Well, much ado about nothing again. I think from what I have discovered from the teachers I have spoken to that in West Chester 100% of them belong. I think the big picture of strong armed thugs forcing people into membership is a bit ridiculous. These are intelligent people, and there are many benefits to union membership - liability insurance being one small piece. Also, if you are not a member, you forgo the right of representation even if you are falsely accused and need representation in a due process hearing. That in this litigious society can mean a lot.

So, Mrs. Adsett, what exactly is it you are so upset about? These are grownups. I think they can decide for themselves. I live in a neighborhood with many teachers, they are my friends and I talk to them about this. I don't see the union as the enemy. I want this board to get back to the negotiating table please.

To read more about Ms. Adsett and her family ties through Astra Zeneca to PAC ALEC go to:
http://tinyurl.com/bw8qo7l

Pure political theater! Looks like the 2013 school board race is kicking off and our esteemed board VP is looking to capitalize on wedge issues and trivial matters, anything to distract the voters from a sham of record by the incumbent board members. Maybe she is tired of being VP and wants to take over the big chair.

The First Ammendment comment is a bit dramatic and ironic though, considering the VPs support of the ban on free speech put in place by the board policies on public comment at meetings, distribution of fliers and attempts to limit the political activities of the individual patents who also happen to be PTO members. If we are going to fight for individual liberties at least do so with consistency and not only when doing so supports one political ideology. Give us a break, we reject your politics and can see through the drama.

Perhaps you don't remember the unionization battles (very few do) but you only need to read recent history to see that, while very necessary, unions only speak for their members. Thus, giving them more weight than that, as mandatory dues-paying does, is inappropriate.

Of all the important issues the district is facing and the board is worried about union dues??? Something stinks here. To think a non-union employee should pay union dues is absolutely crazy..
Oh, by the way board members, how about concentrating on educating our kid

I want to be clear, I am not a big fan of unions, but I am a fan of the teachers in WCASD. I don't think that teachers should be forced to pay union dues if they don't want to belong, but I also think that in that case they should be responsible for negotiating their own salaries, benefits, hours, raises, etc. I do think that some of the union dues $ gets used for political purposes...just as charter schools use some of their tax funded tuition to lobby for laws that benefit them and the oil and healthcare industries do the same thing with their $. Teachers unions are not the only ones using big $ to get their way in Harrisburg and Washington DC.

My point, however, is that the school district is not the place to be hammering out political issues such as this. Our board should be concentrating on the issues that will most impact West Chester students, not state and national issues. The COST of collecting these dues is minimal—the impact is a political one and so this issue does not belong in a school district’s contract negotiation. I have said all along that this board is way too politicized--some are Republican committee people, some play leadership roles in Tea Party organizations, one recently lobbied on the pulpit of her church for parishioners to support vouchers and EITC which will funnel tax $ away from public schools and to private ones, and then there is Mrs. Adsett's letter.

I don't recall hearing this at all: "Adsett shot back saying she supports the teachers’ union, but she thinks the compulsory dues violate teachers’ first amendment rights" (and if the teachers feel that way then they should get up and say so, Mrs. Adsett’s role is not to advocate for the teachers as she seems to be saying she is doing). The only thing I recall Mrs. Adsett saying is "I do not speak for the board, Heidi Adsett speaks for Heidi Adsett". Well, if that is the case then why the need to write “WC School Board VP” under her name on her editorial (not to mention her election day Robocall ranting against “Philadelphia style union bosses” where she also identified herself as Board VP). It is unethical for Mrs. Adsett to use her board position to drive her personal political ideologies, and the other board members should not be sitting by allowing this to happen-silence is concurrence. And as for “Heidi Adsett speaking for Heidi Adsett”, there are plenty who believe Mrs. Adsett is a mouthpiece for far larger and more dangerous political voices.

She actually said that she "doesn't hate the teacher's union" and that she stands for the constitution. But her actions (letter writing and robo calling, changing district policies to limit the freedom of speech for parents) speak louder that her words.

