Best News This Summer
July 15th, 2008Judge Tucker, the jurist in charge of deciding whether there was an emergency in the district that warranted a special election, has agreed to a special meeting for Tuesday, September 9. That Tuesday will be the ballot vote to approve teacher’s contracts for the coming four years.
For those just now joining our story, teachers in the Monadnock Regional School District have not had a contract for four years. It’s led to a great many members of the staff leaving, a great deal of questioning on everyone’s part, and a near disaster in the district. Despite this, local Libertarian anti-government crusaders continue to fight against any spending for the school, (and against the students, who seem to be able to see much more clearly than some of our “adults”) as well as some others who ought to know better.
It’s been an exciting year—keeping in mind that I use the word “exciting” as the ancient Chinese did.¹ The net effect of it all, and the judge’s decision, is that the voters in the Monadnock District have been given a second chance, have been given another shot at getting it right.
And this is the right thing. We’ve seen time and time again that those who oppose the contract do not do so out of any principal or any reason other than their own greed. I tried—I really did—to see the group of individuals who style themselves as public crusaders as committed to their principles—even if I didn’t agree with them. The opposition those individuals have mounted to the special election—going so far to challenge it in court—has clearly demonstrated that the only thing on their agenda is fighting public education. It’s not taxes, it’s not making the towns better places to live, it’s not the poor or under-served or elderly—all of whom are paying more and more and more because they’re saddled to a breaking system that is hemorrhaging money. The individuals involved would rather see the towns bleed white than see the system fixed—the longer the district goes on being broken, the worse it looks, and the more their agenda is served.
When you care about ideology more than people, monstrous behavior is acceptable. History has shown it over and over again—and it’s also shown that the ballot tends to not be enough to stop it. I’m hoping this time the voters will show history something new.
A judge has agreed there’s a problem that needs to be fixed. Judges rule on reason and logic—we can hope a reasonable and logical vote will follow.
1 Old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times” (maybe). ↺
Technorati Tags:
Budget Committee, Education, Monadnock Regional School District, Monadnock Taxpayer’s Association, School Funding
July 15th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Did it ever occur to you that perhaps these people can’t AFFORD these increases? Did it ever occur to you that this has nothing to do with being against kids, but being for self preservation?
The government can’t assume that it can grow even when the rest of the economy is putting everyone else in the poorhouse.
Public schools are NOT more important than feeding and clothing and housing one’s family in these bad times.
Teachers need to bite the bullet just like the rest of us.
Unless you are one of those who believe in just telling those of us who can’t afford it to get out of town if they can’t pay up?
That is the cruelest of cruelties.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Dear Not Rich,
Self-preservation is no longer cutting it. We simply can not allow our society to settle for old methods that just aren’t up to par. Industrial age teaching methods aren’t suitable for students in the information/technology age. There are a host of problems out there, and the solutions will not come from a “stay at home and take care of myself” mentality. We need active, educated citizens to tackle the economic, diplomatic, medicinal, and environmental issues that plague each and every one of us.
The ONLY way people can continue to feed and clothe themselves and heat their homes is if they have careers to support their needs. Jobs are changing and it’s no longer normal for a person to keep the same job from their late teens until they retire. The one trait all employers agree upon is that they’re looking for workers who can LEARN.
Who’s going to train the next generation of learners if the teaching career isn’t a viable profession? We are literally looking at a mass exodus in the career, because the current salaries do not support their basic needs. Everyone has, at one time or another in their personal lives, needed to make tough choices like this. The stakes are too high to stay with the status quo this time.
If we stop educating students, the natural consequence of not being able to pay the teachers to keep schools staffed, what next?
This is the public’s chance to invest in the public.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I find it interesting that the states’s minimum wage went up July 24th to $6.55 and then to $7.25 by September 1st 2008. Social Security benefits increased - maybe not by the standards that they should - but they did increase. How many employees of business haven’t gotten a raise in 4 years? I would imagine that if you were an employee at a regular job (not that teaching isn’t a regular job but for this time I am making it stand alone)and hadn’t gotten a raise that you would be complaining, thinking about changing jobs, maybe you even changed your job because you hadn’t gotten a raise. Can you imagine your boss not getting a raise? Your boss may say “Hey, for this year - I will not take a raise because business has been slow” but for them to do that for 4 years…not to many have. There is the self-employed that might not have raised their fees for 4 years but that would be the rare case.
So what makes it different that a teacher shouldn’t get a raise? I don’t understand that thought process. Teaching is just like the regular world - there are some fantastic teachers and then there are some teachers that probably shouldn’t be in that profession. Just like other jobs - there are great employees and some that get by trying to do as little as possible. Should everyone be penalized because of a bad apple in the whole bunch?
August 1st, 2008 at 10:28 am
[...] saw this great news via “More Coffee, Please” Judge Tucker, the jurist in charge of deciding whether there was an emergency in the district that [...]
August 7th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
[...] addition to acknowledging the obvious danger the current situation poses to the children and the district, he also completely rejected the [...]