Teachers' Union Advocate To Oppose Justin Simmons For State House

Imagine you're a security guard walking down the hallway of a Gettysburg College dorm room. While making your rounds, the pungent aroma of marijuana, coming from one of the rooms, attracts your attention. You knock on the door, but instead of an answer, you hear the toilet flush again and again. When the door finally is opened, a cloud of marijuana smoke virtually knocks you over.

Sounds like a typical college dorm scene, right?

But what I've just described are the antics of three Easton teachers who were shacked up at Gettysburg for a ... ahem ... conference in 2009. Though never charged, these three stooges were asked to leave, and they did.

In fact, one of these three educators, Kevin Deely, was President of the teachers' union at the time, a role he continued to hold until sometime this year. As a union boss, he's known for rejecting federal funding when tied to teacher performance.  Last Spring, he organized a rally when school administrators balked at an average 12.57% average raise for teachers.  Between 2009 and this year, Easton teachers saw average raises of $20,000-25,000, which is more than many of us make.

Not too shabby in the worst economy we've seen since the Great Depression. But so far, it's only been Easton taxpayer money.

Well, Deely wants to bring his "vision" to Harrisburg. I have minutes from Southern Lehigh Educational Assn's October meeting, where Deely was a featured speaker and stated he'll be opposing Justin Simmons in the state house race next year.

Apparently, Deely's an expert when it comes to Weed 'n Seed.

If you'd like to volunteer, he lives in an apartment above a Korean restaurant on 309 in Center Valley. So you can knock on Kevin's door, and while you're waiting for him to stop flushing the toilet, you can order some kimchi.

Is It Time to Ban Teacher Strikes?

That's what State Rep. Justin Simmons thinks. He's sponsoring legislation that will ban teacher strikes. Calling Pennsylvania the "teacher strike capital of the United States," Simmons claims that the Keystone State is now home to 60% of all teacher strikes.

"We have constantly led the nation in one category, and that is teacher strikes," Simmons stated during a news conference. He added that he believes teacher strikes violate the Pennsylvania Constitution, "and it's time to put a child's education first by banning them." Pointing to the Saucon Valley School District, located in his legislative district, Simmons notes there have been two strikes within the last four years.

Thirty-seven other states already ban teacher strikes, according to Simmons.

Other prime sponsors of this legislation are Reps. Todd Rock (R-Franklin) and Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler).

According to the PSEA, there is no evidence that teacher strikes have an adverse impact on education.

What concerns me about a ban is the binding arbitration that will follow. Police officers, who are unable to strike, do pretty well with arbitration.

Hey Teachers ... Thank You For Your Service

On Monday night, before going to Bethlehem Township's Board of Commissioners' meeting, I decided to drop in at Barnes & Noble and pretend I'm smart. I got a cup of coffee and flipped open my laptop to make snotty remarks. I was sitting close to two women, and tried not to, but ended up eavesdropping.

The younger of these two is a teacher, apparently in Whitehall. I listened to her discuss a student who wants to drop out because he's sure he'll fail. But he carries a notebook full of rap rhymes everywhere, and she often sees him jotting down his thoughts. He finally let her take a look. Once she got past the vulgarity, she told her friend she was blown away by this young man's complexity and depth. She's told him how gifted he is, and is begging him to stay.

This boy, and several of his classmates, had no Winter jacket. Too proud to admit their poverty, they'll just claim they aren't cold or that they forgot their coat. This woman and several others chipped in and bought outerwear. Anonymously. These students have no idea that, for the most part, their benefactors are their own teachers.

As I listened to her selfless talk about her students and her efforts to reach them, I began to think there's still hope for us.

When she and her friend got up to leave, I told them I could not help overhearing them and that I was sorry, but I wanted to say one thing.

"Thank you for your service."

It's what we say to our soldiers and vets every day. They certainly deserve this commendation. But this teacher, embroiled in a different kind of war, deserves a few accolades of her own.

The same goes to the rest of you bastards out there, who open young minds.

The First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Teachers

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

Although that Shakesperean one-liner is loved by lawyer-bashers far and wide, it was actually made by an anarchist who thought pesky lawyers might get in the way.

I have at least one reader who sings a similar refrain about teachers. They do infest most levels of government. It's thanks to them that we're going to see a dramatic increase in pension costs. Although not exactly advocating that we kill them, he does think we should stop electing them.

But that's the problem. They win elections. Ron Angle and Rich Grucela both tell me that whenever they went anywhere with Wayne Grube, they'd be mobbed by people he coached or taught. He was always top vote getter in Northampton County. Now it's Peg Ferraro, who made her mark as a teacher in Nazareth schools.

Here's his argument:

""One of the most pressing issues - if not THE pressing issue - is the coming SERS/PSERS pension crisis. It is not an attack on teachers to state that you believe they will not be objective and prepared to make the hard decisions necessary and required by the public. Someone eligible for multiple public pensions should be fair game, as they are part of the problem, and the last thing we should want is a rooster in the henhouse.

"At best, they can abstain, but that seat is needed for someone who will undertake the mission of serious reform which can only originate in Harrisburg.

*****

"There is ample evidence that [teachers] have little empathy for anyone outside their world.

"I have seen non-public unions agree to concessions to save their company and their jobs. I have not seen that from the PSEA. Take a look at Saucon Valley. Their idea of concession is an annual raise in excess of three percent. Any attempt, ANY attempt to get a handle on the unsustainable expense of teacher compensation is met with the predictable "You don't care about your kids", "The best and brightest will leave" "If you don't pay, we'll go on strike" and other Chicken Little nonsense that would get your ass thrown out the door anywhere else.

"And how do they get away with it? Because their right to strike -to use children as economic human shields- is guaranteed by statute. While other unions have that same guarantee, in the end, private sector unions always face the possibility that the business will simply close up shop. Not so in the world of public education. Their right of entitlement has been purchased by the PSEA with their support of those in the state legislature. When they get their own in, they won't even have to buy the vote anymore."

What do you think? Is it fair to make this sweeping condemnation of teachers as a group? If we refuse to elect teachers, won't we just end up with more lawyers? Where will it end?