Wisc. Teachers Who Protested In Madison Docked Pay, Disciplined

School officials are offering teachers a blunt reminder that they're leading by example: Students are punished for skipping, and the same goes for educators.

Now that Wisconsin schools have reopened after teachers missed work to protest a bill that would limit their bargaining rights, schools are taking disciplinary action.

Still, standing before a school board deciding their fate, teachers in St. Croix Falls, Wisc. make it clear they don't regret protesting, local CBS station WCCO reported Tuesday.

"We come before you guilty as charged," said eighth-grade language arts teacher Chris Wondra, who spoke on behalf of all the teachers Tuesday night.

The board was deciding on proper sanctions for teachers who missed work to protest in Madison.

The consequences for Madison teachers, however, were made clear. After hearing that numerous teachers planned to use a sick day, District Superintendent, Dan Nerad, decided teachers must provide a doctor's note to call in or be docked pay, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.

Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Gregory Thornton sent a letter to teachers last week saying they would be disciplined if they didn't come to work, according to the Chippewa Herald.

"This is a posture we truly hate to take, but it is a necessary one," the letter said. "Our children, many of whom struggle daily with poverty and hunger, truly depend on us."

The Milwaukee school system, the largest in the state, will not issue any sort of blanket punishment but will go case-by-case teachers who missed school to protest ,reports Milwaukee's NBC station TMJ4.

A number of other small school districts throughout Wisconsin also will discipline teachers who protested, including 400 educators in Racine, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The public is weighing in on the sanctions as well.

In Ft. Atkinson, Wisc., numerous citizens and parents contacted the district Superintendent inquiring about discipline and voicing concerns that teachers were being paid in their absence, the Daily Union reports. Teachers in this district won't be paid for taking a sick day to protest.

But at the Tuesday school board meeting in St. Croix Falls, Wisc., the public showed up in droves to offer a different message: Don't punish the teachers for protesting, according to WCCO.

And it's not just teachers who might be punished. The Wisconsin State Department of Regulation and Licensing is reviewing complaints of a team of licensed doctors who wrote fake sick notes at the capitol for protesters, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.

Participant Dr. Kathy Oriel told Madison's ABC affiliate WKOW-TV that the doctors had the best of intentions and understood the gravity of the fake notes.

"We think it's worth the risk," she said. "Teachers have no choice

Comments

[chavezcoach]

09:42 PM on 02/28/2011

Those teachers are showing their students how to stand up for your rights. Lead by example.

[t iessa]

07:15 AM on 03/01/2011

They could have done that on their own time. What they showed students is their word doesn't mean much. The signed a contract. Be a professional and a stand-up person and follow it. Protest all you want but do it without breaking the very contract you are fighting to continue to negotiate.

[mlaiuppa]

09:05 PM on 02/28/2011

Way to send the message that teachers are third class citizens, they have no right to free speech, nor to protest a tyranny that will directly and negatively impact the quality of education their students will receive. Let the kids see that their teachers are punished for standing up for their rights and fighting for their students. Make sure students understand that the teaching profession has no value and is not respected in this country. So kids, don't become a teacher. It's a thankless profession and you will be punished with low pay, no benefits, no retirement and substandard working conditions. If you dare to object, you will be punished.

[captainindustry]

03:03 PM on 02/28/2011

Teachers Docked Pay

Did you know that that is where the name Dockers Boat Shoes came from?

Teachers were skipping class and going out on boats.

[jusathot]

05:36 AM on 02/28/2011

People who do not value teachers really show they do not value children. If one looks at how little people pay day care workers and teachers for the care of children, you can tell how they truly feel. The insults thrown here at teachers--like how dare them want rights--they seem to think that if teachers had any self respect they would not be doing that kind of work.

This reminds me of a discussion about value--a man who lived up North went on vacation as a child to relatives in the South who told him that Black people were dirty, and shiftless, and every bad name in the book, and he should not be friendly with them.

He said what was puzzling to him was that these people and their friends all had black people taking care of their children, giving them baths, feeding them and attending to all their needs. They would even have the kids out strolling, unsupervised. He said as a child he knew something was wrong with this picture, because his mother would never leave him in the care of people she thought were dirty and bad.

You remind me of those people.

