http://www.gocomics.com/stevebenson/2018/05/07
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“In Aftermath of #RedForEd Walkout, Arizona Teachers Vow to Continue Political Activism”

by RIchard Cano
The Arizona Republic/azcentral.com
6 May 2018

“Arizona’s historic teacher walkout was a political awakening for the #RedForEd movement’s rank-and-file educators. Now, they've vowed to use their newfound power to fully restore the $1 billion in education funding cuts endured since the recession — taking the movement to the ballot box.

“The unprecedented wave of teacher activism, born out of frustration over stagnant pay and low student funding, will turn its focus toward a $690 million November ballot effort that would increase income taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent of Arizonans to fund education, organizers said.

“‘We’ve won the first battle, but now we must win the war,’ Noah Karvelis, Arizona Educators United organizer, told hundreds of educators outside the Capitol on Thursday, the walkout’s sixth and final day. . . .

“The teacher walkout – the nation’s largest in recent history – was a last-resort effort coordinated by Arizona Educators United, the grassroots teacher-led group, and Arizona Education Association, the state’s teachers’ union, to pressure lawmakers to address their funding demands.

“At its peak, Arizona’s historic six-day walkout closed 1,000-plus schools, attracted more than 50,000 protesters and impacted 850,000 students.

“The walkout itself didn't produce any new education funding — Gov. Doug Ducey proposed a 20% teacher raise plan two weeks before the walkout began, and lawmakers didn't bow to educators' push for more. But the rapid spread of the #RedForEd movement and the threat of the walkout spurred Ducey's #20by2020 proposal, and appeared to keep it alive as some lawmakers challenged the plan's financial stability. . . . Ducey announced the #20by2020 proposal a day after more than 100,000 educators and their supporters participated in peaceful ‘walk-in’ demonstrations at schools across the state.

“The budget that lawmakers passed and Ducey signed largely mirrored the governor's proposal. It provides $400 million for public schools — the most significant increase in education funding in more than a decade. That includes about $273 million aimed at giving teacher pay raises next year, and $100 million in capital funding that could be used to pay for things such as new textbooks, buses or support staff pay increases. . . .

“The budget, though, falls short of the funding demands educators say remain a desperate need for Arizona's public schools and students. At a Thursday morning rally, Karvelis and Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association, blasted the Legislature for not supporting budget amendments proposed by Democratic lawmakers they said ‘would’ve made our schools so much better.’

“The amendments, which included capping classroom sizes at 25 students and giving 10% pay increases to support staff, had little chance of passing the Republican-controlled Legislature. Despite that loss, organizers credited the increase in education funding to the power and pressure the #RedForEd movement placed on state leaders.

“‘Let’s be really clear about something: One of the better budgets that we’ve seen for education was passed last night, but it was no thanks to the people who sat in those seats,’ Karvelis said, referring to the Legislature. ‘It was thanks to us. We did that.’ . . .

“Supporters of the #RedForEd movement, which erupted publicly just eight weeks ago, said their biggest win from the walkout was not gained on the floors of the House or Senate. Their win came from outside. Throughout the walkout, teachers and their supporters marveled at — and gained confidence from — the public display of their determination to unite and mobilize. Tens of thousands dressed in red and marched through the streets of downtown Phoenix in near-triple-digit heat on the first day of the walkout. Thousands gathered at the Capitol each day. Hundreds crowded the galleries of the Arizona House and Senate as lawmakers debated education issues. And in the final moments of the walkout, hundreds more waited through the night and early morning in the Capitol courtyard during a marathon budget session.

“‘I think you’ve just heard the beginning of the lion,’ Tina McReynolds, an Alhambra Elementary School District music teacher, said. ‘I think lion has shown you that it’s angry, it’s pulled out its claws, and if it needs to it’s ready to pull them out again.’ . . .

“As the walkout grew longer, so too did the #RedForEd movement's risk of losing the critical public support — from parents, community members and school administrators — gained through weeks of grassroots organization.

