orwellian reporting on the baltimore teachers' contract revote

[Hannah Bell]

Background: Baltimore teachers recently voted down a contract that contained the usual ed deform crap, new evaluations system, merit pay, etc. -- similar to the dc contract that has enabled mass firings & other goodies.

so the union says, "hey, we know you really *wanted* this, you just didn't understand it, we want you to vote again."

Here's how the msm describes this situation:

>>BALTIMORE -- Thousands of Baltimore city teachers will get to vote next month on what the union is calling a new and improved tentative contract.<<

"get to" -- see that? They "get to" vote again, like it's a special treat.

The fact is, the union leadership is *making* them vote again, because they'd already promised the PTB in duncan's ed dept. that their members would vote the contract in. Which is why the "papers of note" think it's a big enough deal to comment on, including the wapo, which gets 70% of its profits from its for-profit education subsidiary, kaplan ed:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/17/AR2010101702724.html

>>"The evaluation that teachers will receive this year and next year will be the same that they had last year."<<

And after next year, administration will do whatever the ed deform PTB tell them to.

>>{Union leader) English said the contract still does not have merit pay. "What it has is your ability to move up the salary scale at your own rate," she said.<<

Oooooh! Moving up "at your own rate"! How new & different that is from merit pay. "I think I'll forgo the step raise this year, I don't think I'm ready for it...." or "I think I deserve *two* raises this year, I'm so super!" Sure thing.

"At your own rate" = code for *merit pay*. Likely tied to evaluations, which will incorporate student standardized test scores by year after next.


http://www.wbaltv.com/r/25540531/detail.html

This article exemplifies how the msm manages to fill a lot of column space without any real information, just soothing pap to put people to sleep.

[maryf]

1. thanks

good morning! K&R