[jusathot]

04:36 AM on 02/28/2011

It saddens me to read the contempt for teachers here. People have been brainwashed, and at this time, see teachers as living in the lap of luxury and complaining. Do you ever stop to think what a teacher has to do when she needs to use the bathroom? She is not like you who can just trot away from your desk at any time. This is no small thing. Teachers have to play nurse to your kids, not to mention their exposure to every germ, because you send them to school sick all the time(you can't stay home with them right?)teachers are raising your snotty nosed children, having to deal with the ramifications of your divorce and sometimes your abuse of your own children. Nurse, therapist, vomit cleaner, money loaner (when you forget to give your child lunch money). Most of you go crazy when your kids are home for short breaks. Teachers have them all day. Hell teachers even help your kids socialize with you, with the greeting cards. And we have not even touched on the three Rs yet--you ungrateful you know whats!

[southingtonian]

04:51 AM on 02/28/2011

LOUD ECHOING AMEN!

[jusathot]

05:23 AM on 02/28/2011

Thanks.

[LISUPT]

09:15 AM on 02/28/2011

It is actually posts like jusathot which make some want to yell "are you kidding." Many do understand the wonderful and important work that teachers do. If you want to start with how important they are you should start with what they get paid to do and that's teach. You make a last minute reference to it in the post and that's the problem. Stop trying to rationalize their existence by listing the non academic responsibilities of teachers. If you do all those other responsibilities without doing a good job teaching then you are simply not doing the job. Lastly, i support collective bargaining and hope that it continues. But next time negotiations come around and management wants to limit and/or make it more difficult to get sick time, who will the teachers blame? While some of them may appear cavalier about their actions now they should realize that beyond the immediate consequences there will certainly be long term consequences as well as new contracts will have language specific to these latest events.

[jusathot]

11:58 AM on 02/28/2011

Okay--Bottom line teaching is seen as women's work, and what women do has no value in this society.

[t iessa]

07:11 AM on 03/01/2011

You're right that if collective bargaining survives, there will be long term consequences and then they'll whine about that.

Contracts are 2-sided documents. Both sides have agreed to abide by them. No contract lets any number of teachers from one school leave on the same day. The fact that some teachers obtained doctors' notes says that they lied about their leave. They didn't take personal days or they wouldn't have needed doctors' notes. They're lucky if they only get docked and not dismissed.

It's irresponsible actions like this that make bargaining so difficult and lose unions support. As I said in an earlier post, I was a union member for 32 years and 1 of 4 who brought the union into my district. I suffered consequences for that but I believed in it. I believe in the collective bargaining process. I also belive in following the contract I signed.

[captainindustry]

08:20 PM on 02/27/2011

Down here in Texas they are going to march on Austin during Spring break. My prediction? It is going to be an absolute disaster.

"We're taking our SPRING BREAK to demand more from you poor suckers who WORK for a living."

Don't you sympathize with our cause!!!???

Uh, No. We don't get a Spring Break. We have to work to pay taxes so you can go on Spring Break to Austin and demand more more more.

[Eric Mann]

09:33 PM on 02/27/2011

Cap'n, you just don't understand, do you? Its not about teachers having Spring Break, it is about students having it. There is a good reason why TX is near the bottom of the pile when it comes to education, it is people like you who do not think outside your boxes that cause it. Oh yeah, and that whole writing Thomas Jefferson out of history too.

[t mout]

02:19 AM on 02/27/2011

Discipline the children not the adults. But what can you take from them. Nothing. So take the teacher's pay and career.

[doho]

08:58 PM on 02/26/2011

Teachers are selfish. I was a public school teacher for over 36 years. Witnessed poor leadership and some very poor teaching. Watched as millions of tax payers dollars were flushed down the drain by schools districts, buying one magic bullet learning program after another. Did it change education, NO!
Public education, for the most part does not work. Way too many "special" programs. Way too many teachers making over six figures by working extra duty hours, only to boost their retirements, and not putting in quality work.

[captainindustry]

08:14 PM on 02/27/2011

x2. i cant seem to fan you though, so here's a fave.

