Stupid Educator/Union News

From the LVRJ: The Clark County School District's $40-million Race to the Top ended before it began, pulled off the starting line by its teachers union.
The Clark County Education Association, which has been at odds with the district for two years over teacher salaries and benefits, has refused to sign off on the district's federal grant application. That stops the district dead in its tracks.
Union buy-in was required for the district to seek a $40 million slice of the competitive $400-million federal grant, which is intended to promote data-based and digital tools to meet individual student needs and evaluate school staff. The grant would have benefited 41,000 students at 63 Clark County schools, which would have received high-technology tools and literacy intervention. The district also could have hired 22 teachers plus 24 support staff dedicated to mostly helping students struggling with English.
Tuesday was the deadline for applications, but President Barack Obama extended the deadline indefinitely because of Hurricane Sandy. But that's not likely to help Clark County, America's fifth-largest school district.
Clark County Education Association officials, who did not return calls Tuesday, claim the union was left out of the district's application process.
Executive Director John Vellardita wrote Clark County Deputy Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky on Oct. 24, agreeing that "teachers and students need the resourcing opportunities that a Race to the Top holds."
"However, because the district has not engaged in any genuine attempts at collaboration, we will miss an opportunity to improve teaching and learning in Clark County," he wrote, informing the district that it wouldn't receive the union's support.
The district didn't include teachers or the union while drafting the reforms outlined in the application, Vellardita contended.
In actuality, the union was invited to participate at every turn from July through October but refused, wrote the district's Chief Student Services Officer Kim Wooden Tuesday. She went on to list seven attempts to include the union, including reaching out to union President Ruben Murillo, who said Vikki Courtney would be the union's representative. The district contacted Courtney, who said she'd attend meetings. But Courtney never showed, Wooden wrote in her reply.
Despite the union's absence from the process, 1,616 teachers attended the stakeholder meetings, Wooden said. Principals reported that 89.4 percent of stakeholders were in agreement with the application's proposals.
"CCEA chose not to participate in the formation of the grant," Wooden wrote Vellardita. "It is even more disappointing that association is effectively blocking the district … at a time when we all agree that we need more resources for education."  http://www.lvrj.com/news/teachers-union-blocks-clark-county-school-district-s-bid-for-40-million-federal-grant-176520461.html
When the CCEA says they are there for the children, don't buy it, it' a bunch of bull crap.
But then, why would a requirement for the money is to have the teacher's union be on board and they have veto power?  Just another stupid Obama administration requirement.