UPDATE: Nekritz and Senger discuss SB1 + People are corporations too + CTU election results | Fred Klonsky

CTU election results. Details released. Rahm’s team got a old-style shellacking. | Fred Klonsky:

Ten minute drawing. Ya just gotta look at kids like they’re parking meters.

by Fred Klonsky

Click on drawing to enlarge.

On this we agree. Call for no cost shift.

by Fred Klonsky

While the IEA and the We Are One coalition of state public employee unions are wrong on their support for SB2404, we do agree on the harm that will be caused by Speaker Madigan’s proposal for a cost shift to local communities of pension costs.
It will cause great harm to those communities who are already cash strapped. It will contribute to an even greater gap between rich and poor communities in their ability to afford quality education.
It is a further attack on teacher and other educational employees’ compensation.
From the IEA:

Rumors at the Statehouse indicate Speaker Madigan’s proposal to shift the state’s costs 

Watch as Representative Nekritz and Senger discuss how SB1 compares to SB2404 when it comes to robbing pensioners. VIDEO

by Fred Klonsky

Representatives Nekritz and Senger meet with reporters in this video.
They are talking to reporters about the relative savings to the pension debt of Madigan’s SB1 and We Are One/Cullerton’s SB2404.
In the absence of any plan to address state revenues, when they say the word savings, replace it with the wordsconstitutionally protected pension benefits.
Their savings are taken – stolen – in both bills from our benefits.
The thieves are only arguing over how much to steal.
Popout

The in box. “We must rid ourselves of the plague that reeks within.”

by Fred Klonsky

Curtis is a retired teacher and member of our new Skokie IEA-Retired chapter.

Fred,
This whole school closing plan is a part of a political ploy. In typical fashion the mayor and CPS leaders announce initially that there will be 54 school closings. Knowing there will be an outcry from Chicago residents in opposition and knowing that there will be a fight.
This news terrorizes the parent’s teachers and children as fear of the unknown and nightmares of the danger zone (s) set in. But the real goal here is to threaten to close 54 schools in order to get what they really want. And that is to make it appear that they (CPS) have heard the public cries and considered the needs and wishes of students and parents. The best way to close 40 schools 

The in box. People are corporations too, my friend.

by Fred Klonsky

The Chicago Tribune:

So Illinois is in such dire financial shape that it must violate the contractual retirement agreements with teachers and other state workers. I’ve taught at the University of Illinois since 1979 and am one of those who would be cheated by the bills under discussion in the legislature.
Why stop there? The crisis should require every company with a state contract get paid 20 percent less, and every company with a state concession should pay 20 percent more. I’m looking at you, casinos. This is an emergency!
We all know such actions are unrealistic and near impossible. Companies make business 

Today the CPS board will vote to enact the largest mass public school closing in American history.

by Fred Klonsky

In typical Rahm fashion, four more schools have been removed from the closing list.

CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett is expected to withdraw her recommendations to shutter Marcus Garvey Elementary School and Mahalia Jackson Elementary School on the South Side; Leif Ericson Elementary Scholastic Academy on the West Side, and George Manierre Elementary School on the Near North Side, according to a source familiar with her deliberations.

These were always among the more controversial targets of the closing plan.
But later today the board will go ahead and vote to shut down the others on the Mayor’s list

CTU election results. Details released. Rahm’s team got a old-style shellacking.

by Fred Klonsky

As the Chicago Teachers Union was gearing up for its election I was hearing that friends of Rahm offered to fund a challenge to the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE).
And when the coalition of anti-CORE people announced their candidacies, it became pretty clear that they were stand-ins for the Mayor.
The results of the election demonstrates pretty clearly that the members of the CTU saw right through the scam.
The anti-COREs got shellacked.
A spanking.
Bad.
In many schools they 

Senate votes to reduce testing for top students | Education Blog

Senate votes to reduce testing for top students | Education Blog:

Senate votes to reduce testing for top students

By Terrence Stutz
tstutz@dallasnews.com
7:00 am on May 22, 2013 | Permalink

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Continuing a move toward reduced testing in Texas schools, the Senate on Tuesday night approved a bill that would exempt high-performing students from reading and math tests in the fourth, sixth and eighth grades. The measure by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, would affect thousands of students in elementary and middle schools, but the precise number would be left up to the commissioner of education.

