Who Says the Union Can’t Host a Healthy Debate?

Last month WE Magazine, the official newspaper of the WEA, published a letter from Dwayne Brecto of Grandview chiding the association for their support of the National Board Certification. This month there are 4 responses, 1 in agreement and 3 arguing the other side. I’ll give credit where credit is due—the WEA could have very easily turfed Brecto’s letter and kept to the party line, but they didn’t, and that’s a pleasent level of openness.

I’m very publicly on record as being anti-NBPTS, because I’ve never heard a completely convincing argument for the merits of the Certification, and it seems odd for the association to be pushing so hard and using our dues monies to promote a program that benefits so few teachers in Washington. One comment from the magazine sticks out to me:

Between the sate grant opportunities and professional growth grants provided by my district, I paid nothing but sweat, tears and time away from my family to gain my national board certificate.

The NBPTS says that the process takes between 200 and 400 hours; the cost involved is better than $2000. You might get the money piece covered, but some of us don’t want to have to spend that much more time away from our families working on the job.

That, then, is the inequity of the National Board—if you have young children, if you have family commitments, if you’re already committed to your school on the most visceral level, then you’re not going to have the time without taking away from other areas. I’d rather the WEA take the money that they’re spending on National Board certification and push it into something more worthwhile, like finding some sort of real direction for Take the Lead.

I hope that the conversation continues.