No Time To Spare

At a Delaware bowling alley, President Reg Weaver delivers the urgent message: Let's support great public schools for all.

Photo by Gary Emeigh

Terun Palmer remembers a time when her students went on regular field trips. When the mayor or a city councilmember would come to her class to put a human face on students' civic lessons. When she'd give kids a break from the books on a Friday afternoon and let them choose enrichment activities.

Such moments are distant memories for Palmer and too many other educators, forced to race through a prescribed curriculum designed to help kids pass standardized tests.

"The pressure is coming straight from the top--from Washington to the state and on down," says Palmer, a teacher at William Henry Middle School and president of the Capitol Educators Association in Dover. The new testing mandates imposed by states and by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) "take away your creativity," says Palmer. "You're no longer able to do things that were both educational and fun; everyone's supposed to be on the same page at the same time."

Such concerns were on NEA President Reg Weaver's mind as he drove 97 miles across rain-slicked roads from Washington, D.C., to Delaware's capitol to join members of the Delaware State Education Association (DSEA) at a September 12 rally. When he got there (after calling on his cell phone to confirm his--ahem--location), his gas gauge read empty, but his tank was fueled with stories from members around the country hurt by budget cuts and misguided attempts to micromanage their work.

Over the din of rock music and clattering pins at a Delaware bowling alley, Weaver spoke to about 100 DSEA activists on NEA's Great Public Schools for Every Child Action Plan (see box). Weaver said one piece of the plan aims to correct the flaws in the new ESEA (also known as the No Child Left Behind Act), the compensatory education program that has been turned into a bludgeon against educators.

"We know that [ESEA/NCLB] sets the wrong priorities--paperwork, bureaucracy, and testing," Weaver said. "Anything that says that all children have to be on the same page at the same time is not going to work. One size does not fit all. I can tell you what does have an impact--small class sizes, state-of-the-art technology, parental involvement, and qualified, certified teachers."

Dave Bradley, a social studies teacher from Wilmington, appreciated the message. New federal provisions for "adequate yearly progress" in student achievement mean Bradley and his colleagues at Mt. Pleasant High School will be under the gun to boost scores. But, some teachers in Bradley's department started the year with as many as 39 kids in their class. Meanwhile, the school board adopted a more forgiving policy toward student absences (giving parents additional time to get absence notes in), which will create more paperwork for teachers.

"Teachers feel like we are out on a limb," said Bradley. "Accountability--and more sanctions placed on us--but no money to do anything about it. It ticks me off!"

Paraeducators attending the rally also shared their concerns about the new ESEA, which established new qualification requirements for paras who work in Title I programs. According to the new law, by the end of the 2005-06 school year, all paras must have either an associate's degree, two years of college training, or pass a test demonstrating their skills.

"For the rate of pay, it's hard to justify," added Mike

Hoffmann, a para at George Read Middle School in the Colonial School District, who said he makes about $14,000 a year. His local is working on an online course they hope will meet the new provisions for para quality, but it's not a done deal. For now, he and others are frustrated that so much remains unclear about a law that affects members in such significant ways.

DSEA will be mobilizing its members to improve conditions for educators and for kids, said President Barbara Grogg. The Dover rally, cosponsored by the DSEA and the Caesar Rodney Education Association, was one stop of a 10-day member appreciation tour, during which Grogg and other DSEA activists crisscrossed the state in a Winnebago, talking with members, parents, and others.

"We've signed up several members a day and gotten stacks and stacks of cyber-lobbyists, which will be really helpful to us in the 2004 elections as well as the upcoming legislative session," said Grogg.

--John O'Neil