They say that it took arch-conservative communist baiter Richard Nixon to finally breech the wall that had separated the United States from China since Mao Zedong’s revolution. Will it now require one of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s most loyal allies to bring down the travesty that is the governor’s teacher evaluation scheme?
That conclusion can be drawn from this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell, in which Shreveport Republican Representative Alan Seabaugh calls the new teacher evaluation program “nothing short of ridiculous.”
The Louisiana Federation of Teachers has been calling the governor’s plan ridiculous, and worse, since it was first enacted two years ago. But the stakes climbed exponentially this year, when Jindal’s Act 1 tied employment decisions ranging from salary to tenure to termination to the evaluation scheme.
The Louisiana Federation of Teachers vigorously opposed Act 1 when it was rammed through the legislature. Lawmakers like Seabaugh scoffed at our concerns. The governor and his amen chorus called us “agents of the status quo” and worse.
When LFT stood alone and filed a lawsuit to halt the evaluation system, we were called goons. The once-respected Council for a Better Louisiana called our lawsuit “unfortunate” and said that we are “more interested in taking care of adult issues at the educational expense of students.”
Superintendent of Education John White whined that “the LFT keeps dragging us back to politics and courtrooms.”
But with the law going into effect and its noxious results blooming, the worm is turning.
Around the state, educators are learning that Jindal’s scheme is aimed not at improving education, but at shoehorning teachers into arbitrary categories. His ultimate goal seems to be destroying trust in public education so that the billions spent on our schools can be diverted into the pockets of education entrepreneurs.
In a recent editorial, the Lake Charles American Press termed Jindal’s evaluation scheme unfair and immoral after learning that some of the best teachers in some of the state’s best schools have been labeled “ineffective.”
And now the scales have fallen from Rep. Seabaugh’s eyes. It seems that the top-rated elementary school in the state is in his district, and teachers in that school have been victimized by Jindal’s agenda.
As reporter Sentell writes, “the jobs of some teachers could be in jeopardy because even high-scoring students who show drops from the previous year can result in the teachers being rated as ineffective.”
As Rep. Seabaugh told the reporter, “You literally have the most successful teachers in the state being told that they are highly ineffective.”
Rep. Seabaugh has now written a letter of complaint to education officials around the state. Like Nixon’s visit to China, this could be the start of something big.
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2 comments:
The state of Louisiana has turned the clock back to Slavery. We, ALL are living on Master Jindal's Plantation, wondering when we are going to be SOLD. This states Education, Healthcare, Hospitals, are being SOLD to Jindal's Republican Buddies with no regard of future consequences. Who, Destroys their own house or state? His tactics are so HILTER like, that he started with Early Education and worked his way to the Colleges. Did he forget that he was Educated in LOUISIANA's PUBLIC SCHOOLS & EDUCATION SYSTEM. To Destroy Educators Lives that have done the REQUIRED Education to teach the whole student, and replace them with graducates that are trying to pay-off their student loans is dangerous. Lousiana have some of the most DEDICATED EDUCATORS that do not deserve to be underminded by your Governor & his Politics. Don't they realize they are HURTING ALL the CITIZENS of Louisiana. I hope other Louisiana Mayors, Predisents, Senators, Congressmen, Representatives are NOT IMMUNE from the DESTROYER Jindal's POLICIES. POWER is the wrong hands,with followers at ANY cost is whats killing Louisiana. If, Louisiana Education is so BAD why did he go to LSU for Higher
Education? And now he's trying to DESTROY Teaching Institutions. We, should take this FIGHT EVERYWHERE Jindal GOES starting at his House and Follow him with SIGNS as he travel Peddling is Ideology for a higher Governmental Position. His track record will be HOW HE SOLD & DISMANTLED LOUISIANA'S EDUCATION,HEALTHCARE,& HOSPITALS for years to come and he'll be gone to greener pasture. Jindal, has already set himself up in Business even after his term as Governor is over at the expense of Louisiana EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, HOSPITALS, & CITIZENS. Jindal CANNOT Rise, his term must end in Louisiana. The BUCK STOPS HERE.
Rhonda Ford
New Orleans, LA.
Rhonda is right. I am a teacher in Louisiana. John White is bogus. Gov. Jindal is a farce. This program is about ruining the lives of the very people who are working to instill the values of the American system in our students in order to get rid of them because they can pay new college graduates less than veteran teachers. This is a HUGE mistake. My interests aside, I can say unequivocally that my experience and wisdom supports the school, as I see the young and inexperienced teachers come and go, come and go, because they can't hack it. If it weren't for teachers like me today, I would've never made it as a new teacher. A lot of what goes into the job isn't learned in college, its learned with experience, and its something a 20 something John White wouldn't know and its something that a politician that's voting this legislation into law surely wouldn't know. In 20 years, no politician has ever asked me what I would do to improve schools. I have never seen a politician in a school that I have worked in and I've worked in many schools in this state.
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