Chris Myers Announces Plan to Improve TPS Hiring and Compensation Processes
Toledo, Ohio. Chris Myers, candidate for Toledo Public Schools Board of Education, announces that he will hold a press conference to announce his three-point plan to improve the hiring and compensation processes for teachers in the Toledo Public Schools. His plan will bring the district closer to creating a more dynamic learning environment for all its students.
Date: Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Time: 2:00 p.m.
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Place: South Branch Library
1736 Broadway
(just south of South Avenue)
The media is respectfully requested to be present.
Myers has been active in his support for improving TPS for several years including audio taping and reporting board meetings as well as creating Web sites like http://www.ideasfortps.com and http://www.tpssearch.com to help inform and engage TPS stakeholders.
Statement:
Chris Myers Announces Plan to Improve TPS Hiring and Compensation Processes
Toledo, Ohio. At his press conference today, Chris Myers, candidate for Toledo Public Schools Board of Education, spoke regarding improved processes to hire and compensate teachers.
One of the biggest challenges that affect the school system is how to hire and pay teachers. How do we pay them appropriately while rewarding them for improving the performance of our children? We need to move to a more accountable pay system. We can do better and we need to do better. My first priority is academics and we need good employees who work every day to make academics better.
We, as a district, must establish systems that promote self-improvement. I will advocate for the systems of hiring and compensation that reward those who improve.
Here is my three-point plan on how to improve hiring and compensation at TPS.
1. Do better planning when hiring teachers. Calling teachers the day or two before school starts is unacceptable. While TPS has challenges, we need to follow progressive districts that do their hiring in the late spring and early summer. Better teachers will not wait until fall to get hired. I will support policies that encourage the district to streamline the hiring process so it can make job offers more quickly.
2. Merit Pay. We need to improve the way we pay teachers. Merit pay rewards teachers who work hard and are successful, and it encourages teachers to constantly want to improve and find creative ways of attaining educational goals. While the district has a union-created merit system, I believe it can be more effective. I will advocate for a merit pay system to become mandatory for all new hires. Districts around the country are switching to merit pay systems and for good reason.
3. New hiring system. With merit pay, the system would encourage teachers to improve and, therefore, the current hiring system would not be as important. I would support a new hiring system that gives more power to the school to recruit and hire and retain the teachers it wants. This decentralized process would better allow dynamic teams to be built. The district should not be timid in dismissing ineffective teachers. Some research says districts should be more aggressive in denying tenure to the bottom quarter of new teachers. We should retain the mentoring aspect of the current system because it is valuable and can increase teacher retention. The current system has been in effect for many years and, while it was award-winning, it lacks the accountability it should have because the district is not accountable for making the determination on who is fit to be hired but yet it is liable. This is not an attack on professionalism. This plan will actually encourage teachers to be part of dynamic school teams and will increase the quality of academics at our schools.
My three-point plan can take our school district closer to a more dynamic learning environment. We can have an educational system that constantly strives to improve, but only if we’re willing to elect school board members who have the courage to do what is necessary. I’m that person and I ask for your vote on November 6th.
