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. “Power concedes nothing without a demand,” said Frederick Douglass.
As I stepped out of the elevator I ran into an old friend who I hadn’t seen since the RA last year in Atlanta. After a warm embrace we headed for a nearby restaurant and bar where I sampled a series of local Colorado IPAs. And she had something – a cocktail – called Smoke on the Water. Then we spent an hour or so doing what retirees do: Talking about the old days. We talked about past struggles –
YESTERDAY
Illinois pension lawsuit update from the Illinois Retired Teachers Association (IRTA).
- From the IRTA: On June 26th our lawyers appeared in court for a continued case management hearing in our case. Overall our lawyers thought the hearing went very well. The lawyers will be working to draft a case management order that sets out deadlines for further actions in the case, but these are the highlights of the court’s rulings. First, the Court granted the plaintiffs’ joint motion to wit
Reforming admissions.
. Through interviews with teachers and students at the High School of American Studies, this documentary explores efforts to reform the admissions system for New York City’s elite specialized high schools.
Letter to the editor. What if the Hinsdale board owned the Blackhawks.
Letter to the Darien Patch. By listening to the new board majority and its supporters you’d think that the teachers in District 86 have little or nothing to do with the district’s tradition of excellence. After all, Mr. Skoda talks about how overpaid the teachers are and how many applicants the district gets and Mr. Corcoran says that teachers should be so honored to work in such a prestigious sc
JUN 26
Pension hearing before the judge in Sangamon today. This and more is posted on Glen Brown’s blog.
- Find more on this on Glen Brown’s blog. Update on Today’s Pension Litigation Hearing (from SUAA): The pension litigation was up for hearing today, June 26, 2014 on several issues. At the May 15, 2014 hearing the Court had indicated its intent to deal with questions of class certification before proceeding to any other issues. Four of the five complaints in this consolidated litigation contained
Statement by CTU on the 1,150 CPS teacher and staff layoffs.
CHICAGO—Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis released the following statement regarding today’s announcement of 1,150 teacher and school support staff layoffs by Chicago Public Schools (CPS): “The decision by the mayor and his handpicked Board of Education to lay off 1,150 teachers and school support staff today in yet another brutal attack on public education in Chicago is bitterly
Rocky Mountain High.
The IEA has sent out memos to delegates attending the NEA RA in Denver regarding pot smoking. In 25 years of attending every RA but the one in LA, I have never been warned about dope. I have heard that we have some younger members attending for the first time. Coincidence? I don’t think so. It’s all quite silly, since if you are white you can pretty much smoke dope in Chicago without fear of arre
NYC Educator. Words to colleagues on the last day of school.
- NYC Educator is a high school teacher and a long-time education blogger. Right now it’s us. But as far as I can tell, there’s no job short of medical doctor more important than ours. Last time I looked, 100% of the patients of those doctors end up dying. Yet you don’t see op-eds in the New York Post by Campbell Brown expressing her outrage that things haven’t improved since the dark ages. Put ev
JUN 25
A reader responds to a Quinn fund raising appeal. “I was not ‘put on Earth’ to contribute to Governor Quinn’s campaign this year.
Dear Fred, This is an anonymized version of my response to a fund-raising appeal for Gov. Quinn. You have my permission to post it on your magnificent blog (without my name) if it strikes your fancy. I gave the campaign a week to reply and never heard back. Best, - ZZ =================================================== I am a Professor of XX at YY. Governor Quinn pushed through a bill that would c
Pando Daily fires David Sirota after hard-hitting stories on national pension thievery.
No journalist has done more to expose Wall Street designs on public pensions than David Sirota. When I need to make the argument that the assault on public pensions is not just a local Illinois issue, I have Sirota’s work to point to. He was a staff writer for the Silcon Valley internet web site called Pando Daily. No longer. He was fired over the weekend. Today The Gawker reports: Over the weeke
Bev Johns. Arne’s new system greatly reduces IDEA compliance enforcement.
