Friday – February 4: Members of the Wellsville Teacher's Association (WTA) staged an informational picket line this past Friday evening at the high school prior to the Tiger's game with nemesis McDonald. There was nothing menacing with the WTA members. They were just greeting the basketball fans and handing out informtion sheets seeking support for the teachers represented by the union.
Printed on Steeler gold colored paper with black lettering the pamphlets read “Wellsville Teachers: Working for our students, working for you!” Then there is listed four bullet points of information with “Did you know? - (#1) - Wellsville Teachers have worked without a contract for 5 months, (#2) - 75% of the teachers in the district have earned Master's Degree with another 10% who are working on getting a Masters, (#3) - Because we're dedicated to our students, Wellsville teachers work a total of over 400 hours on their own, unpaid time every week, (#4) - The Board has a $3 million surplus (A 45% carry-over)”
“The 64 members of the Wellsville Tacher's Association (WTA) are just asking for a contract that is both fair & affordable, so that we can focus 100% on educating our students – your children.”
That's verbatim, inside the quotation marks, of what was on the handouts. Then it goes on asking that everyone call the Board of Education members and telling them to settle the WTA contract fairly & quickly. The WTA publication provided a list of Board members with their phone numbers.
In the Saturday editions, a Jo Ann Bobby-Gilbert newspaper article reported on the political campaign type signs popping up all around town that state “We Support Wellsville Teachers”. Jo Bob quoted WTA President Darlene Allison as saying the signs “are designed to keep the public informed of what's going on”, adding that “nothing has changed in regard to ongoing negotiations”. It continued with Allison stating the “talks have gone into mediation” again adding “another mediation session set for February 9”. The report also stated Allison saying “this week insurance concessions are the main sticking point”. Other than remark they are in negotiations there have been no comments from any school officials.
Back at the November Board of Education meetings a sizable number of WTA members began attending in a show of solidarity, wearing light blue t-shirts that say across the back “Team Players”. The front of the shirts say “We Stick Together” with a row of stick figures on them. Other than making a visible presence there have been no comments made by them or school officials. The Board president welcomes the WTA members and thanks them for attending.
The next Board of Education meeting has been moved up to Tuesday, February 8 at 6 PM in the Superintendent's office or the Daw Middle School cafeteria if extra seating is required.
We apologize for the quality of the picture above showing some of the WTA members that were there last Friday. We weren't prepared to take outside pictures in near dark conditions without a flash.
ole nib
2 comments:
If we have so many "Master" teachers in our district why do we have some of the lowest test scores in the county ?
My guess would be the teacher-pupil ratio. Some students require more one-on-one mentoring than what classroom time allows. There are some students that can easily grasp what is being taught without any extra help. Then there are some, like we were, that can use some extra explanation of the subject matter before becoming proficient in that subject. The District has worked hard to improve the test scores providing intervention specialist that was made possible by the now vanishing funding provided by the state.
Then there is the mental retention factor. Some students can learn a math problem solving formula in September and by the end of May completely put it out of their minds.
Our favorite reason is the amount of television time the parents allow for their children. In our opinion television viewing is one of the most mind numbing, mental acuity killing mediums that plague our educational efforts in modern times. Some kids can't tell you what 9X9 equals but can tell you the name of every actor in the Days of Our Lives.
It's sad...
nib
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