Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Education Jesse Register: Metro Nashville Public School Employees Feel 'Entitlement'
Posted by Steve Haruch on Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 2:34 PM
In a segment that aired during Channel 5's OpenLine program, Metro schools director Jesse Register appears to have said — while he believed he was off-air for a commercial break — that MNPS employees feel "entitlement." Here's the quote:
"I don't guess I'll say this publicly, but it's really a culture change. It's going from a system where people really felt entitlement. ... Uh, I don't know whether I'll say that on the air or not, but that's what it is, isn't it?" Another voice can be heard interjecting, "I wouldn't say that on the air."
Register is likely referring to his decision to unilaterally institute a new Support Staff Handbook, scrapping a 12-year-old "memoranda of understanding" policy with support staff unions.
The video above is the only one posted so far by YouTube user NashvilleCanDoBetter — who doesn't take kindly to Register's remarks, noting the difference between Register's salary and the salary of other MNPS employees, and the differences in the ways their contracts are structured.
(HT: Joey Garrison.)
Comments (26)
Showing 1-26 of 26
The interjecting voice telling Dr. Register not to say the entitlement thing on air is June Keel, Asst. Superintendent for Human Resources.
like
dislike
Good for you, Register!
"...but that's what is..."
No, Keel is just what you would expect, the ass't HR person, scared someone will be annoyed. Actually really pissed.
Register said what he thinks and what others think. The sharp knife is Register.
"I don't guess I'll say this publicly, but it's really a culture change. It's going from a system where people really felt entitlement. ... Uh, I don't know whether I'll say that on the air or not, but that's what it is, isn't it?" Another voice can be heard interjecting, "I wouldn't say that on the air."
By the way, Min, sounds as thoug you think Register wrong? It is an entitlement?' that seems what you are saying. I'm sure that's what you are saying.
I'm saying that Dr. Keel is smart enough to realize that what Dr. Register was saying was not well-considered. And I happen to know a boatload of people who work for MNPS, and "entitled" is not how I would describe them. "Besieged" would be a more accurate term. It's a difficult system in which to teach, in the first place, and those anti-education zealots on Capitol Hill keep piling on and making a tough job even more difficult and less rewarding. If people don't pull their heads out of their asses and stop blaming teachers for the ills of society and other things beyond their control, we are going to wind up with a public school system that cannot be adequately staffed.
Absolute nonsense, Min.
Btw, you a teacher/employee in the MNPS?
John, don't be an asshole; Min is correct, and your position is indefensible. Your argument has zero merit, so you must resort to asking inane questions/non-statements like "are you a teacher?" and "you think Register's wrong? Yes, yes, you must mean that."
OTOH, Dr. Register doesn't feel like that SUV w/ heated leather seats provided for him by the district is an entitlement. Nor does he believe the weekly washing/detailing/fillup by the Transportation Department is an entitlement. That gas card provided by the district isn't any big deal, either. I mean, he's only driving his company car anywhere he wants. Being entitled to your entire million dollar salary if you get fired? That's certainly not an entitlement!
No, an entitlement is having a process to respond to an abusive manager without having to hire a lawyer and go to court. It's an entitlement to have a pee break in the afternoon. Being given precedence for rehire if you've been laid off through no fault of your own, that's just the freakin' WORST entitlement. Heck, it's an entitlement to not be fired just because Dr. Register decides he wants to see if he can get away with it (like he did to four bus drivers).
Oh, and if Channel Five gave a support staffer prime interview time like they gave Dr. Register, well, that would surely be an entitlement.
@ john: Test scores are low under Register's regime and yet he has an ironclad contract that pays him a cool million $$ by the time its all over. Do you support this kind of arrogant incompetence while you trashtalk lunch ladies and school librarians who are scraping by on about $25,000/year?
If you're a conservative, you're not a very good one. You should be demanding more from people like Jesse Register who are living large on the taxpayers money and not delivering results. And yet, here you are carrying his water. Did you support the Wall Street CEO's who drove the economy into the ditch, took bailout money, then gave themselves raises with it?
John, maybe you need to go back to school yourself and pay attention this time instead of listening to Rush Limpnuts on your headphones. Idiot.
Actually, this is all part of the TNGOP's Master Plan.
Step 1 - Make it impossible for teachers to qualify for long-term employment in TN public schools.
Step 2 - Once the old blood has left, hire doe-eyed idealistic newbies straight out of college.
Step 3 - Pay them as little as possible.
Step 4 - Repeat Step 1. Lather, rinse, and repeat, insuring conservative incumbency in the TGA by firing up the anti-union nimrods and removing merit pay and bonuses from consideration in the state budget.
Look out, Mississippi - you won't be in last place for long!
Class dismissed.
Goodness. My questions and points are valid. It's, unlike some, I do not choose to write an essay.
Three things, I rarely listen to Rush.
Obama AND Wall St are a pretty big problem. they have worked in tandem.
As for Min,one can always ask why a person takes a certain stand. She does not have to answer.
After all is said and done, should you call me an a**hole, speaking of chinks.
No, john, I am not employed by the Metro School Board, although I am a Davidson County resident, so this is my public school system that I'm talking about.
"It's, unlike some, I do not choose to write an essay."
No, john, you seek to disembowel the English language. Oh, there's a chink, alright - in your brain.
Inglweird,
Well, no one's perfect. Anyway, I always thought on this board you could make a mistake here or there; not get called down. I do the best I can.
I meant "if," jackass. Now what about the comma vs apostophe issue just above you?