There is a difference between contributing to teachers unions and contributing to an organization promoting and aiding in the success of a business. Unions had their glory days in the 1900s when working conditions were terrible and people were taken advantage of by their employers. However, now unions work to fund political (wait I thought we wanted to keep politics out of it) motives and spend tax-free money on lavish “conferences” at hotels, golf resorts, and more. Just look at the recent example of Scott Walker, where unions spent millions to support Barrett because Walker is against collective bargaining and (gasp!) public sector workers contributing to their own pensions. And where does this money come from to fund teachers? Tax payers.

When in the private sector, businesses can either fail or succeed and they make their money based on work and effort they put forth and their contributions to the economy. There is no guarantee that a business will thrive, or that all the employees will still have a job if they do not perform well. Private sector jobs do not have the luxury many public sectors have where they are guaranteed a job as long as they perform adequately in their first three years and they don’t get caught having relations with an underage student. There are many great teachers out there, but just as many teachers who have accepted their tenure and use class time to plan their soccer rosters or file their nails. In the private sector, the people in charge of looking out for their businesses have every right to give money to any organization they feel will help GROW their business, CREATE jobs, and thus IMPROVE the economy. Whereas, the unions just continue to ask for more, and more for their employees and teachers when everyone else is taking pay CUTS due to the crippling economy. How is constantly giving teachers raises and more benefits REGARDLESS of performance helping our children? If you want to try and compare actions of the unions of the public sector and organizations of the private sector, why don’t you look at more than just the surface.

I still cannot believe that so many people still believe that once a teacher gets tenure, he or she cannot be let go. Really? Filing nails during class time? Let education be privatized. Do you know what will happen? Education will lose quality teachers and the quality of education in this country will suffer. You will pay for your child's education. So what we all pay in school taxes now will be nothing compared to tuition at a school where a child will receive a quality education. Unions do still have a place today. I would much rather have a trained union outfit building my school than a poorly trained non union one, but hey, they did have he lowest bid.. I don't see most people crying about rights they enjoy that were won for them by union workers. And to get to my real point, teachers unions do not force anyone to join. It Is optional, but every teacher I know joins.

I wonder if the current contract requires all teachers to pay full union dues or fair share, which is a portion of the dues. That has not been stated clearly. It is not uncommon for teacher contracts to include a provision for fair share, since nonunion teachers actually do benefit from the collective bargaining done on their behalf by the union. Non union teachers do not negotiate their own salary, benefits, and working conditions. Instead, non union teachers receive the salary, benefits, and working conditions that the union teachers negotiate for them, thus the provision in many contracts for fair share. Non union teachers directly benefit from the union, therefor they are often required to pay something in exchange for that.

Another thought, is this discussion even necessary? How many teachers in the West Chester Area School District are not in the union? If all or even most of the teachers are in the union, then this discussion is just a distraction from the real issues that need to be discussed.

I think the figure I saw was only 14 out of 963 are not members. I would like to know how many of them are new hires, or were on the roles as long term substitutes and may not have joined for that reason. This is a stupid argument. GET BACK TO NEGOTIATING!!!! Where is Mr. Sultanic that we hired? The union is ready to sit down, why not the board? This is the same nonsense they pulled before, delay and delay. I am sick to death of this group, turning down half a million dollars in grants, arguing about this kind of silliness why? Their job is work for out kids, not their stupid political agenda.

But heaven forbid we speak up at a meeting, Mr. Murphy will tell us to be quiet, stop clapping or whatever. Yeah, first amendment. It seems to apply on to them and their voice, the heck with the parents, the community who has an opinion different than theirs or heaven forbid our kids.

Liberty,

Thank you for sharing how my tax dollars are being spent. I cannot believe that you had a teacher doing soccer rosters during class time! Isn't this what supplemental contracts pay for? Teachers are supposed to TEACH in the classroom and COACH after hours. Have you reported this to the school or the administration? Does this teacher have any other violations or is he/she a protected tenure teacher?

I agree that if teachers WANT to join the union they will happily write a check. It is not a political issue at all. If all teachers voluntarily write their checks, it will be clear that they all want to join the union. The fact that the unions are fighing this issue shows that they fear losing membership and that all teachers do not want to join the union.

