5th Grade Kids Get Pro Union Homework Assignment
PHILADELPHIA - Students at a Philadelphia-area elementary school get a homework assignment about how much their teachers are underpaid, to the chagrin of school officials.
The Pennsbury school district in Bucks County has been in the middle of a bitter contract battle with teachers since June 2010.
And the presence of a pro-union assignment handed out to the fifth graders isn't going over well.
Recently, fifth graders at the Penn Valley Elementary School received a whole-story comprehension exercise.
The reading exercise tells the story of a fictional eight-grade student in Michigan who is "upset over the way our teachers are being treated."
"We don't pay teachers enough for the very important job they are doing... Do school boards across the U.S. honestly believe they will be able to lure one million of the best minds if they are offering meager salaries that are in decline?" says the reading assignment.
"What is the solution? It's simple: raise the salaries of teachers," the fictional student says.
One of the questions for the assignment asks students to identify the initials for the National Education Association, the teachers' union.
Other questions in the exercise included "teachers should be treated like professionals" and "low salary for educators is a problem."
Pennsbury school board members said the assignemnt was handed out to two fifth grade classes at the Penn Valley Elementary school in Levittown.
In the assignment, the student says teachers make $29,000 a year. The average teacher in Pennsbury makes $83,000.
In just the past few weeks, the teachers union has been ramping up with a new "Let's Talk" campaign to get negotiators back to the table.
The school board says the teachers simply don't get the economic realities of these tough times.
The union contract expired in June 2010, and both sides have created extensive Web sites to get their messaging out.
In a statement, the school district says, while teachers are given latitude, to add things to the curriculum, "they are expected to use good professional judgment when selecting those materials. The administration is investigating the situation and will arrive at a determination and take appropriate action, as warranted."
It is important to point on the assignment came from an official education company, as part of teacher-created materials published in Time for Kids magazine about five years ago.
Source: MyFoxPhilly
By the way, check out how this school is rated, I'll give you a hint, it's not at the top:
Great School Ratings
Please contact the School board President as well as the principal of the school to voice your anger over this propaganda being forced as homework on our children.
Principal: Elaine Novet
(215) 949-6800
Ann Langry
Communications Office
215-428-4178
Ann Langry
Communications Office
215-428-4178
Gene Dolnick, President
Pennsbury School District
134 Yardley Avenue, PO Box 338
Fallsington, Pennsylvania 19058
Telephone: 215-428-4100
gdolnick@pennsbury.k12.pa.us
134 Yardley Avenue, PO Box 338
Fallsington, Pennsylvania 19058
Telephone: 215-428-4100
gdolnick@pennsbury.k12.pa.us
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