By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

NORTH SMITHFIELD, R.I. – There seems to be some confusion in North Smithfield, Rhode Island as to who runs the school district:
Is it the elected school board or the local teachers union?

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The local teacher union members – with their grand sense of entitlement – think they have the authority to decide who their boss is.

They are wrong.

For the uninitiated, here’s how public school districts work: School board members hire a superintendent to manage the district’s day-to-day operations on their behalf, the way a company’s board of directors hires a chief operating officer. Same deal.

The superintendent oversees all other district employees: teachers, support personnel, principlas and hourly staff. But North Smithfield Teachers Association President Marianne Lowe apparently didn’t get that memo.

The NSTA, which is embroiled in a long-running contract dispute with the district, recently took a “no confidence” vote against Superintendent Stephen Lindberg, The Valley Breeze reports. It passed 111 to 24.

Lowe says her members voted against Lindberg’s “educational politics” and “managerial style,” which has been described as intimidating and authoritarian.

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“As leader of this faculty, I feel that this is a personal matter between the superintendent, the employer and the faculty,” Lowe said.

Nope.

If faculty members problems with a superintendent’s leadership, they can express their concerns to the board, as any taxpayer could. But teachers don’t have any right to pull up a chair and join any discussions the board may wish to have with the superintendent.

Teacher unions have become so arrogant (a direct result of outsized collective bargaining powers) that they actually think it’s their right to choose their boss. Most employees would like that power, but leave it to the privileged unions to actually demand it.

They’re forgetting that citizens own the school and elect the school board to hire the superintendent to run the school. Nobody elected the union.

Lowe continued: “Therefore it is our hope that the School Committee meets with my leadership at their earliest convenience to resolve the issues that need to be addressed to continue our mission of providing the highest quality education in North Smithfield.”

Wrong again.

North Smithfield teachers are duty-bound to “continue their mission” of educating kids regardless of who the superintendent is. If NSTA members can’t work under Lindberg’s leadership, they should resign and make room for one of the young, talented educators who are champing at the bit to land a full-time teaching gig.

Thankfully, Lindberg remains unmoved by the union’s vote.

“I don’t plan on going anywhere,” he told the Valley Breeze.

Nor should he.

It appears North Smithfield has a strong superintendent who doesn’t get shoved around by the self-serving teachers union. It’s just a guess, but we suspect taxpayers love him for holding the line.

We follow the world of K-12 education very closely and know there is a shortage of bold and decisive school leaders. If the North Smithfield board is foolish enough to bow to the union’s demands, Lindberg would be very much in demand with the few thousand districts struggling to deal with obnoxious unions.