When faced with the fears of our current economy, I am encouraged when I see that my hard earned tax money went to educate an intelligent indivudual such as yourself.

God bless you and America.

Cathy Binder, you have no idea what you're talking about. You don't understand Pennsylvania state law. Non-Union employees who are part of a compulsory monopoly bargaining entity such as WCAEA-PSEA-NEA are required by law to receive the same workplace representation as Union employees. If they don't get it; they could sue the Union. They don't get the Union's liability insurance but that's just a racket the Union uses to convince teachers to become members. The old scare tactics of "you could be sued if you're not a Union member". The reality is the state law already indemifies teachers against liability for many things, and the district's insurance policies cover them for many things, and/or insurance policies can be purchased from third parties. It costs the NEA about $3 per teacher to provide a Union member with an insurance policy they don't need; and for that teachers have to pay c. $800 in Union dues.

Second, to the anonymous liberal who said that the Union benefits non-Union employees. I've got news for you. I'm the president of StopTeacherStrikes. We advocate to stop Union bosses kicking innocent children out of school. You far-left liberals are not members of StopTeacherStrikes but I've decided that what we do benefits you. No, I don't care if you agree with that assessment. I'm going to have your employer seize money ouf of your paycheck and send it to me, if you want to keep your job.

Keep on rocking Mrs. Adsett!

Simon Campbell, you have no idea what you're talking about.  You don't understand the West Chester community.  My grandfather immigrated here much like yourself, but the similarities end there. We live in a society where we work together using a system of multiple checks and balances to live together despite our individual differences.  While discourse inquiry is a worthwhile component of possible change and reform, your inflammatory and condescending rhetoric is simply just that.  West Chester enjoys great schools, low property taxes, healthy real estate values, low crime rates, and overall is a wonderful community filled with proud residents.  

Union playbook, page 1
1. Use words such as "discuss openly and honestly" but use a pseudonym when you blog.
2. Tell others that they must be civil in their tone, but continue to call others that don't share our view names.

Does anyone see a little hypocrisy here? Of course we need unions. Who else is going to keep their playbook up to date?

Supporting the current compulsory Unionism requirements inside the West Chester Area School District is appalling. As usual, support for this violation of individual liberty, is perpetuated by left-wing bloggers who hide their real names as they post anonymously. Compulsory unionism and the practice of using governmental resources (payroll deduction) to assist the teacher Union's political activity is sinful and tyrannical, and is not supported by the public at large.

Thank you again Mrs. Adsett for bringing these issues to the public's attention. It's just a shame that some people, who previously got onto the West Chester Area School Board, delighted in voting for their own spouse's employment contract. And it is appalling that any anonymous blogger would seek to label any American citizen as a tourist.

The good news is that Robin Kaliner is about to find out what transparency means after I post the campaign finance reports for her election-influencing political committee on the internet. It just a shame she doesn't understand the definition of the word "expenditure" in campaign finance law. More on that later.

While many people come to visit regularly, many decide to stay. We, as life long residents, generation after generation, welcome all with open arms. But, please refrain from berating everyone with the extreme ideologies from both ends. Lets just do what's right to keep our community wonderful, and our society civil.  Contrary to director Vince Murphy, school board meetings and committee meetings should support two way discussions.  While you, Simon Campbell, are not even a visitor of the West Chester community, feel free to continue your dismantling of the Pennsbury area. Too bad director Heidi Adsett chose to use your words (or your previously stated words) with her school board title to adress the community in print. Let us get back to the real issue - finding a healthy middle ground between fiscal responsibility for our community, the well-being of our children, and still continue to support our local public school teachers.  

After all, these teachers are also taxpayers and members of our community.  While the cliche "its for the kids" is actually a fact, the overarching theme should always be for the health and vibrancy of the West Chester community, and that starts and ends with it's infrastructure, which of course education is a key component.  And as for visitors, don't forget why you came here in the first place, why you chose to stay, and why you need to keep the attributes that made it the community it is in tact. 

Joseph Cossanu
Registered Republican

Davison, you seem to have a problem with elected officials articulating their views next to a biographical fact about who they are. It makes no sense but it's your hang-up. I routinely speak under the name Pennsbury School Board Director and I don't bother checking with anyone. Nor do I preface it with any type of disclaimer.

