President Johnson Responds To Innacuracies in Dispatch Editorial
CEA President Rhonda Johnson’s response to a recent Columbus Dispatch Editorial was printed in the October 27th edition of the paper. An excerpt will also run on the front page of the October 29th CEA Voice.
I write to make clear the information published in the October 18 editorial regarding the Columbus Education Association.
Our union has always been deeply concerned with doing our part to maintain fiscal responsibility within Columbus City Schools. A significant district expenditure is employee healthcare. After recently completing an audit of our membership to verify dependent eligibility for health insurance, more than $2 million of taxpayers’ money will be saved. In addition, I represented teachers on the committee charged to assess facilities and to make the difficult decision to close school buildings.
In response to the claim that teaching assignments are made based on seniority, the greatest weight in the decision to fill a teaching vacancy is actually given to the building principal. Vacancies are posted in the spring on a system-wide basis, which begins the month-long competitive and selective interview process as agreed to between the Board and the Association. The interview panel at each school consists of the principal, two teachers and two community members. The panel recommends the best applicant for the position. However, the principal is not obligated to hire that person and may override the panel’s recommendation.
We do not settle for the status quo—in fact, we are leaders in school reform. Our award-winning Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) program serves as a model for other school districts across the nation. PAR allows us to police our own ranks and to hold our teachers accountable for their performance. New teachers in Columbus City Schools benefit from the yearlong guidance of highly experienced consulting teachers. Novice teachers get the support they need, increasing teacher retention rates and significantly lowering recruiting and training costs. Most recently, 172 teachers were recognized for their participation in classroom action research. The majority of these teachers’ students posted achievement gains greater than the district average, and those teachers were rewarded. Forty-four schools met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), and those teachers will receive performance compensation for their efforts.
The members of the Columbus Education Association continuously work to improve the quality of life for the residents of the Central Ohio community. The $382,000 donated to the United Way in 2006 would not have been possible without the generosity of our membership, nor would the more than $60,000 donated to the United Negro College Fund. Teachers donated more than 2,500 books to Nationwide Children’s Hospital through the Reach Out and Read campaign. Recent member participation in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk raised nearly $13,000. Our partnership with Huckleberry House in the Green Light Project will help increase awareness of the problem of teenage runaways.
To say that Columbus City teachers do not care about students is not only patently false, it is reprehensible. Just ask the school board member who is a proud parent of a child in the Columbus City Schools whose teachers are card-carrying members of the Columbus Education Association.
In solidarity,
Rhonda Johnson
President, Columbus Education Association