COMMUNITY OUTREACH MEETING
Tuesday – October 10, 2006 at 6:30 p.m.
St. John’s UCC
183 South Broad Street, Nazareth, PA
Topics of Discussion
- Supporting our teachers
- Keeping quality education in our district
- Choosing the right advocates for our children
- Strike negotiations
- Administration’s 8% pay increase for the last 3 years
- Attending the next Board Meeting
Please join us to share your comments, questions and concerns on these pressing issues. As a community united we WILL make a difference. We encourage you to attend – even bring your children! It is important that we have as much support as possible for our teachers.
If you have information you would like to make available to the community forward it to editor@newsovercoffee.com
If you have any questions or comments about this meeting, post them here or email me and I'll forward them to the party who submitted the information.
2 comments:
I have no problem with the teachers using every tool at their disposal for negotiating a new contract. I am a Capitalist as heart. However, I have the following comment/problems:
1) The last board meeting was a madhouse. In fact, I felt a little "out of place" being there (even though I go to more than a few of these). I was saving a seat for someone and before they showed up, a teacher tried to sit down.. I politely told her that the seat was saved and she responded "they must be invisible". When I told her that he would be along shortly, she said, that she'd "just have to sit in my lap then"... appropriate? I didn't think so.
2) I had a statement prepared where I was going to express my displeasure with BOTH sides and how this whole situation has come about. Unfortunately, the atmosphere in that room that night made me feel like I shouldn't give it. I felt that it wouldn't have been looked upon kindly by the 100+ teachers. I also have a daughter (and soon a son) in the district and I didn't want any reprecussions to befall on them. (Maybe that's irrational, but it's a fact of life that people hold grudges...)
3) There were a couple of parents expressing their unwavering support for the teachers before we/they had even heard what it is exactly that the teachers want. AFAIK, I still haven't seen exactly what it is the teachers want (they're quick to point out that the admins got a huge raise but they haven't explicitly came out and said they want more money...) I know, I know Negotiation 101 dictates you never exactly spell out your position if you can get the other side to look bad...
4) Our teachers/school district is great. No doubt about it. However, nobody has brought up this point (I know this is impossible but consider): If the NASD teachers were teaching at Easton and the EASD teachers were at Nazareth, does anybody really think that the tests scores and % of kids going on to college would be that much different? Point is, it's not just the teachers. It's to a great degree the parents, their socio-economic status, their education level and involvement in their childs lives/schooling that makes a difference.
Thanks for the forum and letting me vent....
No problem. Glad you read the site and are willing to share your thoughts - at least here.
If you do attend the meetings regularly and aren't comfortable posting them, I'd gladly accept email and post it from a reader of the site just as I did with this announcement.
The point is the more informed most of the people are, the better off all of us will be.
I never intended this to be a one man show, I want to post reports from meetings I don't attend and learn about them.
Thanks again and keep going to the meetings!
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