“While schools and parents had time to plan in advance for the first two school days of the walkout, the rest of the four days was a hodgepodge of late-afternoon or evening notices of closures for the next day.nParents were left scrambling to find another day of childcare, and worrying about how an ongoing walkout may impact summer plans. Some supporters peeled off. On the fifth day of the walkout, nearly 20 Arizona school districts — including some of the state's largest — had said they would reopen the next day, seemingly under the belief that the budget would be resolved and teachers would be ready to return.

“As legislative debate dragged on, teachers announced they would remain at the Capitol and the schools had to tell parents they'd remain closed another day.

“Lupita Almanza, a second-grade teacher from Mesa, was at the Capitol for 27 hours straight as lawmakers debated the budget in the early hours Thursday. Almanza said viewing the debates were ‘extremely frustrating.’

“’I guess I was naive in thinking, you know, we elect these people, we hold them to a very high regard, and I expected more collaboration, more debate back and forth," Almanza said. ‘It felt very one-sided to me.’ Almanza, who said she is a registered independent, said she feels educated about the process now, and ‘lied to.’

“’(Lawmakers) say one thing to you, and then they vote another way,’ she said.’I had no idea that some alliances are stronger than what's best for kids. I'm disappointed.’ Almanza said she's frustrated by comments that the AEA teachers' union is using the teachers as political pawns. ’This came from the teachers,’ she said. ‘I did it for my kids. I did it because this is not good enough and we need to do more. We should be outraged because they are cheating our kids.’

“She said the recent days have awoken a fire within educators.’This is just the beginning,’ she said. ‘We're going to show up in November for sure.’”



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 04:18AM by steve benson.

It is National Teacher Appreciation Week this week.

It's too darn bad that school teachers should have to strike for a decent wage and school supplies for their classrooms.

Just taking this opportunity to educate... Something may strike you amiss about the "gold star" approach:

Alfie Kohn (1993). Punished By Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes.

Abstract: "[The author] shows that while manipulating people with incentives seems to work in the short run, it is a strategy that ultimately fails and even does lasting harm. Our workplaces and classrooms will continue to decline, he argues, until we begin to question our reliance on a theory of motivation derived from laboratory animals. Drawing from hundreds of studies, Kohn demonstrates that people actually do inferior work when they are enticed with money, grades, or other incentives. What is needed, Kohn explains, is an alternative to both ways of controlling people. The final chapters offer a set of practical strategies for parents, teachers, and managers that move beyond the use of carrots or sticks."

Teachers are well aware of extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation when it comes to educating students.

As for the educators, we are like any other workers in that we look at pay, management, working conditions, safety issues, coworkers, etc. when it comes to evaluating a potential teaching position. It's not *all* about the money, but money is a big part of the mix as it is for any other worker.

You appear, Richard, to have either missed or now forgotten summer’s recent post on this very subject. A basic requirement of a meaningful and functional education is the ability to read, absorb, retain and apply what you’re reading. Try all that with these relevant and well-articulated observations of summer’s, re-posted below for your benefit:

“Posted by: summer
“Date: May 06, 2018 07:22AM
“Re: (Cartoon) AZ teacher walkout for decent wages cont., as Gov. Dunce Ducey...

“Teachers are contract workers, so most are 10 month employees. The contract typically states how many hours must be spent at school (i.e. 7 hours per school day,) and also says that teachers will work ‘additional hours as needed to complete all work-related and assigned tasks.’ This work is typically completed both at school and at home.

“It's the additional hours that kill you. It is essentially unpaid overtime, including nights and weekends. For many years I put a total in each week of 63-64 hours. Currently I'm probably at about 53-54 hours per week. New teachers can go 70 hours on up. The time is spent writing lesson plans (for me, three typed pages per day,) running copies, grading papers and tests, customizing work, filling out forms, entering data, crunching and reporting data, phoning parents, etc. We are given planning time according to contract, but it isn't even close to enough time to complete our tasks.

