Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Teacher tenure cuts ruled unconstitutional

Teacher tenure cuts ruled unconstitutional
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Star File Photo
Published: Monday, July 14, 2014 at 11:11 AM.
A proposed state plan to take tenure away from teachers was recently ruled unconstitutional by a North Carolina superior court judge.
Following the 2013-14 school year, a state decision planned to cause teachers to lose their tenure, a program that provided greater employment security. The tenure system was going to be replaced with employment-based contracts earned by ratings on performance reviews.
In the absence of tenure, the top 25 percent of teachers who worked three consecutive years were to have received a four-year contract. Those who received the contract would additionally receive $5,000 during a four-year period.
The top 25 percent of the teachers were to be selected by the local school board, CCS Director of Professional Development Jennifer Wampler previously told the Cleveland County Board of Education.
But the plan was found unconstitutional.
A lawsuit was filed by the North Carolina Education Association. Wake County Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood said selecting the top 25 percent violated teachers’ employment contracts with boards, and asking teachers to give up their “career status” for the new program was a violation of their property rights, according to the Associated Press.
“The lawsuit said you can’t take tenure away from people who already have it," Wampler said. "It’s a property right.”

‘Teachers are relieved’
Several teachers were not in favor of the top 25 percent selection, Wampler said.
“There was a lot of stress and questions about it,” she said. “Even the way the 25 percent was to be chosen was so arbitrary that it caused a lot of stress. The salary increase was really only a guarantee for the first year. Even if a teacher accepted career status, the state could change their mind down the road and they would lose it.”
Cleveland County Schools sent out a survey asking for information about leadership roles teachers were involved in to be sure no one was overlooked for the 25 percent selection. Several of them didn’t want to give their information, Wampler said.
“An overwhelming number of teachers wrote on they didn’t want it and didn’t want to be considered. They didn’t want to put down their information and be selected,” Wampler said. “I think teachers are relieved not to worry about it now.”
Earlier this year, Wampler said nearly 1,000 county teachers were eligible for the four-year contract.
Former Cleveland County Schools Superintendent Dr. Bruce Boyles was quoted by The Star in February as saying the top 25 percent plan was a factor in his plan to retire.
"It's one of the most troubling things I've seen happen to teachers," he said at that time.
What next?
The state legislature has still not reached a decision on the 2014-15 budget, so it is unsure what direction teacher tenure will go.
North Carolina teachers have not received raises since 2009, the Associated Press reported.
“I’m not sure what the next step will be,” Wampler said. “In general, giving up the tenure previously wasn’t worth the pay increase with all the unknowns.”

Pro-communist literature handed out at AFT conference

Among the literature cited was a GEM pamphlet. See front page story second document.https://americarisingllc.app.box.com/s/nhc8m8cn227vrwcb19ht/1/2203186595/19026564373/1

American Federation of Communists

Pro-communist literature handed out at AFT conference
 
Chinese protestors touting pictures of Mao Zedong / AP
Chinese protestors touting pictures of Mao Zedong / AP
      
