“Teachers Are Being Vilified” in Providence, Says American Federation of Teachers’ Weingarten
Saturday, February 29, 2020
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten will be in Providence on Saturday for a "Strengthening Local Public Schools" community event at the Juanita Sanchez Education complex -- and said that she believes Providence teachers are being "vilified" in the state takeover of Providence public schools.
Weingarten's most notable visit to Rhode Island came in 2011, when she blasted the mass firing of teachers by then-Mayor Angel Taveras -- SEE VIDEO BELOW.
"I’m not a big fan of state takeovers — but Rhode Island already had one," Weingarten told GoLocalProv in an interview on Thursday. "The rationale for a state takeover is to provide support and services, not to dump on the schools further. One of the reasons that people have pushed hard for democratic control (under elected leaders) is that at least there’s a connection between voter and community and schools directly."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"Unfortunately, the current Commissioner just continues to do the same things that Joel Klein or Michelle Rhee would do. Rather than work with teachers, they’ve set up other 'process' committees that will come out and say all the things are wrong, and what teachers should do in collective bargaining to fix it," said Weingarten. "It's not as though we haven’t seen this movie before — you have to roll up your sleeves and work together and you have to lift the morale. You don’t create a situation were every utterance the boss says divides people more and more."
Rhee was the controversial chancellor of D.C. public schools that famously fired underperforming teachers and evaluated teachers based on student performance -- before stepping down in 2010 -- and Klein was the Chancellor of Education in New York City under then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg that challenged the teachers' union.
Weingarten said that she believed Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza had allowed the schools to fall into disrepair -- but that takeover by Rhode Island education commissioner Angélica Infante-Green was not necessarily the answer.
"Here you had a situation where you had city control and the mayor was not giving the school the resources they need — just look at the shape they were in. He was not going to play that role, so this was viewed as no worse than already divesting democratic control," said Weingarten. "Raimondo made a case that she wanted to make things better, but what you’re seeing already, and this is why I’m so proud of my local union, is that you have to change the normal typical tired conversation when a school system is not as good as you wish it would be."
SEE MORE BELOW VIDEO
Teachers in Focus
"There are are a couple of other people who were really good who they were considering for superintendent and they didn’t pick them," said Weingarten of Providence. "The Hopkins report said we have a problem where people feel alienated and discouraged — Hopkins also didn’t spend a lot of time in schools that were working. Since that time our union has come up with recommendations of what to do and meet people halfway."
"We put out the recommendations that were never taken up. We did some of them ourselves. If this is urgent, and things must be solved right now — and we came up with recommendations in September, and then they do none of them — it gives pause to the urgency," she said. "We tried to do a bunch of different things to respond to the Hopkins report and we’ve had a couple of big professional development seminars and what we’re hearing from the other side is just give up your contract."
"So what is all of this, I've been through this with Rhee and Klein, and it seems like the same playbook — say things are as bad as you can instead of trying," said Weingarten. "And in vilifying people you create demoralization — you create a vehicle by which parents say, why am I even here?"
"If you think a change agent is someone who thinks they can do things to teachers not with them, they might be a disruptor, but that’s not a change agent," said Weingarten. "Schooling is about what happens [with] the connective tissue between teachers, school staff and kids. Kids have to trust teachers -- and the community has to as well -- and when you have someone who tries to come in from on high and chooses to vilify and not deal with issues, that’s not going to help make things better in schools."
"How do you create a school where community and parents trust their teachers when the superintendent says they’re not to be trusted? It may get someone headlines — but it’s not the way," she said.
Getting "Bad" Teachers Out
Weingarten spoke to conversations around how to get underperforming -- and chronically absent teachers -- out.
"I actually hear less and less about this [around the country]," she said. "If someone shouldn’t be teaching they shouldn’t be teaching. If someone has abuses sick leave they shouldn’t be there."
"But if you look at what’s going on — people that have been in professional development that the system wants them in or teachers who have disabling diseases, who are still on the list, the question then becomes why can’t Rhode Island recruit and retain a diverse teaching force? Why aren’t we working on that? How can you create the morale you want to have teachers want to be in schools — and not the toxicity and stress, which is why teachers take days off," she said.
"The conversation I hear in Providence, that was the Rhee and Klein conversation. That was the race to the top, and it didn’t work," she said. "95% of parents want a school that is safe and welcoming that is working. People who can’t teach — you need a decent evaluation to deal with it. What happens is what people were focused on is the test, not the kid."
"Ten years ago I was answering this over and over again. It’s almost like we’re in a time warp in Providence. It’s not in other places," said Weingarten. "Why isn’t the conversation we need to meet kids' needs -- why is it longer days and getting rid of teachers? That says don’t come here for teacher recruitment. Think about it. Rhode Island is better than this."
Weekend Forum
"[Saturday] is about having this an open forum to invite community, and they can say what needs to change to ensure that the community and teachers are one. What happens when you start to bargain in small groups selected by the Commissioner to prop up recommendations, we already know," said Weingarten, of the event taking place from 10 AM to 11 AM.
"This is to talk about what the students' needs are, and you do it with community and educator. If your goal is student success, you have to create community-building — this is how we want to get there."
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