[fuel4thefire]

06:52 PM on 02/26/2011

One of the tenets of the Tea Party is to eliminate the Department of Education and thereby end public education; they believe in home schooling and the Republicans want to privatize education; So, this is not only an attack on public employees, but an attack on public education;

[skibum415]

06:40 AM on 02/27/2011

@fuel4thefire, I think you may be misunderstanding why Tea Partiers want the Department of Education (DOE) dissolved. Education should never be done from a federal level. It is a state’s rights issue; therefore, DOE has no function. The state should provide funding for the local school districts directly. Quite frankly, I think that system is broken also.

If we attached money the state currently spends, on a per pupil basis, to each student giving the parents the ability to choose which school they want their children to attend, I believe only then will you actually see an increase in the quality of schools.

There are great & wonderful teachers out there. THOSE teachers should be paid more however, the teachers who perform poorly; refuse to learn how to teach and/or refuse to teach a better curriculum ought to be released...without an arduous process.

If kids had money attached to them I imagine charter & private school attendance would increase, as students departed school districts may realize they have problems to fix (budget, administration, teachers, facilities, unions, etc.); after those are resolved & trust restored parents would be willing to utilize public education.

Tell me, why should kids pay (no pun intended) for a poor education when a better one could be available, perhaps by a charter or private school? If public schools offer the best programs, teachers, facilities, & curriculum then they should have nothing to worry about, right?

Regards,
Skibum415

FYI: Bush's No Child Left Behind was wrong too.

[teacher39years]

12:21 PM on 02/27/2011

Great post and exactly right.

[Andy Clark]

11:28 PM on 02/25/2011

"School officials are offering teachers a blunt reminder that they're leading by example: Students are punished for skipping, and the same goes for educators. "

Teachers are leading by example in this case. They showed their students that it is ok for workers to gather and organize to defend their rights.

another victory for big business, another loss for the American worker.

[skibum415]

07:06 AM on 02/27/2011

According to Wisconsin State Statute "§ 118.163 - Municipal truancy and school dropout ordinances" a student is truant when one is "absent from school without an acceptable excuse". I'm sorry, people wanting to leave their JOB to protest is hardly an acceptable excuse which would mean all of those teachers would be truant had they been students.

Here’s a question, what authority do any of those teachers have now when a group of 5 or 6 of the students decide they don't want to attend class because it starts too early, or cramps their social calendar, or whatever? Teachers who protested are hypocrites if they attempt to do anything to said students because the teachers did just that.

Additionally, has anyone given thought to the families who have students who attend the impacted schools? Do those union workers have any respect or regard for those families who had to have a parent stay home from work and lose their pay...or vacation days because unions decided to protest on school days. I doubt they thought that far ahead.

This is why folks get upset; sometimes saying union folks only look out for themselves and not for the good of the entire organization (teachers/schools have students who are a part of a family; thus an organization).

Anyone thought about the businesses that were impacted because the parent couldn't be a productive member of the workforce?

Just a few thoughts. Do the unions/teachers even care?

Regards,
Matt

[Eric Mann]

09:38 PM on 02/27/2011

So, the issue then is that teachers couldn't baby sit your kids so you were less productive? If that's what you think of teachers, start paying them 5 bucks an hour to watch your kid. I'll take my check from you for $350 every other week ($5/per hour x 7 hours that I actually watch your kid x 10 days).
At the end of the school year (36 weeks) you will owe me $6,300 dollars. Multiply that times 25 and I'll make $157,500 before taxes. I think I can do that.
I may even get competitive and slash my rates by 33%. I can live on that. If you can do the math on that, thank a teacher.

[LISUPT]

09:21 AM on 02/28/2011

The teachers could have easily organized and defended their rights after school, before school, evenings and on the weekends. It is not like protest hours were 9-3! By the way ,,, how about another loss for the Wisconsin student.

[Jefferson Vickers]

08:17 PM on 02/25/2011

What happened to PERSONAL time? Gestapo mentality now?

[Eidolas]

08:57 PM on 02/25/2011

Personal time is one thing. Calling in sick and heading to Madison to protest at the capitol on the taxpayer's dime is another. I'm sure not ALL of them were disciplined, it likely depends on the circumstances of why they missed work. Also, any teacher who spouted off personal political beliefs in class, encouraged students to wear a certain color or endorse a teacher's personal political beliefs or dragged them to protest on your behalf should also warrant discipline. Such allegations have been made in a FEW school districts.