“So as teachers like to say, we work a 12 month year in 10 month's time. It's very tiresome to have to continually respond to critics who only see the time we work during school hours.

“It would help if administrators didn't keep adding to our workload, but they continue to do so, because it's free labor, so why not? This is why so many teachers are burning out.”
—————


Read the above as many times as you need for it to sink in. (There will be a test). You’ve got a lot to learn.

Perhaps summer can spend some after-school one-on-one time with you (as many teachers do when working with students displaying difficulty with the subject material), in order to help you understand the fact that well-deserved pay raises for those in the honorable profession of teaching are not “bribes.”

Good grief.

They are manifestations of gratitude in the form of justified rewards for a job well done—a job that is absolutely essential for education-enriched societies to survive, to compete and to thrive through the accumulation and passing on of knowledge to present and future generations.

The fact that you can even read posts here on RfM is because you had the blessing of dedicated teachers who taught you how. Treat them as the treasures that they are, not as a target for butt-kicking through the uprights.

**********


In the meantime, the star stays, whether you like it or not:

http://ak8.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/4742858/thumb/1.jpg



Edited 15 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 08:28AM by steve benson.

Awesome on Golden Week!

I wondered why my adult child gets off half this week over there.

Now I know. :)

Enjoy!

(He was a student teacher in college and grad school.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 09:06AM by Amyjo.

So you might revise your assumptions...

When you’re out of step with Arizona and its public teachers, that just shows you are really behind the times.

Other states—recently Oklahoma, Kentucky and West Virginia—have seen their own public educator protests.

Wonder why?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 08:51AM by steve benson.

(And of course my post must have been an intentional insult to teachers, just as your mind must have construed it.)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/05/01/could-north-carolinas-teachers-be-next-to-strike-heres-the-mess-theyre-in/

They’re not right, either, are they? (Oh, and RfM teacher/poster summer, too. She’s also wrong).

What country did you say you’re a teacher in?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 08:55AM by steve benson.

I lived for 21 months in Japan as a Mormon missionary. Taught English classes to its native inhabitants.

(And you didn’t say you were living in Japan. You said you were out of town And that you have an adult child living in Japan. Go back and read what you wrote).



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 09:17AM by steve benson.

Sure, K-12 in US. Look up the ranking of my grad school of education (UCLA). The "town" where I currently teach is Nagoya; I was in Tokyo last week.

. . . in Japan. I had to squeeze that out of you.

And those US states I mentioned where they have had teacher strikes or where ones are pending – – Arizona, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina and Oklahoma – – those teachers are wrong because, yep, you’re always right.

C’mon, Richard, you can do better than that.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 09:24AM by steve benson.

:)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 09:24AM by Amyjo.

No speed reading...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 09:27AM by steve benson.

My son lives there and works there too.

Now, where we? Oh yes, those teachers in Kentucky, Oklahoma, West Virginia, North Carolina and Arizona who support the protest action of a walkout. They’re wrong – – and, of course, you’re right.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 09:37AM by steve benson.

Looks like autocorrect isn't the only thing with a fixed mind of its own...

What in the world are you talking about, other than just trying to argue with me? I said nothing remotely related to your chastisements. Would you like me to repost my original comment (about the notion of "gold stars" as a questionable sign of approbation for teachers who know better than to use extrinsic motivations, as Summer pointed out), or can you scroll up?

I got your initial comments on gold stars, rewards, pay, bribes, etc., even though all you did was mention them from a brief abstract. You don’t need to repost, you need to rethink.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 09:47AM by steve benson.

(My mom was a striking English teacher when I was a kid.)

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 09:51AM by steve benson.

(BTW, she was president of the National Council of Teachers of English.)

. . . could mean that your mother did not hit people, that she was beautiful, or that she walked the picket lines. Damn! Where’s your English-precise mom when you need her?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 10:10AM by steve benson.

steve benson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "[striking] could mean that your mother did not hit
> people,..."

you mean, that she DID hit people. My precise English is alive and well.

