Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:
Fred All Week Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher
The in box. Michael Wierzbicki.
Fred, I totally agree with you. While I have never been a member of IEA or IFT I am a past president of the IPA and a member of IASA as well as IRTA. It was gratifying to see IASA join with IRTA in the initial lawsuit. I have been giving the officers and ED of IPA a little hell for not coming out stronger on the pension reform issue thus far, What you are doing is not so much criticism, but more o
Interview with myself.
Question: You posted the other day that we need the unity of all the organizations that represent Illinois public employees in the court fight for our pensions. Answer: Yes I did. Q: But then you criticized your union’s leadership. Weren’t you contradicting yourself? A: I don’t think so. I called for my organization’s leadership to work closely with all other representatives of public employees an
Keeping retirement weird.
Tea Party Republican Uihlein. Democrats Tullman and Griffin. This morning’s topic is giving. If you are like Anne and me you probably give charitable donations through the year. Then in a mad rush in the final week of the calendar year you make out a few more checks. For tax purposes. Although at our level of income and tax deductions it doesn’t really make a difference in our taxes. It is sor
No way is Cutler coming back.
Appearing on Ken Davis’ Chicago Newsroom a few weeks back I made a prediction about the legal prospects for SB1, the pension bomb sponsored by the Illinois Democrats and supported by Republicans like Bruce Rahner and the Representative from ALEC, Darlene Senger. I told Ken that the impact of the bill on retirees was the poison pill for the bill. It doesn’t even offer a pretense of consideration.
JAN 02
The unseemly Illinois Supreme Court.
In Illinois justice isn’t blind. It’s paid for. In 2003, (then State Senator Barack) Obama led an effort to impose new campaign fundraising rules on the state Supreme Court, but Madigan blocked the measure. Obama, as a state senator, carried legislation embraced by the American Bar Association that would have set up a pilot program for justices, allowing them to tap into $750,000 in public fund
Creeps.
First a disclaimer. In order to pay for college for my two kids, like most but the 1%, we had to borrow money. Educational Credit Management Services had a monopoly on the repayment of the debt. It’s not like a home loan where you can change who handles the mortgage. ECMS was awful. Incompetent. You couldn’t talk to anybody. We had an automatic payment system so we never missed a payment. Never we
Well, of course Arne Duncan wouldn’t want Joshua Starr as NY schools chancellor.
Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr. The Washington Post reported yesterday that Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan tried to pressure NY Mayor Bill De Blasio on his new school chancellor appointment. Joshua Starr was on De Blasio’s short list. Did Duncan overstep his duties in interfering in the De Blasio deliberation? Of course. Did Duncan have a good reason? Yes. Sta
JAN 01
Duncan’s interference in NY school choice.
The Washington Post is reporting on Obama’s Secretary of Education Arne Duncan attempted interference in New York Mayor Bill De Blasio’s school chancellor choice. Duncan reportedly told De Blasio not to choose Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr, according to several people knowledgable about the selection process. Star has been a vocal critic of Duncan’s corporate-driven re
The Ward Room. “Halt charter school expansion process.”
NBC’s The Ward Room. Both Concept and UNO are part of a veritable land rush of charter schools in the city even as public schools are shuttered at an historic rate. For fiscal year 2014, CPS has projected a reduction in salaries for teachers and staff of $148.8 million, while increasing the amount of money going to charter schools by $80 million. Currently, CPS is considering opening 21 new chart
DEC 31 2013
IEA President Klickna. “We are all in this together and we will all need to cooperate for the benefit of all the men and women who would injured by SB1.”
I am sure that it has nothing to do with the concerns that we raised here yesterday about transparency and the sniping that has gone on between the IEA and the IRTA, but today IEA President Cinda Klickna released a statement on the IEA website about their intentions to file a suit against SB1. She also called for a united effort on behalf of all pension system members by the organizations that rep
DEC 30 2013
untitled
From Glen Brown’s blog: From the 12-page legal document recently filed by the law firm of Tabet, DiVito & Rothstein on behalf of the plaintiffs named from the IRTA and IASA Many thousands of livelihoods depend on consistent enforcement of the Pension Protection Clause. Countless careers, retirements, personal investments and medical treatments have been planned in justifiable reliance
Public employees want unity in the defense of our pensions. And transparency.
A few days ago the Illinois Retired Teachers Association filed suit in a Cook County Court. This was the first of what will be other legal actions against Senate Bill 1. SB1 was passed on December 3rd. It is a dagger to the heart of public employee pensions in Illinois. “A model for the nation,” said Squeezy, the Governor. I am a member and unit leader of an IRTA chapter. I am also a leader of an
DEC 29 2013
Sunday reads.
Brain Pickings. Anthony Cody reviews a year in dialogue about the response of our teacher unions to corporate reform. Thousands of Black and Latino students lost their schools in 2013. Why teachers of color quit. I spent way more than $250 of my own money on my students each year. 25 stories of indigenous resilience you may have missed this year. Valerie Strauss picks 11 stories about school re
Bob Lyons. “It’s not personal.”
Bob Lyons is a member of the Teacher Retirement System board of trustees. He represents the retirees on the board. The board of trustees is now a defendant in the IRTA suit to overturn the pension-busting Senate Bill 1. Fred, The TRS board was told at the start of the month that we would be included in any suit that was brought to stop the new law. Since TRS would administer the law, anyone suing
Jon Bauman. More on the suit.
Fred, I need to think about this some more (already past my bedtime) and talk to a “real lawyer” but I’m wondering aloud if the correct TRS defendant, if there needs to be any for the suit to be complete, is the Executive Director (no offense intended Director Ingram) instead of the Board of Trustees. Article 16 states that the ED, not the BOT, is responsible for the “detailed administration of th
DEC 28 2013
IRTA pension suit names TRS board as a defendant which includes Cinda Klickna. What’s up with that? Glen Brown explains.
From my friend Glen Brown’s blog: “The lawsuit names Quinn, Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka and the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System’s (TRS) board of trustees as defendants and seeks preliminary and permanent injunctive relief. It was filed as a class action, representing retired and active members of TRS, who are not currently members of any teachers’ labor union” (Reuters). It’s the
C’mon people, now. Smile on your brother. Everybody get together right now.
. Late yesterday the Illinois Retired Teachers Association (disclaimer: I am a member of both the IEA Retired and the Illinois Retired Teachers Association. I am the President of a local chapter of IEA Retired and the Vice President of a local unit of IRTA) filed suit in Cook County Court against the pension-busting SB1. This morning IEA Communications Director Charlie McBarron felt compelled to
Keeping retirement weird.
My grandson setting the holiday table. It is Saturday morning. Slowly the family leaves. Back to Brooklyn. Our little Logan Square house has been bulging with family for the last week. Ulysses is no more used to the sound of a five and ten-year old that I am. Showers and toilet-use must be carefully coordinated. The choreography of family members preparing meals would put Jerome Robbins to sham