BY: 
Communist pamphleteers are using the American Federation of Teachers annual convention as a recruiting ground, according to a new video.
Men with Mao Zedong-emblazoned messenger bags distributed fliers to union members as they entered the Los Angeles convention center, where thousands of teachers have gathered to discuss the state of the nation’s second largest teachers union.
Communist literature has appeared throughout the convention floor. Issues of the communist newspaper Red Flag have also been handed out to teachers as they gathered to reelect president Randi Weingarten, one of the most influential Democrats in the nation and a leader of the shadowy Democracy Alliance.
The issue, which was found by conservative researchers at America Rising, features a front page story declaring, “Capitalist Attacks on Schools Demand Communist Response.”
The newspaper compared the debate over education reform to a bloody 1960s dispute between rival Chinese communists. Several radical students werebeaten to death in 1968 after asserting that a Mao-appointed college administration was staffed by “pro-capitalist anti-revolutionaries.” That violence, according to the newspaper, is analogous to the American debate over school choice.
“This struggle helped to spark a monumental rebellion against ‘the people in party leadership taking the capitalist road,’” the photo caption said. “During this Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, leftwing workers and youth tried to transform education literally from the ground up.”
Participants at the AFT gathering were critical of education reformers and proponents of charter schools, as well as the Obama administration. A participant who claimed to be a Chicago teacher slammed Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan for not toeing the union line at a Tuesday meeting.
“We see the destructive policies [Duncan] has pursued … I think we have to name the name of the main architect of these policies, the man who has taken away everything we hold dear,” a man wearing an AFT delegate lanyard said. “We have to say that no matter who it is we are gonna [sic] come for you … if you come for what is ours we are gonna [sic] take you out.”
An AFT spokeswoman did not return request for comment.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Taiwan Education minister resigns over scandal

Education minister resigns over scandal

Staff writer, with CNA

Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling announces his resignation at a press conference in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) resigned yesterday amid an uproar over his alleged connection to an academic who has had dozens of his papers retracted from an international journal due to suspected manipulation of the peer-review process.
“After reflection overnight, in order to safeguard my own reputation ... I have decided to resign as education minister,” Chiang told a press conference in Taipei.
Chiang said he will return to his teaching post at National Central University. He was president of the university in Taoyuan County’s Jhongli Township (中壢) before joining the Cabinet in February 2012.
Chiang said he decided to resign not only for the sake of his own reputation, but to prevent the scandal from disrupting the Ministry of Education’s operations, given the wave of public criticism triggered by last week’s announcement by the Journal of Vibration and Control’s publisher that it was recalling 60 papers contributed by Chen Chen-yuan (陳震遠), whom it accused of creating false e-mail accounts to give his work favorable peer reviews.
Chiang was listed as a coauthor on five of the papers published in the journal that were retracted earlier this month by US-based SAGE Publications.
The Washington Post on Friday quoted SAGE spokesman Daniel Sherman as saying that: “In some instances, real academic names were used and we believe e-mail addresses were set up for assumed and fabricated identities at genuine institutions.”
“We believe some of the coauthors may be innocent parties as they may not have had anything to do with the submission process or may not have known they were co-authors on the papers,” he said.
Chen, also known as Peter Chen, resigned as an associate professor at National Pingtung University of Education in February, several months after the launch of a probe into claims of a “peer review ring.”
Chiang, who worked at National Central University when the papers were written, said after the scandal erupted that he had no knowledge of Chen’s actions. However, there were immediate calls from the media, officials and Chiang’s former colleagues for him to resign.
His resignation has been accepted by Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), Executive Yuan spokesman Sun Lih-Chyun (孫立群) said.
Vice Minister of Education Chen Der-hwa (陳德華) will take over as acting education minister until a formal replacement is named, Sun said.
Presidential Office spokesman Ma Wei-kuo (馬瑋國) said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) respected Chiang’s decision and appreciated his efforts to reform the pre-school and vocational education systems and promote the government’s 12-year education program.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said further investigation of the scandal is needed, adding that Ma and the premier owe the public an apology for appointing Chiang to the position.
“In addition to probing the academic papers, we think that judicial and administrative investigations should also be opened because fraud is a criminal act and Chiang has changed his story repeatedly over the past four days, which implies that he lied,” Huang said.
Huang said if a dissertation in which Chiang was listed as a coauthor were funded by the government, Chiang could be guilty of fraud and forgery of documents, charges that carry a possible prison term of up to five years each.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) also condemned Chiang and said that the implementation of his key policy during his tenure as minister — the 12-year national education program — should be suspended so that it can be overhauled.
The Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office said it has launched an investigation into the allegations against Chen, adding that he could face forgery charges if the allegations are true.
Additional reporting by Chris Wang, Diane Baker and AFP