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
Voices from the classroom. No PARCCing. Test crazy.
Fred, We learned that our district will be participating in the PARCC field tests this spring. I took a screen shot of the test sessions for the ELA test. The first three tests need to be given in late March/early April and the end of year tests will be given in May. I personally got nauseous thinking about nine-year olds sitting through these tests. ISAT was 45 minutes with up to an additional
Keeping retirement weird.
We weren’t the oldest couple at Tipitina’s last night. But I didn’t notice any that were older. Anne and I left Chicago yesterday morning when the thermometer read minus four. We had had enough. We needed some days of relief. By 11AM we were checking into our hotel on the western edges of the Warehouse District on Lee Circle. The “Lee” we are talking about is General Robert E. Lee who led the C
YESTERDAY
There are pro-education choices in the Democratic primary. Like Jay Travis.
Jay Travis for the Illinois House. There are pro-education, pro-pension choices in the March 18th Democratic primary. Jay Travis is running against the incumbent to be the State Representative in the 27th House District. Jay has been endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union and promises a strong pro-pension statement in the next few days. We will post it here. You can find her Facebook page here.
The pension cost shift. A red herring.
Fred, I disgree with your concern on the cost shift. Anon makes excellent points about the cost shift. If the cost shift were put in place Boards of Education would have had to take a serious look at what they were doing. In the past, at contract time rather than giving decent wage increases reflective of the cost of living, they often put language in to sweeten retirement. It was not too terribly
FEB 06
Rescheduled Soup Kitchen and half a cola at State Rep Robyn Gabel’s district office.
Some members of our Skokie Organization of Retired Educators (SORE) IEA/ Retired chapter will be heading over to State Representative Robyn Gabel’s Evanston district office on February 18th from 4PM to 5PM. We had previously scheduled it for January 28th. But it was minus 45 degrees that day. You remember. The Polar Vortex. We’re SORE. But not crazy. Some friends have asked us about our protest
Aldermen Bob Fioretti (2nd), Scott Waguespack (32nd), Brendan Reilly (42nd) and John Arena (45th). That’s it.
Aldermen Bob Fioretti (2nd), Scott Waguespack (32nd), Brendan Reilly (42nd) and John Arena (45th). That’s it. Those are the names of the Chicago aldermen who voted against Rahm’s plan to add another two billion dollars of debt, while betting the legislature will save them money by screwing the city’s public employees out of their pensions. Four alderman out of fifty. That’s not a progressive cauc
FEB 05
John Dillon. A fair tax in Illinois. Facts and terms.
- By John Dillon. From his blog, Pension Vocabulary A Fair Tax in Illinois? Facts and Terms to Use. Graduated or Gradient? – Looking for Accuracy in a Fair Tax for Illinois “This season affects me most – psychologically,” my wealthy friend Ernesto uttered between sips of cognac the other evening. “It has been a brutal winter, Ernesto,” I offered hopefully, “but the end is coming with each day’s
Glen Brown. Responding to “Thank you Dan Montgomery…”
- Glen Brown I remember attending a Naperville School Board meeting in April of 2011. Robin Steans presented, and IEA Jim Reed sat quietly acquiescent. I wrote about it: We have to be careful about hidden agendas and assumptions contained in ideological prejudices. We must examine faulty cause-and-effect reasoning commonly used to castigate teachers for students’ failure. We must reflect on how
Thank you Dan Montgomery, Robin Steans and Ken Swanson.
Dan Montgomery, President of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Robin Steans, Director of Advance Illinois. Ken Swanson, former President of the Illinois Education Association. At the signing of Senate Bill 7, which took away previous teacher seniority rights, tenure rights and tied teachers’ performance evaluation to student test growth scores (VAM). This past week’s parent and teacher blow-
Free Scott Reeder.
