HARTFORD, Conn. – Teachers unions can be counted on to act in their own self-interests, even when their actions negatively impact students.

A very good example occurred in 2011 in Connecticut, when the state’s largest teachers union faced the possibility of losing its domination of public schools to a bunch of concerned parents.

CFT officials became alarmed when the usually union-friendly state legislature began debating a parent trigger bill, which would allow parents to force reforms in consistently failing local schools. Disgusted parents would have had several possible options, including the conversion of the schools into charter schools or firing all the teachers and administrators.

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In classic union fashion, the union went into self-described “kill mode” to defeat the plan. That only came to light after the fact, when a union staffer gloated in a PowerPoint presentation about the successful destruction of the parent-trigger bill.

Ben Boychuk wrote at Public Sector Inc.:

“The PowerPoint describes the union’s “Plan A” and “Plan B” in Connecticut. Plan A was “Kill Mode.” That’s simple enough. Tough to misinterpret. Refreshingly unambiguous and jargon-free. The idea was to stop the bill in committee. When that failed, union lobbyists moved on to the slightly more nuanced Plan B: “Engage the Opposition.” Just who is the “Opposition” in this scenario? Certain politicians, obviously, such as bill sponsor Jason. Reform groups, too. And, at some point, parents.

“Engaging the opposition meant making certain that if the legislature was going to pass a Parent Trigger measure, it would be something the unions could live with. That is to say, it wouldn’t be much of a Parent Trigger at all.”

The union’s “kill mode” plan didn’t succeed, but its “engage the opposition” strategy did. Parents were duped into accepting a watered-down bill that relegated them to membership on powerless “advisory committees.” So the schools can keep failing and there’s nothing the parents can do beyond “advising” for change.

The teachers union won and the students were clearly the losers.

To read more installments of “The Other Labor History: What Kids Won’t Learn,” click here.