Saturday coffee.
Here’s why I ask.
The Illinois Policy Institute is a corporate think tank and lobbying outfit that has led the charge against public employee pensions in the state.
Today they link to a Wall Street Journal article that makes the claim that entitlements cost too much and are ruining the American character, whatever that means.
As Americans opt to reward themselves ever more lavishly with entitlement benefits, the question of how to pay for these government transfers inescapably
Cheating at Harvard.
Did they cut the cahds in Hahvahd Yahd? Have you been following the story of the cheating scandal at Harvard? It’s kind of interesting. According to the NY Times, a group of 125 undergrads who were taking what we used to call a Micky Mouse course called Introduction to Congress are accused of cheating. “This [...]
Saturday coffee.
Can we consider two stupid wars an entitlement? Here’s why I ask. The Illinois Policy Institute is a corporate think tank and lobbying outfit that has led the charge against public employee pensions in the state. Today they link to a Wall Street Journal article that makes the claim that entitlements cost too much and [...]
Ten minute drawing: The old man with no name.
Click on drawing to enlarge.
The in box. “I have two regrets about my early teaching career.”
Fred, I have two regrets about my early teaching career. The first is that I crossed a picket line during the CTU strike in 1980. I was employed as an FTB (full time basis sub) in my first job out of college. I wasn’t yet a Union member, but I should NEVER have crossed that [...]
Chicago. The whole world is watching again.
Photo: The Chicago Teachers Solidarity Campaign.
Quinn. The most anti-labor Illinois Governor. Ever.
Angry union members chase Governor Quinn out of the State Fair grounds. I got some written equivalents to a raised eyebrow when I referred to Pat Quinn as the most anti-labor Governor since World War II in a recent post. Did I overstate the matter? Not according to AFSCME, which sent this email out to [...]
Tony at the Red Line Tap.
“Don’t sit on that stool,” Tony said. “Don’t you see that my pal Clint Eastwood is sitting there?” “Funny. But I can’t believe that you have watched the Republican Convention.” “Are you kidding? I make Marty turn it on every night. It’s the most entertaining thing on TV. Except for watching the Cubs lose.” “I [...]
CTU House of Delegates voting unanimously for a September 10th strike date.
Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates. August 30, 2012.
Brizard to be Rahm’s fall guy. CPS CEO to exit after a settlement is reached.
As I reported a few weeks ago, CPS CEO JC Brizard appears to be on his way out. Rahm is looking for a fall guy for the mess he created. Brizard will be the one. The Chicago Tribune reports this morning. Two high-ranking education sources said Emanuel is unhappy with how Brizard executed the mayor’s [...]
Solidarity forever.
I hope every retired teacher who reads this blog, IEA, IFT or unaffiliated, will join me on the picket lines in support of the Chicago Teachers Union on Monday, September 10th. Solidarity forever! Pete Seeger – H/T Jennifer.
Breaking: Chicago strike date set: Monday, September 10th.
On Wednesday, a standing-room-only House of Delegates, representing schools & citywide educators across the city set a potential start date of Monday, September 10, 2012, for a strike of more than 26,000 teachers, clinicians and paraprofessionals. The resolution reads: RESOLVED that the House of Delegates shall set a strike date of September 10, 2012. The [...]
Cutting back on those charitable donations.
This might make the Art Institute Lions roar. I’ve been hearing this a lot lately. It came up again the other night when I spoke to a group of 80 retirees at the Wilmette Public Library. We’re not giving charitable donations to certain organizations anymore. With the threatened cuts in our pensions and with our [...]
Future teacher has a brilliant idea: Solidarity.
. I got my undergraduate degree in Art Education. I received a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership. I’m ABD in Curriculum, Instruction and Evaluation. I just couldn’t get it together to write that damn dissertation. Oh well. Too late. But in all those years of higher education I never had a class in teacher unions. [...]
November.
There is a certain conventional wisdom, fear, pessimism and fatalism about what the Illinois General Assembly will do to those of us in public employee pensions after the November elections. I’m for vigilance and action. But I have no use for fatalism or any of the rest of it. This is the conventional wisdom: The [...]
Ten minute drawing: Quinn on seniors.
Click on image to enlarge.
The in box. Voting no on Constitutional Amendment 49.
A LETTER FROM THE RETIRED TEACHERS ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO ARRIVED THIS MORNING WITH THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE: ON NOVEMBER 6 ILLINOIS CITIZENS WILL VOTE TO ACCEPT OR REJECT AN AMENDMENT TO THE ILLINOIS CONSTITUTION THAT WILL ADVERSELY AFFECT YOUR PENSION PLAN AND THOSE OF OTHER PUBLIC EMPLOYEE IN OUR STATE OF ILLINOIS. IT IS CONSTITUTIONAL [...]
The in box. It’s “Call Brizard Thursday.”
Call CPS today…and every Thursday until teachers win a fair contract! Call CPS CEO J.C. Brizard today and every Thursday at 773-553-1500 until the current contract dispute is resolved in a way that benefits our teachers and our kids. Tell him you support the teachers’ contract demands for: Smaller classes A better, not just longer, [...]
Strike notice filed.
Nothing for me to say. The Chicago Teachers Union says it all. Chicago Headed Toward First Teachers Strike in 25 Years CTU files 10-day strike notice with labor board; strike date has not been set CHICAGO - Today, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) filed a 10-day notice with the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board indicating more [...]
Ryan and Rahm. BFF?
Paul Ryan and Rahm Emanuel – Friendlier than you might think? That’s what Carol Felsenthal, Chicago Magazine’s political reporter, asks. My answer is no. I am not the least bit surprised. Felsenthal taps Emanuel as a Democratic version of a Rockefeller Republican. She calls Emanuel a Rahm Republican. The Rockefeller Republican that Felesenthal is referring [...]