You’re not going to believe this, but I am feeling a tinge of sympathy for Scott Reeder this morning. Democratic Party boss and Speaker of the Illinois House has banned him from the General Assembly’s press box. So has Democratic Senate President John Cullerton. They are claiming that Reeder is not a real journalist, but a shill for the right-wing Illinois Policy Institute. Which he is. The Demo
FEB 04
Tony at the Red Line Tap. Rahm’s $2 billion dollar scam.
“Sean. I’d like a bottle of Crikveničko Svijetlo if you have any left.” Sean furrowed his brow. “Y’know, Fred. I’m out of it. But you might like Pivnica Medvedgrad Crna Kraljica, which I do have. It’s a bock beer, not a pilsner, but it is Croatian.” “I’ll try it,” I said. “I’ve actually been studying Croatian and Slavic history,” said Sean. “Did you know It is recorded that in the early 7th cen
The Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont.
Congratulations to our old friend Ed Koren on having been named the Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont.
A Chicago testing hornet’s nest. Boycott the ISAT.
Graphic: Fred Klonsky When CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett issued her testing letter to parents and teachers last week, it opened a hornet’s nest. In her usual threatening, blundering way, she told parents: This year’s ISAT will be more aligned to the Common Core. Some claim that this test will not count for anything as the state moves toward PARCC, however, I believe it is still an important exam
FEB 03
State corporate subsidies are double that of pension costs.
Washington Post: It’s easy to cast about for other big pots of money to raid when these kinds of shortfalls arise, and no politician wants to raise taxes. There is, however, another big expense that tends to get overlooked: The tax breaks states already hand out to corporations, on the theory that they won’t stick around without them. In Pennsylvania, they amount to about $3.9 billion per year
Retirees are poor enough to qualify for property tax relief but plenty rich enough to have our pensions cut.
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas. Fred, Just noticed on my Cook County tax bill that to qualify for senior freeze, a program for low-income people, the income cut off is $55,000. Isn’t that above the average teacher pension? If a pensioner is living on a pension, his/her income would be considered marginal by these standards. How many more will meet that standard if the 3% revision is upheld?
Stealing from old people.
We live in a state and country whose political leaders and corporations have no problem with stealing from old people. And by old, I mean anyone over the age of 65. Maybe we need a new word, but you know who I’m talking about. And, of course, not just us. But still, us. In Illinois and other states, it means robbing public employee pensions. In Virginia the state legislature just refused to pass
FEB 02
Pension theft. The Black List.
Fred, Will you repost how the current incumbents voted on SB1? - Paul Mikulcik In the House: Dec 03, 2013 62 YEAS 53 NAYS Y Acevedo Y Andrade Y Anthony Y Arroyo N Beiser Y Bellock N Bost Y Bradley N Brady N Brauer N Brown N Rosenthal Y Sandack N Scherer Y Schmitz Y Senger Y Sente N Sims N Smiddy N Smith N Sommer N Sosnowski
Making pension theft issue one in the 39th State Rep race.
Since the start of this election season I have advocated for those who oppose so-called pension reform to find candidates who can primary every Democrat who voted in favor of pension theft. In the the 39th senate district we have Bob Galhotra challenging Democrat Don Harmon. In the 40th state representative district there is Aaron Goldstein. In the 26th state representative district I would vote f
Sunday reads.
Experts blame “scatterbox” approach. All the kindergarteners I taught loved playing in the scatter box. Huffington Post: “Broncos, Seahawks headed for an epic collision course.” Damn! Is that today? Student body president asks to be allowed to attend school. D.C. charter operators dumping 350 Special Needs kids after diverting funds to their own for-profit company. Forget that it’s Superbowl Su
FEB 01
Keeping retirement weird. Something stinks in the 39th House District.
We will get another eight inches of snow this Saturday in Chicago. I have already swept the stairs and shoveled the sidewalk once this morning. There will be other sweeps and shovels during the day. At least a half dozen more inches are expected on Tuesday. More inches are in the forecast for next weekend. We feel your pain, Atlanta. The piles of snow in front of my house may still be there on