
My father tells this amusing little joke. Since I keep getting RIF’d each year, he says that when I’m teaching 34 years, the cut-off for not getting RIF’d is 35 years. Isn’t he a funny guy? And why do I bring this up?
Because of our anti-education state legislature, whose goal is to privatize education and eliminate public schools. And how do they plan to end education in the state? Well, they have a new set of amusing little laws that go into effect on Tuesday. They include (quoted from the union newsletter but verified elsewhere):
1. Districts are not allowed to use seniority (tenure) as a criterion for selecting teachers who are RIFed.
2. Districts are not required to maintain a priority list for recalling teachers who have been RIFed.
3. Districts may reduce teacher salaries in any manner at any time.
4. Districts are no longer required to issue teacher contracts by May 15th.
5. The April 15th date for teacher contract non-renewal is no longer required.
6. Compensated release time for association activities is prohibited.
What this means:
1. Anyone can be RIF’d. There is no cut-off. Someone who has taught for 30 years has no more seniority than someone who was been teaching less than a year. The claim is that in our school district, RIFs will be initiated by pulling random social security numbers.
2. Being RIF’d doesn’t mean that you have the right of first hire over an outsider, or that your return is according to seniority. They can recall anyone they feel like recalling and dump anyone they feel like dumping. In fact, every school in the state could dump all of its teachers and just hire college students or subs if they want.
3. There is no pay scale. There is no pay range. The sole purpose of a contract is slavery. Teachers cannot break their contracts for any reason. I’ve heard, in fact, that if a teacher breaks his or her contract, that’s grounds for permanently losing a teaching certificate. However, in spite of having a contract with numbers on it, if they wanted to, next Wednesday the district could cut all teacher pay to a dollar an hour if they felt like it. Or minimum wage. And in theory, we have no recourse. Of course, my own theory is that obviously under those circumstances there is no reason to hold onto or worry about holding onto one’s teaching license, unless one is planning to move out of state.
4. No contract date means that districts can choose to not let you know if you have a job or not until the first day of school if they want. They can make you wait all summer not knowing, but if you aren’t RIF’d then you aren’t laid off. Not laid off means none of the benefits available to people who are unemployed, which you really are if you have no contract.
5. See number four. They don’t have to tell you that you aren’t rehired any more than they have to tell you they want you back.
6. It used to be that union workers could attend to union business on company time with pay. If that’s a universal union thing, it should apply to teachers as well. But doesn’t any more.
So when I took my transcript to school to get it put in my file, the principal and assistant principal and others in the room congratulated me for NOT getting my Master’s in Education and thus for NOT being trapped in the field of education. Trapped. Their words. Yes, I have to figure out how to jump off of a sinking ship at the end of the year without landing in shark-infested waters. Landing on another ship, one that’s sailing in smooth waters, would be nice!
So that’s my week, aside from the fact that the new girl I got yesterday knows even less math than the new boy I got last week. And tomorrow I have a constitution test to maintain my teaching certificate, which expires in December.