Seliger said a waiver would have to be approved by the U.S. Department of Education because the federal No Child Left Behind Law requires that all students in grades 3 to 8 be tested annually in reading and math. “This is only for high-performing students, so it shouldn’t be a big number,” the senator said. “For example, if you do very well in third grade math, you won’t take it in the fourth grade. These are kids who don’t have to be tested every year because we know they will perform at a high level.”

The same would be true for fifth graders and seventh graders. If they do well in reading and math, they won’t have to take STAAR exams in those subjects in the sixth and eighth grades. “There is a 97 percent probability that these students will perform at the same level two years in a row,” Seliger said. Students will still be tested in writing, science and social studies in certain grade levels.

ESPN announces layoffs as part of Malloy’s “Jive Five” Economic Development Program - Wait, What?

ESPN announces layoffs as part of Malloy’s “Jive Five” Economic Development Program - Wait, What?:

ESPN announces layoffs as part of Malloy’s “Jive Five” Economic Development Program

by jonpelto

The Urban Dictionary defines “jive” as a “colorful form of speaking” that is “sometimes hard to follow.”

In the real world here is how it works;

On August 2, 2011 Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced that, in return for creating 200 new jobs over the next five years, the taxpayers of Connecticut would give ESPN $17.5 million toward the construction of a new building and at least $300,000 to train the new workers.  Malloy explained, “ESPN’s needs are not going to be ignored.”

That corporate welfare package brought the total Connecticut taxpayer support for ESPN to over $100 million in state tax breaks and grants over the past twelve years.

Then yesterday, May 20, 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported that ESPN, “was in the process of laying off a few hundred workers… a sign that the hugely profitable sports cable-TV powerhouse is responding to the rising fees it pays to air games as well as other changes in the media industry…ESPN said some of the job cuts are coming through 

Child mental health experts raise serious concerns about the impact of proposed mass school closings on Chicago students

Chicagoland Researchers and Advocates for Transformative Education (CReATE): Child mental health experts raise serious concerns about the impact of proposed mass school closings on Chicago students:

Child mental health experts raise serious concerns about the impact of proposed mass school closings on Chicago students

by CReATE Chicago

Today, several notable social workers, counselors, and academic researchers from prominent Illinois and Chicago organizations and universities submitted a set of statements to the members of the Chicago Board of Education detailing their serious concerns about the potential negative impact of school closings on Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students’ social-emotional health.  Tomorrow, the Board of Education is scheduled to consider approving up to 54 school closings and consolidations.

The experts shared their statements at a press conference held at Roosevelt University and sponsored by Parents United for Responsible Education, a Chicago public school parent advocacy organization, along with  CReATE education professors Ann Aviles de Bradley and Diane Horwitz.

Significant concerns raised by these experts include grief and loss, issues of transition, schools as community cornerstones, inclusion of student voice, and lack of adequate mental health services.

Full Press Release Available Here

UPDATE: Jeb Bush’s ‘Chiefs for Change’ attack Weingarten for something she didn’t say

Jeb Bush’s ‘Chiefs for Change’ attack Weingarten for something she didn’t say:

Jeb Bush’s ‘Chiefs for Change’ attack Weingarten for something she didn’t say

by Valerie Strauss

Randi Weingarten (AFT)

How’s this for a trick: Jeb Bush’s “Chiefs for Change,” a group of former and current state education superintendents, have attacked American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten for something she didn’t say — without even mentioning her name!

She slapped them back.

Here’s what happened:

A few weeks ago, Weingarten called for a moratorium on the consequences of high-stakes testing because new standardized assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards are unfairly being given to students before teachers have had time to properly absorb and create curriculum around the standards.

In fact, Weingarten has been a supporter of Common Core, but decided that a moratorium was necessary because implementation has been rushed and the initiative is likely to fail if not done well.

