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. Seasonals.
My friend Rainy Kaplan posted on Facebook today that she had to remember not to store her Fall decorations in the closet behind her Christmas decorations. When I laughingly questioned her about the concept of Fall decorations, she warned me against underestimating her. No holiday or season goes unrecognized in her home, she said. And I always believe Rainy. Who by the way is running for the Execu
“I made a mistake.”
Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson tries to join protesters. Another riot nearly ensues. . The other day Rahm said he made a mistake. He’s made many. But he only copped to one: Naming the planned north side selective admission high school after Barack Obama. “In my rush to honor our favorite son, I made a mistake. I heard the community. And it’s not gonna be named after the president. My goal i
YESTERDAY
A pension crisis since 1917? Eric Madiar, chief counsel to the Senate Democrats.
The World Champion 1917 Chicago White Sox. They wouldn’t win a world series again until 2005. - From Glen Brown’s Teacher/Musician/Poet. Attorney Eric Madiar is the chief counsel to Illinois Senate President John Cullerton. In this article he explains the long history of Illinois pension injustice, and why the current situation is not a sudden crisis. “Anyone following the pension-reform debate k
Comments on the IEA Retired/IRTA letter.
The discussion is on-going regarding the IEA Retired letter sent to members that directed sharp criticism of the IRTA. IEA – Retired Chair Janet Kilgus did respond to me. The email expressed her principled disagreement with me. It was friendly, but I was not sure it was meant for posting, so out of respect to Janet, I have not shared it. Here are other comments: Fred, I too am concerned with the
A letter to IEA Retired. No circular firing squads.
Dear Janet, I am writing this to you in your position of IEA Retired Chair. Yesterday, as chapter president of the Skokie Organization of Retired Educators IEA Retired I was asked to send out a letter to our members signed by you, vice chair Jim Duffy and Bob Haisman. To my knowledge, Bob Haisman holds no elected position in our organization. The letter attacks the Illinois Retired Teachers Associ
SEP 25
Petcoke, the Koch brothers and the 10th Ward.
Susan Sadlowski Garza talks to her neighbors at last night’s meet-and-greet in the 10th Ward. I took a drive to the 10th Ward last night. I could have taken the Dan Ryan to the Skyway and gotten off just before Indiana. But I took my old route. South Lakeshore Drive and then followed US41 through the east side to south Chicago. I drove past the what used to be U.S. Steel’s South Works. Back in th
Illinois Council for Exceptional Children. Urgent action on SB 16.
ACTION Needed: Please contact your State Representative as your current one will vote as late as January (NOT a new State Representative that may be elected in November). Senate Bill 16 unexpectedly passed the Illinois State Senate, and could be amended in the Illinois House and the amended bill could be voted on by the Senate ALL IN ONE DAY. Please ask your State Representative, “Will you oppose
SEP 24
Update. Mr. P’s ukes are fully funded.
A few days ago I posted about my neighborhood school. Darwin Elementary. And its music teacher, Joe Panganiban. AKA, Mr. P. Darwin is an increasingly rare thing in Chicago. It is a public neighborhood elementary school. It is open to any child in the neighborhood. Just the kind of school Rahm wants to get rid of. There are area of Chicago that are three and four miles square without a traditiona
Opt out news. Brooklyn testing boycott leads to NY dropping the mandated test.
Last Spring: A group of teachers at the International High School at Prospect Heights refused to administer a city-mandated writing test they say is unsuitable for their students, many of whom are recent immigrants learning English. The test, called the Measures of English Language Arts Performance Assessment, is essay-based and aligned to Common Core standards. Students took a similar test in th
In Arizona every week is Banned Book Week for Chicanos.
Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street is banned in Arizona under House Bill 2282, which prohibits any courses or classes that “promote the overthrow of the government.” Arizona’s HB 2281 bans all Chicano Studies programs, claiming they are aimed at overthrowing the government. Arizona officials banned 80 books. Some were even carted out of classrooms and boxed during class time. The books we
Dyett community. “Hey Rahm. Do we matter?”
Brother Jitu and others are chained together outside Rahm’s fifth floor city hall office. If Dyett High School closes there will be no neighborhood public high school in Bronzeville. None in Oakland. None in Kenwood. Parents, teachers and community members have presented an alternative program that would leave Dyett open. CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennet and the mayor have refused to listen or conside
SEP 23
Banned Books Week.
This is Banned Books Week. Remember when the Rahm Emanuel administration banned Persepolis from CPS?
Kathy Myalls committed voter fraud.
17th District Republican challenger Kathy Myalls and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. She committed voter fraud to vote for him. I’ve always made the argument that the Republicans exaggerate the problem of voter fraud to push voter suppression rules that are aimed at poor and minority voters. It appears there is a problem with voter fraud, however. And it’s a Republican problem. Kathy Myalls is r
A living wage comes to Hammond. It’s what being in a union should mean.
. Hammond, Indiana. From here, it’s just a twenty minute drive down I-90. 700 workers make automobile seats for Lear Corporation in Hammond. It’s a UAW union shop. Their contract provided the employer with a two-tier salary schedule. 500 employees were stuck at entry level salary. Rochelle Weathersby landed a job at Lear Corp.’s seat-making factory in Hammond three years ago. Despite working in a
SEP 22
The National Education Association, Illinois Education Association, and Women & Children First Bookstore cordially ...
The National Education Association, Illinois Education Association, and Women & Children First Bookstore cordially invite you to A book reading and signing for Rabble Rousers: Fearless Fighters for Social Justice Agitadores: Luchadores Valientes por la Justicia Authored by Lily Eskelsen García Portraits by Alberto García Monday, September 22, 2014 7:30 p.m. To 9 p.m. Women & Children Firs
The solution to the problem of the CTU bargaining with the Mayor is the Mayor getting out of the the school-running business.
DFER Illinois’ Rebecca Nieves-Huffman. Photo: Substance. What is the deal with telling Karen Lewis that she should step down from being head of the Chicago Teachers Union? Not CTU members who last year voted her another term by a huge margin. But the Wall Street hedge fund managers of Democrats for Education Reform. I remember a few years back when the Tribune’s Eric Zorn said she should resign.
SEP 21
Sunday reads.
. Watch the People’s Climate Change march live on Democracy Now! Karen Lewis on MSNBC this morning. You can’t feed a family with the G.D.P. Georgia legislator who wants to stop black people from voting is a StudentsFirst favorite. Test-based accountability is a failure. September 18, 2014: Mayor Emanuel announced today that the city will honor President Barack Obama by not naming a Chicago Publi
Darwin’s Mr. P would like some ukes for his kids.
About a year ago my friend, attorney and musician Matt Farmer wrote a piece for Huffington Post about Darwin Elementary School’s music teacher, Joe Panganiban. He is known as Mr. P. Darwin is my neighborhood school, three blocks away. One of my daughters, now grown up with kids of her own, went to Darwin. Although Logan Square is a quickly gentrifying neighborhood, Darwin’s student population is
SEP 20
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
