Thursday, March 17, 2011

KOCH OUT AM News | www.kochwatch.org #wiunion

UPI: Thousands protest at Michigan statehouse *March 17, 2011-* Thousands of union members and other protesters crowded the Michigan statehouse Wednesday for a demonstration against Gov. Rick Snyder's proposed budget. The rally was noisy, but mostly peaceful, The Detroit News reported. Crowds ...

Think Progress: Property Rights And the Kochs *March 16, 2011-* If I walked over to David Koch’s lawn and tore up all the grass, he’d probably feel that the basic principles of a free market society require me to be punished. After all, that’s his property. And then there’s what happens when the ...

Washington DC Wisconsin GOP Fundraiser protest 3/16/2011 WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

Press Release: USW Slams Walker’s Assault on Democracy *March 10, 2011- * Contact: Wayne Ranick (412) 562-2444 (Pittsburgh) – This statement was released this morning by the United Steelworkers (USW) on actions taken last evening by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Republican Senators. In a clear ...

Scholoar As Citizen: Who’s Really Behind Recent Republican Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere? (Hint: It Didn’t Start Here) *March 15, 2011- * A Study Guide for Those Wishing to Know More After watching the sudden and impressively well-organized wave of legislation being introduced into state legislatures that all seem to be pursuing parallel goals only tangentially ...

Thom Hartmann & Rep. Jan Schakowsky - A tax on millionaires and billionaires? WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

Assault on Cub Food Protesters Can you spot the thug in this video? Hint: It's not one of the union guys: WATCH ON YOUTUBE: What happens when you complain to Cub Foods about working conditions for the workers who clean the stores? Protesters and customers found out at a Cub ...

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Walker donor wins tax break in budget *March 6, 2011- *Things are tight at the statehouse, but not so tight that Gov. Scott Walker couldn't find room in his proposed state budget to insert a tax break for some in Wisconsin's prefab home industry. And it's a tax break that would benefit ...

Economic Policy Institute: The sad but true story of wages in America *-By Lawrence Mishel & Heidi Shierholz * *March 15, 2011- *Recent debates about whether public- or private-sector workers earn more have obscured a larger truth: all workers have suffered from decades of stagnating wages despite large gains in ...

Grist: Koch-funded group mounts cut-and-paste attack on regional climate initiatives March 16, 2011- Fresh off last year’s successful defeat of federal climate legislation in the U.S. Senate, the oil baron Koch brothers and their dirty-energy buddies are now bent on dismantling one of the nation’s last hopes for doing anything about ...

Talking Points Memo: Protests In Michigan Over 'Financial Martial Law' *March 16, 2011-* Following the pitched political battles over public employee union rights in Wisconsin, Ohio, and elsewhere, another state's fight over finances is heating up. In Michigan, new Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has just passed a bill ...

A Teachable Moment: Alexandra Wallace and Beau Sia On Asians in the Library (Of the World)

by CYNTHIA on MARCH 17, 2011

A young woman who is a student at UCLA decided to put her feelings about her fellow students, ones who are Asian Pacific American in particular, on a video and post it to Youtube. Her name is Alexandra Wallace.

It sparked remarkable response online. A good deal of it redoubled the

Parent trigger misfires by disrupting and dismantling local schools | Thoughts on Public Education

Robles-Wong lawyers reframe case - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess Having had their complaints rejected the first time, two groups of plaintiffs are hoping an Alameda County Superior Court judge will look more kindly on revised arguments to have the state’s method and levels of public school funding ruled ...

Parent trigger misfires by disrupting and dismantling local schools - by Caroline Grannan (This article was written in collaboration with Sharon Higgins.) Simplistic ideas may look appealing at first glance, but they rarely solve complex problems. Too often they have the potential to make things worse. That’s true of California’s so-called ...

Update: Dream Act on the move - by Kathryn Baron The latest version of the California Dream Act passed the state Assembly’s Higher Education Committee on Tuesday. AB 130 and 131 would allow some undocumented students at the state’s public colleges and universities to apply for institutional financial ...