Let’s get this straight: Weingarten didn’t argue (as testing experts do) that using student standardized test scores to evaluate teachers and principals is wrong because the results are not reliable. She didn’t call for a permanent ban. She asked for a 

‘What has changed is that it is harder for us to be nice to kids’ — departing veteran principal

by Valerie Strauss

George Wood is retiring this year after serving as principal of Federal Hocking Secondary School in Stewart, Ohio, for 21 years. He will stay on as superintendent of the Federal Hocking District. Wood is a nationally known author, educator, activist … Continue reading →

The college ‘preparation gap’ in a single graphic

by Valerie Strauss

An annual national survey of school curriculum concludes that there is a “large gap” between how high school teachers perceive their graduating students’ readiness for college and what professors expect freshmen to know. While a vast majority of high school … Continue reading →

‘It’s just our job’ — teacher who saved students from tornado

by Valerie Strauss

A CNN video:   In this CNN story, second-grade teacher Tammy Glasgow  talks about the Oklahoma tornado that demolished her school, Briarwood Elementary. Nobody died in the school,  thanks to the efforts of the teachers. The story says in part: … Continue reading →

White House to Honor Gay Officials on Harvey Milk Day

White House to Honor Gay Officials on Harvey Milk Day:

White House to Honor Gay Officials on Harvey Milk Day

RYAN DIXON MAY 21

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The White House has released the list of the 10 openly gay officials it plans [...]

The White House has released the list of the 10 openly gay officials it plans to honor on May 22 as “Harvey Milk Champions of Change.” The event coincides with Harvey Milk Day, a commemoration of the first openly gay elected official’s birthday.

Established in 2011, the White House “Champions of Change” Program regularly spotlights ordinary citizens who are “doing extraordinary things for to their community, their country, and their fellow citizens.”

The list of those to be honored includes the Republican Mayor of Redondo Beach, California, Michael Gin, the first African-American lesbian to serve in a U.S. state legislature, Simone Bell, and the longest serving lesbian state legislator, Karen Clark.

In 2009, President Obama posthumously awarded Harvey Milk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. Milk, along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was assassinated on Nov. 27, 1978 by former San Francisco city supervisor Dan White.

READ: The 2013 Harvey Milk Champions of Change

• Simone Bell – Georgia State Representative, Atlanta, GA
• Angie Buhl O’Donnell – South Dakota State Senator, Sioux Falls, SD
• Karen Clark – Minnesota State Representative, South Minneapolis, MN
• Michael A. Gin – Mayor of Redondo Beach, Redondo Beach, CA
• Kim Coco Iwamoto – Hawaii State Civil Rights Commissioner, Honolulu, HI
• John Laird – California Secretary of Natural Resources, Santa Cruz, CA
• Ricardo Lara – California State Senator, Long Beach, CA
• Kim Painter – Johnson Country Recorder, Iowa City, IA
• Chris Seelbach – Cincinnati City Council Member, Cincinnati, OH
• Pat Steadman – Colorado State Senator, Denver, CO

NYC Educator: The Disappearing Teacher Caf

NYC Educator: The Disappearing Teacher Caf:

The Disappearing Teacher Caf

by NYC Educator

I'm in one of two Queens high schools that still has a teacher cafeteria. It's under threat of closure, as not enough teachers are patronizing it lately. A food truck has parked by our school and has become pretty popular. Mayor Bloombucks has decreed if teacher cafes don't make enough money, too bad for the teachers.

There's something incredibly callous about this. Teachers don't get a whole lot of luxurious perks, and this certainly isn't one of them. I love the kids I teach, but sometimes I want to be with adults. I can't imagine I'm the only teacher who feels that way. It's a pretty basic consideration. Here's the big secret--Mayor Mike doesn't think we deserve any consideration at all.

That's why just about every city union got an 8% raise between 08-10 while he loudly told us to go fish. Some school buildings have been around over a hundred years, but it wasn't until Bloomberg took over that anyone decided teachers didn't warrant anything so basic as a place to talk or get a cup of coffee.

This year, we're facing an evaluation system based on fairy dust, and no one's even seen it. Reformy John King,