By Cindy Long

Workplace bullying is on the rise. About a third of American workers have been impacted by bullying in the workplace, either as a target or as witness to abusive behavior against a co-worker. Unfortunately, it’s even more prevalent in the field of education. In a recent survey of medium-sized school districts, 25 percent of employees reported that were being bullied.

A teacher from Augusta, Maine, was so traumatized by her principal and superintendent that she didn’t want her name or school mentioned, but wanted to share her story because she believes the pervasive problem of workplace bullying has gone on unchecked for too long.

“I am sufficiently frightened enough by my former employers to fear that maybe they could still hurt me,” she says. “I need to get a new job but won’t be able to do so if I am unable to receive even one recommendation from an administrator.  I know it and so do they.”

After the Augusta educator resisted being transferred to a new school and new grade level, she began to be scrutinized by her administrators. First, they began examining her test scores, her communications with parents, and her relationships with colleagues. Then, with no explanation and no warning, the principal began interrupting her class to pull out students one-by-one to talk to them. When the educator asked the students why they were being pulled out, they told her they were instructed not to tell.

She was accused of not using technology in her class, even though each student had a laptop. She was criticized for relying on a literacy mentor, even though some of her students were struggling with reading. She was put on a behavior modification plan and was told to submit her lesson plans a week in advance for review by administrators. Her peers warned her that she was being targeted, and she began to believe it. Finally, she left her job after her health began to deteriorate.

It’s not just administrators bullying teachers, says Carv Wilson, a geography teacher at Legacy Junior High in Layton, Utah. He’s been an educator for 18 years, and has seen teachers bullying each other to get their way, as well as aggressive parents who fly off the handle and threaten and intimidate their child’s educators. But he says the worst case of ongoing workplace bullying he witnessed was by a principal.

“I was heavily involved in school leadership both as a Davis Education Association Rep and on the school representative counsel, and I heard about or witnessed first-hand the abuse of other teachers, staff, and students by this principal,” he says. “She specifically targeted individual teachers and the only thing that seemed to offer any protection was membership in our local association.”

Wilson says more than 60 percent of the educators were NEA members, and the other 30 percent “suffered dramatically at her hands.”  The number of transfers out of the school was higher than 50 percent each year of the eight years that she was principal of the school.

“She seemed to revel in people being driven out of education or to another school,” he says.  “The memories of that time still haunt me from time to time, but it solidified my belief that having representation both in school and in the local community through the association is critical. It’s the only defense against unfair and even punitive measures that are sometimes solely prompted by personality conflicts.”

Denise Miranda is a union representative for the Pennsylvania State Education Association who holds trainings for members called “Bullying in the Workplace.”

“I presented it at an Education Support Professionals meeting and was surprised to see so many heads nodding,” she says. “I believe that the phenomenon has been overlooked far too long and should be brought to the surface quickly.”

Like Wilson from Utah, she says association representation is vital if you’re being targeted by a workplace bully. The first thing you should do, in fact, is contact your union representative. Then, document, document, document – save emails, letters, memos, notes from conversations, or anything that shows the mistreatment. She also recommends confronting the bully with a supportive ally, like a union rep – and to describe the offensive behavior you’re experiencing, and the change in behavior you’d like to see.

According to Dr. Matt Spencer of the Workplace Bullying in Schools Project, “the bully steals the dignity, self-esteem, confidence, joy, happiness, and quality of life of the targeted victim”. And when the target is an educator, it is a great “injustice” because the bully deprives students of a caring adult who is crucial to their education.

Currently there is no law in any state against workplace bullying, unless it involves harassment based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age or disability. Please support the Healthy Workplace Bill in your state. Go to www.healthyworkplacebill.org for more information.

