Teacher pay: School districts should stop paying teachers by a rigid formula that is calculated solely by degree obtained and experience, Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, tells a group of charter school leaders. “They’re treated in a fashion as if they were labor workers in a technical industry," says Diaz. "They’re not. They’re professionals.” He says pay considerations should take into account classroom skills and field of expertise. Otherwise, he warns, good teachers will continue to pursue administrative jobs to raise their salaries. redefinED.
Education choices: Advocates of charter schools and public schools find little to agree about in a forum sponsored by the Tampa Tiger Bay Club. Public schools advocates say funding is being diverted to charter and private schools that aren't required to meet the same standards as public schools. "When systems are set up that are unequal and have different sets of accountability, in a way that the competition isn't fair, that's what brings out the negativity," says Melissa Erickson of the Alliance for Public Schools. Charter and private school supporters say choice must be necessary, since it's popular with parents. "It should be a matter of great public policy to provide every alternative possible," says Lincoln Tamayo, head of school at Academy Prep Center of Tampa. Tampa Bay Times. Florida Politics.
Hostile workplace? Two black Pinellas Park Middle School teachers request transfers, saying their workplace has become "hostile and racially charged." The two were among nine minority teachers who started an after-school tutoring program that specifically aimed to help minority students improve their reading, but was open to all students. A letter to the district from NAACP officials claims those teachers were harassed and accused of being racists because they didn't do the program for white students too. Tampa Bay Times. Bay News 9.
Blaming abuse victims: The Palm Beach County School District isn't the only one that's used a "blame the victim" legal defense in lawsuits involving sex abuse of students by district employees. A review of public records shows that attorneys for the Broward and Miami-Dade school districts have also claimed in court that abused students were "negligent" or "culpable." Sun-Sentinel.
