Over the last week or two, Eduwonkette (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/eduwonkette/) has posted some interesting pieces on the TNTP study in NYC and the impact of the Absent Teacher Reserve.  Today, Eduwonk (http://www.eduwonk.com/) points to the trickle-down impact of such issues on good teachers in Providence, RI.

If you’ve missed it, check out the following article.  http://www.projo.com/education/juliasteiny/content/se_educationwatch11_05-11-08_PCA1S0R_v8.22a279c.html  The short and dirty — an award-winning science teacher has been bumped from his job because a teacher with more seniority needed it.  Doesn’t matter how effective he was.  Doesn’t matter how much the students loved him.  If he hasn’t been around the school yard for enough years, he’s got to step aside.

(And for the record, Andy, I’m grateful for road flare on the Providence Journal article.  I wish there were fewer of these articles.  I wish we had more positive stories.  But I’ll gladly take Eduwonk’s help in sorting the wheat from the chafe any day of the week.)

Such stories are usually the exceptions to the rule, but they are a very real reality.  They are why so many people believe education is the furthest thing from a meritocracy.  We all want to believe that we do what we can to attract and keep the best teachers.  We all want to believe that success should trump all.  We all want to believe that classroom effectiveness trumps the number of punches on the timeclock.  Then we hear stories like those of John Wempel, a Providence Teacher of the Year.

This is contrasted with national newspapers, which have been littered in recent weeks with letters regarding the need for increased teacher pay and defenses of teachers taking sick time.  They rightfully defend the profession, citing the challenges of the job.  But they also continue to classify teaching as a nine-month job with no vacation time.

So what is a union flak supposed to do?  How do the AFT and the NEA defend the rights of their veteran teachers who have paid two decades of dues, but also defend the rights on less-senior teachers who are the future of the profession and are making a real difference in the classroom?

Eduflack is a simple man with simple thoughts.  With ATR, my first question was why doesn’t NYC use this teacher pool to fill their need for substitute teachers?  We always hear how expensive subs are.  Seems if ATRs are drawing a check from the NYCDOE, they should be able to sub for no additional charge.

Providence becomes a more challenging scenario.  “Bumping” is a scary practice for an school district on the decline.  This gets further complicated because of the added layer of charter schools in Providence.  We should say that a successful teacher — a teacher like Wempel — should always have a job as long as he wants it.  The district, the school, his fellow teachers, and his students all recognized his value.  But he was chronologically challenged, and had to pay for that.

Sure, Rhode Island legislators are now introducing bills to eliminate the “bumping” process.  But that won’t solve the problem.  Collective bargaining agreements are pretty clear.  Veteran teachers, teachers with tenure, are guaranteed jobs.  If we don’t put them in a classroom, they draw a salary to stay home and rediscover daytime television.  So what is the answer?

The unions need to step up and figure out a solution before someone finds one for them.  It is fine (and noble) to fight for each and every member of the profession.  But at some point, they are also fighting for the future of teaching.  We all believe we have good teachers in our schools.  Don’t let instances like this one change our thinking and diminish our trust in our local schools.

If we don’t want to measure teachers based on student assessment numbers, give us an alternate measure.  And years of service doesn’t count.