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
Guest ten minute drawing. Anne Klonsky.
- Anne Klonsky is related to me by marriage. “I feel that I have been squeezing my nostrils to vote Democratic for so long that I’ve deviated my septum.” – Peter Kuttner
“Dr.” Terrence P. Carter and corporate school reform.
“Dr.” Terrence P. Carter meets with his attorney. Terrence P. Carter is on the hot seat in New London, Connecticut for falsifying his academic and professional resume. He was seconds away from being handed the job of New London school’s superintendent. I have been asking why his record in Chicago is being ignored. He was a school principal. He was an executive for the Academy for Urban School Lea
What would Dr. Ruth do?
My old friend Peter Kuttner writes: Fred, I feel that I’ve been squeezing my nostrils to vote Democratic for so long I’ve deviated my septum. What about the 3rd party candidates for IL Governor? Michael Oberline (Constitution Party), Chad Grimm (Libertarian) and Scott Summers (Green Party)? I know a 3rd Party vote looks like a vote for Rauner but put that aside and look at the positions of the ot
Keeping retirement weird. Illinois’ close November election.
My doctor assured me that the tendonitis in my left knee has nothing to do with my age. It can happen to anyone of any age. But then a couple of months later it has struck again. This time in my left wrist, requiring a splint that is more like a cast. I’m sixty-six years old and I have never had tendonitis before. Yet I am to believe it has nothing to do with my age. My brother Mike, who has bee
YESTERDAY
Guest ten minute drawing. Arthur Goldstein.
As you may know, my drawing arm is presently in a cast. I have invited guest Ten Minute Drawers to fill in. All submissions are welcome. - Arthur Goldstein is a NY city teacher and UFT activist. Arthur’s art. Text by Fred Klonsky.
Guest ten minute drawing. H.D. Worth.
As you may know, my drawing arm is presently in a cast. I have invited guest Ten Minute Drawers to fill in. All submissions are welcome. - H.D. Worth is the pseudonym of a Chicago suburban teacher and IEA union activist. “An H.D. Worth original. Done in exactly ten minutes!” he writes.
Hinsdale’s town bully is Dr. Richard Skoda. Union has an hour to surrender or they’re locked out.
From the Darien Patch: The Hinsdale High School Teachers Association claims that bargaining team members were given an hour to decide whether or not to rescind a strike authorization vote in exchange for the school board’s assurance to forego its right to a union lockout. Both sides have been meeting with a federal mediator to negotiate a new contract for the professional educators at Hinsdale Ce
Guest ten minute drawing. Leigh Klonsky.
As you may know, my drawing arm is presently in a cast. I have invited guest Ten Minute Drawers to fill in. All submissions are welcome. - Leigh Klonsky is a NYC public high school art teacher and artist.
New problems for “Dr.” Carter in New London. His tenure at CPS and AUSL? Anyone? Anyone?
. The troubles for “Dr.” Terrence P. Carter keeping mounting up. He was a slam-dunk choice for New London, Connecticut’s superintendent of schools until his resume turned out to be phonier than a World Wrestling Federation match. The board put the hiring on hold until they could investigate whether he really got a Ph.D. from Stanford. I’m not sure what there is to investigate since Stanford says
David Brooks argues for grit. I hate grit. Seniors are poor because they desire immediate gratification? No grit.
There are few people writing in major media today that are dumber than David Brooks in the New York Times. In yesterday’s column he said we should be focused more on teaching poor folks character development and grit. Remember that Mary Tyler Moore episode where Ed Asner and Lou Grant tells Mary she has spunk. “I hate spunk,” he says. Well, I hate grit. At the core of the concept of grit is that
Words that can get teachers fired.
Until very recently, Timothy Torkildson blogged for the Nomen Global Language Center — an ESL school in Provo, Utah. Earlier this month, Mr. Torkildson wrote a blog post explaining why homophones can be a difficult concept for new English speakers to grasp. Then, he was fired. In his original post entitled “Help with Homophones,” Torkildson wrote, “In English a homophone is a word that has sever
JUL 31
Guest ten minute drawing. Mike Klonsky.