PARENTS ACROSS AMERICA PRESS RELEASE ON “PARENT TRIGGER” LEGISLATION

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: PARENTS ACROSS AMERICA PRESS RELEASE ON “PARENT TRIGGER” LEGISLATION

PARENTS ACROSS AMERICA PRESS RELEASE ON “PARENT TRIGGER” LEGISLATION

FROM LEONIE HAIMSON | PARENTS ACROSS AMERICA.ORG | HTTP://BIT.LY/GHLX2T

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 16, 2011

Parents Across America: We oppose Parent Trigger laws
Reform should rely on proven solutions that involve parents from the ground up and improve rather than privatize schools

With California’s so-called Parent Empowerment Act drawing national media attention as a school reform panacea, and similar laws being discussed in other states including New Jersey, Colorado, and elsewhere, the new national organization Parents Across America (PAA) warns that the law fails to promote positive solutions, is subject to abuse, and threatens to harm school communities.

“This law is likely to cause more problems than it solves,” PAA said in a position statement. (See attached pdf. )

The Parent Empowerment Act took effect in California in 2010, creating a process called the Parent Trigger, in which a majority of parents at a low-performing school can petition to demand one of a narrow set of options, including firing all or some of the staff, takeover by a charter operator, or closing the school.

Praising Teachers While Bashing Them | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Praising Teachers While Bashing Them

by larrycuban

Joel Klein, ex-Chancellor of New York City Schools, wrote about teachers in a recent op-ed.

“Teaching is incredibly hard, especially when dealing with children in high-poverty communities who come to school with enormous challenges. Many teachers work long hours, staying at school past 6 p.m., and then working at home grading papers and preparing lessons. Some teachers get outstanding results, even with our most challenged students. These are America’s heroes, and they should be recognized as such. Sadly, they aren’t.

“On the other hand, there are also many teachers who work by the clock – they show up a minute before 8:30 and leave a minute after 3; when in school, they do the barest minimum. They get dreadful results with students and, if you spend time in their classrooms, as I have over the past eight years, it’s painfully obvious that they belong in another line of work.”

NYC Educator: Spring Parent-Teacher Conferences Are Coming, But Then Again, So Is Summer

Spring Parent-Teacher Conferences Are Coming, But Then Again, So Is Summer

by Miss Eyre

Ah, parent-teacher conferences. The day on which you get together with the parents of your students to duke it out over whose fault it is that darling Johnny is failing. (Just kidding! Obviously it's yours.)

If it helps any of you psych yourselves up for the event, maybe my own philosophy on the spring PTCs will help you; namely, that the spring PTCs are The Beginning of the End. The evening PTC day is one of the longest of the year for many of us, but once it's over, it's downhill from here.

My cynical start to this particular blog post notwithstanding, I have some pro tips for PTCs in this

Something to Fight For - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Something to Fight For

by Deborah Meier

Dear Diane,

It has been reported that 56 percent of black Chicagoans (over the age of 16) are not employed, 21 percent are officially unemployed, and a third live in poverty. These figures are double and triple those for whites. So says my friend Don Rose (based on data from Megan Cottrel of The Chicago Reporter in a piece titled "Second City or Dead Last"). But more and more members of the lower-middle-class white community are moving in this direction, too. In fact, it's even affecting—less dramatically—the solid middle class (like my own children and grandchildren). Isn't it time to look beyond schools to blame our plight?

But it's considered "soft racism" to mention these factors as relevant to the test-score gap, the graduation-rate gaps, etc. We are expected to believe that young people growing up in such intensely poor communities will not be damaged by it unless we have "low school expectations"—plus lazy, overpaid, unionized teachers!

But then there are the tax cuts for millionaires, not to mention all the "minor" tax advantages we provide the rich

Cullerton and Quinn and GOP conspire to kill state pensions. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Cullerton and Quinn and GOP conspire to kill state pensions.

by Fred Klonsky

From the Wall Street Journal:

Lawmakers in Illinois say they may try to fix the state’s ailing pension system by asking current workers to pay more into the plan, though the approach faces substantial legal and political obstacles.
The lawmakers are also entertaining the politically difficult idea of applying broader pension changes made this year for newly hired employees to current

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

CSU tells students studying in Japan to come home - San Jose Mercury News #CSU #CSUS #UC

CSU tells students studying in Japan to come home - San Jose Mercury News

CSU tells students studying in Japan to come home

Oakland Tribune

Posted: 03/16/2011 08:30:39 AM PDT

Updated: 03/16/2011 11:36:50 AM PDT

Dozens of California students studying abroad in Japan are being asked to return home.

