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
Fred, I don’t live in Illinois, have never even visited the state, and I’ve never met you. But I follow your blog religiously, because your blog has a ring of truth to it. I live in Seattle and am a member of the Seattle Education Association, as well as a caucus within SEA, called Social Equality Educators. We are not anti-union, but definitely believe our union should be taking a different stanc
- Bob Haisman is ex-president of the IEA. Mr. Klonsky you are amazing. IEA has a great day and all you can talk about is what we didn’t debate (as if there was some IEA leadership plot) and the IEA should have Anti- IEA Leadership Caucus! President Cinda Klickna has a great day…the IEA has a great day and that is your only comment!? Gheez! IEA has an Anti-leadership, ANTI -IEA Caucus and you are t
Keeping Retirement Weird. Not at the RA.
One of the good things about losing the state-wide election for IEA RA Retired delegate is that this morning I am on the back porch sipping coffee and munching on buttered toast, rather than at the Hilton downtown. The press rarely covers this yearly event. They were all there yesterday because of the first face-to-face meeting between Bruce Almighty and Squeezy. This morning there are columns on
YESTERDAY
No Common Core debate allowed at the IEA RA.
There will be no debate of the Common Core at the IEA Representative Assembly meeting at the Hilton on MIchigan Avenue. Yesterday the IEA Board of Directors offered up New Business Item #1. “The IEA RA directs the IEA Executive Director with assistance form the Government Relations department to advocate for a moratorium on accountability measures related to the PARCC exam. The IEA RA supports the
Does Squeezy think we are suffering from collective amnesia?
Squeezy and Rauner at the Illinois Education Association Representative Assembly. The teacher delegate from downstate sitting in front of me rotated her chair around as Governor Quinn and Bruce Rauner entered the Grand Ballroom of the downtown Hilton Hotel. She wanted to turn her back to the two candidates. IEA leaders had asked for delegates to show courtesy to both Squeezy and Rauner. “Do you t
APR 10
Mark Stefanik. OH, MAGOO, YOU’VE DONE IT AGAIN!
Mark Stefanik. - Mark Stefanik is a middle school language arts teacher and frequent contributor to this blog. Particularly when the BissMan pisses him off. My State Senator, Dan Biss, a pension thief extraordinaire, has proudly announced SB2758, his most recently sponsored bill. It’s called The Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program. I can’t make this stuff up. Is this guy Machiavelli or Mr.
My bro and Debbie Meier are bridging differences at Ed Week.
- From Debbie Meier. Ed Week. On April 22, another passionate voice joins me on this blog. That Tuesday my very old friend Mike Klonsky (who is nowhere near as old—and wise—as I am) will be leading off on something he thinks we might find juicy to tackle. We’ve thrown out some possibilities, but I don’t yet know what he has decided. Mike and I have interestingly parallel life and political exper
Bill to dissolve Charter Commission is about to die after a secret House vote. Will the charter farters win?
No one knows what goes on behind closed doors. It seemed a few days ago that the corporate reformers behind the failed charter school movement in Illinois were about to face a monumental defeat. There were two bills. One bill would dissolve the Charter School Commission – which takes away the right of local school boards to decide if there will be a charter school in their community. The other bi
APR 09
Meet Bruce Rauner’s running mate. She says teachers in unions are failures. When Bruce is at the IEA RA on Friday, ask him if he agrees.
. When Bruce Rauner meets with Squeezy at the IEA RA on Friday, IEA President Cinda Klickna may want to ask him if he agrees with his running mate Evelyn Sanguinetti. At 2:28 on the video she says teachers in teacher unions are failures.
There are plenty on the hook for this pension theft.
Voting to steal pensions is a major election issue. It defeated Toni Berrios and it will come back to haunt others. The fast passage of SB1922 was a bipartisan affair. It was introduced yesterday morning and with no hearings or debate it was passed by the Illinois House and Senate by sun down. SB1922 robbed the pensions of Chicago municipal employees and set the stage for the pension theft of C
APR 08
Karen Lewis. “This is theft. Plain and simple.”
