LISTEN: Teacher Layoffs: What They Mean For You And Your Kids

NPR:

Teacher contracts expire in many places Friday, and for many teachers, those contracts won't be picked back up. State budget deficits and increased cuts are taking their toll on school districts around the country. In Milwaukee, 354 teachers are going to be laid off. In Chicago, a thousand. Smaller school districts are losing positions too. Robert Siegel speaks with Sean Cavanagh, who covers state education policy for Education Week, about the cuts -- and what they mean for the upcoming school year.

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

For a lot of teachers around the country, today is their first day out of a job. Teacher contracts expired last night in many school districts. And state and city budget deficits have forced big cuts. In Milwaukee, 354 teachers are being laid off. In Chicago, a thousand; another thousand in Philadelphia.

American education is so decentralized it's hard to get a fix on what's happening nationally. But that's what Sean Cavanagh tries to do. He covers state education policy for Education Week, and joins us now.

Read the whole story: NPR

Comments

[Teacheronthemic]

05:53 PM on 07/04/2011

In Los Angeles approximately 1,700 contracts have expired. In the school where I teach, 30% of our teachers have been lost. Exceptionally gifted teachers are now filing for unemployment. The teacher-hating in today's media has convinced the public that we are shiftless, selfish tax moochers. Folks read headlines about thousands of teachers losing their jobs, and it's no big deal, no public outcry whatsoever. Just this past week, citizens in Chile called for greater educational funding and got tear gassed! I don't know about you, but I'm willing to inhale a little tear gas to make sure that my students get their teachers back! It's not Un-American to support progressive taxes to save our schools! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B56AJpkx3xU

[corwin]

08:38 PM on 07/05/2011

It's almost as if people don't think teachers are really...teaching. I think you should get out your father's " Sgt Rock" comics if you want to daydream.

[Teacheronthemic]

10:45 PM on 07/05/2011

Indeed. We come to work late. We sit and read the paper all day. We enjoy two-hour lunches. We press play on the DVD player... Nobody understands what we do, what we deal with. 150 adolescents coming through my doors on a daily basis with their raging hormones, their learning disabilities, their insecurities, their confusion, fear, energy. It is insane. Put video cameras in our classes. And put video cameras in the offices of professionals in the corporate world. Have both videos streaming side by side and let America decide who works harder, who has a more challenging, stressful job. You will see students flicking rubber bands and texting when we are not looking, when we have our backs turned as we help that student with a learning disability. Watch us struggle to engage our students. Watch us experiment and fail. But we fail with dignity.

[SangZe]

11:12 AM on 07/04/2011

Education is unnecessary except for the children of the rich, who must learn how to rule over the masses, and even they need not be literate. They just need to own all the weapons.

[corwin]

08:37 PM on 07/05/2011

I think you must have been a Liberal arts major. I feel your pain,but it may not be too late.Go to college.Get a real education this time.America is a big hearted country.People won't hold your mistakes against you.Someday,you'll laugh at your shallowness.
Corwin.Just a Really Smart Person trying to help

[broui]

09:12 AM on 07/04/2011

Here are a couple of direct consequences that few are talking about:

1. The student:teacher ratio will be considerably worse thus making the quality of education in each classroom worse. Even the best teachers are far less effective with 33 students in their classrooms versus 25. Classroom management becomes almost exponentially more difficult and personalization nearly impossible.

2. Teachers will spend more time trying to prove they teach well than they will actually teaching well. By that I mean they will spend more time doing paperwork justifying the the quality of their work, their planning, etc. then they will actually doing the difficult job of teaching.

As an 11 year veteran teacher I am seeing this downward spiral. It is an easy kneejerk reaction to throw stones at teachers. We are on the frontlines doing the dirty work. But, increasingly we're being mired in the consequences (unintended and not) of too many cooks spoiling our kitchen.

[changing]

08:49 PM on 07/03/2011

It means age discrimation and the loss of qualified too expensive old teachers.

[Dangerous Dan]

06:27 PM on 07/03/2011

I am sorry, we have a zero tolerance policy,
You will be laid off in reverse order of seniority.
By union contract.

[Just a passerby]

02:34 PM on 07/03/2011

Yes, indeed. Let's watch the teacher_haters pick up the slack. See the kind of job they do with their kids.