Turn Out for Domestic Partner Benefits

The School Board's committee on Finance & Personnel meets tonight. Some ho-hum stuff on the agenda, but a couple items worth our attention and action. (See the entire agenda here.)

The committee will be taking public testimony on the Resolution introduced by Director Jennifer Morales last November to offer benefits to the domestic partners of unrepresented MPS employees.

Of course, unrepresented employees do not include MTEA members, but if the Resolution were passed, we will have a better shot at bargaining the benefit for our members in the next round of negotiations.

Read MTEA President Dennis Oulahan's statement on why MTEA supports this Resolution.

If you feel strongly about the issue, it's a great opportunity to speak your mind. 6:30 p.m. at the Central Services Auditorium, 5225 W. Vliet St.

Other items of note:

• There is an agenda item about providing services under ESEA ("No Child Left Behind") to non-public school students and teachers, including those in religious schools. So, hmm, let me get this straight -- MPS has to pay to the tune of more than $11 million to provide services to students and teachers in schools that aren't required to meet all the punitive accountability measures under this hair-brained federal education law - AYP and the like. They get to actually benefit from the law, while public schools get some serious spanking. Nice. You gotta give the establishment credit for thinking up this one.
  
• 4 teachers who are resigning from MPS listed "residency" as the reason for their resignation. MTEA members are divided on this issue, even though MTEA included repeal of residency on their legislative agenda

Public Hearing Storm

Okay, I'm trying to be clever, I admit. But when I was at the meeting, I was keeping an eye on the radar, too.


Several times during the evening, President Peter Blewitt read the names and comments of people who are in favor of raising the school board portion of the tax levy to the limit. That is so encouraging. Many interesting points were made during the testimony.

Several people spoke on behalf of finding ways to retain as many educational assistants as possible. Up to 200 (?!?) might be laid off if the budget passes as it is currently written. These people work closely with our students and have a real pulse on the kids. One speaker, Mike Langyel (MTEA vice president) mentioned that when he started student teaching, the educational assistants were the most helpful. I had similar experiences when I started at my first school, come to think of it.

A few educational assistants spoke on behalf of themselves and their colleagues. These are people who love their jobs and work VERY hard, are paid poorly, and yet come to work daily. One speaker was in tears as she gave her testimony to the Board.

We need to remember that the educational assistants are often parents, guardians, and grandparents in Milwaukee Public Schools. They already don't get paid much. We would be shooting ourselves in the foot by cutting jobs--now we have more kids even closer to poverty. It's really basic economics.

Of course, was testimony regarding the need for art and music in schools and for smaller class sizes. I felt good about the conversations we had Thursday night. The outpouring in favor of our students was positive and needed. What will be interesting is how the Board responds.

Director Falk commented that even if they did raise the tax levy, they don't know what they would actually be allowed to collect--there clearly are parts of the tax law that I do not understand. I also don't like the attitude implied: "We don't know what to do..." seems to be what I hear.

I took a longer look at the MPS line item budget, and I don't know what to do, either, but I might have a few questions: Why do some employees get car allowances? Why does the school board need $20,000 for travel (where are they going)? Is it possible that the district could look for ways to save energy (turn off some lights district wide, turn up the air and turn down the heat in Central Services)? What are the "consumables" I see for many of the departments? I'm just asking.

Anyway, I look forward with hope to the decisions that might come from the meeting on Thursday the 19th. Remember, if you have not been to a board meeting, you can still contact your school board member!

