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
Keeping retirement weird. Birthdays and other thoughts on a beautiful Saturday morning.
Marching in DC with millions of others around the world in 2003. We told Bush not to start the war in Iraq. That nothing good could come from it. He didn’t listen. I turn 66 today. I was a little grumpy about it, but I’m getting over it. It helps that we are out on the back porch. It is a beautiful morning and Anne made eggs, bacon and biscuits for breakfast. Thursday I was at the gym with my tr
A message to retiring teachers at the end of the school year.
Some members of our Skokie Organization of Retired Educators (SORE) IEA Retired making a call on our local state representative. This is the last day of school in Park Ridge, where I once taught. I retired two years ago. I want to send out a message to those teachers in Illinois who are leaving their buildings for the last time as full-time professionals and retiring. Welcome to the club. Literal
JUN 12
Illinois teachers have already lost most of their tenure protection.
Today we received an email from Illinois Education Association attorney Mitch Roth. Mitch, who I not only consider a friend but also a most able and helpful labor lawyer, does not set policy for the IEA. On Tuesday, a California trial court issued the attached tentative decision in Vergara, the case regarding the constitutionality of various state tenure-related laws (in 30 days the decision will
Democrats.
Representative Lou Lang. The most telling part of our interaction with north suburban politicians yesterday was how cynical they were. All four of them. Senator Dan Biss and Representatives Robyn Gabel, Laura Fine and Lou Lang. Democrats all. This all took place at the IPACE endorsement hearings. The results of the votes taken will be announced later after state IPACE concurrence, which is expect
Karen Lewis. The California tenure decision. “The moguls are drinking champagne.”
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Fb1lsn6i4&feature=youtu.be}
JUN 11
“It’s done!” said State Representative Robyn Gabel.
State Representative and pension thief Robyn Gabel. “It’s done!” said State Representative Robyn Gabel to the two dozen or so local representatives at the IPACE endorsement hearings this morning. The words had that tone of, “Get over it. Move on.” Like she was talking to an old lover who she had just dumped. As in, “Don’t you get it. I’m just not that into you.” Unfortunately for her she was res
JUN 10
Randi Weingarten. “It’s surprising that the court, which used its bully pulpit when it came to criticizing teacher protections, did not spend one second discussing funding inequities, school segregation or high poverty.”
- Randi Weingarten is the President of the American Federation of Teachers. WASHINGTON— Statement from American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on today’s Vergara v. California decision. “Today, as the Vergara decision was rendered, thousands of California classrooms were brimming with teachers teaching and students learning. They see themselves as a team, but sadly, this case no
NEA. California gets it wrong. Big money over students and teachers.
- National Education Association A California judge’s ruling Tuesday against due process for teachers is as flawed as the meritless lawsuit filed by a billionaire boys’ club behind it—and the California Teachers Association (CTA) promised to appeal it on behalf of teachers and students. “Let’s be clear: This lawsuit was never about helping students, but is yet another attempt by millionaires and c
Breaking. California teachers lose a big one in court.
Silicon Valley billionaire David Welch invented his parent astro-turf group to bring suit against California teachers. Teachers lost a big court case in California today when the State Supreme Court ruled against tenure protection. The court case was funded by Silicon Valley billionaire David Welch. New York Times: The ruling, which declared the laws governing how teachers are hired and fired in
John Dillon. A letter from an Art teacher you won’t forget.
- John Dillon is a retired teacher, activist and blogger. A good friend and young active passed along this letter from – believe it or not – 2011, from an art teacher not in Illinois but certainly facing the same pressures and insults many in public education have endured and continue to bear. Thanks, Kris, for the heads up. “Maybe I shouldn’t read what angry tax paying trolls write and say on th
Save Dyett.
From Progress Illinois: Chicago education activists are ramping up their fight to save Walter H. Dyett High School from closing at the end of the 2014-2015 school year. At a news conference at City Hall on Monday, a coalition of parents, students and South Side community leaders blasted Chicago Ald. Will Burns (4th), whose ward includes Dyett, for not supporting their proposal to keep Dyett open
The CPS basketball scandal. Jumping through hoops with no accountability.
