Updated at 9:55 p.m.
Frustration with the direction the Greenfield School Board and its administration is taking boiled over Monday evening as protesters flooded into and briefly took over the regularly scheduled board meeting.
Dozens of protesters and speakers berated board members and district officials, voicing their displeasure with how the district teachers are being treated now that collective bargaining is prohibited.
"We want a quality educational system; your actions don't match. You need to do something about that," said Andrew Misorski during the public comment period of the meeting.
The show of frustration stems from a number of changes Greenfield teachers have faced this summer due to the end of collective bargaining. These changes include a longer work calendar, an amended employee handbook and a new benefits package that requires them to pay more for their retirement and health benefits.
"You have a choice; you can work with your employees and their union … or you can choose to do what you exactly have done - ignore the union and thereby ignore the rights of the employees," another speaker said. "These are honest, decent working people … they (the teachers) are no different than you. They have children, they send their kids to college, they have your values, yet you make unilateral decisions … Shame on you."
As the regularly scheduled meeting began protesters, some with signs and others wearing T-shirts that displayed their support for public education, filled the meeting room to capacity with dozens more waiting to get into the room.
"Move the meeting. You have to accommodate your public," protesters shouted before the meeting got underway.
"We do not," superintendent Conrad Farner said in response, riling the crowd even further.
School Board President Bruce Bailey began the meeting by slamming his gavel and shouting for order. The raucous crowd responded by chanting "shame" and yelling in unison for the meeting to be moved to a larger room to handle the approximate 130 protesters.
The protesters outside were not allowed in the meeting due to a 95-person capacity in the meeting room, Bailey said.
Bailey also told the crowd he was unable to move the meeting because the agenda notified the public it would be held in the administrative building. He also told the crowd he is obligated to show the meeting on closed circuit television, only available in the meeting room.
"Scoundrels," one protester shouted before Bailey attempted to move the meeting along through the agenda.
About 10 minutes after the meeting began, arrived. Police officers stood outside in the lobby of the meeting room. One officer spoke on a cell phone as the others, it appeared, waited for instructions.
Some protesters stood outside, watching and listening to the meeting through open windows. Others listened and watched in the lobby, peaking in through open doors.
During the meeting, more than 100 people sat or stood in the meeting room, according to two head counts that included board members and district officials.
After gaining control of the crowd, Bailey worked quickly and forcefully through the agenda.
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I'm not sure what you are truly explaining on how benefits and retirement packages are paid via your school system...could you please explain with a little more clarity? In the private sector, one pays for their health insurance, flex benefits(if offered), and 401k contributions prior to tax, social security, and medicare withholding for each pay period? What we're seeing and what's being reported now is that Act 10 is working by eliminating CBA's It's in the CBA that allows WEAC to negotiate and sometimes dictate to school districts that they have to use WEA Trust for their health insurance. Now we're seeing school districts like Germantown reporting a $1,000,000 savings and yet still providing WEA Trust insurance. Now WEA Trust has to be competitive within the helath insurance market place so they are now forced to negotiate better terms to the school districts, which in turn less of a burden on the budget and ultimately the taxpayer. Now I realize that some of the cost savings is the fact that state, municipal, county and school workers are having to put more money into their health care and their pensions, but in the end not one single teacher or school program has been layed off or cut. I hear screaming from teachers that classrooms sizes are going to get bigger...but how is this possible with no teachers lost other than by normal attrition?
I've also done my research and based on that, if the Greenfield school district were to maintain the number of teachers in each grade level, I am seeing a downward trend in enrollments. So naturally class sizes will be reduced. In Maple Grove Elementary School there is currently a student to teacher ratio of 13:1. Much lower than when my kids went through. The highest of the 4 elementary schools is 20:1. The Middle School is 15:1 and the High School is 17:1. Now I'm not saying that this is true in all school districts in the metro area, but this is an article concerning Greenfield, so I will address their current situation. There may have been a slight uptick in retirements, but for the most part it shouldn't affect class sizes. I no longer have children in school, but I am willing to pay as long as I see the best bang for my buck. Greenfield's average ACT scores were posted for last year and frankly scoring an average of 21 is not what I would consider the best bang for my buck.
Again I would like to know what WEAC's end game was here. While there may be many things in the 'handbook' that the rank and file may find unappealing, this 'handbook' protects them as well as the administration. Just like in private sector job handbooks, it spells out the work environment, the hours that one must report to work, etc. Without one in place, what is to stop the 'management' from imposing their idea of what should be in the handbook? If Farner is as divisive as you say he is, at the end of his contract he would likely be non-renewed, because I can't see the school board continue going down that road if he blasts them when he doesn't get his way.
You cannot take total school staff and divide to get class sizes. There are staff in a school that do not stand in the front of a classroom and teach! Again - talk to a pubic school teacher to get the most real and accurate information. They are the ones in the classrooms....
And as Julie states above, insurance has always been negotiated locally-Greenfield teachers have not had WEAC ins. in the past-however, that's an untruth which has apparently been successfully spread...and the teachers are intimidated by Sup Farner...and now that there is no longer protection by a contract, why shouldn't they be? Yeah, he's the boss, so maybe that seems appropriate to some, but I would rather everyone work together (not just the brown noses). The larger (not nec. local) agenda is for the public schools to fail-and then we'll move onto privatizing. That will make some very happy....
