Transcript of recorded conversation
Office of Freeholder xxxxx xxxxx
County of xxxxx, NJ
April 3, 2015
Hello?... Joey, hey how are you?... Good, good... Yeah, I got your email... OK, let me see if I got this right:
You've got a councilman who needs a favor for his niece: she's an artist... yeah, young people, what're you goin' do?... and she needs a job, and is thinking about teaching. No training as a teacher, no education degree... yeah, don't worry, that's fine, we'll get her into an alternate route thing...
And then you've also got this "friend" who's been "generous." He's got a kid who wants to be a bowling coach. We could make that happen, but why don't we make him a teacher too; then he can coach during the season, and teach during the rest of the year. Is he good at anything?... You think he's OK at math?... Yeah, I think we can do something...
How can I hook them up? OK, here's the deal: in the last election, we managed to get several of our friends on one of the local school boards. And since the Ruiz bill passed back in 2012... yeah, the TEACHNJ Act... that's right, since it passed, we can make a lot of things happen that we couldn't make happen before. So here's what our friends on the school board are telling me...
Let's start with the niece. The local union vice-president is an art teacher, and I gotta tell you, Joe - she's a big pain in the ass. Tough negotiator, always active in union business, always making a big stink about working conditions, calling out incompetent administrators... yeah, you know the type. I'll tell you, there are quite a few people on the board who'd be happy to see her go who aren't even our "friends," you know?
Well, now that the Ruiz bill is in place, it only takes one bad review to rate her as "ineffective," which she got last year. Yeah, her principal and the superintendent are sick of her, so they'll gladly write her another bad review, and it doesn't even matter if they don't know the first thing about teaching art...
Yeah, you're right, there is another teacher who sits on a committee that oversees her evaluation. But you know what? The bill didn't clearly define that committee's power. And the teacher who sits on it doesn't want to lose his job; he'll play along...
How long will this take? Joey, that's the beauty of this thing: she was rated "ineffective" immediately. There wasn't an appeal, there wasn't an outside source to confirm anything... and because she's an art teacher, there weren't even tests to show if her kids were learning. She's going to lose her tenure, she won't get a new contract, and she'll be gone by the end of June. Tell the councilman to have his niece put together her resume right now... Yeah, it's just a formality, but we've got to keep up appearances, you know?
OK, the bowling coach... yeah, I know just the spot for him. We've got the 7th Grade math teacher who's... well, let's just say he's "different" than most other folks in the rest of the town. You know what I mean?... Yeah, he would kinda stand out if he showed up at the next church social...
The board made sure the superintendent gave him some challenging students again this year... yeah, his test scores won't be so great. This has been going on for a couple of years now, so he's going to be rated "partially effective" for another year...
No...no, you gotta understand this: he doesn't get a hearing. He doesn't get to explain his situation. He's just gone if the principal says so; and if the superintendent says so, the principal says so; and if I say so, the super says so. You understand? Yeah... yeah, exactly: there's no more oversight outside of the district. As long as our people run the board, we make all the decisions.
So let's get this kid the math job, and then we'll make him the bowling coach at the high school... The current coach? Joe, do you think he's gonna make any waves about this? Or the athletic director?... Exactly - everybody's running scared now. No one's standing up for themselves anymore, just how we like it...
Yeah... yeah, I never thought we'd be able to have this much juice in the schools. Gotta hand it to Elizabeth: they paved the way. We've got all these teachers under our thumbs, making contributions to campaigns, working the polls, scared of losing their jobs if they don't... yeah, it's going to be great at the next election...
What's that? How are the students doing?
(Pause)
Oh, you son of a... (laughter) oh, you dirty... (laughter) ...you had me going there for a second!... (laughter) ...I thought you were serious!...
OK... yeah, OK, let me know when you need another favor... No, you can email me at my county address. Yeah, it's fine: this is now all perfectly legal... yeah, say hi to the senator for me. So long...
(end transcript)
6 comments:
Ya gotta pick one or the other, Duke. Either teaching in NJ is a poverty-stricken hellhole of a thankless job, or it is something that elected officials would strive and pull favors for in order to place loved ones.
You can't have it both ways.
Boy Anon you really do ignore the obvious.
No has ever said that teaching isn't a job that people will want. What has been said however is that qualified professionals won't be flocking in for jobs that don't pay decent middle class salaries AND can be taken away on a whim. Something this post illustrates quite well.
Either you want just anyone teaching in the schools or professionals....you can't have both ways. Remember it's all about the kids.
Tenure has been around for almost 100 years. All of a sudden, it's such a big problem? And in a state with a high performing traditional public school system. Even the supposedly failing inner city schools are not enough to bring down NJ to Mississippi or Louisiana levels. Most of the schools in NJ are performing well with good results because (overall and on average) NJ ranks in the top 5 states, it's in the top tier of US schools with tenure and unions! If tenure and unions are so HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, then why do NJ schools rank in the top tier of schools in the US. And that's with Camden and Newark schools thrown into the mix. Getting rid of tenure and unions will not improve the schools.
Duke - did you read yesterday's article in the Paterson Press where the School District hired a consulting firm which they pay over $7,000 a day for a consultant! The guy who owns the firm is a full-time superintendent from Colorado who hired a relative, who was dismissed from the federal government on some kind of misconduct. You can't make this stuff up! Would love to know what miracles these consultants have performed in the past that they can get $7K a day.
Thanks for the tip, Anon. Looks like a hell of a story...
The consultant above is a Broad Academy Fellow. Senator Sarlo? are you aware?
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