Monday, April 8, 2013
School board agrees on a number of measures to re-evaluate teacher workday, but associations say teachers "need relief now."
Fairfax County School Board members agreed Monday on four initiatives to address the system's years-long teacher workload issue, including the creation of a committee charged with returning to the board with recommendations on reducing teacher time demands by the end of the month. But the board did not agree on specific actions to relieve teachers in the short term, as teachers associations and some school board members had hoped. More analysis and discussions, they said, are "not enough" — and continuing for much longer without concrete action will begin to impact student achievement, if it hasn't already, they said. "I'm not happy. ... This has been the No.1 issue in my tenure," Michael Hairston said of his time as president of the …
Monday, July 16, 2012
Because of school board action on VRS shift, new teachers will earn less than those hired in 2009; administrators say lower scale is necessary to prevent inequity across the system
Leaders of Fairfax County teachers unions say new teachers hired at the lowest pay step this school year will be earning $1,129 less than their counterparts in 2009 as part of pay scale adjustments expected to take effect next month. The adjustments were a response to Fairfax County School Board action on new state legislation requiring public school employees who participate in the Virginia Retirement System to pay a 5 percent employee contribution, which school systems currently pay. To offset the increased contribution, the legislation requires school systems to in turn pay a 5 percent salary increase to employees. School systems have the choice of implementing the change all at once or over the course of five years, but all new …
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
State mandates academic progress account for 40 percent of county's evaluation system
Starting this fall, Fairfax County teachers will be evaluated under a new system that weighs student academic progress as 40 percent of their overall ratings. The shift comes as part of new Virginia Department standards and evaluation criteria for teacher performance localities must approve by July 1 of this year. For several months, the 40 percent was only a recommendation, said Fairfax Education Association President Michael Hairston, who sat on the state workgroup that addressed the issue. But a June 1 press release about the state’s second attempt at a waiver from federal No Child Left Behind requirements indicated to Fairfax officials that amount was mandatory. “There’s a lot of angst. There’s a lot of concern from teachers,” …
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Fairfax teachers union wears black Friday to protest General Assembly's actions this session
Across Fairfax County on Friday, teachers who belong to the Fairfax Education Association (FEA) dressed in all black as a symbol of unity against what they call the Virginia General Assembly's "attack on education." "We are in mourning," read a flyer about the local teachers union protest, part of a larger, statewide Virginia Education Association initiative "to lament the lack of commitment to public education and the loss of respect accorded teachers by our elected officials." "There's no question that we are under attack," FEA President Michael Hairston said in a phone interview Friday. Gov. Bob McDonnell has touted education reform as one of the cornerstones of his budget plan, but the teachers say more than a dozen bills have been …
Nein Juan Juan
12:21 pm on Thursday, April 11, 2013
The middle east is a big place. While there may be a few countries in the middle east with a better education system, I doubt most could make that claim. Although, the U.S. has nothing to brag about our education system. The problem is we throw money at the problem and add layers of bureaucracy instead of worrying about the basics, teaching the students. more ›