Here is a song to sing as WE RECALL WALKER. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYpYIEVhMI8 Scotty We're Coming for YOU
I was there and is was heartwarming to say the least. Over 100 thousand, some say 120,000 thousand. Yes the next step is to recall Walker. Listen to this lovely song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYpYIEVhMI8 Scotty We're Coming for YOU video. Scotty, We're Coming for You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYpYIEVhMI8 Scotty We're Coming for YOU video. Scotty, We're Coming for You
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/conservatives-cant-stop-falsifying-what-happened-in-wisconsin/2011/03/03/gIQANyOkdJ_blog.html Posted at 11:09 AM ET, 08/25/2011 Conservatives can’t stop falsifying what happened in Wisconsin By Greg Sargent ,,,,,,,,,, You don’t have to take my word for this. Listen to Politifact — and even to Walker himself. At the outset of this fight, Walker tried to claim that he had, in fact, campaigned on his union-busting proposals. But when Politifact asked Walker’s aides to produce evidence of this, they were unable to provide anything even remotely convincing, and Politifact pronounced the claim “false.” What’s more, Walker himself subsequently admitted under persistent questioning that he had never explicitly campaigned on a promise to roll back bargaining rights. And once Walker did spring his surprise union-busting proposal on Wisconsin, the state’s residents resoundingly rejected it in poll after poll. That labor and Dems were able to gather the signatures necessary to stage an unprecedent amount of recall elections is itself testament to public rejection of Walker’s plan...........
I'm not jealous of what a teacher does or earns, but please tell me what is the largest expenditure any school district has in common. I hear constantly that all of this is in the best interest of the children, and then see nonsense like what happened at the Greenfield School board meeting and school closures due to teachers feigning illness to attend protests in Madison. Actions speak louder than words. Julie and Uudja, I am not quoting school staff numbers, but rather Full Time Equivalent Teachers. Currently there are 67 FTE teachers in Greenfield HS, with an enrollment of 1124 students. Now some of you teach math skills. You do the math. I will agree that there are classes that have larger numbers...And again I ask you to look back into your math texts and review what averages mean. But so far no one has explained to me what the end game WEAC had for this particular incident. Is no one willing to say with clarity what this was about?
You do realize that is how the private sector operates as well. I am currently out of work and have been for the past 2 years because I work in the building trades. But in terms of my wife who is a nurse with 30+ years of work experience has also reach the top pay scale for her position, with only meager increases. Her current department, has limited budget for FTE's. Once those positions are filled, no matter the work load she is required to be there and stay until the work is done. She is a salaried employee, so there are times she has had to put in overtime hours for no extra pay. In my past work history, I too was a salaried employee, and during peak season has had to work anywhere from 70-80 hours per week with no increase in pay. But I knew full well what I was getting into as well as my wife knew what she was getting into. I don't necessarily agree with how Walker and the Fitzgeralds handled this, but it is what it is. Will there be a recall? I would assume there will be. Can Act 10 be repealed, one never knows. I hope that teachers will be professional when they step across the threshhold of their classrooms, but in years past during contract negotiations there have been Greenfield High School math teachers that brought those negotiations into the class rooms in the form of equations. That in my mind is out of the realm of professionalism.
Sorry just noticed that the information I looked at was for Maple Grove in Hamburg Wisconsin. Upon further looking the information I come up with is 18:1 . I am in no way saying that there will be higher numbers in particular classes, but rather the average for the school.
I'm not arguing individual class sizes...I'm not arguing prep time...and I'm not arguing that teachers don't deserve to earn a living wage. What I am arguing for is to see the best return for my tax dollar. That is are kids achieving what is expected of them Again this article is about the Greenfield School District, where both of my kids went. I see an average ACT score of 21. Not nearly where it should be. I understand that the teachers in Greenfield have worked their entire careers under contract situations, and now there is a change in that these work environments are now under the guise of a handbook. I find it hard to believe that the district would completely change from contract to handbook. If it is a radical change one can assume that there would be a exodus in teachers over time. Again not one of the teachers here has told me what the expectations were for this protest. Were they expecting to subvert the current process and force the district to negotiate a contract with them? If so that would be against State law as it currently stands. Should there have been input by teachers and administrators alike...I can't say for sure. The one thing I know for sure is that the school board now has a new set of critieria mandated by the state to work within. And this protest was not going to change that. So for now they simply delayed the process and won't know until after the school year starts what's in the handbook.
As far as what the teachers are trying to accomplish, I'm not sure. It is a radical change for some not to be under a negotiated contract. My guess is that given time, this will change.
Going from a negotiated contract to a "handbook" is huge. The district has been left to their whims about what to include or not include in these handbooks. This will affect working conditions, which in turn affect learning conditions, which in turn affect the students. Are you stringing this together at all yet? Teachers are speaking out not only for themselves, but for what their students will also be encountering. If we don't speak at the board meetings as these things are being created, when would you like us to speak? Or, is that the point - you just want us to be quiet? Obviously, that is NOT going to happen!
I am sorry you are out of work. It is shameful that so many corporations are moving jobs overseas as they search for cheaper labor. Our country is the richest we've ever been and it is terrible that your wife and you are/were being exploited by your for-profit organizations so the top could earn extra cash at your (and others') expense.
Thank you for your comments, I do find outsourcing to be a singular largest outrage that our pols are impotent to change. Not that they can't, but rather are in the pockets of so many PAC's and lobbyists that they won't. But I owned my own contracting company and made the decision to close the doors because building just isn't happening. Secondly my wife works for a non-profit. And the only ones we are/were being exploited by are our own politicians. They place more importance in special interests and rhetoric....this applies to both sides of the aisle.