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
Illinois pension Plan B must be raising revenue. Tax the rich.
Mike Madigan and John Cullerton. There is now broad acceptance of the fact – following the Illinois Supreme Court 6-1 ruling in Kanerva v. Weems - that the pension theft Senate Bill 1 will go down in flames. Most of the discussion is now focused on what will be Plan B. In an extraordinary piece of political puffery in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune, John McCarron paints a heroic picture of Senate Pr
Rahm Emanuel and the fugitive in Pakistan.
The line in the Sun-Times story was very carefully constructed. He is not accused of any wrongdoing involving his City Hall job. He is Amer Ahmad, the fugitive money launderer and racketeer now hiding in Pakistan. And former comptroller for Mayor Rahm. Not accused is not the same as say he didn’t do anything. I have never been accused of stealing that Mad Magazine from a Rexall Drugstore in LA wa
Keeping retirement weird. Last weekend in July.
First, a shout out to my granddaughter Lucy who turns 11 years old today. Happy birthday, Lucy! This last weekend in July is kind of a restart for me. Between 8 days in Denver for the NEA Representative Assembly, where my careful eating went all to hell, and a bout with tendonitis in my knee, which cut back on my exercise program, I put on some pounds. But I have recovered from the tendonitis. No
YESTERDAY
Ventra cards. Treating the elderly and the disabled like crap. A Rahm idea.
Rahm/Ventra rant. When I use my senior reduced fare ventra card, I have always just kept it in my wallet and the scanner reads it and says, “go.” Suddenly a Ventra charge started appearing on my Mastercard bill. Because my Ventra card wasn’t working. Interesting that you don’t actually need a Ventra card. Apparently, a Mastercard with a chip works just as well, but I was being charged regular, no
We’ve been following events in Hinsdale. Here is the latest from the teachers.
Photo: @studentsforD86 Hinsdale High School 86 is in Chicago’s western suburbs. This summer I have been following the bargaining between the teachers union, HHSTA, and the Hinsdale board. The Hinsdale board, headed by Dr. Skoda, has mounted a full court press against the teachers union. The HHSTA will not be goaded into any job action that doesn’t serve the interests of their members and their co
Chicago’s AUSL alum, “Dr.” Terrence P. Carter isn’t done with New London, Connecticut quite yet.
Photo: Hartford Courant. Bill McCoy (L) has a brief advisory meeting with his client Terrence P. Carter after Carter exited an executive meeting of the New London Board of Education. Yesterday morning those who care about ethics and quality education in New London, Connecticut thought they were finished with the phony doctor, Terrence P. Carter. Carter, as we have reported here all week, had appl
JUL 24
CPS budget. “The onus fall on the Mayor.”
CTUnet: CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) released the following statement today regarding the Board of Education’s efforts to jam through a flawed budget for the coming fiscal year: “The mayor’s handpicked school board is playing politics with the schools budget. By using 14 months’ worth of revenue in this fiscal year, it pushes the problems of funding into next year—until after the elec
“Doctor” Carter blames his secretary. And the Chicago, AUSL connection.
Each day. This guy has given me blog posts for a week. This is the story of Terrence P. Carter and the New London, Connecticut school system. Carter was about to be hired to be the new superintendent when the real reporters at the Hartford Courant uncovered the fact that his claim on a Ph.D. was as phony as a Bruce Rauner Timex. Today’s story: A national research organization said Wednesday that
JUL 23
Senior watch: Mid-career teachers facing financial crunch. Veteran teachers are being forced out.
In suburban District 64, Park Ridge (where I was local union president and negotiator over many contracts), our salary schedule had competitive entry-level salaries. But it also took 20 years to reach the top of the schedule. And by 10 years, the increases at those middle steps were sometimes less than 1%. Of course, we proposed solutions to the board that would stop punishing mid-career and late
Terrence P. Carter claimed a doctorate as principal at Chicago’s Barton Elementary School. Do we get a rebate?
- Linda Posted on the Ravitch blog from a Chicago reader, notice his “teaching” experience increases two years in a one year span when he is NOT in the classroom, from 2006 to 2007. It’s all bullshit. I found Carter’s salary listings for the years 2006 – 2010 for his work at CPS, in the Teacher and Administrator Salary Database at the Family Taxpayer Foundation. A master’s degree is listed for Ca
Former Chicago AUSL turnaround school guy “Dr.” Terrence P. Carter is no doctor. And he may not even be certified.
Every day brings more problems for the New London, Connecticut board of education and their now-on-hold decision to hire Terrence P. Carter as their school superintendent. Carter came from Chicago where he worked on managing turnaround schools for the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), claiming a PH.D. – which he now admits he did not earn. - From The Day Carter’s certification for New
JUL 22
Our lawyers to Judge Belz. The Supremes have ruled. Can we speed this pension thing up?
The Springfield State Journal Register: Lawyers challenging last year’s pension reform law said they will make another attempt to get an expedited ruling in the case in the wake of the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision in the retiree health insurance case. Lawyers said they believe the ruling in the health insurance case — called the Kanerva decision after one of the plaintiffs — effectively null
Rahm. Meet meet Newark’s new Mayor Ras Baraka. Money wasn’t enough to beat him.
NBC’s Mark Anderson of the Ward Room explains why Rahm’s money advantage may not be enough to save him. Rahm Emanuel, meet Ras Baraka. For those not following New Jersey politics, Baraka is the political progressive who won the 2014 mayoral election in Newark, the state’s largest city. To win, Baraka beat Shavar Jeffries, who many political observers in Jersey saw as the candidate of the state’s
Timothy P. Carter. “Oh, Fred. It only gets better.” Or worse.