- Karen Lewis is President of the Chicago Teachers Union. CHICAGO—Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis released the following statement on the passage of SB1922 in the Illinois House of Representatives, a proposal by the mayor of Chicago that will cut the retirement savings of thousands of city workers: “This is a sad day for our paraprofessionals, especially our retired ones, who will se
Breaking. Illinois Senate joins House in Chicago pension theft voting 31 to 23. Here’s the roll call.
State of Illinois 98th General Assembly Senate Vote ___________________________________________________________________ Senate Bill No. 1922 CONCUR IN HOUSE AMENDMENT CONCURRENCE THIRD READING Apr 08, 2014 31 YEAS 23 Nays P Althoff N Barickman Y Bertino-Tarrant Y Haine N Radogno Y Raoul
Breaking: Illinois House passes city pension theft 74-41. Here’s the roll call.
STATE OF ILLINOIS NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE ROLL CALL SENATE BILL 1922 PEN CD-COOK COUNTY-RECORDS THIRD READING PASSED 1:30 PM Apr 08, 2014 73 YEAS 41 NAYS Y Acevedo Y Andrade N Anthony Y Arroyo Y Beiser Y Bellock Y Berrios E Bost Y Bradley Y Brady N Brauer N Brown N Drury Y Kosel N Dunkin Y Lang Y Durkin Y Leitch Y Evans Y Lil
The day after. Charter farters pay for a party in Springfield. Or are we footing the bill?
Who said, “Timing is everything?” Socrates? Shakespeare? Certainly nobody in the charter school movement. A day after the Medill Data Project and Sun-Times released a study showing that the state’s charter schools are a waste of time and money compared to the efforts of neighborhood public schools, the charter farters are paying for a gathering in the Capitol Rotunda in Springfield. The party is
Chicago’s got a wet mayor.
Back in the day when Richie Daley was running against Harold Washington he famously told a crowd of supporters (white supporters, of course) that Chicago needed a white mayor. It was caught on camera and tape and with the racism of the Daley campaign fully exposed, Daley’s handlers claimed he was misquoted. They said Richie said, “Chicago needs a wet mayor.” Nobody understood what that meant and
APR 07
Another day. Another report showing charter schools don’t do much better than neighborhood schools.
Former UNO charter chief Juan Rangel and his pal, Rahm Emanuel. Proponents of the corporate school reform agenda believe in at least three sacred truths. Charters and school choice will improve the quality of student performance. Student performance must be measured by standardized tests. Each school, administrators and teachers must be held accountable for the results of those tests. It seems
APR 06
Sunday reads.
IEA Retired members vote #19 on your mail-in ballot. Schools will be a big issue in Illinois governor’s race. Rauner and Quinn/Vallas on opposite sides? Really? Looking back to when Rahm was the Wolf of Wall Street. Coaches are management. Players are employees. Classroom teachers saying no. Courage. Thanks Arthur. Antonin Scalia believes in flogging, doesn’t get Facebook and rules against wome
APR 05
The Illinois Policy Institute. The moral relativism of the corporate class.
For some reason having to do with Facebook algorithms, the FB page of the Illiinois Policy Institute – a right-wing stink tank – frequently appears more often on my status page than do actual friends. Maybe Facebook just enjoys seeing my blood pressure rise. They posted this morning: There’s nothing courageous about telling people that you’ll temporarily raise their taxes and then, a few years af
Keeping retirement weird. In the drink and in a pickle.
. It is a beautiful morning in Brooklyn. There’s a Spring chill. But the sun promises a warmer day. Later we will take the kids and head off to the the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue between E. 25th & E. 26th Street for a comic book and graphic novel art show. My kids and grand kids make fun of me since I refuse to watch animated movies. Even the ones that are allegedly for adults.