Delaware teacher unions: no confidence in education leaders

Teacher unions in Delaware's two largest school districts have voted "no confidence" in the Department of Education, Secretary of Education Mark Murphy and the State Board of Education.

The Red Clay Education Association and Christina Education Association argue state leaders have "continued to label and slander Delaware's traditional public schools" based on standardized test scores, dropped mandates on teachers without their input, and spent millions of dollars on internal department positions and external consultant firms they say should have gone to classrooms.

Mike Matthews, president of the Red Clay Education Association, said at a press conference Thursday night that the unions' resolutions, which passed both representative assemblies unanimously, were spurred by the state's Priority Schools push to turn around six Wilmington schools in those two districts.

"Many of the teachers, educators, families and parents in our buildings that were labeled "Priority Schools" had an immediate reaction to this news, when they heard their schools could be dismantled based only on a test score," Matthews said. "The Priority Schools initiative, as well as the continued testing onslaught in Delaware schools, has been a clear call to action by our teachers."

Gov. Jack Markell and Secretary of Education Mark Murphy wanted those six schools to get the best school leaders and staff and freedom from district rules to make positive change in those schools. But they quickly encountered outrage from many teachers who felt they were being blamed for poor test scores when they were helping students overcome struggles with hunger, violence, and other poverty-induced problems.

"We are always talking about high drop-out rates and apathy and test scores," said Pavia Fielder, a teacher at Warner Elementary School. "Symptomatic matters always dominate any discussion in the public education political arena. But we never talk about what these children actually need."

The unions said Priority Schools is just one example of the department making changes without listening to classroom teachers.

One of the biggest themes in their complaints is that the state requires too many tests and uses those tests to evaluate schools and teachers, despite long-time cries from educators that those tests are being misused.

"Kindergarten should be a time of learning and discovery, but we've lost that in this obsession over assessing," said Jane Marshall, a kindergarten teacher in Christina. "Students don't love coming to school. You can't muster up enthusiasm for, yay, another assessment."

Leaders in both unions said they are not aware that either of their organizations has ever taken a step like this before, and called the resolution a "last resort."

"Why ruffle feathers, cause a disturbance, make a scene? Because nothing else has worked," said Jackie Kook, vice president of the Christina union. "We've attended meetings, we've answered surveys, we've even tried to reach out to the Department directly, but they just won't listen."

At a different event about reducing the number of tests Tuesday, Murphy said he was aware of the resolutions.

"We are not always going to agree on the path ahead," Murphy said. "We are making a difference in lives of kids. And we are going to continue to make a difference in the lives of kids, and we know that arguably the most important part of that work is our educators in the classroom."

Murphy said he expects there to be some push-back when "there is so much energy and passion" around education.

In a statement, Markell pointed to record-low drop-out rates and growing numbers of kids taking AP tests and dual-enrollment classes as evidence his education administration's policies are working.

"That said, it is not easy work to improve education at our schools. We are asking more of our schools and our teachers so that we can achieve great outcomes for every kid," he said. "We know that some people don't agree with higher standards and accountability, but we're going to keep working with our educators to make more progress and I have confidence in Secretary Murphy and the Board to keep us moving forward."

Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright.