Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, January 17, 2014

1-17-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:










How’s this for cynical? Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post writes about Illinois’ attempts to raise Special Education class size limits.
Valerie Strauss’ blog, The Answer Sheet in the Washington Post. How’s this for cynical? The Illinois State Board of Education wants to remove class size protections for students with disabilities. If the proposal (officially known as changes to state administrative rule Part 226) is approved, there would be no statewide limits on the size of special education classes, or the percentage of students
Join me and other teachers tomorrow for Will Guzzardi.
Everyone agrees that the 39th Illinois House race is the one to watch in the March primary. Progressive Will Guzzardi is challenging Machine Daughter Toni Berrios. For teachers, this is a particularly important electoral contest. No candidate has been more active in the fight against school closings, supportive of Chicago teachers during the 2012 strike and consistent in defense of our constituti



Illinois Retired Teachers amend their law suit.
Last week I posted the statement of IEA President Cinda Klickna and IRTA President Bob Pinkerton regarding the legal challenge to Senate Bill 1. It was a statement of unity in the face on the legal assault on our pension. Today we received a notice from IRTA. Within the next week, we will file a motion for leave to file an amended complaint.  The change to paragraph 11 is simply intended to clarif
Union leadership trapped in an abusive relationship.
The endorsement of Pat Quinn and other pension-cutting state officials by the AFL-CIO leadership is just one more example of much of our union leadership being trapped in an abusive relationship. In the last gubernatorial go-round, the IEA through their political action committee IPACE, gave Republican and Illinois state chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council, our endorsement. Liste



John Laesch. We should be unified behind something other than the lesser of two evils.
- John Laesch I talked to some friends about the endorsement session in Burr Ridge. Apparently it was a heated discussion with lots of verbal arguments. The folks in the building trades still love Quinn because he passed the capital bill. This is a clear reflection of where labor is at – division. I wonder if it was like this during the first death blows dealt to manufacturing unions post NAFTA –
The state’s unions endorse pension thieves.
Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael T. Carrigan. The Illinois AFL-CIO, which includes the Illinois Federation of Teachers, announced their endorsements for the March primary races. The Illinois Federation, made up of member unions representing 1.5 million workers – with many members being state employees whose pensions have just been stolen, endorsed Squeezy Quinn who was a leader of the pension

1-16-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher
Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Illinois unions say no to lifting Special Education class size limits.January 15, 2014 By IEA News Today, Illinois’ largest education employee unions came out in strong opposition to a proposal from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to remove class size protections for student with disabili