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
Mark Anderson. To those who don’t understand the political importance of Karen Lewis’ race against Rahm.
- Mark Anderson writes for the Ward Room. Every once in a while, a race comes along where two or more different candidates couldn’t be any less alike. In fact, one is shaping up here right in Chicago in the 2015 mayoral race between potential candidates Karen Lewis, Bob Fioretti and Rahm Emanuel. That doesn’t stop stories being written in the media that suggests these candidates are really almost
Keeping retirement weird. I’m running again.
The way the Illinois Education Association works suggests that there are some Luddites hiding in their offices on Edwards Street in Springfield. Luddites, you may recall, are those people who hate technology. It comes from the name of a young English textile worker in the 19th century whose name was Ned Lud. Fearing the of the impact of the industrial revolution on textile making, he took a hamme
Swiffers. My days as a custodian.
I just finished reading Ben’s Reader article about the janitorial scandal at CPS. It seems that to cut costs and make more profit, Aramark took away mops from custodians and gave them Swiffers. Mopping is a two-step process. You soap mop to clean. And then you rinse. Swiffers are those things you buy at Target. They have disposable pads. It’s a one-step deal. It saves time. Let’s get real, though
I get comments.
Fred, That “Illinois public employee pension is less than $25,000 a year” statement is a bit misleading and low by most independent analyses. It includes folks who retired decades ago at salaries far lower than folks retiring recently. It also includes folks who didn’t spend their entire careers in the public sector, perhaps less than 5 years, thus have other retirement income coming in outside of
Highland teachers end historic strike.
Highland teacher and mother Teryn Hoppes and her son Logan attend a prayer vigil in Higland’s downtown square before voting on a new contract. Thursday Highland union members voted to end their week-long historic strike, the first in the district’s history. After voting down a contract offer several days ago, members voted 150-2 to accept a contract recommend by their bargaining team. News-Demo
George Wallace High School.
Rahm says that he is not going to name the new selective admission high school after President Obama after all. Naming things after politicians is a big deal in Chicago. They recently named the traffic-clogged circle interchange after former mayor Jane Byrne. And Balbo Street is named after an Italian fascist who flew a plane to the opening of the World’s Fair. Technically Balbo wasn’t a politici
SEP 18
The Highland teachers strike. A great editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch Striking teachers in Highland aren’t making a lot of friends. Kids suffer when teachers aren’t in the classroom, and parents must scramble to make arrangements for child care for younger students. The Fightin’ Highland Bulldogs, one of the top-ranked small-school football teams in Illinois, already has had to forfeit one game and may have to forfeit again Friday night. F
Principal Troy LaRaviere on Chicago school policy. The public loses out and private corporations profit.
Blaine Principal Troy LaRaviere discusses how the scandal around school custodians and Aramark is bigger than rats, roaches and clean classrooms, as if that isn’t enough. He explains how, across the board, CPS and the current administration have created a system where students and the public lose and private corporations profit.
SEP 17
Susan Sadlowski-Garza.
Mr. Klonsky, I hope this email finds you well. I know we have been in the same room on several occasions and I am a avid reader of your blog. My father, Ed Sadlowski, was recently mentioned in your blog. I showed it to him and he said it was nonsense that we was mentioned in the same sentence as Hampton, Studs, etc. Nonetheless, he and I were flattered to say the least. I am not sure if you heard
Biss and Manar want schools to make do with less. SB16.
Skokie District 65 Superintendent Paul Goren. 40% of his students are low-income. SB 16 will cause his district to lose money. When our chapter of IEA Retired (S.O.R.E.) attends politicians town hall meetings Harriet calls them field trips. Or when we hold a soup kitchen outside pension thief Robyn Gabel’s office? A Field trip. When we confronted State Senator Dan Biss at his Skokie district offi
Hooray for cartoonists.
Dykes to Watch Out For cartoonist Alison Bechdel won the MacCarthur Award this morning. Hooray for cartoonists.
SEP 16
California public pension funds to hedge fund managers: “Drop dead.”
Deal Book: The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the nation’s largest pension fund, will eliminate all of its hedge fund investments over the next year on concerns that investments are too complicated and expensive. The pension fund, which oversees $300 billion, said on Monday that it would liquidate its positions in 24 hedge funds and six hedge fund-of-funds — investments that tota
Chicago’s Marshall High School and Zombie education reform.
