Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Why CTU still doesn’t have a contract. | Sustainable Education Transformation

Why CTU still doesn’t have a contract. | Sustainable Education Transformation:

Why CTU still doesn’t have a contract.

Two days ago I posed the question, “Does CPS have a contract?” The answer is clearly a strong “NO.” The Chicago Teachers Union 40 person Big Bargaining Team unanimously rejected the tentative agreement that CPS had proposed.
The CPS offer basically froze compensation for most teachers for four years. I was OK with that… even though CPS has taken about $2 Billion from teachers in the past five years. I like the idea of getting rid of the pension pick-up, but don’t want teachers to suffer 7% pay cuts to achieve it. Some teachers would have come out with a tiny increase over 4 years, other teachers – longer serving teachers-  would have had to take a significant pay cut.
CPS’s offer also included a requirement – added at the last minute – that over 2000 CTU members take early retirement with the provision that if that number didn’t leave the profession the contract would be re-opened. In other words… the whole thing would be scrapped. To me this seems like a poison pill. How could CTU agree to a contract that forced a 10% reduction in teachers and school staff? How could CTU agree to a contract which had a self-destruct clause in it? 
There were good things in the contract proposal; things for which our bargaining team has been fighting for over a year. There was some movement on issues like standardized testing, teacher paperwork, REACH evaluation and other non-monetary concessions by CPS. This is good. These things are not small. These matter to our students and to our ability to do our jobs.
But in addition to the forced retirement/self destruct clause there was one other factor that made it impossible for the CTU teachers, clinicians and PSRPs on the bargaining team to give this proposal a thumbs up.  The lack of trust we have for Rahm, Rauner and Why CTU still doesn’t have a contract. | Sustainable Education Transformation:


Detroit Schools’ Darnell Earley Resigns; FBI Involved in Investigating Flint | deutsch29

Detroit Schools’ Darnell Earley Resigns; FBI Involved in Investigating Flint | deutsch29:
Detroit Schools’ Darnell Earley Resigns; FBI Involved in Investigating Flint



The latest emergency manager over the dilapidated Detroit Public Schools, Darnell Earley, resigned on February 02, 2016, according to this bulletin from the Detroit Free Press:
Detroit Public Schools emergency manager Darnell Earley, facing an onslaught of criticism over dilapidated schools and his role in the Flint water crisis, announced Tuesday that he’s leaving his job Feb. 29.
Gov. Rick Snyder said he will appoint a transition leader by the end of the month.
The surprise announcement came just two days before a Senate committee hearing on controversial legislation to bring changes to the 46,000-student district. It also heightened some officials’ concerns about the district’s stability.
Earley, 64, has led DPS since January 2015. He was expected to stay with the district until June under an 18-month time frame outlined in the state’s emergency manager law. But some lawmakers viewed his presence as a barrier to moving forward with pending legislation that would create a debt-free DPS.
In his resignation letter and in a news release from the governor’s office, Earley said he helped strengthen the district’s finances.
“When I was appointed to this position, Gov. Snyder and I agreed that our goal 
Detroit Schools’ Darnell Earley Resigns; FBI Involved in Investigating Flint | deutsch29:

Legislators challenge Sacramento to tackle teacher shortage | EdSource

Legislators challenge Sacramento to tackle teacher shortage | EdSource:

Legislators challenge Sacramento to tackle teacher shortage 


CREDIT: LILLIAN MONGEAU/EDSOURCE TODAY
In the most concerted effort to tackle the teacher shortage in years, three California lawmakers have introduced a package of bills designed to attract new teachers to the profession, ease the burden of getting through preparation programs, and provide rigorous training in the form of year-long “residencies” under the guidance of a master teacher.
The lawmakers are state Sen. Carol Liu, D-Glendale, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, and Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica. All were intimately involved in public school education before they came to Sacramento.
Liu was a middle and high school teacher in Richmond for a dozen years, and an administrator for several more. Pavley taught middle school in Moorpark in Ventura County for 29 years. Allen was a school board member of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.
Whether the bills will garner the support of other lawmakers in the Legislature remains to be seen. So far, the Legislature has done little to address the shortage, despite pleas for action from various educator groups.
“We look forward to working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move common sense legislation to rebuild the teaching profession so that our Legislators challenge Sacramento to tackle teacher shortage | EdSource: 

‘Pay Our Special Education Teachers Before Vulture Capitalists’ Demand Puerto Rican Protesters | gadflyonthewallblog

‘Pay Our Special Education Teachers Before Vulture Capitalists’ Demand Puerto Rican Protesters | gadflyonthewallblog:

‘Pay Our Special Education Teachers Before Vulture Capitalists’ Demand Puerto Rican Protesters

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Every student with special needs in the United States is guaranteed a Free and Appropriate Public Education under national law.
So why has the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico stopped paying its special education teachers?
More than 100 parents, therapists, psychologist, occupational therapists, students and teachers marched on Monday to the capital in San Juan to find out.
The rally began in front of the legislature at 9 before protesters marched to the governor’s mansion at 10:30 am. Demonstrators then met with representatives of ‘Pay Our Special Education Teachers Before Vulture Capitalists’ Demand Puerto Rican Protesters | gadflyonthewallblog:


Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/2/16



CORPORATE ED REFORM


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