Teachers

Students did some of the teaching at a conference for their teachers over the weekend. " 'Write what you know.' That's my motto. I have to write on my life because I don't know about anybody else's life," said Sarah "Jake" Major, one of six Moorestown Middle School students who shared writing and philosophies with a roomful of district teachers who were learning ways to incorporate a writing workshop into their third- through eighth-grade classes....

By a vote of 32-4, Jenkintown's teachers have ratified the tentative four- year contract reached last week between the Jenkintown Education Association and the school district. The accord, reached Sept. 22, ended the district's 21-day teachers' strike, the first in the district's 111 years. Both sides have declined to comment on the details of the agreement, pending final ratification. The school board is scheduled to consider the agreement at its regular meeting Monday. David Seitz, president of the association, said the teachers voted on the contract by secret ballot Monday afternoon.

Burlington Township teachers say they will go on strike when classes start Wednesday if a contract settlement has not been reached. Members of the Burlington Township Education Association voted 126-10 Wednesday in favor of the strike deadline, union President Leslie Tucker said yesterday. "We think it's only fair that we should know what the terms and conditions of our employment will be before we go back to work," Tucker said. The union, which has been without a contract since June 30, represents 129 teachers, 35 instructional aides, 15 secretaries and 15 custodians.

Although Merchantville schoolteacher Diane Borrelli was not offered a new contract last night, the Board of Education gave her renewed hope that her nearly five-year career in the district would continue. Borrelli and nine other untenured teachers were not offered new contracts for the 1987-88 school year, but board President Wayne Rambo said that all 10 would be re-evaluated and that it was "likely that most, if not all, would be rehired. " State law requires that teachers who are not going to be rehired must be notified by tomorrow, he said.

RE ROBERT Stewart's letter "Summer-school climate change": There are many pressures on teachers, but the greatest come from outside. Neither principals nor teachers have any appreciable control over who walks through the front door of the school. Children who arrive without proper materials, or properly dressed and who are otherwise unready to do their very best should be denied entry. Only then can the issues of instruction and climate be properly addressed. But Dr. Ackerman believes, forgivably, that all children are to be accorded the right to a public education regardless of moral and intellectual stature.

The Tredyffrin/Easttown school board struggled before tentatively agreeing Monday night on 18 full-time staff cuts to reduce about $1 million, or 4 mills, in the proposed 1991-92 budget. To be eliminated, subject to final budget approval, are three teachers of the gifted, three social studies teachers, two English teachers, two librarians, two math teachers, one career counselor, two guidance counselors, one language teacher, two learning-improvement teachers, one reading teacher and one kindergarten teacher, plus part-time hours in several areas that equal one position.

In a three-year contract ratified Wednesday, Oxford area teachers gained slightly more money than the school board had offered but far less than they were demanding when they walked out for six days in October. Salaries will climb 5 percent for the present school year, 7 percent next year and 8 percent in 1993-1994. Before the teachers walked out, the school board had offered annual raises of 5 percent, 6 percent and 7 percent. The teachers had asked for 11 percent, 13 percent and 15 percent.

Marple Newtown teachers and the school board failed to reach a contract agreement after a three-hour negotiating session Tuesday, but teachers were to report for work today. Teachers had voted last month to return to classes this fall but to work only to the letter of their three-year contract that expired June 30. The teachers' union officials met with a state mediator and the school district's negotiating committee Tuesday night, the first meeting since June. The primary issue is money.

THE FALLACIES of logic in the op-ed "The myth of the underpaid teacher" (Feb. 7) are too numerous to mention. The idea that teachers have too much time on their hands is the real myth. The writers begin with the intellectually dishonest premise that a teacher's time is something that can truly be tracked. If teachers did what doctors, lawyers and plumbers do, and charged by the hour for actual work, their services would be prohibitively expensive. Like all professional workers, teachers must pass rigorous assessments and pursue continuous education to remain certified.

CHICAGO - The Chicago Teachers Union said Thursday that the city's public schools would stay closed for at least one more day, but the union president said she was hopeful the two sides were close to completing a settlement to end the nearly weeklong strike. "We are optimistic, but we are still hammering things out," Karen Lewis said. The union called a special delegates meeting for Friday, when the bargaining team is scheduled to give an update on contract talks. "We've made progress in some areas, but still we have a way to go," Lewis said.