The California State University chancellor sent a memo Tuesday ordering the 22 CSU schools to bring back the 65 students studying in Japan, according to ABC7 news. San Francisco State has 12 students studying in Japan.

San Jose State has three students studying in Japan who are being asked to return, according to university spokeswoman Pat Lopes Harris. One of those students is traveling in China as Japanese universities are between terms.

Three other San Jose State students who were expected to leave for Japan in the coming weeks have cancelled their trips.

The University of California has suspended its programs at Tohoku and Tsukuba universities, according to a statement from UC. Tohoku University has closed the school until April 24. All UC Education Abroad Program students in Japan are accounted for and safe, the statement said.

Stanford University says its 35 students studying in Japan have been accounted for and are on their way home, according to ABC7 news.

WISCONSIN LABOR NEWS BLOG #miunion #wiunion #MadNation

Wisconsin State AFL-CIO - Home

WISCONSIN LABOR NEWS BLOG

For the latest local labor news, click here to visit the BLOG of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.

E-MAIL UPDATES

Recieve updates via e-mail. Click here to sign up for the e-Activist Network of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.

Join in Statewide Events in Days Ahead

The battle against Governor Walker's union-busting efforts continues. There are also lots of activities happening all over the state to fight the unprecedented cuts in his proposed 2011-13 Biennial State Budget. Click on the headline above for the latest scheduled events. Join us!

Click here for BLOG reports on activities.

Public Sector Collective Bargaining Has a Proud History

A short comment on how collective bargaining rights evolved as essential for employees in public service, along with the positive role of all unions in providing a counterbalance to the power of employers and wealthy interests. “Most Americans believe strongly in the idea of checks and balances and understand that unchecked power, whether in a workplace or politics, is a dangerous thing”, writes Professor Paul Clarkof Penn State University. Click here for the opinion piece as it appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on March 6.

Angry Teacher Raps About Getting Unjustly Fired #miunion #wiunion #MadNation

pedagogyforyourhead on Mar 14, 2011

Two Teachers and a Microphone

We are both products of LAUSD schools and have spent our careers teaching in LAUSD schools. We love what we do, and we feel that our public school teachers are compassionate, creative and critical to the intellectual and emotional success of our youth.

If you feel the same, please call the school board members and demand that they rescind all pink slips immediately.

Radiation Plume Course Charted by U.N. Agency - NYTimes.com

Scientists Project Path of Radiation Plume

By WILLIAM J. BROAD

Published: March 16, 2011

REPRINTS

A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it churning across the Pacific and touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday.

Enlarge This Image

Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

At a rail station in South Korea on Wednesday, passengers viewed news reports about Japan.

Health and nuclear experts emphasize that radiation in the plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, would have extremely minor health consequences in the United States, even if hints of it are ultimately detectable. In a similar way, radiation from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 spread around the globe and reached the West Coast of the United States in 10 days, its levels measurable but minuscule.

The projection, by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, an arm of the United Nations in Vienna, gives no information about actual radiation levels but only shows how a radioactive plume would probably move and disperse.

The forecast, calculated Tuesday, is based on patterns of Pacific winds at that time and the predicted path is likely to change as weather patterns shift.

On Sunday, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it expected that no “harmful levels of radioactivity” would travel from Japan to the United States “given the thousands of miles between the two countries.”

The test ban treaty group routinely does radiation projections in an effort to understand which of its global stations to activate for monitoring the worldwide ban on nuclear arms testing. It has more than 60 stations that

KOCH OUT PM News | www.kochwatch.org #miunion #wiunion #MadWi #Madunion #MadNation

News | www.kochwatch.org

Talking Points Memo: As Wisconsin Sens Head For DC, Labor Brings The War To Them *March 16, 2011-* On Wednesday evening, Republican state legislators from Wisconsin will gather at the offices of prominent DC lobbying firm BGR Group for a high-dollar fundraiser. If they hoped that escaping Madison and the labor protests that ...

The Young Turks: WI (R) Wife Helps To Recall Husband! WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

NYT: Blog: A Foil for the Koch Brothers? *March 15, 2011-* Is Thomas F. Steyer the anti-Koch? For years, Mr. Steyer, a billionaire San Francisco hedge fund manager, assiduously maintained a low profile while becoming a major donor to Democratic candidates. That changed in 2010 when he led ...

