Schools

Ohio Teachers of the Year Write Letter Requesting Collaboration Among Educators and Policymakers

Cleveland Heights-University Heights teacher thought of creating the group of honored educators who oppose Senate Bill 5

A group of educators whose members have been designated as an Ohio Teacher of the Year in the past decade sent a letter to Ohio representatives opposing Senate Bill 5 and requested that educators and policymakers collaborate and come up with different solutions to the state's problems.

Natalie Wester, a teacher in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District and 2010 Ohio Teacher of the Year, spearheaded the project, according to a press release from the group, which calls itself Teachers of the Year United for All Ohioans. 

Hearings on the bill, which would reduce the collective bargaining rights of public employees and was passed in the Ohio Senate, continue this week. at Route 82 and Pearl Road. 

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The letter, included below, was published on the Cleveland Heights Teachers Union website.

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District and the bill. 

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Dear Ohio Representative:

In education, collaboration is the gold standard – the common-sense best-practice that characterizes successful schools, classrooms and educators.

As Ohio’s Teachers of the Year – Teachers of the Year United for All Ohioans – we are dismayed by the anti-collaborative message promoted by Senate Bill 5.  By dividing and pitting working people against each other – and deflecting criticism and accountability away from the true culprits behind our state’s and nation’s economic woes – Senate Bill 5 has stoked the flames of vitriolic partisanship at the expense of reasonable analysis of facts and collaborative problem-solving.

Teachers of the Year United for All Ohioans embodies a diverse group of educators and constituents.  We represent an economic and geographic mix of districts throughout Ohio.  Our political views are as varied as our backgrounds.  Some of us are life-long teachers, while others of us chose to serve children in the classroom after years serving our country in the military, or running a business in the private sector.  One thing we all have in common, though, is the knowledge that Senate Bill 5 will not balance our state budget, put more Ohioans to work, or improve our citizens’ quality of life.

Collective bargaining has fostered stability by managing conflict and promoting negotiation.  Everyone on both sides of this emotional battle agrees that costs must be reduced, but by gutting collective bargaining, Senate Bill 5 severely limits collaboration and negotiation, leaving costly lawsuits and court battles as the only options for resolving most disputes. Current language in the bill could even be interpreted to prohibit employees from raising concerns to their legislative body without being fired.  Certainly, this is not the American way.

Everyone agrees that to be competitive, Ohio businesses need a capable, educated workforce.  Quality workforce development starts in our schools with rigorous preparation by excellent teachers.  Unfortunately, by punishing public educators through Senate Bill 5’s elimination of due process and imposition of limited contracts for new teachers, Ohio will be unable to attract the best and brightest educators to prepare our future workforce.  By requiring “merit pay” without defining metrics for measuring “merit,” Senate Bill 5 fails to address or define teacher effectiveness in any meaningful way.  Cost savings?  That’s unlikely, as districts will be left scrambling to figure out how to implement one more unfunded, legal mandate. 

Everyone agrees that our Ohio communities must be safe to remain economically sound and attractive to Ohio families and businesses.  But by wielding its cleaver not only against educators who change lives, but against police and firefighters who save lives, Senate Bill 5 puts the safety of all our communities at risk. 

Teachers of the Year United for All Ohioans knows first-hand that the notion public school teachers make more than equally credentialed private-sector employees is a laughable falsehood.  Teachers are used to sacrificing.  Those who choose to leave business careers for teaching jobs sacrifice pay and, apparently, respect.  We all sacrifice our own money, and time with our own families, to provide rich and meaningful learning experiences for our students.  Sacrifice is nothing new to us who teach, which is why it’s disheartening to see how current political winds have cast teachers as society’s punching bag.  Instead of attacking public educators, policymakers could sit down and actually talk to us. 

As Teachers of the Year, we invite Ohio’s elected officials to include us in collaborative planning for meaningful, sustainable changes that benefit our schools and communities.

It’s time to share sacrifice equitably at all levels, and not continue to drop it solely on the backs of Ohio’s working men and women.  We urge you to consider another way, and vote against Senate Bill 5.

Respectfully,

Timothy M. Dove, M.A., B.S.

2011 Ohio Teacher of the Year

Worthington City Schools

Natalie Wester, M.A., M.S.

2010 Ohio Teacher of the Year

Cleveland Heights-University Heights City Schools

Jennifer M. Walker, NBCT                                            

2009 Ohio Teacher of the Year

Youngstown City Schools                                            

Deborah Wickerham, M.A., B.S., NBCT

2008 Ohio Teacher of the Year

Findlay City Schools

Eric A. Combs, SMSgt, USAF(Ret), M.S., M.Ed.       

2006 Ohio Teacher of the Year  

Fairborn City Schools

Maureen Reedy, M.A., B.S.

2002 Ohio Teacher of the Year

Upper Arlington City Schools


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