Mayne said, “The educators of Rhode Island believe in a rigorous, fair and consistently applied evaluation system.  As of now, this Educator Evaluation System meets none of these.  Much feedback has been provided yet it does not feel like anyone wants to listen.  The whole situation is very frustrating.”

Earlier in the year, nearly 5,000 educators signed a petition at www.slowridedown.com that took issue with the use of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) in determining teacher effectiveness. It’s the comment section of the website that is the most eye-opening – any thoughtful person would find more than enough information there to warrent taking another, harder look at the process. These are real teachers who have strong, legitimate reasons to ask RIDE to reconsider its direction. There’s no better testimony than that.

The text of the letter to the Board is as follows:

As local leaders, we constantly hear from our members about their concerns and issues with the new Educator Evaluation System put into place by the Rhode Island Department of Education. This past February, over 5,000 educators signed a petition, many with personal comments, asking RIDE to slow the process down until it was determined to be a fair and equitable measure to evaluate all of Rhode Island’s teachers and administrators.

We still do not believe that the system is a true measure of an educator’s effectiveness; chief among the concerns is the inconsistency from district to district, within districts, and even within schools. Each district in Rhode Island has its own story and each one can certainly share its concerns and issues with you. We, as a group, will be more than glad to do so as well.

We also want it plainly stated and understood that we as educators believe in a rigorous evaluation system – one that places a premium on improving instruction and helping us grow as professionals. We will be accountable, but to a system that is fair, equitable and proven to be successful.

It is extremely critical that teachers and administrators have confidence in the system, something we believe – in talking with teachers in our own districts and across the state – is currently not the case.

RIDE mandates an evaluation committee at the local level as part of the evaluation process. The committee includes teachers, union representatives and administrators. The purpose of this committee is to resolve issues, inconsistencies, and more. There is no such mechanism at the state level. Teachers and administrators need to have a similar voice at the state level with the Board of Education.

In an effort to address the concerns raised, instill confidence in those being evaluated by the system and to ensure future success, we, the following local NEARI presidents, request that the Board of Education establish an Evaluation Review Committee, made up of a majority of educators, to review the current system, address issues raised regarding the implementation of the new system and make recommendations to the Board of Education for adoption in the 2013-14 school year.

We recommend a 13 person committee: six teachers (two appointed by NEARI, two by RIAFT, and two former Rhode Island Teachers of the Year (drawn by lottery), two principals, two superintendents and three members of the Board of Education.

The Evaluation Review Committee would report back to the Board of Education with its recommendations, no later than July 31, 2013.

(Ed. note: Karen Jenkins works for the NEA-RI, which is a frequent advertiser with RI Future. I’ve asked her to submit pieces to RI Future that she thinks would be interesting for our readers because I think our readers like to know what the NEA-RI in general and the labor movement in particular is up to. But me asking her to submit these pieces has no relationship to the NEA-RI spending any money with us – I’d do that whether they advertised or not.)

North Kingstown Education Support Professionals (NKESP) – who have been battered over the last few months by the town’s school committee and Superintendent Phil Auger – took overwhelming votes of “no confidence” in the leadership both have provided for the school district. Our local union of teacher assistants, clerks, food service workers, mini-bus drivers, bus paraprofessionals, maintenance workers, and custodians has worked more than 18 months without a contract, despite working toward an agreement by following the process of mediation and arbitration.

The NKESP membership voted unanimously on two letters sent to School Committee Chair Kimberly Page and Superintendent Auger. About Auger, NKESP pointed to his cavalier attitude toward employees; his inability to focus on employee related issues; his leadership style of intimidation, bullying and lack of collaboration; and his lack of respect for support employees, their union, and its leadership, among other charges.

The first letter stated, “Dr.  Auger leads by firing employees who get in his way, ignoring concessions from the union to save these employee’s jobs, cutting deep into the contract conditions of the existing ESP workers, using contract language only when it suits him and causing over 13 grievances, a record number for the most ever filed under any prior superintendent.”

All 26 custodians were fired in June, in a privatization move by the school committee and superintendent, who then imposed deep cuts in the pay and benefits of remaining employees.

The letter went on to say, “NKSD is no longer the wonderful place it used to be…”

The second letter regarding the school committee cites members’ behavior at meetings, such as refusing to listen to the union or the public; texting; talking among themselves; interrupting each other; flirting with each other; shutting off microphones on other members and the public; reading newspapers during meetings; making false accusations; bullying; and using abusive and inappropriate language.

This letter stated, “The school committee has no concern for the hardships it has caused its employees and the families of the employees. The school committee has made itself look ridiculous and has eroded public confidence in the school department.”

NKESP is calling for the school committee to bargain in good faith toward a fair settlement. The arbitrator’s decision four months ago – which the committee rejected – would have settled the contract with enough money to balance the budget and keep the custodians’ jobs.

Karen C. Jenkins is Communications Director for the National Education Association RI

Prompting an exercise of “they said, they said,” the Chariho School Committee released a public statement Tuesday night, taking issue with the conduct of Chariho teachers concerning the parties’ ongoing contract dispute. The Committee also released the full text of the Labor Board complaint the teachers filed against it and the ensuing written arguments, causing National Education Association (NEA) Chariho President Bob Mayne to speak out with his own accusation.

“I’m rather disappointed with the School Committee’s attempt to distract everyone from the issues they created. Their negotiations statement reads that the ‘Chariho Regional School District Committee will not engage in personal attacks, intimidation tactics, mockery, and the distribution of misinformation,’ as if accusing teachers of doing so,” Mayne stated.

“By withholding the wages related to longevity and advanced degrees they are attempting to intimidate the educators negotiating on behalf of all NEA Chariho members into settling for this reduced level of compensation. This intensely adversarial relationship was created by the Committee’s decision to unilaterally and illegally change the compensation for Chariho’s educators. I am concerned that the collaborative working environment that existed between the leadership and educators of Chariho before this year will never recover.”

The Labor Board complaint arose from the Committee’s unilateral elimination of all longevity and advanced degree pay for teachers – mandatory as part of the negotiated agreement – as well as any step increases – guaranteed in state statute. In addition to noting the illegality of those actions, the complaint states that “the School Committee’s unilateral action in reducing teacher compensation has the effect of Interfering with the function of the Union by attempting to force concessions during negotiations for a successor agreement…”

The Committee’s rebuttal stated that the fact that the union walked out of a bargaining session August 20 and cancelled a subsequent session “opened the door” for it to impose the reduced pay schedules. NEA Chariho’s reply indicated that the union felt at impasse and made known its intent to call for mediation, as allowed by law.

A growing number of parents, former students, and community members have spoken out in favor of restoring teacher pay and settling the contract, to avoid further erosion of teacher-School Committee relations. No progress was reported from mediation session last night.

Karen C. Jenkins is the Communications Director for the National Education Association RI.