For educated people, some public school teachers can be awfully dumb.
Delen Goldberg had an interesting story in the Las Vegas Sun yesterday about a half-dozen public school teachers at a local elementary school who walked out at precisely 2:41 p.m. to protest necessary proposed budget cuts. “The time is significant,” writes Goldberg. “At 2:41 p.m., teachers’ contract hours end, meaning their official work day is over.”
Why is 2:41 p.m. when their “official” work day is over and not, say, 2:40 p.m. or 2:42 p.m.? Because that’s what their union’s collectivist bargaining agreement says, that’s why. And union rules rule.
“If we’re not going to get pay increases or stable pay, we’re only going to work from 7:30 a.m. to 2:41 p.m.” like her union contract says, teacher Brandi Thomas defiantly told Goldberg. “Obviously, working extra hours helps the kids, but this is for the kids, too.”
So because her union contract says Ms. Thomas only has to work until 2:41 p.m., she’s not going to stay after any longer to help tutor kids or oversee extracurricular activities and this is somehow “for the kids”? Who’s she kidding?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The biggest problem and threat to public education in Nevada isn’t the budget, but the teachers union. If you’re a teacher, and you pay dues to the NSEA or any of the local or national union affiliates, you’re not the solution; you’re part of the problem. And if you don’t see that, then maybe you’re not as smart as your degree would have us believe.
Final note: And don’t give me this “I only belong to the union for the legal protection” crud. You know darned well you can get similar protection by joining the NON-union Association of American Educators.
