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| With Randi Weingarten at OCCTA |
Randi spoke to a packed room of Orange County Public School teachers and educational staff professionals, all bruised by the treatment of a seemingly harsh and unapologetic employer.
Orange County educational staff professionals are still reeling from the insulting offer of a $.25 per hour, two-year pay raise. The starting pay for these dedicated employees ranges from $8.10 to $14.54 for the first 12 pay grades of their 18-level pay-grade schedule. Even after working for five years in their positions, the OCPS employees on the first 12 levels will still not earn $15 an hour.
Orange County teachers were left demoralized after state evaluation scores revealed that only 2.4% of all OCPS teacher scored highly effective, as compared to a statewide average of 37.5%. Other Central Florida school districts exceeded our county’s number of highly effective teachers by leaps and bounds – Seminole rated 68.2% of their teachers as highly effective; Brevard, 55%; Osceola, 45.7%; and Volusia, 24.1%. Eight-eight OCPS schools did not have even one highly effective teacher, not even their teacher of the year! Twenty-six OCPS schools that received an 'A' score from the state, did not have even one highly effective teacher. Statistically improbable.
Additionally, Orange County teacher salaries rank 40th out of 66 Florida counties. The only counties that ranked lower than Orange were all smaller counties. All of the other large Florida counties, including Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, and Palm Beach, placed among the top ten in the salary range. The nearby Central Florida counties of Seminole, Brevard, Volusia, and Osceola all have higher salaries than Orange, which didn't even make it to the top half.
Randi said that there are two ways of leading – one is through fear and one is through hope. She always leads through hope. Considering the deplorable salaries and working conditions, her message offered much appreciated words of hope.
She remarked on the ludicrous teacher evaluation scores, asking, "How is it that there are over 80% highly effective teachers one year and the next year there are only 2.4%?"
One teacher joked, "I got lazy."
Randi said, "You know what this is about. It's about money. It's about power and it's about control. "
Exactly. It has nothing to do with the teaching quality in Orange County and everything to do with the district's treatment of teachers. Hopeful and encouraging words.
Randi spoke about the destruction of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top that gave us ten painful years of test and sanction. Test and sanction rather than support and growth.
She said, "The ten years of test and sanction frustrated parents, demoralized our profession and created tremendous anxiety for students."
She also mentioned that the newly enacted Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has the potential to restore the joy of learning. More hope.
Her most important message was that we all have the power to make the change.
Randi said, "At the end of the day there are really only two ways that regular people have any power. We used to say education. Education is still a way to create opportunity. But the only two places in the United States that we have power are at the bargaining table and at the ballot box."
Of course, she is right. We need to fire up every teacher and educational staff professional to get out to vote. Our School Board needs to be sent a message. Tallahassee needs to be sent a message. Washington needs to be sent a message.
We need to get out the vote to restore joy in the classroom, end the high stakes testing madness, eliminate employee evaluations bases on inconsistent and unproven systems, and improve working conditions. We need to take back our profession. We can be successful in this campaign by leading with hope.
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