Pulaski teachers stage a blackout

As a former teacher for the district, I can only say that I am glad I left when I did. I taught for many happy years and loved my students dearly. The last three years that I taught were miserable because of the kind of strife and uproar that is going on now. The students were well aware of the turmoil. They knew that the rules and the administrators were likely to change on any given day. It greatly affected their commitment to learning. I left my teaching position and got a job in the "real world" as Mr. Woods so eloquently puts it. I more than doubled my salary. My doctor has taken me off my blood pressure medication. I do not wake in the morning with a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. I enjoy my job and my life again! To those of you teachers who are sticking it out, may God bless you! We need dedicated people who can guide our young people and help to shape the coming generations. To those of you on the school board and in the administrative office, spend some time in a classroom again. And I don't mean the few minutes that I have seen a few of you in the honors classes. I mean real time with the "sweat-hogs". Teach in your subject area for several days running. Get to really know the kids. Get to really know the teachers. I DARE YOU!

I know teachers that did not participate in that walk out. So at least some did not agree with the action. I wonder what all of you would say if all nurses, cops, firemen, etc took a day of accrued leave on the same day.

If the district holds teachers to teach for x-subjects for x number of minutes then should it not provide the clock? If the administrators were doing their jobs and petitioning/holding the school board accountable many of the schools would never have been allowed to go into such a state of dilapidation that safety codes are routinely in violation. Lastly, I feel Mr. Clark is misreading the teachers by saying there is a divide among them. Was Mr. Clark under a rock when almost 800 of them took took accrued leave back in December or has the real School Board President (Mr. Wood) told him to say that?

I totally understand the need for toilet paper, I myself wouldn't want to have to use the books.

I feel that many times PACT is taking up matters that are very trivial and wasting time with these matters. One example was teachers grieving about the clocks at the school not working and not having toilet paper. Seems to me that there are more important matters when it comes to the education of children. On a side note though there are times when the union would be nice. For instance recently we were told we could not have any more printer cartridges because we were out of money. I had to purchase two on my own so I could print a test out for my students. Cost me almost 50 dollars. This after the board has paid how many thousands of dollars for bad choices for superintendent and superintendent searches.

onlooker, would you please elaborate in what areas/how PACT has lost focus. We the parents would like information in order to be objective.

I am an educator in the PCSSD and a member of PACT. I became a member of PACT for no other reason than so I would have representation in case I was ever falsely accused of something. In my personal opinion both sides are at fault for this mess. The union has lost its focus and it needs to be restructured. At the same time though I do not feel as though the union would have lost focus had it not been for the school board and their actions. Clark and Wood are so focused on the Maumelle the rest of the schools in the district are missing out fast. We all saw the condition of Jacksonville High School this week, this is far worse than Oak Grove but of course they are rebuilding it. The other matter is that most of the school boards in the district respect the teachers at their schools and want to work closely with them. This is not he case in PCSSD. Wood, Clark, and Gilliland view the teachers as though they are minimum wage workers and should be treated in this manner. This may be how Mr. Gilliland runs his Popeye chains but it is not the way to run a school district. It is because of this animosity that the board has that teachers do need a union so that they can spend time educating instead of worrying about being treated fairly. I think the best thing for this district is for it to be dissolved into three new districts that have new school boards made up of people who are looking for the best of the students and community and not their personal agendas. At the same time though I think that these new districts should not have unions. There is no need for a union if there is administration that has teachers side and school boards that are looking for the best of the entire district. As for this teacher the first thing I plan on doing is to stop being a member of PACT until their focus is in the right place. At the same time I will be applying to surrounding districts because quite frankly, I want to educate children and that is starting to seem impossible in PC

pardon, the typo in the previous posting. The correct word should be employee not employer. Also, another item to consider, very few, if any school board members have ever taught in a classroom environment and therefore lack first hand experience/knowledge of being in the field.

booja, I am not a union member. I studied labor relations in college. Teachers rely on representation through the union so they can concentrate on educating our children. Additionally, in today's litigious society it only takes an accusation to destroy a good teacher's career. The school board/district does not provide teachers with protection and usually reacts with prejudice. Teachers join unions and pay their dues for several reasons; some of these are to free themselves from the negotiation process to concentrate on educating children. They do this by allowing another party to negotiate their terms of employment as well as for legal representation, if needed. (We all know the rancor Mr. Wood has towards the teachers. In my opinion, I don’t see where teachers can rely on fair representation from Mr. Wood, Mr. Clark, & Mr. Gililland.) As with all organizations, senior managers despise unions because they prevent senior managers from exploiting and abusing employers as the see fit. As for the OA (Operating Agreement) it can be located on the PCSSD website. Unfortunately, at this point in the labor dispute and with present school board members the proposed OA falls short in resetting/negating the present dispute.

both the board and union are at fault--they have made their own bed of nails over the years...thank you union person or administrator for letting us know the official name "OA"--if the board would truly work with a group of teachers and set the new OA that was acceptable-then there is no need for the union. We parents throw the ball in the court of both the teachers (all teachers--not union reps) and the board to work this out so we can get the focus back on our kids.