What public school teacher doesn’t know about filing paperwork with the full knowledge it will end up in a file cabinet somewhere, in some bureaucrats computer folder, or worse, the trash can. It’s busy work, designed by people who are accountable to nobody, demanding stuff from people who are already busy enough just doing the work of teaching or coaching. That’s my take away from the latest CPS
JUN 09
Chicago Teachers Union. The Union will continue to vigorously fight this attempt at pension heist as part of the We Are One Chicago coalition and will support litigation to challenge the new law.
CTUNET: CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is greatly disappointed at the signing today by Gov. Pat Quinn of Senate Bill 1922, a proposal by the mayor of Chicago that will cut the retirement savings of thousands of city workers and school employees, and a slap in the face to the citizens who put the governor in office. The Union maintains that this short-sighted proposal does not, in any w
Life in Rahm’s Chicago. The Virgin Mary can stay but the homeless must go.
The altar to the Virgin Mary at Fullerton can stay, but the homeless at Belmont must go. In 2005 somebody thought they saw the image of the Virgin Mary under the Kennedy Expressway at Fullerton, about a mile east of my home. I thought it was just a salt stain. But the believers told me she was weeping. Soon hundreds gathered. People brought offerings. Flowers. Candles. Framed pictures of Jesus an
Breaking. Quinn kills re-election chances with City pension theft.
Quinn signed the City pension theft bill today. Why would the Governor want to make his re-elections chances even worse by going along with Rahm’s pension theft? While early indications are that any impairment or diminishing of public employee pension benefits will have a hard time getting past the courts, that is unlikely to be decided before November. So Quinn owns pension theft. Both at the st
Will Squeezy veto Rahm’s pension theft today?
He wants our votes next November. How badly does he want our votes? Today, Monday, is the deadline for Governor Quinn to veto Rahm’s pension theft bill. Otherwise it becomes law whether he signs it or not. And then it will be go before the courts and judges will decide whether it violates the pension protection clause of the Illinois Constitution. The bill, passed by state lawmakers, would raise
FBI raids Indiana charter with ties to Chicago. “How long do you think it took to find a picture of Mr. Eksili with Rahm Emanuel?”
1. Suleyman Turhanogullari, president of the Turkish American Federation of the Midwest. 2. Salim Ucan of Concept Schools 3. F*ck You, Lewis! 4. Bilal Eksili, of the FBI-raided charter in Indianapolis. Also associated with Niagara. Leader of many, many junkets for policymakers. 5. Tamer Copuroglu, president Turkish American Chamber of Commerce. - Tim Furman at RPNPS Voices It’s weird how the fed
JUN 08
Sunday reads.
Rudy Lozano (July 17, 1951-June 8, 1983) and Harold Washington. How Bill Gates pulled off the Common Core Revolution. James Deanes. Early pioneer in real Chicago school reform. Governor Pat Squeezy Quinn and his policy of protecting the one percent. Maxine Greene and the Frozen Sea Inside of Us. REVEALED: Gates Foundation financed PBS education programming which promoted Microsoft’s interests. Ne
Previti, Dillon, Brown and myself: A conversation regarding the leadership and membership of the Illinois Education Association
Part of continuing conversation between retired teachers, activists and bloggers Ken Previti, John Dillon, Glen Brown and myself. This conversation is cross posted on each of our blogs. Mr. Rogers gave valuable adult lessons to children, parents, teachers, and all of us. “I like to be told If it’s going to hurt, If it’s going to be hard, If it’s not going to hurt. I like to be told. I like to
JUN 07
Keeping retirement weird. The kids play their ukes with the old guy.
The west end of the parking lot of the huge old Harrison High School in Little Village was filling up with parents and kids when Anne and I arrived at little after six last night. These days Harrison High School is gone. The building is now divided up into smaller schools. Saucedo Academy uses one part of the old semi-classical building. Saucedo is one of the two CPS schools where most parents