- Beverley Holden Johns is a Special Education activist and advocate. The U.S. Department of Education today announced new standards for judging States on special education. The new system greatly reduces compliance enforcement for IDEA, on the theory that States are in procedural compliance with IDEA, in return for using NAEP test results to judge educational outcomes for students in special ed.
Arne’s proof. Marcy’s proof.
This morning NPR reports, “Under the new guidelines, Duncan says he’ll require proof that these (Special Needs) kids aren’t just being served but are actually making academic progress.” During the 2011-2012 school year – my final year of teaching – I was on evaluation. In our district tenured teachers were formally evaluated by the principal every two years. The process would usually involve seve
Glen Brown. Discover perspicacity.
Good afternoon, Glen. I was just reading through your blog and really liked how diverse it is, you seem to be a man of many hats. As a result, I thought I’d reach out to you and ask for a bit of advice regarding a children’s summer education project we’re working on. We’re requesting input from a select group of people and I was hoping you could help by writing a short blog post on your teacher,
JUN 24
Heading for the NEA RA. Thinking back to past ones and the last Obama endorsement.
A Thank You at the 2011 NEA Representative Assembly. I fly to Denver on Friday to attend the National Education Association’s Representative Assembly. I’m a an IEA Retired Delegate, elected statewide to represent the state’s 10,000 members. I’ll be posting about it as I get ready to go. And even more when I get there. As I always have. Today my thoughts go back to the IEA RA in Chicago in 2011, t
The return of Peter Rabbit English. Who pays? We pay ‘em now or we pay ‘em later.
A few days ago, when I wrote about charters and Wall Street, reader Bill asked me to explain it in Peter Rabbit English. I said that “Wall Street investors are more than willing to buy bonds issued by large-scale charter organizations – the larger the better. They provide a good return on investment. And charter operators are more than willing to borrow money because it is the taxpayer who will p
Detroit Free Press investigation is damning of public schools. No, wait. I got that wrong.
The Detroit Free Press has released a study of Michigan’s public schools. The results are damning. Michigan public schools are spending a billion dollars a year with little transparency to the taxpayer who foots the bill. Some Michigan public schools do well. But those that don’t are allowed to stay open year after year. Most of the worst ranked schools have been allowed to stay open ten years or
JUN 23
Explaining the Crain’s article in Peter Rabbit English. Why Wall Street is bullish on charters.
Bill sends me an email about my Crain’s posting this morning. Fred, Can you explain it in Peter Rabbit English. I don’t get how they make $$$ - Bill Some readers are surprised when those of us who are critics of large-scale charter companies talk about profits and charters. Technically, many of these charter operators are not profit-based organizations. But that doesn’t mean that money isn’t bein
UNO fraud hasn’t slowed Wall Street charter investors.
Crain’s graphic. The charges against UNO of fraud by the Security Exchange Commission has had little impact on charter school investments by Wall Street. Crain’s is reporting today that “the charter school bond market is back.” Finance Authority Chairman Bill Brandt says the UNO violation caused “consternation,” but charter schools fit the agency’s mission to foster education, employment and econ
JUN 22
Sunday reads.
From left, Andrew Goodman, parents Carolyn and Robert, and brother David in Adirondacks, N.Y., in 1956. (Photo: The Andrew Goodman Foundation) Glenn Greenwald calls it what it is. Florida charters go unsupervised. Chicago got hosed. Bob Moses on why Algebra is a civil rights issue. Andrew Goodman‘s brother on Freedom Summer ’64. Presbyterian Church votes to divest holdings to sanction Israel. Fo
Ken Previti. The sanctity of contracts in a capitalist society – but not for teachers. The recently signed 75 year contract for a parking meter “concession agreement” is sacred.
- Ken Previti is a retired teacher, activist and blogger living in Florida. Reclaim Reform can be found here. $6.50 per hour to park on the street – and rising. That’s what the contractor has raised it to within the last few years. “The judges stressed that when the City Council approved the deal in 2008, the ordinance declared that it was ‘in the best interests of the residents of the City.’ Ill