Marta Mossburg: Must unions always block innovation in public schools?

Isn’t it ironic? When Andres Alonso moved to Baltimore City two years ago to turn around a failing public school system, the Baltimore Teachers Union fought him over practically everything except which color tie he should wear.

Forget about radical items like merit pay. Marietta English, BTU president, called for his resignation because the union didn’t want teachers to give up some individual planning time for group planning. Neither was the union enthused by his decision to move 300 people from school headquarters to schools or out of the system — or to give more power to principals.