[Jefferson Vickers]

09:04 PM on 02/25/2011

It's a catch 22 I have taught for 16 years and it is a little grey. You get so many sick hours per school year, of which 60% can be used as personal days. It is one account. Sorry I guess I should have said that. It does change the context of my comment. I still think it is worth the days deduction to stand up for this because next is cops, firefighters, and anyhting else they can bust-

[barnowl]

12:32 AM on 02/26/2011

You worry too much. Teachers DRAG students to protest on their behalf? No they didn't. Teachers make students wear certain colors? Come on!

[Quitcherbichin]

09:49 PM on 02/25/2011

Personal time is a benefit 'GRANTED" by the employer. An employee does not have the right to just take time off unless it has been authorized by the boss.

[Jefferson Vickers]

09:53 PM on 02/25/2011

That is NOT true personal time is JUST that. YOU do NOT have to divulge what you are doing UNLESS you are out of personal time and are trying to use some of the remaining sick time as such. Don't presume to tell me my personal/sick time policies I have had for the past 16 years.

[mikey09]

08:07 PM on 02/25/2011

I did wonder abt all the kids that often don't get a breakfast or lunch when not in school

[Jefferson Vickers]

09:55 PM on 02/25/2011

they you wonder about more then the right who is withholding food from the poor

[jusathot]

03:57 AM on 02/28/2011

About is too long for you to spell out? Why is that the teacher's problem about the kids getting meals? The parents should be supporting the teachers.

[mikey09]

06:24 PM on 02/28/2011

Guess I'm hip now and type like I text...:)
Sadly too many of our kids have parents who either can't or won't take care of their kids, millions of kids in the USA depend on schools for their meals, even in the summer....so if the kids aren't being supported by their parents, I doubt the parents are very concerned ABT the teachers.
Just the facts.

[InYourGrille]

05:03 PM on 02/25/2011

What, what, what what ... is this guy Scott Walker made of?

[treetracker]

05:53 PM on 02/25/2011

teabags

[Sarah Armstrong]

06:12 PM on 02/25/2011

Aspiration to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2012.

[Ordinary Citizen]

11:03 AM on 02/25/2011

Unbelievable! I'm thinking people should start leaving that state. If enough leave...the entire structure of the state would collapse then where would their GOP be then? Disgusting human beings.

"This is a posture we truly hate to take, but it is a necessary one," the letter said. "Our children, many of whom struggle daily with poverty and hunger, truly depend on us."

Really? I thought teachers were about teaching not curing poverty and hunger that job we leave up to our politicians...and look how well they work at that problem.

[lea171]

12:17 PM on 02/25/2011

That would be the best thing that could happen to Wisconsin. The entire structure of Wisconsin has always been the welfare state. Tommy Thompson turned that around, but it has since gone back. Most of the state is based on tourism (fishing, hunting), farming and dairy. Except for the breweries, Madison and Milwaukee bring very little revenue for the state.

[treetracker]

06:02 PM on 02/25/2011

According to the WI DOR report I read, they've reduced their tax revenues since 2007 by 500+ million. That's BEFORE this last round of tax cuts. 2/3 of their corporations pay zero taxes. The mantra to to keep giving the large corporations the breaks and put the loss of revenue on the backs of the workers. There MUST be a balance! Do they not understand that the more disposable income I have the more I can spend and thus GROW the economy? By not having the additional wages I need beyond survival, I have no purchasing power and that not only depresses me, but depresses the economy.

This is not rocket science. If I have more to spend, then there are more products I will have the ability to purchase and there are more people needed to help me - either as sales or as shippers - depending on how I buy it. Or i can spend it on vacations, education, or whatever.

There are two things that need to be done to help solve this crisis. 1) reduce the work week - while maintaining current levels of salary and, thereby, putting a huge number of people back to work and 2) increase the minimum wage to a living wage.

It is the only way we can earn back the wages that have have been lost.

[bogey1]

08:36 AM on 02/26/2011

and that's why the gov. decided to LOWER the tax rate on the rich and corporations?

the same corporations in WI, 2/3 of which pay ZERO INCOME TAX

[Andy Clark]

11:26 PM on 02/25/2011

F&F