CURMUDGUCATION: Arizona Mounts Further Assault On Public School Teachers

CURMUDGUCATION: Arizona Mounts Further Assault On Public School Teachers

Arizona Mounts Further Assault On Public School Teachers

Arizona has lost its damn mind, this week passing some of the stupidest, most aggressively anti-public ed laws anywhere, including an absolutely insane law requiring teachers to file lesson plans a year in advance.

Arizona has always been a strong contender for most anti-public education state in the county. They've had trouble convincing teachers to work there for years (at one point they were recruiting in the Phillipines), using the one two punch of low salaries along with rock-bottom spending on classrooms (this is the state where the house GOP leader contended that teachers were just working second jobs so they could buy boats). In the meantime, they have done their best to foster charter profiteering and set up vouchers at the expense of public ed. Did I mention that Arizona is the Koch home base?

There was no reason to be surprised when Arizona's teachers rose up in revolt. Governor Ducey made noises about recognizing the problem, but he's been trying to slap teaches around ever since. Arizona legislators have come after teachers and public schools before, but this week is really something special.

This week Ducey issued an executive order requiring all schools to return o in-person learning by CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Arizona Mounts Further Assault On Public School Teachers

Attacks against teacher unions uncovers anti-educator nature of Bloomberg and Republicans – North Texas Daily

Attacks against teacher unions uncovers anti-educator nature of Bloomberg and Republicans – North Texas Daily

Attacks against teacher unions uncovers anti-educator nature of Bloomberg and Republicans

The recent controversy surrounding the reopening of U.S. schools during the COVID-19 pandemic has placed former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Republicans on the same team against teacher unions. Bloomberg and Republicans have spewed rhetoric that exposes the anti-educator beliefs inherent to the oligarch and the GOP.

“It’s time for Joe Biden to stand up and to say, the kids are the most important things, important players here,” Bloomberg said during an interview on MSNBC. “And the teachers just are going to have to suck it up and stand up and provide an education.” This is not the first time Bloomberg has made an enemy of himself against teachers’ unions. In 2013, Bloomberg compared teacher unions to the National Rifle Association.

Bloomberg’s unwarranted advice to President Biden does not have much basis in the political reality of the moment. Presidents should never have to “stand up” to teacher unions. Instead, whoever the president is, regardless of party, must always be doubtfully allied with teacher unions.

There is nothing that the unions want more than to be included at the negotiating table. American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten published an article that laid out a plan for reopening schools. Teachers are yearning for the classroom, the only problem is lawmakers are not willing to make the investment to do so safely.

Carefully reopening all public schools is a massive task mainly because marginalized schools lack funding for resources required to follow health protocols. It is no surprise that the ninth richest person on the planet — who also made $6.8 billion since the COVID-19 pandemic started — is out of touch with the economic challenges that ill-funded schools face.

AFT has estimated that reopening schools would require $116.5 billion in federal funding. The price tag seems high, but dissecting the figure reveals essential costs such CONTINUE READING: Attacks against teacher unions uncovers anti-educator nature of Bloomberg and Republicans – North Texas Daily

Arthur Goldstein Asks Michael Bloomberg to Stop Disrespecting Teachers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Arthur Goldstein Asks Michael Bloomberg to Stop Disrespecting Teachers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Arthur Goldstein Asks Michael Bloomberg to Stop Disrespecting Teachers

Arthur Goldstein has taught ESL for decades in New York City. He is tired of being lectured by billionaires like Michael Bloomberg about how to teach or what a slacker he is.

He writes in The New York Daily News:

There’s lots of talk about whether or not school buildings should be open. European school buildings recently shut over concerns that children do indeed spread the virus. Yet former Mayor Mike Bloomberg now says, “It’s time for Joe Biden to stand up and to say, the kids are the most important things and important players here. And the teachers just are going to have to suck it up and stand up and provide an education.”

In fact we’ve never stopped doing that, but Bloomberg seems not to have received the memo. Bloomberg says kids are most important. Twelve years of working in New York City schools under Mike Bloomberg tell me to him, CONTINUE READING: Arthur Goldstein Asks Michael Bloomberg to Stop Disrespecting Teachers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Who’s to Blame? | Live Long and Prosper

Who’s to Blame? | Live Long and Prosper

Who’s to Blame?

How can a school system evaluate their teachers this year?

No one has been trained to work under our current conditions of either remote learning or learning while maintaining a social distance while wearing face coverings.

Everyone is doing what they can to make things work.

Some of the teachers who have worked hard to be there for their students have gotten sick.

Some have died.

We’ve discovered that COVID can strike anyone…even children. Even in school.

Parents who work outside the home can infect their children, and those children can infect their teachers.

When students or teachers get COVID, school systems, cities, and municipalities are quick to say “it didn’t happen at school.” This keeps the schools open and the kids at school so parents can work even if it’s not true. (And I understand the need for parents to work. I understand the difficulty for some parents of not being able to work from home…and at the same time having to be home with their children).

Sometimes if it gets too bad, schools will “go virtual.”

What happens to the parents, then? Do they quit their jobs? Do they lose their jobs? Do they enlist the aid of grandparents who might be more susceptible to CONTINUE READING: Who’s to Blame? | Live Long and Prosper

Attacks on Teachers Have Been Central to Republicans’ Agenda to Reduce Government Spending | janresseger

Attacks on Teachers Have Been Central to Republicans’ Agenda to Reduce Government Spending | janresseger

Attacks on Teachers Have Been Central to Republicans’ Agenda to Reduce Government Spending

Among the lingering effects of state budget reductions during the 2008 Great Recession have been widespread drops in teachers’ overall compensation. Although some states and local school districts do their part to pay their teachers fairly, and some provide the fringe benefits such professionals should expect, overall according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute, “teachers are paid less (in wages and compensation) than other college-educated workers with similar experience.”  And, “(T)his financial penalty discourages college students from entering the teaching profession.”

Our economy has now entered another recession due to layoffs and business closures during COVID-19, and without further federal relief to states, teachers are likely once again to be the victims.

All summer and through September, U.S. Senate Republicans have refused to negotiate with House Democrats, who passed their bid for a second coronavirus relief bill, the HEROES Act, on May 15.  Until this past weekend, it looked as though Congress would recess until after the election without the Senate’s agreeing even to take up the bill for consideration.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House negotiator Steve Mnuchin returned to discussions last week, but until the President became ill with COVID-19 over the weekend, it looked as though progress had broken down. The President’s infection by COVID-19 and indications that the economy will continue to lag have, apparently, brought Pelosi and CONTINUE READING: Attacks on Teachers Have Been Central to Republicans’ Agenda to Reduce Government Spending | janresseger