Don’t blame me for your imprecise word choice, Moreover, when I referred to her as not striking or hitting, I was giving her the benefit of the doubt. If you would rather see her described as assaulting other people, I’ll leave that up to you.

I didn't jump on the possible word play ["no, that would be corporal punishment/child abuse"] but went with the meaning followed in the thread. I didn't see you as being "imprecuse" (your term, in case you edit it).

And, by the way, you left out the space between “Ha“ and “Ha,“ given that the second “Ha” is a separate capitalized word.

Maybe if you had been teaching for 40 instead of 39 years you wouldn’t have made that mistake.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 11:17AM by steve benson.

the way you delete and edit to make it look like you never said something.

To go back and fix it. I did, and now you’re complaining and I followed your suggestion.

At least I correct my typos, which are most often caused by a combination of working on a small iPhone keypad and its predictive text that sometimes does not predict correctly.

steve benson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Maybe if you had been teaching for 40 instead of
> 39 years you wouldn’t of made that mistake.

Glad you caught that grammar.

Nite nite, Samurai Jr.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 11:35AM by steve benson.

Good night there in Japan, Amigo.

Amigo, amiga.

Sayonara. May the bluebird of happiness poop on your rooftop.

;)

. . . but with teacher compensation—at least not in the thumbnail abstract you posted. All it did was attack teacher pay, comparing it to “bribes.”

But you decided to throw it into this thread, under an OP that was focused on teachers who were engaging in a walkout because of the lack of sufficient compensation.

Trying to have it both ways.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 10:12AM by steve benson.

You read it as me labeling teachers' raises as an extrinsic enticement (for them to become better teachers?). But the reason for the raises is not to 'improve' teacher performance but rather to acknowledge a little more their invaluable service and to allow them to teach with a little more adequate supplies, etc., so it doesn't really fit with Alfie Kohn's argument against extrinsic rewards.

I intended no such reading but rather, in the spirit of Kohn, thought that giving teachers a "gold star" was not an appropriate metaphor for something that they do with extreme dedication to the students and the educational process. The raises enable them to do better work, they aren't a ploy to induce them to work.

. . . of the issue of teacher pay into the question of incentivizing teacher performance through monetary rewards. You posted that blurb in an OP dealing with a teacher walkout that was sparked by a lack of sufficient teacher compensation, thereby linking the two whether you intended to do so or not.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 11:02AM by steve benson.

which has nothing to do with teacher pay. Maybe you couldn't get that from the abstract, which dealt with short-sighted but widespread behavioristic classroom (and business) management tactics. Reading the book would make it clearer, if there is a problem contextualizing the abstract.

I suspect you don’t have the book in front of you, since all you did was quote a short abstract.

Oftentimes on the Internet only abstracts are provided while full texts are not.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 11:30AM by steve benson.

Thanks, Steve. Class size is definitely a good area for future discussion.

The public in this state was strongly supportive of the teachers’ movement for higher pay and greater educational funding. From the OP:

“Supporters of the #RedForEd movement, which erupted publicly just eight weeks ago, said their biggest win from the walkout was not gained on the floors of the House or Senate. Their win came from outside. Throughout the walkout, teachers and their supporters marveled at — and gained confidence from — the public display of their determination to unite and mobilize. Tens of thousands dressed in red and marched through the streets of downtown Phoenix in near-triple-digit heat on the first day of the walkout. Thousands gathered at the Capitol each day. Hundreds crowded the galleries of the Arizona House and Senate as lawmakers debated education issues. And in the final moments of the walkout, hundreds more waited through the night and early morning in the Capitol courtyard during a marathon budget session.”



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 06:58AM by steve benson.

Thanks, Steve, for your contributions to the #redfored movement. Arizona teachers need all the friends they can get, and you are one of them.

can be a challenge.

Red for ed ? What does that mean ?

Republican states are red and Democratic states are blue.

Thanx. It makes sense now.