As for Robin Kaliner and the four other far-left liberals who tried to make an irrational 'speech comparison' argument with respect to school district policies pertaining to PTOs ...that was ridiculous. First, most PTOs are non-profits who could get in trouble with the IRS if they are spending money on political activities (like handing out electioneering flyers). Second, it is within the rights of a school board to ensure that public facilities (paid for with public money) are not misused for political purposes by any private entity.

When an elected official sends a letter to the editor or goes on TV or radio to articulate a viewpoint about something, even if including purely political comments, there are no public resources involved. And when an elected official responds to a public comment at a governance meeting, that elected official is simply explaining something to the person who raised the topic. It's called dialog. You might hate the First Amendment but most people like it.

You believe that people who oppose your radical compulsory Unionism views should be silent. You are wrong.

Keep up the great work, Mrs. Adsett.

But the community members who have elected these officials cannot disagree? Mr. Campbell you have skewed the situation to fit your agenda. AS I said we live here. And as an elected board member, you and our board members represent the community, not yourselves. So, keep that in mind. And somehow the PTO's despite what you think are comprised of individuals. If those individuals decide to act that is their right. You seem to assume it is under the PTO umbrella, which is not true. Like minded people tend to be friendly and work together in other venues. That fact that they have kids in school together and also belong to the same school related organizations is not a surprise.

I would ask that my board stop trying to politicize this district for political gain. I think many intelligent people have seen through this. And the calling of names - liberal etc. is really aggravating. We are here in the best interests of our children, not your political agenda. This is a good school district, with good dedicated teachers and administrators. The only people working against that right now in my humble estimation seems to be the school board. Call that a liberal agenda if you like, but that is only your opinion.

Mr Campbell, once again you're way out in left field. The Blogger who opines under the name of Average Joe has identified himself as Joe Cossanu. Anything I put in writing I sign my given name to. This is actually the first time I have blogged on this site. Additionally, you stated that I "delighted in voting for my own spouses employment contract" with the district. Fact, my wife was employed with the district long before I got back on the Board. Fact, at no time during my tenure on the Board was a vote ever taken on the support staff contract. Fact, if you knew as much about Pa law as you claim to you would know if ever such a vote was to be taken I would have had to recuse myself under state ethics laws. The ethics commission gave our board an opinion on this very subject. Since the support staff voluntarily took a pay freeze, we never had to take a vote. You may want to have a talk with your Mis-Informant, because quite frankly she's making you look like an ass (although you're not doing a bad job on your own). By the way, my wife is a FAIR SHARE member of the support staff. Finally, don't expect me to debate you on this or any other web site. I adhere to an expression my father used to espouse, "never get into an argument with an ass because after a while nobody can tell the difference". Go back to Pennsbury, you're not wanted here.
The REAL Jim Davison

I want Simon Campbell here.

I'd even like to start raising funds to pay for his relocation to our WCASD.

Now Mr. Davison, you seem flustered. I recommend drinking tea with milk and sugar to calm down.

Please allow me to sincerely say sorry for assuming you were a different liberal and for assuming that you voted on your school district spouse's employment contract. I now understand that you never got the chance to fail to fulfill your responsibility to voters by refusing to vote on a massive budgetary item, because of your wife's employment. I did hear however that you have a teacher Union background yourself.

And please know I don't expect any of the liberal left inside your VOTE committee to be willing to debate me. Only because I doubt any of you would last 5 seconds doing so. btw, Pennsbury's doing just fine; thanks for asking. Test scores are up and taxes are frozen. Largely because the Union-pandering liberal candidates got walloped in the last two election cycles by voters. Welcome to democracy. The will of the people is a beautiful thing to behold isn't it? Just please make sure that Treasurer Kaliner has an explanation for her political committee's expenditures to basketball teams. Seems kind of illegal to me under campaign finance law.

I'm getting the video of Monday's meeting so I can YouTube the exchange with Ms. Kaliner and Mrs. Adsett. It should be good for transparency. I might even add my own video commentary since the First Amendment apparently confuses VOTE's basketball-team spending Treasurer.