Linda writes, “Oh Fred it gets even better.” New London — Before the Board of Education meets Thursday night to vote on a contract for Terrence P. Carter, its unanimous selection as the city’s next superintendent of schools, it will hold a closed-door conference call to question him further about his academic record. On Monday, the Board of Education canceled its scheduled meeting to vote on Carte
The phony CPS doctor, Timothy P. Carter has some explaining to do.
Today’s editorial in the Hartford, Connecticut Courant. Terrence P. Carter has some explaining to do. Mr. Carter, a Chicago educator hired to be New London’s new superintendent of schools, has been referring to himself as “doctor” for more than five years, years in which he has not held a doctorate from an accredited university, The Courant reported Friday. He is scheduled to receive a doctorate
NEA and AFSE need to settle this thing.
I left the NEA Representative Assembly in Denver with good feelings. We passed a strong statement on the misuse of testing. We called for the firing of Education Secretary Arne Duncan. We caused heartburn for union-hating centrist Democrats and public school-hating Republicans. We elected three strong women of color to head our union. So, it is more than a little troubling that members of the NEA
NBC’s Erin Carlson: “Karen Lewis for Eva Peron.” No. Madonna for Eva Peron. Lewis for mayor.
“Lewis has been an Eva Peron-style champion for teachers facing layoffs, school closures and the loss of their pensions (along with police and fire unions).” NBC’s Erin Carlson. Ah. Chicago journalism. Here’s the headline this morning at NBC’s Ward Room: “Seeking Re-Election, Emanuel Gets More Love From Labor Unions.” When Rahm Emanuel held a press conference to herald the ground-breaking of Wolf
JUL 21
Breaking (1:35 EDT). New London, Connecticut board cancels meeting where they were going to hire the phony Chicago “Dr.” Carter.
New London – The Board of Education has canceled its meeting previously scheduled for tonight, the school district announced. The board was expected to vote on a contract for Terrence P. Carter, the candidate chosen to be the city’s next superintendent of schools. The meeting was canceled “in order to provide Board of Education members with the opportunity to fully clarify and consider recent stat
Jonathan Pelto. The phony doctor and Connecticut Governor Malloy.
Terrence P. Carter. No doctor. - Jonathan Pelto is running for Governor of Connecticut. Proving that there is apparently no bounds to the arrogance and sense of entitlement displayed by Governor Dannel “Dan” Malloy and his administration, the Day newspaper of New London is reporting that, “The [New London] Board of Education will go forward with its scheduled vote tonight on the contract for newl
George Schmidt. Here a doctor. There a doctor.
- George Schmidt is a retired Chicago public school teacher and publishes Substance. Here a doctor… there a doctor…. everywhere a doctor DOCTOR… Not to be missed is that “Doctor” Carter’s CPS experience was mostly as a “team leader” for AUSL. In one of the AUSL applications for state funding, they note that Carter was helping at their version of Collins High School, where he was supposedly spendi
Chicago politics. Magical thinking, perfect storms and bean bag.
All weekend I have been asked the same question. “Is Karen going to run?” I consider Karen a friend. But let us be clear. I am not on her exploratory committee, an insider or political confidant. I don’t like sitting in on strategy meetings. I’m great at knocking on doors. But my answer to those who asked was YES. Because I hope she does and believe she will. The cynics in the press either ignore
Call me Dr. Klonsky, if you please.
What is it with Chicago and Connecticut? Why do we keeping sending them mopes? First we send them Paul Vallas. Now we’ve sent them Terrence P. Carter. Carter went to Hartford after spending time in Chicago where he served as director and chief academic officer of the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) , a key part of CPS failed turnaround strategy. Carter was director and chief academic o
JUL 20
The lies of Hinsdale’s board. And why you should care.
The Hinsdale High School Teachers Association exposes the lies that their board is spreading. I’ve been focusing on Hinsdale, a Chicago suburban high school district because it is the perfect example of where a small group of ALEC and Tea Party activists have taken over a local school board for their own ideological purposes. They are not representative of the town of Hinsdale. They act in secret
Twice.
For some people, having a really good person run for mayor – someone I can work for and vote for without reservation - only happens once in their lifetime. That I get the chance to do it twice? A blessing.
The “Two million site visits” contest is now closed. All the August dates have been taken.
Since I am closing in on 2 million site visits, I decided to sponsor a contest. What date will my blog make it to two million? I opened the contest two days ago and by yesterday all August dates had been taken. To those of you who took days in September and December. Really? The winner get a custom fredklonsky.com t-shirt in a color of their choice.
Sunday reads.
Happy birthday Karen Jennings Lewis! Charles Schwab — A core member of the ‘charter cabal’. The Joe Berrios crime family. In case you forgot, Joe is Chairman of the Chicago Democratic Party. Teacher disciplined because her students’ scores are too high. Mom: My kindergartner was ‘work-sheeted to death’ Child migrants have been coming to America alone since Ellis Island. Massacre in Gaza: At least
JUL 19
Saturday afternoon 2 million site visits contest.
There are only a few more August boxes. Pick the right one (which day I get 2 million site visits) and win a custom t-shirt.
Keeping retirement weird. My congressman endorses Rahm. Meh.
First, a word about my friend Janet Kilgus. Janet is the IEA Retired Chair. Her mom passed away a couple of days ago. I never met Janet Kilgus’ mom. But Janet – I am sure I cause her a good amount of heart burn – has been a great help this past year getting our Skokie Organization of Retired Educators (S.O.R.E.) off the ground. Both Janet and her mom are in my thoughts this morning. On a less ser
Saturday morning. The 2 million hits squares are filling up.
Wow. The squares are fling up quickly. What date wil this blog hit 2 million site visits. Pick the correct date and win this beautiful customized t-shirt in the color of your choice.