently, it's done in the name of accountability. We have to give kids a test to "prove" our kids are learning and then some cooperation or government entity will cut us a big fat check. It's the way the system works. So naturally, we should all be okay with this. Never-mind that the money tied to these tests isn't necessarily getting funneled back into learning. We must get our hands on all the dollars! ...mustn't we?

I don't know about you, but I'm not super thrilled with my children being turned into cash calves so that PSD can hire another assistant superintendent to oversee another experimental program.

Tests are never this tasty.

I mean, if we are going to make money off our kids, there are easier ways to do it. Let's just send them out to the fields to pick apples. They'd make a ton more money, learn a useful skill, and get plenty of exercise. It's a win-win-win!

Right?

The Cotton or Calculus school of education

This boy makes far more money picking carrots AND he doesn't have to break for P.E.

Um.... no.

No. No. No. NO!

Just as we wouldn't stand for the notion of hundreds of little children being marched out to the fields every day, we also shouldn't stand for those same children spending hours at a time hunched over computer screens, working as educational guinea pigs.

Last year the teachers and community in Pasco stood up for students. Twice! During the walk-out and the strike teachers said among other things, "We will not allow our kids to be over-tested. Our children will not take any more standardized tests than is absolutely mandated by law!"  It's in the teacher contract. It is legally binding.

I'm sorry. What is a computer? I don't know the answer to that question.

Now the task at hand is to find out which tests are required by law, and which are not. Unfortunately PSD doesn't seem to know which is which. During recent bargaining (yes, bargaining goes on year round) PAE asked PSD to provide a list of legally mandated tests, and PSD hasn't been able to do it. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.  Do these professional education managers not know which tests are mandated by the state and federal governments?  If that sounds like gross incompetence, it's because it kinda would be. It'd be akin to Mark Zuckerberg not knowing the difference between a hard drive and a USB port. It's not really his whole job description but it's an essential component of it.  

Hands off my tests! This is my
retirement you're talking about here!

I assume, therefore, that our administration at the Booth does, in fact, know which of the tests we're slogging through are mandated. Yet they seem reluctant to share that information with the rest of us. Do they not want to admit what tests aren't required? Why not? Why can't they even give a simple answer to the board at board meetings? That sounds like very shady behavior. At the very least it sounds like behavior that does not have the best interests of the kids at heart.

So what can we do? Two things.

Step 1: We can put our money where our mouth is. 

If we don't want our kids paying their own way through elementary school, then we need to make sure the funding is there for them. This includes the passing of school levies and bonds. If we expect the district to let go of funding tied to testing, we have to show them we are willing to make up the difference. And so far we have!!! Hooray for those who voted and helped to get the levy passed last month. Now lets keep our eye on next years bond.

Step 1: Complete!

Step 2: We can demand better.

Just complaining gets us no where. We need constructive action. We can call, write, or visit the school board and district administrators and let them know we aren't okay with all these tests. If you're a parent who signed a waver to opt your child out of testing last year, take an extra minute to write the school board and let them know you care about all of Pasco's kids. Encourage them to "opt-out" all of Pasco's students. Not every child is lucky enough to have parents who can advocate for them. While your child may have you in their corner, there are 30 other students in their class who are still sitting at a computer screen taking a painful test that has no influence on their actual learning. Not only is this unfair, but it is incredibly prejudicial. High poverty students, special education students, and non-native English students will spend the most time testing of any group of children. Does that seem right? Are you okay with that?

The school board meets every second and fourth Tuesday of the month. See you there.

The Hero of the Levy

Hurrah, hurrah! Levy passed! We have succeeded! We beat the odds, literally! We collectively put our money where our mouths are and passed our levy!  

A Party For The Levy Passing! Gold stars for everyone! Congratulatory party and doing the limbo for a solid week! (Okay, maybe that's too much. Three days of limbo are far more sensible.) 

Party!

Party!

Party!

I’ve seen posts and comments abounding in the last twenty-four hours with this general theme, but in all this congratulations and praise, something is missing. SOMEONE is missing. There’s a big someone here who deserves the credit more than anyone else. That someone is one of my favorite people in the world. 

You, Pasco. You.

This is my love for you, Pasco. It's big, it's shiny and it might make you a little uncomfortable. 

To you and no other, Sir Alastair Pemberton tips his hat.
He's from Alabama so you can trust him. 

Here’s the thing. We can nod our hats to the levy committee, we can nod our hats to the editorial writers of the Tri-City Herald, and we can certainly give a well deserved nod to the parents, children and teachers who stood out on street corners waving signs in the frigid cold. But we all know they aren’t the real heroes here. We, they, and all of us should give credit where credit is due. And if we’re going to be really honest with ourselves, that credit is due entirely to the people of Pasco. To you, my friends. All of you.

I know what you did, and I know what it took for you to do it. I want you to know that I know it wasn't easy.

Voting for something you believe in is easy. Voting for something you believe with all your heart when there’s a high likelihood of success at the other end of that yes vote is likewise simple. But we, myself included, asked something far more complicated and difficult of Pasco. We asked you to give PSD another shot despite all previous evidence. To take a leap of faith. To vote yes even when you’re worried your vote will be abused. A yes vote, with trepidation and fragile hope for the future, though there’s no guarantee that hope is going to be fulfilled.  

Ugh. I want to give the school district money for clubs,
but I gave them money for curriculum for like fifteen
years and they didn't buy curriculum. Ugh.

We’ve asked a lot of you, and I don’t want you to think I didn’t notice. You had some serious, very real and very pertinent worries going into this levy vote. You felt betrayed and ignored by the people asking for your money. You might have felt fed up with this district after having witnessed its complete disregard for integrity during the strike-- But you came through anyway. You swallowed your pride and put the kids first no matter how painful it was to check that yes box. I’m not going to try to pretend it wasn’t conflicting for a whole lot of you. That’s ridiculous. There is a good reason why almost every single place where there’s been a recent strike, levies fail afterward. People are upset. Things have obviously gotten off track somewhere.

We will not fail levies without a fight!

But not here. Not today. We did not go quietly into the night, we did not surrender without a fight. We moved on. We pushed through the doubts and dismay because we all know at the end of the day, that all Pasco kids are worth it. The city is worth it. We are worth it. And those crazy invading space aliens are going DOWN. ...wait. That's not right. That’s for my other blog.

Pasco, I thank you. The kids thank you and the future of the city thanks you. But today I am thanking you, personally, right now. Pasco, you did it. Nobody but you could have done it. So take that celebratory lap, stand a little taller, limbo a little lower, eat that extra slice of pie. You did it.