Good News

Tuesday night as I was trying to get to the School Board meeting I turned on the radio to hear the broadcast. I knew teachers were going to be there to speak to the adoption of the social studies textbook series and I didn't want to miss that. When I heard then that the Board had withdrawn its recommendation for adopting a textbook series, I smiled with excitement. This meant a win--a win on behalf of the educators that stood up and spoke out against the adoption of a textbook series for social studies that failed to give accurate and adequate coverage to issues of racism, discrimination, immigration among others.
At that moment I really wished I wasn't listening to the car radio. I wanted to be at the Board meeting able to enjoy this with other colleagues. When I did arrive I saw Bob Peterson (see previous post)handed me a packet of information that examined and compared the textbooks that were up for consideration. He pointed out to me the page that discussed the text for second grade students and this example clearly points out the text's bias. From the Houghton Mifflin series being considered entitled, Neighborhoods, our children would've learned about being a citizen:
You are a Citizen
A citizen is a person who belongs to a place. You are a citizen of the community where you live and the nation where you were born. You can also become a citizen of the United States even if you were not born here
To that Bob Peterson wrote, "This last sentence is a nod to naturalized citizens, but it simply is not true. Not everyone who is here can become a citizen. But if, as children are told in this passage, everyone can become a citizen of the United States, then obviously the non-citizens in our midst are choosing to not join "us". Shame on them."
The text continues to be exclusive when it begins to speak of "rights" and how as a citizen has rights that are protected by the government. The text only speaks of rights as it relates to citizenship--not all of our children are citizens. Not all of our children's parents or relatives are citizens. What about their rights?
The Board has expressed interest to work with educators in developing an improved proposal to deal with the teaching of social studies and this is fantastic news. I offer a huge congratulations to the teachers and individuals that organized and spoke out on this issue.
We need to continue to speak out and that includes at tonight's Board meeting at 6:30, the last public hearing on the proposed budget.
Oh, I also wanted to mention that on Tuesday's meeting a number of school counselors came out to speak to the issue of the lack of counselors in K-8 schools. (A letter was sent to the Board on this subject from Tom Morgan, the MTEA Executive Director). One of the Board members posed the question whether or not it was a requirement that each school had a guidance counselor. Now, at this point, I have to admit that I was driving into the parking lot of Central Services and the radio reception was going in and out but I heard enough of the answer to catch the drift and spoke to a guidance counselor afterwards who confirmed what I had heard. The answer was that some schools didn't have counselors because they "chose" to keep other positions, such as art teachers or gym teachers. This line is infuriating and Tuesday night was NOT the first time this has been uttered. When the administration refers to cutting positions at schools as a "choice" each school community is making, I get angry because it never feels like a choice. Choice implies power and when schools are faced with paltry numbers for their budget, it all feels pretty powerless. And then to have it turned around as some kind of reprimand is just insulting.

Textbook Adoption - Tuesday, June 10

We mentioned textbook adoption here before.

The School Board's Innovation and School Reform committee will be making their decision about the social studies text on Tuesday, June 10.

More from MTEA Executive Board member Bob Peterson:

Dear colleagues,

On Tuesday, June 10 the Innovation and School Reform Committee of the Milwaukee School Board will consider adoption of new social studies textbook series for kindergarten through 5th grade, 6th and 7th grade, and 8th grade. The K-5th grade adoption will cost $3,152,175 (about $75 per student).

The series that is up for adoption is Houghton Mifflin Social Studies, 2008. I encourage people to take a critical look at the texts on the matter of race and other issues.

My read of the 800-page fifth grade US History textbook is that is so lacking, that the school board NOT adopt the series, at least not the fifth grade component of it.
For example, the book never once mentions the word "racism." It mentions the word "discrimination" only once in the text. The words "stereotype" and "anti-semitism" don't appear. The words "Puerto Ricans" don't appear. While there is lengthy description of some Native American nations prior to the Europeans coming to the Americas, the summation is "The Columbian Exchange benefitted people all over the world." (p. 98) Oh really? The Native Americans? What kind of history is that?

For a more in-depth examination of the curricular silences found in this and most other textbooks, read the editorial in the current issue of Rethinking Schools.

Proponents of adoption of this series will argue that "none of the major textbook companies" mention race or deal with racism in their books. That may be true. But does it mean that we should just continue the mindless practice of adopting inadequate (racist) texts every seven years? When will we?

Perhaps in this historical year when an African American is a major candidate for the US Presidency, it is time for the educators in Milwaukee and the School Board to tell the textbook companies that we want textbooks that serve the needs of and reflect our multiracial student population.

SO - go to the school board meeting on June 10 if you care about issues of race, class and social justice in public education. Our elected leaders need to hear your voice.

