Tuesday, November 27, 2012

UPDATE: Senator Iris Martinez. No deal on a school closing timeline. « Fred Klonsky

Senator Iris Martinez. No deal on a school closing timeline. « Fred Klonsky:

Fred Said Don't Be Fooled


Seasonals.

I saw something posted on Facebook today about making holiday ornaments with elementary students.
When I went to the site, it was actually a serious post about where you could go to get directions for making holiday ornaments.
I guess I was hoping for something else.
When I first was hired as a K-6 art teacher, I was warned by my boss, the administrator in charge of Art teachers, not to make “seasonals.”
Nothing special for Halloween. No Valentines. Turkeys? Forget about it. Haunted houses? Never! And certainly not holiday ornaments.
That was okay for the classroom teacher, she warned me. But we needed to be serious about our art curriculum. 


Senator Iris Martinez. No deal on a school closing timeline.

Iris Martinez is the State Senator from my district.
I was pleased when she along with State Representative Cynthia Soto passed a bill creating a state legislative task force to study school closings in 2010.
The law had several components besides the task force. One was to to have the CPS make public a list of proposed closings by December 1st in order to provide public input.
Martinez now sits on a school-closings commission appointed by Barbara Byrd-Bennett, Rahm’s newly appointed CPS CEO.
More background and a CTU action alert on this is available here.
Byrd-Bennett is attempting a devious plan that would trade a delay in producing a school closing list in exchange


The in box. Snow birds and Illinois pensions.

The newsletter of the DuPage Illinois Retired Teachers Association.
NO ONE IS SAFE WHILE OUR STATE LEGISLATURE IS IN SESSION
by Jim Keating
“ What’s done is done and what’s won is won and what’s lost is lost and gone forever” are words in a popular ballad about the recent “troubles” in Ireland. Now that the state elections are over these words could apply to Illinois retirees and our pensions. What will happen in 2013 is anyone’s guess. That’s why we must stay informed over the coming months. One of the best ways to do this is to follow the blogs of former educators Fred Klonsky and Glen Brown. This is especially true if