I am not privy to any of the language in the new contract. But unless the leadership of the WTU decides to leave behind business-as-usual unionism and instead studies and follows the activist lead of Karen Lewis of the Chicago Teachers’ Union in enrolling all the rank-and-file and reaching out to parents, things look very grim.

That said, I wonder how you view the WTU’s upcoming election candidacies and recent issues of collective bargaining for DCPS teachers?

It’s never enough. The demands on a full-time teacher are overwhelming and the job gets harder every year. The data-entry and record-keeping requirements alone are enough to occupy a full-time clerk and are constantly changing. Plus, you have to re-invent your own curriculum every year in tune with the current fad* AND differentiate it for every single child while NOT deviating one iota from the fully-written-out lesson plan that had to be submitted how ever many days or weeks in advance… Well, 35 years ago I wasn’t ready either. New teachers should be put in charge of the data-entry and individual-reteaching stuff in a veteran teachers’ classroom or two for a year, so they can see exactly what to expect.

* (it’s now Common Core Curriculum, but who knows how it’s going to be re-interpreted and morphed in a couple of years so that anyone who still is trying to implement the CCC at that time will be seen as pure evil)