Actions Speak Louder
September 2006
During his remarks at this year’s Superintendent's
Conference day, Board of Education President Kenneth Monaghan reeled off a long
list of areas in which Garden City students had scored at or near the top of the
county and state. As Mr. Monaghan pointed out, whether one looks at graduation
rates, Regents Exam scores, number of students attending four-year colleges, or
Advanced Placement scores, our students consistently demonstrate their academic
excellence, year in and year out.
It was a moment rich with irony given the circumstances
under which Mr. Monaghan delivered his comments. As the board President and his
audience of Garden City teachers were well aware, we began the school year
without a new contract, and of course, continue to work without one. So while
the words said “we value your efforts on behalf of the children of Garden City”,
the actions of the District say, “but not so much that we’re willing to
acknowledge them with a contract worthy of your professionalism and
dedication”.
What makes Mr. Monaghan’s remarks especially ironic, is
the nature of the obstacles that continue to impede progress toward a new
contract. While it would be imprudent to discuss details in light of the fact
that negotiations are ongoing, suffice it to say that what divides the GCTA and
the District has little to do with pay or benefits, and everything to do with
allowing teachers to determine for themselves how to best use their professional
time. Were Garden City a school district filled with a slacker staff, more
interested in milking the district, than in the well-being of the students, then
perhaps one could understand the District’s intransigence. Perhaps Board
members and District administrators are simply not familiar with the 6AM review
sessions held by Paul Rivadue, or the five weeks of daily review sessions,
morning and afternoon held by teachers of AP US History, or the summer days
spent by elementary teachers decorating classrooms, or the hundreds of college
recommendation letters penned annually by High School staff, to name but a few
of the untold acts of devotion to our students that we perform every single day,
and all of which we are not
required
to do by
contract. We do these things out of devotion to our students, and out of our
commitment to maintaining the highest academic standards for ourselves and our
students. For the District to begin trying to mandate how we exercise our
professional discretion is not only superfluous, it is frankly insulting. We
know what we have to do, and we do it well, day in and day out. That should be
the standard by which we are measured. Not how many hours we sit through some
barely relevant talk by some outside “expert”.
So while a pat on the back is always nice, it only goes
so far. It won’t help you pay your child’s tuition, it won’t provide you with
more time to prepare lessons and mark papers, and it certainly won’t serve as a
substitute for a contract that rewards our dedication with much-deserved
respect.