Committee to Advance Teacher Compensation & Careers: One True Thing…Please!

The parking lot was already full, and the skies had just opened when I arrived for the Town Hall meeting hosted by the Committee to Advance Educator Compensation and Careers. Attending a meeting called by a group with a name like this should stir up the excitement and anticipation of being on the brink of something new and wonderful. A committee had been appointed by the governor for the purpose of advancing my compensation, and my career? Of course, not one committee member knows me personally, nor are they thinking of any particular individual’s quality of life, or career. But they were obviously commissioned to develop a plan to advance the compensation and careers of teachers in the state, and I am one. And advancement is good, right?

Only a teacher who’s been in a coma for the last 5 years would be fooled by a title like that. What one thing has Governor Markell proposed or implemented that has improved the quality of life for any teacher in the state? Indicated any concern about the careers of teachers? What one thing has Governor Markell proposed or implemented that has improved conditions in our schools? Or better equipped teachers to meet the diverse needs of students?

What Governor Markell has implemented is a relentless assault on teachers by crushing them with untold hours of meaningless “data” gathering and recording, less actual prep time so that after work hours paperwork is not only unavoidable, but at an all-time high for most; an unfair and burdensome evaluation system that even the state admits needs work, and torturous PLC’s good only for the embellishment of someone else’s resume.

Now this. His coup de grace. A way to demean and divide teaching professionals throughout the state once and for all: Create a low-wage work force, in competition for the very limited number of extra pay positions that are temporary, and, so far, undefined.

Name one thing, one true thing, Governor Markell has implemented with positive consequences for teachers or teaching in the state of Delaware.