As you may know, my drawing arm is presently in a cast. I have invited guest Ten Minute Drawers to fill in. All submissions are welcome. - Mike Klonsky is my older brother.
Guest ten minute drawing. Jerry Mulvihill.
As you may know, my drawing arm is presently in a cast. I have invited guest Ten Minute Drawers to fill in. All submissions are welcome. - Jerry Mulvihill is a fifth grade teacher and NEA/IEA union activist.
Comcast. T-shirts. Two million blog hits. Ten minute drawings. August.
Count on Comcast. That’s my internet provider. Don’t ask me why. It has something to do with me not ever wanting to talk to customer service. Even to close my account. About an hour before I reached two million site visits this afternoon my Comcast connection went down. And it just came back a few minutes ago. During that time is when my blog reached two million site visits. It was like Heidi at
Guest ten minute drawing. Annie Tan.
As you may know, my drawing arm is presently in a cast. I have invited guest Ten Minute Drawers to fill in. All submissions are welcome. - Annie Tan is a Chicago Special Education teacher. Annie writes, “Not ten minutes but I was passionate about this one.”
Guest ten minute drawing. Jose Vilson.
- Jose Vilson is a teacher, blogger and author of the best selling This is Not a Test. “Cuomo” by Jose Vilson
President Eskelsen Garcia. Meet Senate Bill 7.
This blogger and NEA President-elect Lily Eskelsen Garcia at the NEA RA in Denver. If you go back and read my report from the Representative Assembly of the NEA – I was a retired delegate – you will see that I thought it went pretty well. I would have wished for a more open debate on Common Core. Out-going NEA President Dennis Van Roekel allowed for less discussion of CCSS than even the brief 45
Lily Eskelesen Garcia. Duncan policies are indefensible.
NEA President-elect Lily Eskelsen Garcia and an amateur basketball player. - Salon Other than being unfair to individual teachers, does basing evaluations and school ratings on test scores hurt students too? Using test scores is basically saying to educators, “Hit your number or you get punished.” Or even worse, “Hit your number in El Paso, if you’re an administrator, and we’ll give you a bunch o
Hinsdale’s Dr. Skoda is quite the hypocrite, isn’t he?
It is generally considered bad-faith bargaining to come back to the bargaining with a lower offer than what was offered previously. Collective bargaining assumes an intent on the part of both sides to move towards each other, finding common ground. It was unexpected – but not out of character – for the Hinsdale board in suburban Chicago to engage in bad-faith bargaining. From the press release of
Ten minute drawing. Guest posts.
Since my drawing arm is in a cast for the next week or so, I have solicited guest posts. Drawings reflecting a topic relevant to this blog’s broad areas of concern are welcome. Level of talent is no object. Let’s have fun. Here is the first submission: credit: aapplecpaa.com
JUL 30
No ten minute drawings for the next few days.
Some tendon damage of unknown origin to my wrist has put my left arm (I’m left handed) in a cast for a few days. I can keyboard, but not draw.
What did $4 million buy the state’s unions in the primary?
ALEC chairman Kirk Dillard. The unions’ choice for governor in the primary. There are two (at least) models of union electoral strategy on display in Illinois that we can look at. In the primary election just past the state union political action committees were estimated to have dropped somewhere in the $4 million range on ALEC state chair Kirk Dillard in his failed race against Bruce Rauner on
Glen Brown. How you benefit from our defined benefit pension.
- Glen Brown is a teacher, pension activist and blogger. This post can be found at Teacher/Poet/Musician. Pensionomics 2014: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures reports the national economic impacts of public and private pension plans, as well as the impact of state and local plans on a state-by-state basis. The study measures the economic ripple effect of retire
“Dr.” Terrence P. Carter. Arne Duncan’s superstar. The story the Chicago press won’t touch.
