Greedy Teachers May Strike! (Kyle Miller)

Last night on the news, it seemed like the local Columbus TV station felt the need to compete with the Dayton TV stations as they sensationalized the Columbus Education Association's contract negotiation process with the Board of Education. I fully support the teachers in Dayton Public Schools, support their rights to collective bargaining, and hope for a balanced, acceptable contract to be finalized soon.

But last night on the news, NBC4 sent a young, inexperienced, and unknowledgeable reporter to cover the Columbus Board of Education meeting where a large group of teachers were wearing their red solidarity shirts. This was a statement to the Board that they are eager to come to an agreement on a contract before the current one expires in two weeks.

Listen to these clips from the story!

  • "Hundreds of teachers say they deserve more money." (This is not even a major sticking point.)
  • "There is no guarantee teachers will even be in those classrooms when school begins." (Yes there is. Law requires a 10-day strike notice. School starts three days after the contract expires. Teachers will be at school.)
  • "By law the current contract automatically will roll over, but those at the head of the classroom don't have to honor it." (Not true. If a contract did "roll over", which it doesn't, teachers would have to honor it. It would be a legal contract.)
  • "If an agreement is not reached by August 20th, a teacher's strike to start the school year becomes a real possibility." (It is not a possibility for the start of the year. It could happen later, but not on August 23rd.)
It's this poor, uninformed, sensationalized reporting that generates public comments like these (from the news channel's website):

  • Throwing more money at a failing school system does not mean it will fix anything. Columbus City Schools have plenty of waste to cut out and still give teachers a raise. 
  • Time for someone to get a backbone and stop giving both the teachers AND the school board money!!!! Both have ruined the schools and there is no accountability from either side!!!! 
  • I wish that I could strike. Fire them all and hire people who will be happy just having a job. You bend me over for the school levy and now this. NO THANK YOU.
A teacher's contract negotiation is bargained in private. There is no news until that process breaks down. As long as there is work toward a contract, it is only the business of the Union and the Board. But the news outlet is trying to make news out of a normal 3-year negotiation cycle. This undermines teachers, makes them seem like they are greedy capitalist pigs trying to freeload on the backs of hard-working tax payers, and sinks the level of the profession and the critical importance of the work they do. And imagine what this call that "the sky is falling" does to principals who could possibly be freaking out that there won't be teachers when the kids show up on day one. 


    Comments

    1. UnknownAugust 2, 2017 at 8:14 PM

      Kyle, anything negative, in regards to Columbus City Schools makes the headlines. It is as if the media outlets in Central Ohio have a steak in the demise of Columbus City Schools. Whether it is test scores, violence, tragedy, whatever. The media is there to report. There are so many positives happening in CCS that the media overlooks, it makes one think of some sort of conspiracy against CCS.

      ReplyDelete
    2. UnknownAugust 2, 2017 at 8:55 PM

      This is one of those stories that I have been following, especially since I was going to be placed in my beloved city for my internship. The district plans to hire Huffmaster Crisis Response, a company that provides pre-strike contingency planning and also provides replacement workers as well as strike-trained uniformed officers. Apparently they have a boatload of licensed, certified and background checked teachers who are waiting in the wings in the unfortunate case of a strike. Teachers, parents and students are very concerned about the "scrubs" who could potentially take their place for the duration of the strike. Reynoldsburg City Schools used Huffmaster during a 15 day strike in 2014. Parents filed a complaint that there was inadequate staffing, Huffmaster employees slept on the job, harassed and stole from students. How true the allegations are? I don't know. But what I do know is that students and their parents should be able to go into a new school year without the additional anxiety of not knowing any of their teachers. For high school seniors, this could make a drastic impact on their GPA and potentially harm their college eligibility and scholarships.

      DPS and the DEA have three more opportunities to come to the table for negotiations. I think it was a mistake of the federal mediator to suspend all negotiations until the first of August. This should have been settled a long time ago so that this elevated stress at the beginning of a new school year could be avoided. Even if they are able to settle before school starts, the anxiety at this point will surely spill over.

      ReplyDelete
    3. Valerie KunzeAugust 3, 2017 at 5:34 AM

      This is really frustrating to me, it's the lead story on our local news?! COME ON. Reporting on legal disputes (or negotiations, or decisions, etc.) if reported correctly would be completely boring. In the CCS case, CCS went to great lengths to involve the community in their building plans, which led to the decision on the size of the levy (the smallest mills), and all of this was painstakingly transparent - but not sensational. The sensational aspect, now, is the "fight" and nothing else. And the fight, is as you say Kyle, routine. Feel free to google my name to see frustrating reporting on my cases, which I assure you does not represent the real disputes. I think it has to do with the pressures on the media to bring ratings, and the lack of time, effort, and expertise on behalf of reporters to present these issues as anything but sensational.

      ReplyDelete

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