The impasse between the Royal Oak Educational Association and the school district has gone on long enough. One of the most recent splits in more than seventeen months of negotiations centers around the issue of class size.<\/p>\n
The ROEA proposes the status quo of smaller class sizes for writing courses, 20 students; the district has proposed increasing class size to 30, ostensibly to save needed funds. I feel it is time I entered the fray to settle the matter.<\/p>\n
I propose, with appropriate modesty, that the teachers union counter the district proposal with a new class size limit for all classes of 50 students.<\/p>\n
The advantages of my proposal are almost too numerous to mention. First, the district\u2019s temerity in suggesting a mere 50% increase in class size might well garner some savings as it releases young and recently-educated teachers, those with energy and training in the latest methods to motivate students, to more needy districts than Royal Oak. However, my proposal, a 250% increase, will save Royal Oak far more money while simultaneously providing low-cost non-tenured staff to even more districts.<\/p>\n
The senior staff who remain, in my proposal, could now be entitled to far richer benefits in terms of salary, health care, and retirement. Let\u2019s call this a \u201cshared benefit\u201d for both the administration and its teachers. This is, of course, not collusion, but collaboration, if only the administration would accept the new counterproposal.<\/p>\n
I would be remiss if I did not mention a concern from a colleague who mumbled something about NCLB, meeting state benchmarks, and studies connecting small class size to improved academic success.<\/p>\n
But I believe I may dismiss these concerns simply: the district remains in a time of fiscal crisis, and niceties must be sacrificed for the greater good.<\/p>\n
\nI propose, with appropriate modesty, that the teachers union counter the district proposal with a new class size limit for all classes of 50 students.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
As I enter my 21st year teaching and my 15th in Royal Oak, I can only assure readers that I have no conflict of interest, and that by \u201cgreater good\u201d I do not refer to my \u201cshared benefit.\u201d Toss me accolades and wreaths as my proposal brings the stagnant negotiations to a satisfying conclusion, but I, too, am interested in seeing a valued, salable, and even profitable district.<\/p>\n
I end assured that readers will call the district immediately to support a more provocative class size increase than the modest one proposed by administration, and I close convinced that we may bring the contract talks to a swift end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The impasse between the Royal Oak Educational Association and the school district has gone on long enough. One of the most recent splits in more than seventeen months of negotiations centers around the issue of class size. The ROEA proposes the status quo of smaller class sizes for writing courses, 20 students; the district has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247,262],"tags":[319,320,321,322],"class_list":["post-799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chizblog","category-education","tag-class-size","tag-contracts","tag-roea","tag-satire"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/swift.jpg?fit=253%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":825,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/rohs-course-catalog-2009\/","url_meta":{"origin":799,"position":0},"title":"ROHS Course Catalog – 2009","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2009 Jan 26","format":false,"excerpt":"Given a chance to re-create the Course Catalog for 2009-2010, and just in time for scheduling day, I offer the following new course proposals for you. 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Add it! \u00a0 Philosophy: Ethics Students will spend the semester pondering and arguing the contemporary dilemmas of 21st\u00a0century America,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/01\/edcamp-header.jpg?fit=448%2C334&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1842,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/studywikis-hard-earned-lessons\/","url_meta":{"origin":799,"position":1},"title":"StudyWikis: Hard-Earned Lessons","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2011 Oct 2","format":false,"excerpt":"One of several posts on my old blog, From the Trenches, about the craft of teaching. \u00a0 Okay, I admit: I rushed into the Wiki business perhaps a little late for the rush of \u2013pedia followers and a little early for my technical skills. 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Kevin, an African American sophomore in my ELA10 class, was understandably angered by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/stock-kids.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":808,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/feel-of-the-future\/","url_meta":{"origin":799,"position":4},"title":"Feel of the Future","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2007 Oct 20","format":false,"excerpt":"What do joy, nostalgia, and sadness feel like when you experience them at the same time?\u00a0They feel like my walk through Royal Oak Middle School this last Saturday evening at the Open House. As a premiere, it was well done.\u00a0Administration, school board, teachers, parents, students, former Dondero teachers, even the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/media-center.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":811,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/6020\/","url_meta":{"origin":799,"position":5},"title":"Why I Teach","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2007 Nov 26","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve been asked often enough what teaching philosophy I hold, what literary criticism, pedagogy, or politics I subscribe to.\u00a0\u00a0Recently I\u2019ve been compelled to articulate this philosophy in a short essay for an audience outside of the school.\u00a0\u00a0Here is a draft excerpt on \u201cWhy I teach.\u201d As a teacher, I'm not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/cnn.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1383,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799\/revisions\/1383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}