I think the only one with a political agenda is you Mr. Simon. I care about our kids. All you seem to care about is some imagined conspiracy of "left wing liberals" out to destroy I don't know what. In the end if people want to put flyers on cars - so what. Flyer away - I will either read and be informed and decide I am interested or not. What are you so afraid of? Based on what I know of the incident you refer to those who involved in the campaign were non-partisan and were supporting a slate of candidates that were both republican and democrat - but did not necessarily support "your point of view". And as it is "public" property - who does control it? As taxpayers we all have equal access do we not?

Matt,
Let me know when you get that fund set up to bring Simon to West Chester, I want to be one of the first to contribute.
When Wisconsin stop deducting union dues, the union membership dropped by one-half. After all, as mentioned by Cathy Binder, union members are intelligent grown ups and if they want to pay union dues, they can do so directly to the union.
Thank you Heidi and Simon. Now lets see if the other members of the West Chester Area School Board have as much principled courage as Heidi.

Well Mr.Simon, whatever. All I know is I don't care about it. Clearly this is a big deal to you and your party. Which is all this about in my estimation. What are you all so afraid of? That people won't think for themselves and make an informed decision?

From what I know this board has teachers afraid to even teach the process of voting and elections for fear of being accused of being political. What I wonder is how will our high schoolers have any meaningful discussion about politics and the election process this fall? I can see this crowd waiting to pounce the first time a healthy debate is had in a classroom and somebody decides they support a democratic candidate.

We all heard the horror story last summer about the teacher this board try to discipline for using her own computer, from her own home, on her own private email account to discuss the board election as a member and taxpayer of the community. That was a violation of her 1st amendment rights. But this board spent taxpayer money to get a lawyer to research this, and still tried to rake her over the coals. I resent that as a taxpayer Mr. Simon. To me this board and your interference as I see it in our community on nothing more than political issues disturbs me. I am sorry, this is about our kids and not political ideology. Shame on you. I get heated on this, because these people are elected to serve our community and children,

I have a headache. I should like to offer Mr. Campbell a Valium and Anger Management courses, as I don't believe "tea with milk and sugar" would cover his issues. I don't think the White House actually has a parking lot...

The problem with the negotiations is you have people like Simon Campbell getting involved even though he doesn't live in the district. All you need to do is Google his name. He is a FAR RIGHT WING EXTREMIST that has militant ties to the Tea Party! He is controlling the board and right to know requests have been filed for board members that have email correspondence with him! Some of those board members that have been in contact with him are Vince Murphy, Sean Carpenter, Maureen Snook, and Heidi Adsett!

The real question is who is paying for the school board's PR team? Who is paying for the school board's newsletter concerning the negotiations? Who is paying for the youtube clips of board members Sean Carpenter and Vince Murphy? Who is paying for Mr. Sultanick to negotiate with the teachers union? YOU ARE! The TAXPAYER! Where is the accountability??? Thank Simon Campbell, Vince Murphy, Sean Carpenter, Maureen Snook, and Heidi Adsett for using OUR TAX DOLLLARS on THEIR RIGHT WING AGENDA!

Oh, and while we are at it Mr. Campbell, how come you never call for the investigation of accountability of cyber charter school money? After all, its public money going to schools that are putting profits over pupils! Look at the corruption of the Angora Cyber Charter School in Devon! Look at the Dorothy June Hairston Brown in Philadelphia! These schools have NO ACCOUNTABILITY! Why? Because Right Wing Extremists like Simon Campbell love Charter Schools! In fact, they want to destroy the traditional public education system so that there are more charters in place! These schools are backed by the Right Wing of the Republican Party with the mantra "For the Children" when its really "For the Money!"

Look at the PA Cyber Charter School located off of Paoli Pike in West Chester. It is run by former and current Chester County Republican committee people such as Jim Hanak, Gwenne Alexander, Eileen Rothrock, Bill Middleton, and John Wingerter (until he recently retired). Past board members have included Shannon Royer and current County Commissioner Terrence Farrell! We still do not know how much PUBLIC money is going to educate this students or the salaries of those that run the school! They are draining the school district of millions of dollars and recently the Republican controlled State Legislature voted against Charter School reform!

