Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, September 19, 2014

9-19-14 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.:








Swiffers. My days as a custodian.
I just finished reading Ben’s Reader article about the janitorial scandal at CPS. It seems that to cut costs and make more profit, Aramark took away mops from custodians and gave them Swiffers. Mopping is a two-step process. You soap mop to clean. And then you rinse. Swiffers are those things you buy at Target. They have disposable pads. It’s a one-step deal. It saves time. Let’s get real, though


I get comments.
Fred, That “Illinois public employee pension is less than $25,000 a year” statement is a bit misleading and low by most independent analyses. It includes folks who retired decades ago at salaries far lower than folks retiring recently. It also includes folks who didn’t spend their entire careers in the public sector, perhaps less than 5 years, thus have other retirement income coming in outside of

Kiss of death.




Highland teachers end historic strike.
  Highland teacher and mother Teryn Hoppes and her son Logan attend a prayer vigil in Higland’s downtown square before voting on a new contract. Thursday Highland union members voted to end their week-long historic strike, the first in the district’s history. After voting down a contract offer several days ago, members voted 150-2 to accept a contract recommend by their bargaining team. News-Demo

George Wallace High School.
Rahm says that he is not going to name the new selective admission high school after President Obama after all. Naming things after politicians is a big deal in Chicago. They recently named the traffic-clogged circle interchange after former mayor Jane Byrne. And Balbo Street is named after an Italian fascist who flew a plane to the opening of the World’s Fair. Technically Balbo wasn’t a politici



9-18-14 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.: Principal Troy LaRaviere on Chicago school policy. The public loses out and private corporations profit.Blaine Principal Troy LaRaviere discusses how the scandal around school custodians and Aramark is bigger than rats, roaches and clean classrooms, as if that isn’t enough. He explains how, across the