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Parents, teachers, and political leaders must reject long-standing practices that undermine students’ opportunity to learn in the city’s most neglected communities, write Pedro Noguera and John Jackson. In their place, they must advocate for genuine reforms, which will assure equitable access to good schools and programs. Source: The Washington Post

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The idea of mobile learning touches on just about every subject that any technology addresses: social media, digital citizenship, content-knowledge versus skill-building, Internet filtering and safety laws, teaching techniques, bring-your-own-device policies, school budgets.In the most ideal class settings, mobile devices disappear into the background, like markers and whiteboards, pencil and paper – not because they’re not being used, but because they’re simply tools, a means to an end. Source: KQED MindShift

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The STEM gap is a real and complex issue, writes Rep. Barbara Lee on The Huffington Post. “We cannot overcome the challenges we face without the collaboration of educators, parents, industry partners and mentors and policymakers with the courage to fight for bold investment in STEM education.” Source: The Huffington Post

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There’s good news for public education in Alabama and Connecticut, as the Michelle Rhee breed of privatizers and corporate reformers were thwarted in both states, at least partially and at least for now. Source: Daily Kos

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A video released last week shows Gov. Scott Walker saying he would use “divide and conquer” as a strategy against unions. Walker made the comments to Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, who has since given $510,000 to the governor’s campaign – making her Walker’s single-largest donor and the largest known donor to a candidate in state history. Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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By Mary Ellen Flannery

When state and federal lawmakers invest in public higher education, it pays off— not just for those college degree-earning students, who will earn much more money over their lifetimes, but also for their country, which will enjoy billions of dollars in additional revenues, concludes a recent report.

Unfortunately, the United States hasn’t made that investment, especially not in recent years as state budgets for public higher education are slashed and federal college affordability programs attacked, and now we are falling dangerously behind our global competitors, write the authors of “The Credential Differential,” a report released last month by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), an organization that seeks to improve the lives of low-income people.

“Right now the nation is losing ground and falling far behind,” warned Vickie Choitz, CLASP senior policy analyst. “Without more attention to and investment in increasing post-secondary credentials, the nation will leave billions of dollars on the revenue.”

In countries like Korea and Japan, more than half of young adults have college degrees, compared to 41 percent in the United States. And those leading countries are on track to increase their attainment rates to 60 percent by 2020. In order to stay in the race, CLASP analysts estimate that the United States would have to award an additional 24 million college degrees or credentials by 2025. (At the current rate, we’re on track to produce just about 300,000 more.)

But it’s extremely unlikely we’ll ever catch up in the global marketplace, unless state and federal lawmakers take a hard look at their priorities. It’s harder than ever to get a college degree in this country. The cost of tuition increases 5 to 7 percent every year, and because of decreasing public funding, many of our public colleges and universities are turning away students and closing programs.

In Florida, for example, Gov. Rick Scott recently signed into law a state budget that swipes $300 million from state colleges and universities. In response, the University of Florida (UF) announced plans to dismantle its computer-science department, cutting the graduate and research programs entirely, to save $1.4 million.

“Let’s get this straight: in the midst of a technology revolution, with a shortage of engineers and computer scientists, UF decides to cut computer science completely?” writes Forbes commentator Steven Salzberg. “I think this move is shockingly short-sighted. The University of Florida is moving backwards while the rest of the world moves ahead.”

The CLASP report includes a state-by-state “Return on Investment Dashboard Tool,” shows Florida could generate $3.5 billion more if it could increase its degree-attainment rate to 60 percent. (Instead, last year, Florida cut its investment in public higher education by 12 percent. The budget for its flagship university, UF, has been slashed 30 percent over the past six years.)

And Florida isn’t alone. Consider Pennsylvania, where Gov. Tom Corbett has proposed a more than 50 percent cut to 18 state-supported colleges and universities. If approved, it’s likely several campuses would close, programs would be shuttered, and students turned away. “This is the most irrational public policy I’ve ever seen in my life,” said state Sen. Daylin Leach.

It simply doesn’t make sense for Pennsylvania’s fiscal health to continue cutting public higher education. The CLASP state-by-state analysis shows that annual per capita income in the Keystone State is projected to decrease over the next few decades—and state revenues also are falling to the tune of $214 million by 2025. But if it could produce more college graduates, Pennsylvania could generate $1.6 billion instead.

