We are for our children by any means necessary… It is not a cause, it is a way of life.
School reform activist Kevin Chavous at the Black Alliance for Educational Options convention this past weekend.
Unions are private-sector businesses with leaders that make fat six-figure salaries. If they do not give their teachers good customer service, state laws should not keep them in business.
Providence Journal columnist Julia Steiny, arguing for the abolition of state laws requiring teachers to either be members of (or pay agency fees to) the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers.
They are just fundamentally opposed to having teachers accountable for student learning. And that’s not in the best interests of children
Chris Cerf, Acting Commissioner of New Jersey’s education department, on the opposition from the NEA affiliate over efforts to reform teacher evaluations and tenure.
There was no way I was going to let go of good teachers at the expense of less effective teachers
Baltimore schools boss Andres Alonso on why he has used the district’s mutual consent rules to push out laggard teachers into a form of “rubber room” that cost taxpayers $5 million a year. Maryland, like most states, don’t allow districts to lay off teachers based on performance.
We continue to get thrown these leaders who don’t show that they care, battle with our unions who are supposed to be on our side, and have to kind of motivate and invigorate parents who’ve gotten apathetic, teachers who feel beaten down and kids who hear all these things being said about them as if they don’t matter.
Detroit teacher Lorena Craighead on the culture of mediocrity and decay plaguing the Motor City’s school system.