New Jersey: Teachers Gone Wild!

...or maybe its just the entitlement mentality of a union hack, but this is classic...I mean, really - how dare the state of New Jersey sanction a teacher for using a phony diploma in order to obtain raises she didn't deserve? Why, I'll sue! Sue you all!!!!!

From an annoyed editorial board at the Asbury Park-Press:

Teacher consultant Lorraine Taddei-Graef has appealed the district school board's decision to reduce her salary and ban her from using or making reference to her doctorate degree from Breyer State University, an unaccredited online school that has been labeled a diploma mill.
Taddei-Graef is going to court, claiming that any punishment she got for procuring a phony Ph.D. and using it to secure more money was "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable."

Is she kidding? The state Commission of Higher Education ruled that four district employees with Breyer State degrees could not use their doctoral titles. Why? Because the degrees were bogus. And if they were bogus, they shouldn't be entitled to the $2,500 salary bump accorded those with legitimate doctorates.

Taddei-Graef's legal appeal not only will cost taxpayers more money, but set another terrible example for students, who should be taught that you earn your grades through hard work and discipline — not short cuts and arrogance.

But what is the point of being in a union, if not to learn the short-cuts and developed a finely-honed sense of entitlement as well as a king-sized shoulder-chip via unabridged arrogance?

Columnist Bob Ingle comes down on the New Jersey schools as well - same paper, same day. Ouch:

Waste comes from bloated bureaucracy. With all the money dumped into the 31 school districts that used to be designated as Abbott, there is precious little to show for it because so little gets to the classroom. It is drained off by needless administrators who have assistants who have assistants and they all have secretaries.

One gets the impression schools in New Jersey aren't about educating kids but a public works project like something out of Roosevelt's Great Depression era, except these people are making six-figure salaries and will get fat pensions with health care for life for them and their families...

And that's the problem with unions in America. It's not about working hard, or even doing what is required or requested - it is about getting as much as one can for the union and oneself while exerting as little effort as possible, perhaps the antithesis of the American ideal. And if your employer's business should fail, or your students should fail - big freakin' deal! Who's gonna fight the union and hold you to account? And, if by some strange set of circumstances you are called out, there is still always that opportunity to cash in via a frivolous lawsuit!

Teacher's unions are often the easiest target for criticism, as they are responsible for educating the nation's children, as well as for preventing the spread of non-union (charter) schools. So when we see them turning the state school system into a giant milking cow for their own use, with our kids suffering for their greed, well - it gets folks pretty worked up, especially in a place like New Jersey, where the school system is used as an excuse for insanely high property tax levies.

One would hope that the state's teachers would be smart enough to realize this and tread carefully and wisely. But based on the story of Lorraine Taddei-Graef, and Ingle's point above, it seems as if it's an every-man-for-himself cash grab, and if a few students get trampled on the way to the line for false PHDs, well...let's just say as long as the money keeps coming in, there's little concern for the state of these pupils.

Only with strict reform can losers like Lorraine be kicked out, and dollars are better allocated so as to give New Jersey's students a fighting chance. Unfortunately, these stories only indicate one thing: When the teachers win, the students lose...