Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner
2008-05-13 07:00:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

Baltimore City teachers — and even some candidates — expect a dismal turnout at Wednesday’s election for the president of the Baltimore Teachers Union.

“Some teachers feel the union isn’t really serving them, and if the union doesn’t meet their needs, why should they bother voting?” said Sharon Blake, one of three challengers to incumbent President Marietta English.

Blake, 57, a former union president and a social studies teacher at the Institute of Business and Entrepreneurship, said she hopes to unseat English, who’s vying for her fifth nonconsecutive term.

“This leadership has not engaged teachers and has not been speaking to issues that concern teachers,” Blake said.

Typically, one in 10 teachers casts ballots every two years to elect a president of the 6,400-member union.

The two other challengers, William Krehnbrink, 60, a resource teacher at Collington Square Elementary/Middle School, and Joseph Gwin, 58, a math teacher at Northwestern High School, lamented the union’s failure to reach out to all teachers.

The union “should be inclusive of all teachers, instead of the chosen few,” Gwin said.

“People really don’t think anything will change,” said Krehnbrink, who wants the union to have a less adversarial relationship with city schools chief Andres Alonso and the school board.

He also supports changing privacy laws so teachers know the criminal and mental health problems of students in the wake of recent reports of students attacking teachers.

Gwin also blasted the union’s contract fight this year over teacher planning time. Alonso wanted one period per week for teachers planning together, but teachers and English said they needed the time to grade papers and plan lessons.

“The disagreement about collaborative planning was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Gwin said.

In her four terms, English, 61, said she’s proud of getting an 8.5 percent raise for teachers and expanding the professional development courses teachers can take through Coppin State University in Baltimore.

Asked why the elections attract so few voters, English said, “I think a lot of times people think things are going to go a certain way, so they don’t come.”

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com