A fair deal for our teachers
I, Publius
A fair deal for our teachers
By Alan Chartock
Special to The Eagle

The Pittsfield teachers have been working without a contract since August 29, 2004. They are underpaid and frustrated. Apparently, Mayor James Ruberto has proven himself reluctant to get the deal done. If the teachers are guilty of anything, it is docility. I see far too many of these folks working late hours waiting tables and doing retail work.

Pittsfield is a wonderful town, but it has real inner-city problems. I know that the school system has difficulty keeping its talented teaching force intact. Put yourself in the place of a teacher who is forced to work without a contract and to have to enforce discipline in a classroom.

If an opportunity were to present itself for a job in Lee or Lenox, with far fewer problems to face, wouldn't you get out? I know several Pittsfield teachers who are shopping for jobs in nearby districts. Add to that the fact that folks who teach in New York state actually get a pension and Social Security. As Casey Stengel used to put it, "You could look it up." Massachusetts schools have never been enrolled in the Social Security system. That doesn't help recruitment or retention problems.


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Our children are our future and our at-risk students need help. The number of kids who come from disadvantaged homes and end up in prison is frightening. Jails and prisons cost a lot of money. It brings to mind the old commercial that advised us, "You can pay me now or you can pay me later."

I know a young teacher who recently asked if I could help him find a job. He asked about Pittsfield, and I told him there was an opportunity to do some challenging and important work there. He said he had heard some negative things about the system. That teacher, if offered, will take a job in a place with a reputation for caring about its children and the people who teach them.

It is one thing to understand that our towns, cities and school districts are not made of money and have limitations about what they can spend, but it is another thing entirely to play with teachers like a cat with a mouse. The price you pay is a downward spiral for the schools.

We have a situation here in which some of the best teachers in the Pittsfield schools are leaving for greener pastures and those who have been beaten down and are disheartened will stay. It shouldn't take long to figure out that this is a recipe for disaster.

Mayor Ruberto has done a terrific job bringing hope and new business to his city. But treating teachers disrespectfully can only bring the school system down, and if you stop to think about it, who will relocate their businesses and families to a city where the school system is in disrepair? Don't take my word for it, just look at the recent move of talented School Superintendent William Travis from Pittsfield to a more upscale job in Williamstown. A second principal, Robert Colantuono of Crosby Elementary, is taking another job outside the system. I hear it's a great loss.


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I recently spoke with William Berryman III, the Pittsfield teachers union chief. Frankly, I expected a lot of traditional labor talk but what I heard was a very respectful guy who just wants an opportunity to sit down with the city and exchange ideas about how to make things better. He told me he knew the city had money problems and that a lot of what the teachers wanted had nothing to do with dollars. I can certainly believe that.

We simply don't pay our teachers enough. I recently asked a group of some of the very top students I have ever taught how many of them were thinking about going into education. Not one of them raised their hands.

Then I asked them how many would go into teaching if they received $70,000 as a starting salary and every hand went up. If we pay good lawyers that much, why can't we pay that to our most important professionals?

This is not meant to denigrate the folks who have stayed with it, but to point out that people will not take jobs that do not give them the respect and pay that all of us need. To every municipal official and school board member, thanks for all you are doing and let's make sure that we treat our teachers with dignity and respect, and pay them at least some of what they deserve.



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Alan Chartock, a Great Barrington resident, is president and CEO of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and a professor of communications at SUNY-Albany. His web site is www.alanchartock.com.
- posted by Raymond @ 4/26/2005 02:37:00 PM