Not their fight. The fight.
Not their fight. The fight. Just Seeds.
Ten minute drawing: Chris Christie and Romney in an elevator.
Click on cartoon to enlarge.
Labor Day in Chicago this year.
In Chicago the kids go back to school after Labor Day. In Park Ridge school starts two weeks before Labor Day. Like many, Anne and I always thought of Labor Day Weekend as a little extension of summer. We would try to get out of town. For many years our extended family would head up [...]
The in box. Donate to IRTA legal defense fund.
From: Robert Zahniser Date: Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 8:39 PM Subject: IMPORTANT: IRTA LAUNCHES “LEGAL DEFENSE FUND” to defend pensions Donate to the IRTA Legal Defense Fund UPDATE – As of July 17th, the IRTA Legal Defense Fund has over $18,000! Greetings from the Illinois Retired Teachers Association. While we won a battle on May [...]
Breaking: Chicago Teachers Union will file 10 day strike notice tomorrow, Wednesday.
The Chicago Tribune is reporting tonight: The Chicago Teachers Union plans to file a 10-day strike notice Wednesday, meaning a teacher walkout could begin after the majority of the city’s students finish their first week of school, sources said. The union and CPS have been in talks for months but have failed to reach agreement [...]
How can Illinois’ Governor Quinn lead a grassroots movement if he is afraid to show up at the Fair?
Having a bad day at the Fair. One-term Governor Pat Quinn has promised to lead a grassroots movement to gut public employee pensions. But how can he lead a movement of people who he is afraid to meet? Two weeks ago he was met by hundreds of union members who booed him of the stage [...]
The in box. Social Justice.
Fred, Thank you for making this issue available for all to hear about Fred. Today the students had a “day of silence” with red tape (our school color is red) over their mouths as a way of non-violence direct action protest. . Fred: we represent the teachers there… Robin Potter – Robin Potter & Assc.– [...]
They’re still fighting for social justice at Social Justice High School.
Social Justice students speak at community protest. Photo: Substance, Sarah Chambers. The story of Chicago’s Social Justice High School began with a hunger strike in 2001. Starting on Mother’s Day, 17 members of the Little Village community, a Mexican neighborhood in southwest Chicago, drank only water and juice for 19 days. They camped out in unseasonably [...]
The Freedom of No Information.
Education Action Group’s Ben Velderman. No. This is not simply an excuse to put Ben Velderman’s creepy mug on my blog again. Well. Maybe just a little. Seriously. My friend Matt Farmer, CPS parent, lawyer, singer and guitarist of great skill and an outrageously compelling orator, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with CPS [...]
Hack journalism.
Faux journalist Scott Reeder. Sometimes I will get a phone call or an email from somebody who disagrees with me and asks, “What kind of journalist ARE you?” And I reply, “I’m NOT a journalist. I’m a teacher who happens to blog.” But unlike Scott Reeder, who claims to be a journalist, I don’t tell [...]
Join something.
When I imagined my retirement from teaching I thought of it as a distinct moment. One day I would be an active teacher. The next day I would be a retiree. Not quite. It is true that on June 8th I walked out of the door of my school for the last time as a [...]
The in box. “I spent my summer traveling the US from east coast to west coast spreading the message.”
You may remember that I did a post about Adam after the NEA RA last July. We worked together on getting the NEA to pass NBI 13, which called on the NEA to support the CTU in their negotiations with Chicago’s Mayor and his hand-picked school board. Friends and Family across the United States- As [...]
Bloomington: Solidarity with Chicago teachers.
Public schools and teachers are under attack across the nation. Come hear how Chicago teachers, now preparing for a historic strike, are organizing and building power with parents and communities to defend their schools and improve public education in Chicago. A member of the Chicago Teachers Union will speak about the CTUs ongoing battle with [...]
The in box. “Run. Pat. Run.”
Fred, I was wondering! You can all correct me if I am wrong. But aren’t we working stiffs considered “Grass Roots”? We already know how the “Labor Grass Roots” feels about the Governor. I was there, front row and center. He even tried to shake my hand. I told him “You have to be kidding [...]
Can the most anti-labor Illinois governor in 50 years lead a grassroots campaign?
You would have to go back before Adlai Stevenson, elected in 1949, to find an Illinois Governor more anti-labor than Pat Quinn. I couldn’t help but laugh when I read that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn announced this week that he was going to lead a grassroots campaign to strip public employees of their pension rights. [...]
The in box. Esther asks, “Did I dream this up?”
Did I dream this up? Illinois Voters: Give teachers their pensions August 23, 2012 By IEA Communications Illinois Voters: Give teachers their pensions; find non-punative solution to pension crisis Springfield, IL – A new statewide poll shows the efforts of Governor Quinn and other politicians to win public support for proposals to cut pensions for [...]
The Sunday Mail.
Chicago school activist and CTU organizer Martin Ritter designed this to be used as your Facebook cover. Share it with your friends. John Dillon’s Pension vocabulary: Pedantic Profits. Caterpillar’s Chief Executive Doug Oberhelman says that the U.S. manufacturing workforce is lagging, and education is at fault. Oberhelman, who receives $16.9 million in salary alone in 2011 and [...]
Saturday coffee.
Rahm’s threatening to get involved. What’s he been up until now? An innocent bystander? As of this morning the Chicago Teachers Union has not yet given their legally required ten-day strike notification. Schools will open September 4th. I would still give better than even money that Chicago teachers will walk out. The earliest it can [...]
Community Forum at Social Justice High School in Chicago.
Parents, students, teachers and community members gathered at Social Justice High School to demand answers from the new interim principal, CPS administrators and Network Office regarding top-down changes to sta