More Coffee, Please

From the Union Leader:

Since 2006, negotiators have struggled to reach an acceptable contract. Under the previous pact, some teachers were allowed to participate each year in an early retirement program that paid them a percentage of their salary for seven years. Additionally, teachers paid 10 percent toward their health-care costs.

On Monday, negotiators agreed to a four-year contract that would gradually eliminate the early retirement program and raise the teachers’ health-care contribution to 20 percent. It would also include a program that would financially reward teachers with more than 10 years’ service to the district.

“The intent of the longevity provision was to help retain teachers and to reward teachers for being loyal to the district,” Dreyfuss said. “This is one of the best contracts I’ve ever negotiated. The teachers gave up a lot for the benefit of the district.”

The school board, however, did not adequately explain to residents the complexities of the contract, Dreyfuss said.

“We fell short of our goal to help people understand how the contract works,” she said.

Teachers have not received a raise in three years. Unless a new contract can be approved at a special town meeting, they probably won’t receive any step increases this year either, Dreyfuss said. They will, however, continue to work under the terms of the last contract.

Those who called in sick yesterday may face either a complaint filed with the state labor board or individual letters of reprimand, Dassau said. But like Dreyfuss, Dassau said he understood why the teachers were upset. ¹

“Morale had been good because there was widespread support for this contract, but when it failed, it was devastating,” he said. “Morale has plummeted to a new low.”

Mrs. Dreyfuss has my phone number. I’ll buy her a glass of wine anytime.

That is support. The kids walking out was support. The host of people calling, the newspapers, and all the rest—all of that is support. The talk by the school board and budget committee of a special election is support.

It doesn’t need to be over. It does not need to be the same old thing, a repeat of the last few years. This is not the same situation—this was board approved, budget committee approved, Union approved. It’s not the same.

So the worst thing to do on Monday would be to walk in and act like everything is just as it was. Over and over again at MRHS there were complaints the kids were apathetic. They’re not anymore. They want to know what’s going on, and they want to get their questions answered. They’re eager, and they’re looking for guidance.

This is what we call a “teachable moment.”

Monday and Tuesday does cannot be the same thing it’s always been—it can’t be going back to not telling the kids who go there what’s going on. Teachers can tell their kids the truth. We have a duty to do so. Suspending the normal curriculum for a day and talking to them, helping them process, and letting them know what they can do in a very intentional, very deliberate way will go a long way towards shaping MRHS for years to come.

Is it going to be a factory? Or is it going to be a community of learners?

There’s not one subject teacher who can’t work citizen action into their curriculum. Science? Talk about ethical issues in research and protests against nuclear power, genetically altered foods. Economics? Talk about the protests against the WTO. English? Put aside the copy of 1984 and show them right now how not to be Proles.

Elementary schools? Hellllooooooooo! This is the time to talk about their schools, about being a citizen, to talk about Martin Luther King, to talk about Civil Rights, to talk about them doing what they need to do.

Strike while the iron is hot. What more important lesson can there be? We’re citizens in a democracy. We’re together in this—it’s not teachers vs administration, teachers vs school board, teachers vs students. It’s we. We can work together to get the school we want to have, and it comes from empowering our kids and making their voices heard. It does not come from dismissing them as “kids” and pretending they can’t add anything to the conversation.

I’m not saying we tell the kids what to do. I’m not saying they should walk in on Monday and have poster paper on the desk and a grade attached to making a sign. What I am saying is taking a moment of student interest, student involvement, and showing them how to do what they want. They have the motivation, and now they need some adult guidance in how to do something.

They walked out Friday because it was the only thing they knew how to do. In that, they were like many teachers. Now, let’s come up with things they can do.

Time to talk about Cheshire TV. Perfect for any class talking about the role of media. Go borrow the equipment and produce a documentary as a class. Get the drama classes involved and now we have people who are hosting “life at MRHS.”

Got a class that needs to look at writing? Let’s look at letter writing. Talk about the power of the written word. I wonder what a handwritten letter written to every voter in Swanzey who voted in the presidential primary but didn’t vote for their school would do.

Civics? Why don’t we get a state rep down here to look at the ceilings? Why don’t we invite the selectmen from the towns and host a discussion?

These are my ideas. The kids would have better ones. Our job is to give them the space to grow and to prove the chance for them to bring their own interest to the task.

1 Let’s not shortchange Dr. Dassau here. That is the strongest show of support there can be. No-one could ask for more than that strictly correct statement. ↺

Gregarious

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