If Connecticut elects him to the U.S. Senate, William Tong wants to help teachers — by helping them leave the schools.
Tong, one of three Democrats seeking the 2012 nomination for Connecticut’s open Senate seat, discussed that help as he floated ideas for school reform in a visit to New Haven.
He said he wants government to offer public-school teachers “incentives” to leave their jobs rather than feel they have to stick it out until retirement, whether or not they want to.
“Thirty-seven years is just way too long to be in one profession,” Tong said. “They [teachers] want to see a pathway to another career. Many of us will go do two and three and four careers in our lifetime. We need to help teachers make that transition.”
Tong spoke Monday evening with two dozen members of the Yale Democrats — an apparent must-stop for party candidates on the statewide trail this year, as it was in 2010. Another Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful, Chris Murphy, addressed the group last week. (Read about that here.) Former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz is also seeking the nomination. Republicans Linda McMahon and Chris Shays are competing for their party’s nomination, as is attorney Brian K. Hill of Windsor.
Paul Bass Photo
In Monday’s visit to Yale’s Branford College, Tong, a state representative from Stamford and self-proclaimed “underdog” in the Senate race, emphasized the foreclosure crisis and immigration in trying to distinguish himself from his Democratic opponents. As chairman of the state legislature’s Banks Committee, he has championed mediation between lenders and delinquent borrowers to stem foreclosures. As the son of Chinese immigrants, he tells of how he has lived the “American Dream.” Click on the play arrow above to watch how he wove those two seemingly disparate issues together as “fresh start” concepts with roots in the U.S. Constitution.
School reform proved one of the livelier topics of conversation between Tong and the students Monday.
Tong spoke of Connecticut’s “inexcusable” worst-in-the-nation achievement gap. He spoke of promising experiments like New Haven’s Amistad Academy charter school.
That led one student to point out that Tong is running as a Democrat — a party which counts on teacher unions as a key part of its base. How will you promote school-reform ideas that the unions oppose when you pitch your candidacy to local Democratic town chairmen? the student asked.
By not presenting proposals as a “zero-sum” game, Tong replied.
He cited New Haven Mayor John DeStefano’s school reforms as an example. Among other moves, DeStefano convinced the teachers union to accept an evaluation system that makes it easier to fire the worst-performing teachers while helping other under-performing teachers to improve.
“It’s been with a mayor in this town who’s seen as a real progressive,” Tong said, “a friend of labor. He’s been able to navigate that. He’s been able to make the argument that this is a powerful force for reform and change. But it doesn’t replace you. What it does is show you what experimental methodologies can do to change the quality of education and give our families a chance.”
Tong suggested enlisting teachers’ support by offering them help in leaving the public schools for another career when they’re ready. “Say after 10 years of making a commitment to a public school, we will give you tuition assistance” to go to UConn or Yale to become, say, a social worker. “Those are the kind of things we will do to get teachers on board.” He also embrace the idea of greater “accountability” for teachers through performance evaluations.
Tong said after the session that he isn’t seeking to eliminate teacher tenure. He said some teachers want to teach the entire 37 years until retirement and should. But many would leave if they had the option, he argued.