“The bottom line is, even in these tough economic times when there are difficult fiscal decisions to be made, increasing credential attainment pays off for individuals, their families, states and the country,” CLASP’s Choitz said.

Take Action: Tell Congress to act now to stop student loan interest rates from doubling

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Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education together with NEA, the Council of Chief State School Officers and others, the 2012 Labor-Mangement Conference will focus on improving student achievement by increasing the stature of the teaching profession and the number of highly effective teachers in our nation’s schools. Visit NEA.org for more information.

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American eighth graders have made modest gains in national science testing, with Hispanic and black students narrowing the gap between them and their white and Asian peers, the federal government reported Thursday. Source: The New York Times

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By Tim Walker

One of the few education issues where you can find almost universal consensus is the connection between student health and the capacity to learn. The conditions for health and well-being in many of the nations’ schools, however, are an impediment to learning.  Too many students spend their days in dilapidated buildings with unhealthy air, no opportunity for recess, and no access to fresh water, nutritious food or a school nurse.

For educators, prioritizing a healthy environment in schools is a no-brainer. But incorporating and integrating what they know to be right requires a collaborative and systemic approach that is absent in most school districts. The ‘what’ and the ‘why’ is easy, but what’s missing is the ‘how.’

This week, The Healthy Schools Campaign (HCS) and Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) released policy recommendations might provide that much needed blueprint. The recommendations, Health in Mind, have been presented to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebellius.

“Healthy students are better prepared to learn and succeed in school,” said Rochelle Davis, President and CEO of HCS. “An increasing body of research backs-up this common-sense notion. This is especially critical in light of the health disparities that exist in our nation. Unless we address health and wellness in schools, our nation’s efforts to close the achievement gap will be compromised.”

Some of the recommendations, which focus on several federal initiatives, include:

• Robust professional development programs and in-service training that equip principals and teachers with the tools to identify and address student health issues.

• Incorporating health and wellness into school metrics and accountability systems

• Providing schools with strategies to partner with parents as agents of change for integrating health into education

• Increasing the Department of Education’s capacity to provide leadership and guidance on how health and wellness promotes learning

• A level of funding to improve access to critical health and prevention services – particularly school nurses – for low-income students

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel called the recommendations “right on the money” and singled out the need for professional development. On Wednesday, Van Roekel joined Rochelle Davis, Secretary Duncan, Secretary Sebelius, and other stakeholders at an event in Washington DC on Wednesday to announce the recommendations.

“Our members work with students every day whose health and school conditions impede their ability to learn,” Van Roekel said. “That’s why NEA members are taking the lead to advocate for school and learning conditions that result in a higher level of student engagement and fewer absences. It is our responsibility as educators, but professional development and training about health issues is not a luxury – it is a necessity.”

Van Roekel also pointed out that repairing and modernizing the thousands of deteriorating public schools is a top priority for student health – along with a strong and sustained national campaign against student bullying.

Speaking to the critical role of school nurses, Melinda Landau, manager of Health and Family Support Programs for the San Jose School District, presented findings from a special program that funded full-time school nurses in a few low-income public schools in her district. After two years, the participating schools reported better attendance rates and a dramatic reduction in emergency room visits for children with asthma. In addition, 50 percent of all students with asthma targeted with the intervention had significant gains on standardized tests in math and English Language Arts.

The results of the program underscored how vital student health is to improve learning, and  the national effort to create great public schools depends on educators, parents, and communities putting the issue front and center.

“Everything we’re doing to transform schools, improve teacher preparation, create more accountability,’ Van Roekel said. “None of it will succeed if students aren’t healthy enough to learn.”

To learn more about NEA’s work in creating safe and healthy schools, visit NEA’s Health Information Network

Read more about the Healthy Schools Campaign Health in Mind initiative

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