“Doctor” Carter, superstar. In 2007 the Chicago Tribune wrote: The Chicago Public Schools system has 126 openings for principals next fall, and has only 33 current principals ready to take the jobs. That’s a problem. It’s also a phenomenal opportunity. Vacancies in about one-fifth of the schools give CPS Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan a chance to bring in a new generation of leaders to trans
JUL 29
Arthur Goldstein. Blaming tenure is a fool’s game.
- My friend Arthur Goldstein is a New York City teacher and UFT activist. I try to help kids every day, but they’re all different. I’d like them all to pass, but some of them don’t. It’s funny because I feel very bad for many of those who don’t. Yet New York state assumes that I want to pass them all for no reason and thus does not allow me to grade their standardized tests. On the other hand, I
More news from Hinsdale. Extremist board members chasing good teachers out.
- Hinsdale High School Teachers Association Imagine a top teaching candidate with a masters degree and seven years experience interviewing for a position at Hinsdale 86 and neighboring Lyons Township. How would the employment offers of each district compare? In Hinsdale, the Board will tell such a candidate that her experience doesn’t matter, divide her seven years experience in half and round d
Chicago Tonight. In the pension discussion where were the Democratic Party pension thieves?
Carol Marin with Republican state Rep. Thomas Morrison, University of Chicago professor of law Julie Roin, and president of Illinois Federation of Teachers Dan Montgomery. I watched the pension discussion on Chicago Tonight. I’m not sure anyone who was not really invested in the issue stayed with it. It was kind of dry. What was interesting to me was who was not there. No Democrat Elaine Nekritz.
IPACE endorsements and pension thieves.
IEA’s IPACE endorsements for state House and Senate elections are done by local IPACE committees. The recommendations must be approved by the state IPACE committee. I compiled the list of IPACE recommended candidates and their votes on Senate Bill 1, the pension theft. Some of those recommended are not incumbents, so they did not have an opportunity to vote. The list does not include candidates w
JUL 28
Madigan’s Iron Dome.
Mike Madigan has been Speaker since 1983. Remember Lee Elia? All this debate about whether we should vote for Quinn or not. Save your breath. When November’s election rolls around, the most powerful man in Illinois will be re-elected to office. And you won’t be voting for him. That would be the State Rep from the 22nd House District. He will get the votes of a few thousand people, out of couple m
John Dillon. A Bitter Pill: Illinois Supreme Court’s decision and Chicago corporate media.
- John Dillon is a retired teacher, pension activist and blogs at Pension Vocabulary. Bitter Pill is an idiom that arises from usage nearly a century ago or in some lexicons even earlier. Imagine a time when medicine was less than palatable or manageable, and you have a start. Later on, during the malaria infestations of the Panama Canal (1880 – 1920) project, “bitter” became the operative adj
JUL 27
Pension theft proving toxic to Illinois Democrats.
Republican Bruce Rauner holds a 12 point lead over Democrat Pat Squeezy Quinn in the polls. Illinois’ Attorney General Lisa Madigan has always been thought of as unbeatable. Daughter of State Democratic Party Chairman and Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, Lisa was considered a possible challenger to Quinn or a lock on a future Senate seat. But Democrat’s assault on public employee pensions is
An ethnic slur.
A few days ago, in my continuing sadness about what is happening in Gaza, I posted on Twitter. “One Palestinian child is killed every hour in Gaza.” People all over the world have taken to the streets to call for an end to Israel’s military assault on what is the prison called Gaza. I am part of that. A blogger who writes anonymously at South Bronx Teacher (I won’t provide a link), chose to reply
Sunday reads.
Young Lords Way. Photo. El Museo del Barrio Eugene Robinson. Israel is acting as if it is free of moral responsibilities. NYSUT was against Common Core before they were for it. What happened? Connecticut’s charter school scandal. From Rethinking Schools. New Orleans after Katerina. Colonialism. Not Reform. Free Gaza. Chicago yesterday. The article originally appeared in the September 29, 1979, is
JUL 26
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