I have Metro teachers in my family. None of them project any sort of entitlement. They just present the appearance of people with a difficult job trying to support their families. One of them will quit after this year following 20 years with MNPS; he is not yet retirement age. He is frustrated, sad, and tired.
After receiving tenure a large number of teachers go into "coasting mode" for
another 20-25 yrs knowing their salary and fat retirement (which they contribute
far to little in to) will be intact and guaranteed at the end. The multitude of Unions
within the system tells the Support Staff: Join up, pay your dues and we have
your back on all issues just like the Rocket Scientist you all are!
I' had thought about leaving my private sector job and teaching in Metro on a transitional license. They say they need STEM teachers. I'm qualified to teach science and math, and would be comfortable teaching in a high-needs school. I would even be willing to take the huge pay cut that teaching would entail... but not when I read about state legislators using teachers as pawns for their religious views, not when the governor has few qualms making tough work conditions even worse, not when the already low compensation is under threat, not when the new evaluation and tenure system is so inflexible as to look almost impossible to navigate, and not when the superintendent of schools thinks that Metro schools employees are "entitled" to their livelihoods.
I have no doubt that many state Republicans do regard teachers as enemies of what they consider to be the taxpayer (the childless, the elderly, and parents who reject "secular" education for their kids). But the schools superintendent is taking an adversarial position with teachers instead of creating a cooperative, collegial environment. Based on remarks like Register's, I have no faith that even the best teachers would be treated with a minimal amount of decency and respect by their superintendent and by the state. These people seem to regard public school teachers as freeloaders off the system.
A sincere question, both to supporters of public education and to people like John, who seem to defend anything that makes the job of a teacher harder: why should I, or anyone else, throw my current career overboard to teach? Is there an assumption that people who aren't qualified to do anything else go into teaching?
NeverFear: I know plenty of tenured teachers in Metro. None of the ones I know coast at all; they're very good teachers. I suppose there could be teachers coasting out there, but the ones I know don't. Generalization is a nasty habit.
I know a few administrators that have been coasting for years, however.
I've mentioned this before: my brother is tenured in Metro. He's also with the Air National Guard, which is where he gets healthcare and the money he needs to support his family -- his teacher's salary is not enough. He's likely set to leave schoolteaching for another career after this year due to frustration with standardized testing, lack of funding, and overall frustration.
And he's probably more conservative than you are. He's a staunch Republican and a right-wing talk radio devotee. But the current tactic his own party is using to demean teachers and prop up a standardized assessment regime that isn't working has him demoralized and hurt for the first time in his 30+ years as a political junkie.
Bottom line: quit spouting party line and get out there to talk with some teachers. I'll even help you find some Republican teachers if you want to stay with your own kind.
Anon: I think this is the saddest part of the whole "teachers are part-time loafers" movement -- it dissuades people who want to get involved in public education from participating. Don't get discouraged; just reach out to some other public school teachers you trust and start learning how they cope. And give it a try -- Metro is desperate for qualified STEM teachers.
"After receiving tenure a large number of teachers go into "coasting mode" for
another 20-25 yrs knowing their salary and fat retirement"
Teachers can't retire with a full retirement at 20 years in Tennessee. You must be thinking of some other state. To qualify for full retirement, a teacher must have 30 years of service or reach age 60 (after vesting). And Tennessee's retirement is not a fat retirement. Again, you must be thinking of some other state. Teachers draw only 50% of their average salary for the five highest years.
BTW I have four generations of teachers in my family and acquiring tenure never sent them into "coasting mode". And in the 12 years that I spent in Tennessee public schools, I can honestly say that none of my teachers were in "coasting mode". Some had significantly better skills as teachers, but that's a different issue, altogether.
Thanks, Min. I'm leaning towards postponing any plans to go into teaching until things settle out a little bit in the next few years, to see if this recent wave of education reform is actually reform that improves schools, or if it's just politicians blaming teachers for most failures and whipping up resentment against public education from people who don't realize they have a stake in our schools even if they don't have kids in them.
I have a few teacher friends-- pretty good young teachers, I think-- and they're hanging on, hoping this anti-teacher grandstanding plays itself out.
The shame of this is that, despite knowing how poorly teachers are paid relative to their value to society, how they're used as political footballs when they're not political whipping posts, and how little respect that many politicians-- especially, but not exclusively, conservatives-- show the profession, I still am interested in teaching. And believe me, I have much more lucrative options, including staying right where I am. But as poorly treated as teachers have been (lagging compensation, disingenuous tenure "reform," an absurd evaluation system), I get the feeling that there is yet more abuse to come. Maybe that's the POINT of the politicians' proposals: to guarantee the failure of public education by actively sabotaging it. I hope not.
We need to realize we can't teach everyone the same thing, that this one size fits all model just doesn't work. Also, teachers should be able to displine kids w/o fearing some outside interest group will jump on their backs.
As I've written before, we need a law declaring educators immune from civil suits involving disruptive students. When a student is so bad as to incite a teacher to physical force, as has happened, the student's parents ought to be the ones held responsible not the schools. If a teacher is prone to react too readily, that can be handled by administrative procedures. While I'm at it, shouldn't raising mean, disruptive brats be considered cruelty to children. What kind of future does a kid like that have as an adult? Probably not much of one.
NewsChannel 5 had the "Entitlement" video scrubbed from YouTube on the basis of copyright violation. However, I cannot find the video posted anywhere on the NC 5 website. Hence, it seems to me that copyright infringement is also a cover for a lack of transparency about one of Jesse Register's more candid moments concerning what he thinks of his workers. Why won't the news station report Register's comments on its site?