Ask the school board how much money is going to the children and how much is going towards those that run the school? ITS OUR TAX DOLLARS!

Mr. Maher, please try some herbal tea with milk and sugar to calm yourself down. It's perfectly normal to oppose the forced seizure of dues from non-Union teachers' paychecks. Only a lunatic would think that sounds OK. And when you capitalize your speech you do come across like a ranting lunatic. By the way, I'll get involved in anything I feel like getting involved with. But if you don't like it then feel free to file a complaint against the First Amendment.

You seem to think that negotiations should be handled by Union-elected board directors who don't hire a professional attorney. Well that's a recipe for financial ruin as all too many school districts are finding out. IBM and Apple don't handle $200 million contract negotiations by saying "let's send the unpaid untrained volunteers in there and let them do it." Kind of a silly idea really.

As to the idea of accountability that comes at the ballot box, old chap. It's called elections. Just run some radical leftists promising to find all the free money and sing kumbaya with Union bosses to help close an $18 million budget shortfall and see how many votes you get. The thing is, I assure you that the radical Union-loving fringe left to which you belong really isn't that popular in the community.

And Simple Simon the right to know requests of your email correspondence to members of the West Chester Area School Board should be interesting! I cannot wait to publish them! Typical Brits! They don't know when to shut up! Have a good one mate!

John Galt

12:12 pm on Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Union playbook, page 1
1. Use words such as "discuss openly and honestly" but use a pseudonym when you blog.
2. Tell others that they must be civil in their tone, but continue to call others that don't share our view names.

Does anyone see a little hypocrisy here? Of course we need unions. Who else is going to keep their playbook up to date?

Looks like Steve is following the playbook! Good for you, Steve! You get to share in a portion of the results with those who did not contribute! Union Rules!!! Only some contribute, but all benefit! So if only some study for the exam, we "share the results of the score"? I hope you don't teach in WCASD. Oh wait! Aren't you in UCF?

I am confused. I do not think there is any forced membership to the union in West Chester. So why are you so hepped up about this Mr. Campbell? Have you talked to the union members in MY community? What have they told you? Have you asked the 14 individuals who have not joined of the 963 who have why not? Have you sent a survey to the 963 about their attitudes and if they have felt compelled, or do not feel they are getting a bang for their buck? Tell me sir, I am just curious? You speak of individual liberties, but again, I am not sure if the only thing you are doing is trying to union bust. You also ignore that the union does offer many good things to the teachers, why are you so loathe to appreciate that aspect. It is not all negative. And what is so ironic, this is a district with the lowest taxes in the county, high test scores and teachers that if you were to put their salaries on the scale are not even the highest paid for the product they deliver. So, my position stands, what is your agenda. I think while we have a minority contingent in this community that is supportive of your ideology most of us are not starry eyed liberal whackos. We support public education, or teachers, and our community. We want the best for our kids, not a mediocre product. WE appreciate that good employees don't come cheap, and to attract the best costs. Sorry, I don't think I am alone in this.

Ms. Binder, I appreciate your Union ghost-writer having you pen something for you to post. Really I do. It's just that it's so completely different from the very first comment you wrote at the beginning of this page that it's extremely obvious what's going on. I am uninterested in your Union's view of its own worth. That should be a matter for each individual employee to decide for themselves. The point is simple. Nobody should be forced to finance a Union they are not a member of. Period. End of discussion. You can label it union-busting or whatever you like. But George Washington took no survey when he was rowing across the Delaware in the name of individual freedom, and none is needed here. If there are only 14 individuals who don't belong to the Union I have no idea how it could be called Union-busting to no longer force them to pay dues. Perhaps you can explain. And the Maintenance of (Union) Membership provision inside the contract is a whole other subject we could get into. That's a serious liability risk to both the Union and the School District on Constitutional grounds. The bottom line is that liberals who support Compulsory Unionism are far-left extremists because they support coercion and compulsion as a means to facilitate Union power. Well, coercion is wrong. Freedom is good.

