THE RACKET
Union recruitment at new-hire orientations creates several disadvantages for teachers
BY JOE ENGE

Joe Enge serves as an education analyst with NPRI, as chairman of EdWatch Nevada, and as a member of the Carson City School Board. Author of two world history textbooks, Joe was a high school teacher in Nevada from 1988 to 2006 and a Fulbright teacher to the former Soviet Union. You can read more of his articles at www.edwatchnevada.com

Many people falsely assume that the interests of the Nevada State Education Association (NSEA) and the teachers are the same. Au contraire, mon amie! The NSEA and its parent, the NEA, have their own agendas and interests, often at variance with its membership. Why then would teachers tolerate this? Many don't, refusing to join or dropping membership. More teachers would not join or leave if they knew all their options.

School districts require several days of orientation for new teacher hires. The local NSEA affiliates have burrowed their way into these orientations. One way is several union activists arrive during the orientation lunch break to take them out to lunch and are introduced by the school district official. Each union activist is grouped with four or so new hires.

The seamless transition from the orientation, where new hires have already filled out numerous forms for the school district, makes new hires more prone to completing a form by the lunch-purchasing union official. And it all seems part of the new-hire process. In reality, the teachers are getting processed.

What these teachers are not told in order to make an informed decision is simple: Nevada is a Right to Work state; you don't have to join. Also, you have just signed up to pay $600 a year for fewer liability benefits than you could have received from the non-union Association of American Educators (AAE) for $150. Furthermore, the reason the AAE can provide more for less is because the AAE doesn't use your fees for political causes.

Teachers must know they cannot drop membership from the NSEA or not pay dues except for a brief two weeks in July. If they signed up in late August during the orientation and change their mind, too bad. They'll be forced to pay with the amount being directly deducted from their paycheck. Finally, the NSEA will spend teachers' dues as they like, not giving a full accounting to its members.

Taking the new teachers to lunch, assigning them union "mentors" in small groups, and raffling something as a reward for filling out the membership form smoothes over any individual concerns as a group dynamic is created to join. Now it's time to tell new teachers a scary bedtime story about some irrational and unreasonable administrator (a bogeyman) who destroyed the career of a good teacher, who happened to be non-union. Such administrators are actually good for business.

What they don't tell you is that they often work together with such school administrative types to take out fellow union members who don't play ball. Union membership (protection) by paying them $600 a year is no guarantee. The union owns the contract, not you. They can leave you hanging at their pleasure. By coincidence, the union worked together with the administration to make teacher evaluations as arbitrary as possible, which is also good for business and makes teachers less likely to not pay the protection money (dues).

Here's how to protect good teachers from the racket: Either prevent union recruitment at new teacher hire orientations or provide alternative information such as from the AAE. Also, write teacher contracts with the individual teachers, not the union. Furthermore, provide a state-level appeal level for teachers outside of the control of the union or district.

The final two efforts that can be taken include eliminating the current arbitrary and subjective (observational) teacher evaluation model and replace it with objective measures based on learning results. Also, require a state-level sunshine law to force the NSEA to publicly open their books.

Nevada needs teachers. Good teachers. We can best keep the good teachers and attract more if we reward them for their abilities rather than how well they pay and play with the NSEA. LW