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Teachers, city near new agreement
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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - After four months of battling over a 45-minute planning period, Baltimore city teachers and the school system have reached an agreement on contract negotiations.
Mayor Sheila Dixon “believes that after days of conversations and negotiations, something positive is about to happen,” said Anthony McCarthy, a spokesman for the mayor, said Thursday night.
“She is very serious about coming to a resolution very quickly. She wants both sides to push through.”
Dixon’s labor commissioner, Deborah Moore Carter, has been working with the Baltimore Teachers Union and the school system to help them find a compromise, he said.
Teachers have argued that their planning time is already too limited and oppose school Chief Executive Officer Andre Alonso’s request that they spend 45 minutes a week planning with colleagues, saying they need time instead to work alone on lesson plans and to grade papers.
Alonso, who previously served as New York schools’ No. 2 leader before coming to Baltimore, says successful schools rely on collaborative planning.
Angry with the threat to reduce individual planning time, teachers have taken to the streets to protest, rallying outside schools throughout the city and marching outside a city school board meeting, often interrupting it with their loud chants and calls for the ouster of Alonso.
During a recent interview on the Marc Steiner show on WYPR, Alonso defended his push for shared planning time among teachers of the same disciplines, saying he had come to Baltimore to make changes and that he wouldn’t be doing his job if he didn’t upset people in the process.
The teachers union has been without a contract since July 1 – Alonso’s first day on the job.
Marietta English, the president of the teachers union, could not be reached for comment.
More than 6,000 teachers belong to the union.
kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com
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8:35 AM MST on Sat., Sep. 27, 2008 re: "Teachers, city near new agreement"
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5:49 AM MST on Fri., Oct. 26, 2007
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BTU Teacher said:
There is still disagreement over the planning time.The language of the arbitator was unclear or misinterpreted so it is still an issue.There are no guidelines or criteria for these meetings except to have them.I would like to talk to the student service staff and others who deal with the same student I have but we talk mostly do curriculum and general staff problems so we are wasting time.I end up using my lunch time, before and after school to go see these student service staff because it is essential to classroom management and social-emotional issues of students.It is something we all do and have always done so what is the big issue with the CEO?
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City Resident and Teacher said:
How come he doesn't have to answer to anyone including the Mayor? The School Board isn't even part of the decison making process anymore. They just sit there and agree with everything he says like a bunch of fools. Who is really looking out for the kids? Yes he has ruffled the teachers union, infuriated the administrators union, shifted power from the central office to school principals. He has violated the union contracts again and again and no one does anything.He has a Dictator style of leadership which not very many people would like to work under. He has not proven himself to me. He needs to ask himself the three questions: Who is the most important one? What is the right thing to do? When is the right time to do it?
4 agree | 0 disagree
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City Teacher 2008 said:
This is BSPSS CEO's idea of RESPECT. He talks about respecting students and getting to know them-he need to learn walk the talk himself. He doesn't seem to care about people just TV lights and cameras and making a name for himself(good or bad). Schools are closing half day today for students due to excessive heat and humidity (exact time varies by school according to the bell schedule). Transportation, food services, and the media have already been notified. Staff are expected to work the full day.He violated union contract and does whatever he pleases and no one does anything. How come he doesn't have to answer to anyone?
3 agree | 0 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
BCPSS problems are not limited to poor funding, bad leadership,limited resources, low-achieving students, low, state test scores and teacher shortages. I wonder why Dr. Andre Alonso would leave the New York City Department of Education to come to Baltimore City. Alonso emerged from an emotionally disturbed special education classroom environment, with the experience of being a mentor teacher, staff developer, program coordinator and curriculum writer but what qualifies him and made him the choosen ceo? Why does he want us to be set up like New York? Who does he answer too?The school board does not not seem to even funcation anymore,they just go along with whatever he says so why have one?.He has not connected with the staff and administrators at!All he wants is to be called a reformer.Change-we all want the best but we must come together and work as as team. BCPSS were the best many years ago and other systems copied us.Displacing staff and moving them around is real progress?no!
3 agree | 0 disagree
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Examiner Reader: said:
The main problem with the school system is the administrative staff/teachers. For some reason they believe that they are in charge, when actually they are keeping the children hostage.....These teachers are so spoiled, and the children are suffering.
94 agree | 74 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Is there anyone who really does'nt know what the problem is with city schools?It's clearly black and white.
93 agree | 78 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Baltimore City's schools are a failed system. Forcing teachers to collaborate with other teachers will expose those who are incompetent and/or lazy. There is no reason why you have to make lesson plans or grade papers alone. They don't need to do it in NYC, so what are the "teachers" of Baltimore City trying to hide?
76 agree | 77 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Mayor Sheila Dixon "believes that after days of conversations and negotiations, something positive is about to happen," said Anthony McCarthy. What, she is resigning?
105 agree | 88 disagree
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