If you want more info, Bob has studied this matter extensively. You can email him for "an in-depth analysis of the 5th grade textbook."

Students tell School Board what programs they would like MPS to offer

The underlying theme to the two hour public testimony the school board directors heard at Tuesday night's board meeting was "Raise the school tax levy to the maximum!" The roughly 125 people present at the meeting consisted of teachers, educational assistants, MTEA leaders, parents, and roughly 20 students from MTEA Executive Board member Bonnie Brusky's English class at Riverside High School. Riverside was recently recognized as being one of the top 500 high schools in the country, and in the top three high schools in Wisconsin.

The students told the board members that the MPS 2008-09 budget should increase course offerings in the Arts and specialty programs, and newer and better text books in MPS schools. Several students also mentioned they would like to see MPS offer driver's education. Many of the students also encouraged the board members to visit all of MPS' schools, so they can see what the schools truly need to keep kids wanting to go to school and be successful.

These students didn't just represent their classmates at Riverside High School. Rather these students represented all MPS students who will suffer under the current budget proposal by MPS' administration under the constraints of the school board's direction.

Most importantly, these students showcased the importance of providing a high quality education with enriching and engaging educational programs. These students spent their Tuesday night not talking on the phone or instant messaging friends online like most teenagers. Instead, these MPS students decided to spend their night participating in the democratic process and advocating for the educational opportunities they think all children in MPS deserve to have.

To paraphrase one student, "My mom wants to send me to a school in the suburbs because they have more classes. I don't want to leave MPS!"

Please attend the June 12th meeting and ask the school board to fund the programs that MPS students want and deserve so none of their parents will want to send them to another school district.

Another Chance on June 12

This from Bob Peterson, an MTEA executive board member and convener of the Educators Network for Social Justice (ENSJ) - an "independent group of educators working to promote social justice teaching and policy in Milwaukee-area schools."


Dear Friends,

The time is now to act to get more money for the students of MPS. If educators, parents, school councils, and concerned citizens speak out in the next ten days there is a chance that each school could get some significant budget relief for next year.

At the school board budget hearing this past June 2, it became public that the school board could generate $20.9 million more dollars if they decide to raise the school tax levy to what is allowable under the state revenue caps and turn that money over to the schools on a per pupil basis.

The administration stated that for each additional $1 million the per pupil "allocation" would be $12.95. That means if the school board is convinced to raise the additional $20.9 million AND live up to their rhetoric of school-based budgeting, each school would be allocated about $270 per pupil. You can do the math from there. A school with 400 students would get an additional $108,000 for next years budget, enough to hire back some paras or a teacher.

This will not happen without a LARGE outpouring of support from people throughout Milwaukee. What can you do:

1. Attend the next public hearing on the budget on Thursday, June 12 at 6:30 at the auditorium of the Central Services.
2. Get at least five staff and parents from your school to attend the hearing
3. Get your school council president or PTA president to attend the hearing and speak
4. Get all the above to call school board members
5. Get everyone in your school to email their school board member
6. Attend the June 19 MPS (6:30 PM) when they take their final vote on the budget (not public hearing that evening).

For information on how to email and call school board members go to the MPS website.

Please note any move to increase the levy will bring criticism (and mobilization) by those who oppose any increases in the property tax. MPS officials estimate that increasing the levy to the state limit would increase the property tax ON THE MPS PORTION of the bill by 9.4%. This is NOT an increase of 9.4% in the overall bill, something which certain people will fail to acknowledge.

The time to act is now. The children of Milwaukee deserve it.

Sincerely,
Bob Peterson

(P.S. Bob is also editor of a great magazine for educators and others interested in public education. It's called Rethinking Schools and it's worth checking out.)

Not on the Test

I thought since budgets cuts seem the deepest when it comes to art and music programs that this song was totally appropriate in light of what's been going on at the school board's budget hearings. (thanks to Stephanie W. for sending the link)

Remember, now is the time to speak up and tell the board to stop making cuts that hurt our kids! Come to the next budget hearing JUNE 3rd at 6:30 pm!