Kent Education Association

Jeff Nettles

This local union (which I was a member for 31 years) does not properly respresent specialists and is complicit in misinformation regarding how Wednesday 1/2 days affect student learning time in content areas. They are also part of the decision making process to increase workload on specialists and special programs to reduce contact time for classroom teachers. This one-sided, blinders-on process hurt students by reducing content time and creating facilty overcrowding in PE and Music. Specialists who expected representation were let down by this Kent Education Association union. In addition to this, they helped the district sell this as the "Learning First" initiative. Every parent duped by this slogan should investigate what really happened to student contact time in content area learning. That entire afternoon time is now extra time in music, library, and PE. No missed math, reading, or other content time is made up. Extra pe and music is not bad on the surface level, but the schools cannot handle the physical load and end up doubling the number of kids in the room! Quality of instruction in those special programs and access to equipment is diminished as it must be shared! Shame on this group.