Manchester teachers are getting a new contract. It calls for four more days of professional development. While PD can be beneficial to teachers, taxpayers should be looking at what teachers will be doing during every professional development day.
Several years ago, I attended a presentation by Manchester Proud. The presentation showed everyone how the district would be implementing the fads put forth by education reformers. None of these people had any record of success in improving academic outcomes, but that didn’t matter. People just want to be told that the district is doing something with their tax dollars.
While I was seated for this presentation, I struck up a conversation with a Manchester teacher who had taken the day off of school to attend this event. She told me she was using a professional development day so she could attend. She also mentioned how kids were graduating from the district but didn’t know basic math. There was no mention at this event about ways to improve math education in the district. It was more smoke and mirrors explaining how new education fads would be added.
This is an example of how money spent on professional development can be wasted. PD used to help teachers become better at teaching math or other core subjects will benefit the teachers and students. But as you can see, the taxpayers in Manchester just flushed more of their money down the toilet by paying this teacher to attend an event that would never help her in the classroom.
PD should be scrutinized by the school board and community every year. Money spent to improve the quality of teachers serving in the district could be beneficial to your children. But as you can see, some of those valuable resources can. be wasted, too.
Four more days to PD is a lot to add to your school budget. Someone should be asking for details and scrutinizing PD every single year.
