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weasol12 t1_jad651n wrote

Reply to comment by VCUBNFO in Richmond Public Schools principals unionize by CrassostreaVirginica

Collective action can more adequately advocate for system wide needs than one person complaining at a school board meeting.

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ManBMitt t1_jadfq7k wrote

I used to live in Chicago which has an incredibly powerful teacher’s union. Teachers get paid pretty well (median salary over $80k/year in a fairly inexpensive city), but from a school quality perspective the main results were frequent long strikes that closed the schools down and staying remote-only during COVID for far longer than other school districts around the country (which obviously impacted the poorest students the most).

I have yet to see any non-biased evidence that public sector unionization results in better quality public services.

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kneel_yung t1_jadiwav wrote

If there's no teachers to go on strike, because nobody wants to work for shit pay and be treated like garbage, is that a better alternative? Because that's what the current reality is

The few people I know in the teaching industry wouldn't even consider working for RPS as-is.

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redditrva456 t1_jadlwep wrote

Sounds like 2 problems.

Inadequate teachers providing lack luster education.

Underpaid roles in general in RPS system.

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CadenVanV t1_jaf1oc7 wrote

When teachers have to provide all the supplies in their classrooms themselves, education quality tends to suffer. Fund the teachers and they can actually teach well

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redditrva456 t1_jaf2nrp wrote

If you’re argument is the teachers have to provide all the supplies, then I think you meant to say “supply the classrooms and they can teach well”.

Align your request to your complaint.

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ManBMitt t1_jadnbn7 wrote

If an employer needs to raise pay in order to attract enough qualified candidates to fill open positions, then they will do that regardless of whether a union is present. If they don’t do that, then that has more to do with the employer’s incompetence than with the employees’ bargaining power.

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Realmofthehappygod t1_jadpkec wrote

Right, we need employee's bargaining power to counteract employer's incompetence.

That is the main issue.

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STREAMOFCONSCIOUSN3S t1_jaei1if wrote

In this case the employer is the taxpayer. Why haven't the taxpayers of Richmond city voted to raise educators' pay?

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CadenVanV t1_jaf1sx5 wrote

Because the school board chooses how to allocate funds and the current one is the shittiest institution on earth. The taxpayers have no say over this

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Hedgiepotamus t1_jaes9z9 wrote

Bullshit. They pass laws lowering standards and move the goalposts. Ex: Why attract and hire more subs when they can force current teachers to give up planning to watch classes? Planning we need to make lessons and grade and do IEP work and do PDs and and and. This kinda shit is rampant. They aren't incompetent. They are very intentional in not spending the money. Teacher and administrator unions are not the baddies. My union spends half our time advocating for changes that would be of benefit for students mainly. Because teachers and administration give a shit about students and we are often some of the only people catching systemic issues. So it falls on us to advocate for solutions. Your black and white understanding of how the world works is failing you spectacularly.

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sirensinger17 t1_jaf3eoe wrote

Ex teacher here. No they won't. They'll just keep the bad teachers instead of hiring better ones. And then decent teachers like me leave cause we know our skills will be better appreciated and better paid elsewhere

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kneel_yung t1_jaeggw1 wrote

> If an employer needs to raise pay in order to attract enough qualified candidates to fill open positions, then they will do that regardless of whether a union is present

Unless they can still turn a profit anyway, in which case they absolutely don't have to if they don't want to.

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DefaultSubsAreTerrib t1_jaeb1mr wrote

>staying remote-only during COVID for far longer than other school districts around the country

I would point out that RPS did that without a principals' union

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VCUBNFO t1_jad6l39 wrote

How so? The entire executive team hasn't been able to collectively get a lot of things that would make the schools better.

Unionization would make it more difficult to fire poor performers though.

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LostMyLedger t1_jad7v26 wrote

The staff gets fucked over by the board all the time. Schools have way too much to deal with and there voices usually go unanswered. My government class had to spam email the board to get simple changes to be heard. Small fixes like AC being broken for weeks we had to fight to get them to even acknowledge the problem. So big issues like rats, pay cuts, teacher quitting, fighting and staff gets involved, and now school shooting prevention are hard to get them to listen. Maybe you’ve never been to a Richmond school but go to a basketball game or something and look around. There are internal problems that the news dont cover and small issues add up.

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weasol12 t1_jad80fr wrote

Abbott Elementary is that you?

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foureyeswithbeard t1_jadcd72 wrote

I literally had to stop watching 2 episodes in because it hit too close to home.

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sirensinger17 t1_jaf3mez wrote

Schools already can't fire poorly performing teachers cause there's no one to replace them. No one's entering teaching because the pay sucks, the culture is toxic, and they're not appreciated

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