Mumbles 1, Stutman 0.

The important issue is the evaluation system. How will it work? First, will it befair? Would the teacher being evaluated have a chance to respond to the evaluation in his own defense especially if the evaluation is negative? Moreover, whether the evaluation will depend mostly on tests is another important question. When I taught, I had the best kids in the school since they were all taking Latin. My evaluation then, I would think, would be high unless I simply didn't teach. The students a teacher may have, in other words, are an important factor of the evaluation process. If you rely simply on test scores, you overlook the ability and the motivations of the students that may be a major reason for the low scores, not the teacher. There are kids, believe it, mostly boys, who make it a point not to be seen with a book. It is almost a rite of passage to resist the system. God bless them. But how could any teacher teach kids with such an attitude? If a kid doesn't want to learn, then the teacher is going to have low test scores. How could Charlie Sheen's nephew in the TV series "Two and a Half Men" with his lousy, indifferent attitude toward learning ever achieve a high test score? Remember, he only wanted to achieve a D and do as little as possible. Believe me, there are a lot of kids like Jake, sadly.

Also, who would be the evaluators? (And who would evaluate them?) There would have to be live bodies coming into the classroom from time to time to evaluate the teacher's performance and obviously just a few times. But you can draw no conclusions from a few evaluations, I would think. Logically. to get the full picture, the evaluator would have to sit and watch the teacher for most of the year, which would be, of course, impossible. So every on-sight, infrequent evaluation gets you nowhere as an evaluator, unless the teacher comes into class with a hang-over on a regular basis. Meanwhile, the courtesy of brevity forces me to end this chapter. I could go on.

And if you made the determination not on the average of the scores but on the average of the INCREASE in scores then the kids who have been performing at the top all along won't show much growth, so those teachers are on the chopping block. The whole thing is goofy. 

"Other issues in the increasingly talks remain unresolved"

Better headline: "BTU Blinks".  One of the mayor's weakest areas of performance over his tenure in my opinion has been labor management.  His deals have been too rich and the unions have pushed him around.  It took a long time, but he finally pushed back. 

Evaluate a teacher that works with students that fall between cognitively impaired and low functioning regular education student.

Would the teacher would fail the "new teacher-evaluation system"

Could the "new teacher-evaluation system"  result in a greater number of Special Education Plans? I think so.

http://bostonunitedforstudents.org/index.html How is a group funded by BPS considered a grass roots organization. As a parent of two students I can give many more issues than the contract to be concerned with in the school system. Inexpeienced administrators, lack of technology, poor curriculum, and if this group is so concerned for students where is their outrage that 300 plus kids do not have seats to begin their educational journey. Where is the outcry to see the Superintendents audit of her administration? My kids school has broken windows, unsafe playground equipment , no textbooks ,a poor copy machine leading to unreadable handouts. Yet none of those concerns are on their website only articles dealing with the teachers contract. The teachers make the best of the poor facilities and bad curriculum and despite all this make their classrooms a welcoming place for the children to learn and be safe. A parent will let you know if a teacher is poor reopen the Parent Advocacy office and give parents more than a two minute public comment timeframe and listen to them instead of complaining about parent participation. It takes respect to gain respect .

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I taught next to a teacher that was "evaluated out" in the middle of the year, and all the school department did for us was send a parade of substitutes, who weren't certified, and basically students lost a year! This has happened more than once, in the same year , when teachers decided to escape to other systems, so it isn't an isolated case. What is Dr. Johnson's plan after she "evaluates out" all these "bad" teachers after 30 days? Does she plan to rehire them as substitutes? If she had a problem with "bad teachers" she's had since 2007 to correct it, the "tool" was there, and it was up to her to get principals to use it! I am very concerned if you have a principal who has a personal agenda, being able to "evaluate out" a teacher unfairly. English High is a perfect example of this. What is Dr. Johnson's plan to prevent this? This plan will prevent teachers from volunteering to participate on the School Site Council or anything else where their opinion might differ from the principal. If you disagree, or don't vote, with the principal, you'll be out of a job! So much for parents ever getting a voice at their child's school!

Dr. Johnson's administration has lost all sense of ethical direction, focusing totally on the bottom line and, more egregiously falsifying that information whenever it suits their needs or demands.  The Peterson case couldn't be a better example of this, but it is called "lying" and I am tired of it.  In 2011, Dr. Johnson closed and consolidated all those high schools.  I spent the year with a group of seniors from those schools and it was awful, they wouldn't participate in activities, didn't go to prom, and some didn't even go to graduation!  It was sad.  These students had lost their friends and school community and went through the motions just to get out!

_____ A year later Dr. Johnson is opening a new high school for what is really a DUAL LANGUAGE PROGRAM.  English High is two blocks down the street and 66% of the students are Spanish speakers and could benefit from such a program.  English High has empty seats!  The Burke High School has empty seats!  Do we need another high school, and THE COST OF A FULL ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPORT STAFF, when we have so many empty seats in our traditional high schools?  Wasn't "cost" one of the reasons Dr. Johnson closed and consolidated those high schools in 2011?

_____For the first time in my career, I 'm really not looking forward to returning to school.  I feel disrespected.  The Boston Teachers Union concession is more than fair, and more than I would have given.  After two years of the BPS stonewalling, it's as if Dr. Johnson and her "team" are being rewarded for bad behavior.  Dr. Johnson has forgotten that teachers are members of her team.  At the end of the day the contract will be settled.  It won't matter because it won't be a "mutual agreement" and that is never in the best interest of children.  It makes me wish that Mike Contompasis and Tom Payzant were back.