My issues are really only about this board negotiating the contract, not arguing about union dues blah, blah. This to me is stupid and not what I have these people on the board to work on. They are to be supporting my child's education. By all measures the teachers and administrators of this district are delivering a high quality product. Your issues are your own, and I resent you interfering in my community in this way. That is my first amendment right to express that point of view. This is political garbage in my estimation done with an agenda and it has nothing to do with kids.

Word

I said "word" Helen.

Oh, I meant "Simon says word."

Interesting posts. I would have to agree with Mr. Campbell & recommend the herbal tea with honey to calm everyone down a bit.

I don't even know where to begin with all of you! First, I agree with Cathy Binder, the issue IS the WCASD board negotiating the teacher contract. What I don't understand is how she cannot see that the union dues issue is PART of that contract, & that it is important for the board to hear how taxpayers feel about it. As a taxpayer/resident living within the WCASD borders, I do not want my school district to incur expenses if teachers/unions wish for union dues to be deducted from their paychecks. It increases costs in the payroll department & money is needlessly shuffled from the district to the union. If there are higher administration costs, that is less money for student programs & services.

The union is decidedly political, teachers & school boards are supposed to be apolitical. If all of the adult teachers wish to be union members & pay their fair share or full dues to the union, then let them choose to have dues automatically withdrawn like they do for mortgages or car payments. The tax collector does not shuffle my money to my professional membership organization, nor does my employer, I pay the fee directly. Let teachers do that too. Why is this such an offensive idea?
I do not believe that every union dues paying teacher or other staff really wishes to be part of the teachers union. The whole point of Mrs. Adestt's excellent editorial was to shed light on the fact that teachers/staff are basically being forced to pay dues by making it almost impossible to opt out of the automatic withholding of dues. Some staff do not wish to be union members, & to opt out is excessively difficult, not nearly as easy as some on these pages would have you believe. While you may not think there is any "forced membership", Ms. Binder, I find it hard to believe that is the case. What teacher would want to stand up & say they want out of the union & incur the hassle of "coming out"? I would think none.

I hate this silly word limit.For a mother who is passionate about children & their welfare, it is hard to get all of my thoughts into one of these boxes.
My understanding of the teacher situation last summer is that a teacher used district resources for political purposes.An investigation should be opened for that infraction.
Mrs. Adsett,you wrote an excellent editorial!If a board member writes something,I think it is imperative for taxpayers to see that the person they elected is fighting for the students they swore to support, so using your "title" is perfectly acceptable.If you had not,some on these pages would slam you for not using it, so you really cannot win either way.
As to the issue at hand,WCASD board,please negotiate the best contract you can. Thank you for using an expert to work out details to protect the interests of the students & taxpayers.Please get something into the contract that does not reward the teachers Americans for Liberty had to contend with when attending WCASD schools. If the contract were to go the way the union would have it, those teachers will receive increases for filing nails & figuring out coaching schedules when they should have been teaching.
Lastly,I know who Mr. Campbell is too.He is passionate about the freedoms this country has to offer all of its citizens, & is a strong advocate for children Keep up the great work, sir, & let me know when you want to move into the district,we'll start the collection!

Mrs. Jones, the teacher you refer to used her own computer, on her own time, in her own home, using her own service provider. The district was advised that she was well within her first amendment rights to do what she did. Sorry. I do not want the teachers to be restricted in their constitutional rights. No way, this is America, and they are citizens of this nation.

Second, the laws as they stand allow for fair share. In the end like it or not those who do not belong to the union do benefit from the contract. The amount of dues is not a negotiation point, and has nothing to do with negotiations. As far as if the district should or should not collect them, well that is up for debate. I could really care less and doubt it would matter. But honestly I don't think it costs the district. I think we largely misinterpret as citizens and believe there is this ugly animosity between the union and the administration. I think that is what this board would like all to think. In reality the union and administration clearly must work pretty well together as our test scores are high, and I see highly professional people working with my kids. Perfection, no. But I do not see perfection in my work place either. At least with a union contract I know that women and minorities are getting paid equally for service and education. But I suspect there is an old boys network at work here in other areas as well.