DeBlog: The Teachers' Convention
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - My Good Question on the Education Minnesota convention is already irritating some of the teachers who are e-mailing me, so I thought I'd write a blog entry to give people a chance to comment on the story online.
In the story, we shared how the union says 10,000 teachers attend out of 70,000 licensed teachers in Minnesota. That's 14 percent. Obviously some people live far away from the Twin Cities, but the contract the union negotiates still has these days off from school.
The union maintains that the teachers are not paid for these days, and that's true. Teachers get a salary, but they're technically not paid for these two days.
Luke wrote to tell me, "we attend these meetings on our own expense," and indeed, we included that fact pretty clearly in the story. We also pointed out that taxpayers don't pay for the convention.
Melva responded to the issue of why teachers don't do this in the summer? "Many of us do and that time is unpaid and very seldom is free. I personally spent three days in training without any compensation this summer."
As a dad, I can tell you why parents get irritated by this conference, and it has nothing to do with the idea that teachers are getting a day off. It's a pain to find babysitting and/or take time off from work. The teacher training is extremely important. The sessions offered by Education Minnesota are fantastic. But results matter. And if only 14 percent are showing up, maybe these sessions should be mandatory. Or regional. Or in the summer.
If 35 percent were attending, I don't know if it would be an issue to most (reasonable) people.
Share your thoughts on the story in the comments.