The firing (Barbara Byrd-Bennett calls it reassignment) of Marshall principal Angel Johnson is a metaphor for much of what passes as school reform. Stuff happens and nobody is responsible. Corporate reform has become a zombie. It is dead. Yet it lives on. Angel Johnson by all accounts a personable and capable principal, had to be fired because that’s what the School Improvement Grant requires. Ev
Learning Disabilities Association (LDA) of Illinois opposes SB16.
For immediate release For more information: Bev Johns-217-473-1790 LDA OF ILLINOIS OPPOSES SENATE BILL 16 Senate Bill 16 would completely change how Illinois funds local schools. The bill has passed the Illinois State Senate, and is now being considered in closed meetings by the top Democratic members of the Illinois House of Representatives. The Board of the Learning Disabilities Association (LD
S.O.R.E. field trip. Town Hall with Senators Biss and Manar on school funding, Special Needs.
Illinois State Senators Dan Biss and Andy Manar. Members of our retired IEA chapter are concerned about our pensions. Not just our pensions. We are concerned about the preservation of public schools. That means we are concerned about funding. In Illinois, there is a lot to be concerned about. Illinois ranks at the bottom when it comes to state funding for public education. The Illinois Constituti
SEP 15
Neil Steinberg compares opposition to Israeli policies and campus rape.
“Jeez. Condemning Israel is a classic American college phenomenon, like binge drinking and date rape,” writes the Sun-Times Neil Steinberg. This is so wrong on so many levels. But so typical of what passes for Chicago’s current mainstream journalism. Steinberg is commenting on the University of Illinois’ 8 to 1 vote to support the decision of Chancellor Phyllis Wise. Chancellor Wise caused a stor
Highland teachers reject settlement. They’re still on strike.
Teachers discuss the contract offer in Highland, Illinois. And then they reject it. “It’s a respect issue,” said Highland Education Association President ShiAnne Shively. Shively came out of a meeting of teachers and told the press that they had voted to reject the contract proposed settlement. It followed the announcement yesterday that the board, union negotiators and mediator had reached an ag
SEP 14
Hinsdale District 86. No scabs for Skoda.
On Friday, Director of Human Resources Domenico Maniscalco sent the following email to all employees of D86: “Dear District 86 Staff, We are in need of substitute teachers and have a job posting going up on the District’s website and Monster.com. Job description attached.” It’s no secret that the district is in dire need of quality substitutes. They’re disappearing faster than the support staff i
Sunday reads.
Gender discrimination as a teacher sparked Susan B. Anthony’s fight for equality. Bob Fioretti is in. Karen Lewis is next. Rahm has got to go. Two sentences from Diane Ravitch. We need not fear Rahm’s deep pockets. There’s plenty of anti-Rahm money out there. The rich have gotten richer and, well,l you know the rest. Why does the San Diego school district need an military-grade armored truck?
SEP 13
Hinsdale’s Richard Skoda will do anything except bargain a contract. The Facebook Axe redux.
- Hinsdale High School Teachers Association Under the leadership of Skoda, Corcoran, Manley and Casini, the first tool of choice is threats and intimidation. But this time, these aren’t vague threats. Teachers’ careers are on the line. If you’ve been following this, over the summer the HHSTA Facebook page linked to a news story on Patch Publications regarding the Board giving teachers one hour du
Glen Brown. Beware of shifting the normal cost of pensions to the local school districts.
- Glen Brown is a retired high school teacher, current professor, pension activist and blogger at Teacher/poet/musician. If Illinois policymakers pass a bill to shift its responsibility of paying the “normal costs” to local school districts, many school districts would not be able to afford to pay these costs, even if they are phased in for 10 years. “A shift would create a new and large financia
Keeping retirement weird. Disrespecting your elders.
When I retired in 2012 I gave up my six-year old orange convertible Mini Cooper. Frankly, it was a terrible car. It was expensive to maintain. It was in constant need of repair. God. I loved it. I even teared up a little when they drove it away. There was no excuse for Anne and me to have two cars. We are trying to live making a smaller foot print and the monthly payment on a new car would be les