Notes on Stand for Children ballot measure: H3883

These are my notes from 10 am until I left at 1; there were still people remaining to testify when I left. Apologies for not getting more names; if you've got them, please send them along. As per usual, editorial italics are mine.


Stand for Children panel:
Jason Williams, Stand for Children Executive Director (who cites his experience teaching in Las Vegas)
“those least likely to prepared for college are low income children" (I think he said African-American children? 'though it shouldn't only be that)
“There are no silver bullets in education policy”
“the policy proposal you have in front of you...to build upon our reputation as leader in education” ("our" here meaning that of Massachusetts)
last in, first out
“accurately measuring a teacher's quality is not simple”
“we now want to take the next step and require the results of that”
“research has consistently documented how these” fail to keep the best teachers in the system (oh really)
performance before seniority
“a valuable opportunity to work together”
Winchester teacher and S4C membership
glad that her district takes into consideration “quality” of teachers
struggle to attract and retain teachers
(there's a remarkable lack of any understanding of family background having any difference on anything here)
quality of our work in the classroom should be first considered
parent from ?...Boston? Or Lowell?
First hand difference her children's teachers have made in her life
“had to choose between my job and my child falling through the cracks”
home after school for her daughter
worked with her daughter for weeks
“situation in her classroom was destroying her confidence”
“lucky enough to have an amazing teacher” in first grade
daughter is reading at grade level because of the work her mother did with her
“some parents' work schedules mean that they cannot be there when their children get home from school”
parents depend heavily on our schools
“best possible teachers need to stay in the classroom”
Businessman and entrepreneur
“working in various kinds of educational activities” (what does this mean?)
Boston Leaders for Education: business group working for “more rapid and effective improvement” in education in Boston
“my colleagues and I feel very strongly that children are capable of learning effectively”
mutual consent assignment policy
“vital that school principals be allowed to select 'like minded teachers' to join their team”
(he's got some example here from Boston involving a middle school having to take an elementary teacher...I think? Except ultimately they didn't have to take that teacher...)


Sen. Jehlen notes that the focus on layoffs is misplaced “We could focus that a budget that is stable and adequate” which would prevent the transfer problem
focus of the bill is to change the balance of power: to play only to administration
“teachers will have less power to deal with an evaluation that has everything to do with their future”
asks if there is any difference in right-to-work states in the number of teachers laid off?
“does not having union protection in layoff system in any state result in laying off only poorly performing teachers?”


Williams talks about pigeonholing...organizationally agree that funding is important
(really? That's new. Hasn't been true since 2009 for Stand)
has no examples of right-to-work states laying off less effective teachers

Sen. Jehlen points out the difficulties in administration that give bad evaluations for teachers who speak out for their children
Teacher in Michigan who was fired for organizing a fundraiser for Trayvon Martin: chilling effective advocacy for children





Union and parent panel

Paul Toner, president, Mass Teachers' Association: “details being worked out at the district level..hasn't even been put into place anywhere yet”
“putting the cart before the horse”
“take what is regulation and make it a permanent fixture in the law”
need a chance to work out kinks
“opens up a real hornet's nest...we're going to just file ballot initiatives to get our way”
discussions during creation of regulations included Stand
Stand did not talk to anyone about many of the items included in the ballot measure
“if they don't want to go to the ballot, then why did they put in a ballot measure?”
Mary Ann Stewart ,past president of PTA: who was on the regulation taskforce
“PTA has been standing for children longer than anyone”
did not spend hours working on this to have it undone by a group with no expertise in education
no need to implemtent a new system before the new one is rolled out
Michael Flynn, teacher in Southampton and on SC in Northampton (anyone know him? Thanks, Mary Ann!)
2008 MA Teacher of the Year
“need a system that allows teachers to grow”
“can work with that data with administrators to improve”
“not about going after a small number of teachers who need to be removed from the profession”
“loses sight of that purpose” (of focusing on improving teaching)
“should be spending our time discussing how we can reduce class size, how we can solve funding problems”
“harmful effect on educators...and ultimately students”
Boston teacher Jessica Tang (anyone know her? I'd love her notes!UPDATE: got 'em! Thanks, Jessica!)
“teacher voices are not heard enough on policy questions”
notes that she would rather be in her classroom today
students “deserve a much better public education system”
"Instead of focusing my energy and time trying to defeat an unnecessarily complicated and completely misguided ballot initiative that slickly glosses over the true complexity of educating all students, I would much prefer to spend my time and effort advocating for what teachers, community members, parents, and students together agree are the real solutions to educational inequities."
kids know what they need: “We need books”
clean and working facilities and furniture in schools
parents want opportunities for their children: arts, PE
safe schools
“accountability, but do not want their children constantly tested”
relationship building with teachers
community members want schools that they are proud of
Teachers want ALL OF THE ABOVE...but support us in our classrooms
the ballot measure “mentions the word 'bargain' more than the word 'children'”
looking for a bargain: cost saving
“an outrage to me”
“undermines experience...leaves outspoken experienced teachers vulnerable”

AFT president MA Tom Gosnell
“our students are number one in the nation” on
“great things are happening in Massachusetts under great teachers”
“look carefully at what works and apply that every place”
“good for students, fair for teachers, and collaboratively done”
AFT-MA didn't agree with everything that is in the regulation, but working to have that done
part time teachers lose all protections
“every educator is an active collaborator”
parents, teachers, principals, all reject this



panel of teachers:
“it is this advocacy...” that brings him to a story of one of students
switches for student made without consulting administration
worked with parent to get a student to a school that she needed to be at
“could not have risked offending administrators to help [her] if my livelihood depended on it”
“as a wedge to weaken”
“can't ensure quality public education for all if corporate shills are shutting out of the conversation”
teacher working a staff-run school; evaluation is a peer-run model
“a single score is just as likely to be a fluke as it is to be a reliable indicator”
“no wonder that the principals' association is against this bill”
“let's make the teacher profession attractive and appealing to teachers”

Lowell teacher:
transforming the culture of our school
shared educational purpose
don't just look at test data; change educational practice
“one school, one class, one student at a time”
“reaching the students in front of us”
needs “more than TV commercials”

Boston teacher:
“strong teacher leadership”
untested policy will hurt children we serve
“encourage layoffs and the defunding of public education”
BPS has been spared a large number of layoffs; this will encourage layoffs
“will silence teachers”
“let's get back to working together to make Massachusetts schools the envy of the country”

questions here around transfer processes in Boston

teacher who started at Lynn...now works in NH
“I'm against this simply because I'm concerned what it's going to do...”
teachers need to take risks to reach students most in need
“this discourages risk taking”
potential to increase the achievement gap
“I don't know that I would be the first to volunteer to work with those kids” most at risk
“I do regard myself as a great teacher...never had any negative evaluations..but if everything boils down to just me and some scores, I'm afraid of what that means of our ability to innovate in the classroom”
“support: support is crucial”
“who else is there for these kids?”



Maureen O'Connor, retired teacher
“support teacher accountability, student accountability and all that”
hidden agenda
“an effort at cost-cutting and an effort at gutting the teachers' union”
speaking up about leaking ceilings

Rep Vieira asks about principals not trained in evaluating teachers: what is the effect of that?
O'Connor comments that she was lucky enough to work with principals who had been teachers; not only based on principal's opinion alone
evaluation: “you learn from that”

Rep. Chang-Diaz:“administrators are going to be opting for less experienced teachers who cost less” but principals evaluated by student performance as well
asks for O'Connor's thoughts on that: she responds that she thinks that "budget" will come first