A couple of days ago, waiting in the car for Josh I heard this vicious ad on the radio railing against State Senator Kevin Eltife for not letting SB 1643 go to debate. Well, in my daily browsing of local news I noticed that things have gotten a bit further. Essentially, the bill would have allowed the state to take control of teacher appraisal from the districts and increase the ability of schools to fire teachers for "ineffectiveness" (based on such things as student test scores....) Anyways, from the brief bit I've read of the bill and such I'm grateful for Senator Eltife's opposition to the bill. Josh sent a thank you email his way.
The pressure on teachers with standardized testing is bad enough. I'm not sure what these businesses think an "effective" teacher is and I'm curious to get some more definitions from them. I wasn't pleased with an opinion editorial I found supporting the bill and wish that people would go into the schools and walk in the shoes of teachers every once in awhile.
Maybe we should be talking about "effective" students. Many in the school are down to the last wire dealing with snotty students and snotty parents... really, you should hear some of the stories from one of our school secretaries. Quit babying your kids parents! They're old enough to learn some basic responsibility such as putting their dance clothes in a locker, or bringing their lunch or money to school....
Other links to info about SB 1643, now dead!!!!!
Posted by Anna at May 10, 2007 05:39 PM | TrackBack