Fairfax County General :
Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Get to Know Your FCPS Teachers’ Unions
Posted by:
FCPS Reform
()
Date: August 06, 2020 09:24AM
Get to Know Your FCPS Teachers’ Unions
Aug 5
Teachers’ unions have made the news a lot lately here in Fairfax County. And with good reason. They successfully lobbied Superintendent Brabrand and the FCPS Board to rescind in person instruction for the foreseeable future.
The unions generally claimed this policy change was needed to protect the children. Parents of the children disagreed (along with a sizeable portion of FCPS teachers), with at least 60% of parents comfortable sending their kids back to in person instruction (it probably would have been even higher if a 5 day option was available). And nevermind that no child has died in Virginia from COVID and you’re more likely to get COVID at home.
But we digress.
It’s clear the unions wield more power with FCPS politicians and the leadership than ordinary parents and citizens. It is what it is, as they say. This requires getting to know the unions better - who they are, what they do and their policy stances. The three unions are:
The Association of Fairfax Professional Educators (AFPE)
Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT)
Fairfax Education Association (FEA)
On the reopening debate, the unions are generally saying that in person instruction can only begin when things are “safe”. To reinforce that message, the President of AFPE, Becca Ferrick has changed her facebook profile to include a message that FCPS should reopen “only when it’s safe” (see here). She’s encouraging others to do the same to spread the messaging. FCET President Tina Williams says teachers want to get kids back as soon as possible but only if schools can be “as safe as possible.” FCFT has a laundry list of eleven requirements for reopening the schools, most of which seem difficult for FCPS to achieve under normal circumstances.
A “safe” standard seems reasonable but what does “safe” mean? The term is inherently ambiguous and personal and things were never 100% safe even pre-COVID. We already know that children have little to no fatality risk from the virus and an interesting study just out of Scandinavia showed teaching is no riskier than any other profession.
Could other motivations be at play? Sibling teacher unions across the country have conditioned returning to the classroom on non-education and non-COVID related issues such as defunding the police, medicare for all and stopping charter schools (see here and here). Not exactly related to keeping kids, teachers and staff safe from COVID.
Given the outsized political influence that FCPS Teachers’ Unions wield over policy in Fairfax County, consider letting them know your position on the reopening debate. Ask them questions. Share your personal story of how their decision to keep schools closed is impacting you personally. While they represent teachers, they need to know the impact of their decisions. It could be they’re just not aware of differing opinions and viewpoints on this complicated topic. Here is some key leadership contact info:
AFPE
President, Becca Ferrick, Mountain View HS, bnferrick@fcps.edu
Vice-President, Erin Woodward, Hayfield SS, ewoodward@fcps.edu
FCFT
Tina Williams President (Sangster) twilliams@fcft.org
info@fcft.org
FEA
Kimberly Adams, President, president@fairfaxea.org; twitter: @KimberlyAdams
Carla Okouchi, Vice President, cokouchi@fairfaxea.org; Twitter: @CarlaOkouchi
It might be helpful for citizens to understand each union’s position on what a “safe” school environment in the age of COVID looks like. Does it mean a vaccine is available and everyone’s taken it? Or is there a baseline infection rate that needs to be met? What if one union is on board but the others are not? These are just starter questions.
If you receive a response, let us know how it goes. And of course be courteous and friendly in your communications - everyone is under a lot of stress right now and we’re trying to get through this together.
https://www.dobetterfcps.com/blog/get-to-know-your-fcps-teachers-unions
Aug 5
Teachers’ unions have made the news a lot lately here in Fairfax County. And with good reason. They successfully lobbied Superintendent Brabrand and the FCPS Board to rescind in person instruction for the foreseeable future.
The unions generally claimed this policy change was needed to protect the children. Parents of the children disagreed (along with a sizeable portion of FCPS teachers), with at least 60% of parents comfortable sending their kids back to in person instruction (it probably would have been even higher if a 5 day option was available). And nevermind that no child has died in Virginia from COVID and you’re more likely to get COVID at home.
But we digress.
It’s clear the unions wield more power with FCPS politicians and the leadership than ordinary parents and citizens. It is what it is, as they say. This requires getting to know the unions better - who they are, what they do and their policy stances. The three unions are:
The Association of Fairfax Professional Educators (AFPE)
Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT)
Fairfax Education Association (FEA)
On the reopening debate, the unions are generally saying that in person instruction can only begin when things are “safe”. To reinforce that message, the President of AFPE, Becca Ferrick has changed her facebook profile to include a message that FCPS should reopen “only when it’s safe” (see here). She’s encouraging others to do the same to spread the messaging. FCET President Tina Williams says teachers want to get kids back as soon as possible but only if schools can be “as safe as possible.” FCFT has a laundry list of eleven requirements for reopening the schools, most of which seem difficult for FCPS to achieve under normal circumstances.
A “safe” standard seems reasonable but what does “safe” mean? The term is inherently ambiguous and personal and things were never 100% safe even pre-COVID. We already know that children have little to no fatality risk from the virus and an interesting study just out of Scandinavia showed teaching is no riskier than any other profession.
Could other motivations be at play? Sibling teacher unions across the country have conditioned returning to the classroom on non-education and non-COVID related issues such as defunding the police, medicare for all and stopping charter schools (see here and here). Not exactly related to keeping kids, teachers and staff safe from COVID.
Given the outsized political influence that FCPS Teachers’ Unions wield over policy in Fairfax County, consider letting them know your position on the reopening debate. Ask them questions. Share your personal story of how their decision to keep schools closed is impacting you personally. While they represent teachers, they need to know the impact of their decisions. It could be they’re just not aware of differing opinions and viewpoints on this complicated topic. Here is some key leadership contact info:
AFPE
President, Becca Ferrick, Mountain View HS, bnferrick@fcps.edu
Vice-President, Erin Woodward, Hayfield SS, ewoodward@fcps.edu
FCFT
Tina Williams President (Sangster) twilliams@fcft.org
info@fcft.org
FEA
Kimberly Adams, President, president@fairfaxea.org; twitter: @KimberlyAdams
Carla Okouchi, Vice President, cokouchi@fairfaxea.org; Twitter: @CarlaOkouchi
It might be helpful for citizens to understand each union’s position on what a “safe” school environment in the age of COVID looks like. Does it mean a vaccine is available and everyone’s taken it? Or is there a baseline infection rate that needs to be met? What if one union is on board but the others are not? These are just starter questions.
If you receive a response, let us know how it goes. And of course be courteous and friendly in your communications - everyone is under a lot of stress right now and we’re trying to get through this together.
https://www.dobetterfcps.com/blog/get-to-know-your-fcps-teachers-unions
Re: Get to Know Your FCPS Teachers’ Unions
Posted by:
Outlaw All Public Unions
()
Date: August 06, 2020 10:59AM
Stop the taking of taxpayers hostage with public union extortion demands for public funds
Re: Get to Know Your FCPS Teachers’ Unions
Posted by:
Dumfrieskid
()
Date: August 07, 2020 07:35AM
There are no teacher unions in Virginia. We are a Right-to-Work state.