MATC again

A while back, I celebrated the controversy surrounding my appointment to the panel that chooses MATC board members. Not only did it seem like old times but all the opposition allowed me to bask in the illusion that I was a threat to the status quo at MATC.

The status quo is that too many of the present board members are too subservient to the MATC teachers' union. They make decisions that may be good for the staff but not for the community or the students. Over the years, MATC has become fat and far less effective than it could be. One problem was pointed out in a recent Bruce Murphy article detailing how MATC faculty are paid more than those at the University of Wisconsin at Madison but often have only bachelors' degrees.

But the five MPS representatives have far less power to influence the future of MATC than might appear at first glance. Real change depends on whether the suburban superintendents, who have by far the largest number of votes, will decide it is worthwhile to resist union pressure and to look for effective board members. So far, they have not. The major dynamic among the suburban superintendents at the appointment meetings I chaired was to get the process over quickly and go home. MPS representatives are in an especially weak position to influence the suburban representatives, since any conversation between an MPS representative and a suburban superintendent can be considered a quorum and therefore a public meeting under a quirky interpretation of the law.