Think Progress: Tea Party Billionaire David Koch Hosted One Of Mitt Romney's First Fundraisers For 2012 Campaign *March 15, 2011-* Last year, the New York Times revealed that petrochemical billionaire David Koch was among a small group of multibillionaires quietly promoting a presidential candidacy for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Today, a report ...

David Pakman: Are the Koch Brothers Paying People to Rewrite Wikipedia? WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

CBS News: Koch Industries accused of polluting waterway *March 15, 2011-* A Koch Industries paper mill is violating the Clean Water Act by pumping out massive amounts of pollution into an Arkansas waterway, according to an EPA enforcement complaint to be filed tomorrow by Public Employees for ...

Think Progress: Committee From Koch Votes To Deny Climate Change *March 15, 2011-* Today, Republicans in the House energy committee voted not once, not twice, but three times, against amendments recognizing that climate change is real, despite the broad scientific consensus that “climate change is happening and ...

Thom Hartmann & Markos Moulitsas expose the WI recall polls and what it means WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

'That's The Best I Can Say' WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

Truthout: Refocus, Re-Energize, Recall: Wisconsin's Mass Movement Considers Next Steps *March 16, 2011-* I went back to Wisconsin this weekend to participate in and document what is being considered the largest demonstration in the state's history. On Saturday, March 12, up to 100,000 people marched in Madison against the passing of ...

National Journal: Next Stop For Wisconsin Protesters: Washington, D.C. *March 16, 2011-* Pro-union protesters are expected to rally in Washington on Wednesday evening to counter a fundraising event for the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Coming just one week after Republicans passed Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair ...

Anna’s Video Pick – The Fukushima 50

by ANNA DANIELS on MARCH 16, 2011

in: ANNA'S VIDEO PICK, WORLD NEWS

This video news clip is about the unknown Japanese workers who are putting their lives in peril to avert a nuclear disaster. This is a sobering reminder about what workers do.

The right in this country has declared war upon the working class. It is hard for me to imagine the Koch brothers putting their lives in peril to avert nuclear disaster. Maybe that’s worth thinking about too.

Click the image to go to Yahoo and watch the video

What the Revolution Feels Like and Looks Like in Michigan | The UpTake #miunion #wiunion

What the Revolution Feels Like and Looks Like in Michigan | The UpTake

What the Revolution Feels Like and Looks Like in Michigan

Michigan musician Seth Bernard of the Earthwork Music Collective, narrates the raucous, party-like scene below him at the State Capitol in Lansing today, where thousands gathered to protest Gov. Rick Snyder and the Republican legislature’s push to create a path toward privatizing municipalities, counties and school districts and eliminating collective bargaining rights.

Councilwoman Blackwell: Don't fire Moffett | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Councilwoman Blackwell: Don't fire Moffett

by thenotebook on Mar 16 2011

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell plans to introduce a resolution in City Council tomorrow calling for the retention of Audenried High School teacher Hope Moffett.

The resolution says that Moffett was removed from her classroom andrecommended for termination "after expressing her personal opinions. " It calls the punishment "severe and unwarranted," saying she gave the students tokens "openly and with positive intentions."

Moffett had spoken out against District plans to convert Audenried to a charter school and gave tokens to students who used them to attend a protest at School District headquarters.

The District issued a statement in response saying that "we respect the opinions o

Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, March 17, 2011

A Teachable Moment: Alexandra Wallace and Beau Sia On Asians in the Library (Of the World)

PARENTS ACROSS AMERICA PRESS RELEASE ON “PARENT TRIGGER” LEGISLATION

FROM LEONIE HAIMSON | PARENTS ACROSS AMERICA.ORG | HTTP://BIT.LY/GHLX2T

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

CSU tells students studying in Japan to come home

Scientists Project Path of Radiation Plume

By WILLIAM J. BROAD

Published: March 16, 2011

Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Multimedia

Related

U.S. Calls Radiation ‘Extremely High,’ Sees Japan Nuclear Crisis Worsening (March 17, 2011)

U.S. Urges Wider No-Go Area Around Nuclear Plant (March 17, 2011)

In Europe and China, Japan’s Crisis Renews Fears About Nuclear Power (March 17, 2011)

RSS Feed

Anna’s Video Pick – The Fukushima 50

Councilwoman Blackwell: Don't fire Moffett

by thenotebook on Mar 16 2011