Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Wis. Workers to Walker: Stop the Lies and Come to the Table | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG #WeAreWI #WIUnion

Wis. Workers to Walker: Stop the Lies and Come to the Table | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG

Wis. Workers to Walker: Stop the Lies and Come to the Table

by James Parks, Mar 8, 2011


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Despite his posturing at a press conference yesterday, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is unwilling to engage in good-faith negotiations with Democrats who are standing up for nearly three-fourths of Wisconsin voters who oppose his budget proposal.

In a statement, the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO said Walker’ s declaration that he will not compromise with unions “demonstrates clearly he has no interest in compromising, just creating the illusion of compromise as his polling numbers sink to record-low levels.”

The statement pointed out that working people already have accepted every sacrifice on wages and benefits Walker insisted on. The statement goes on to ask:

When are corporations going to make their shared sacrifice to fix Wisconsin’s budget? In fact, Scott Walker’s plan calls for huge give backs to the corporate special interests that bankrolled his campaign. Walker’s power grab has nothing to do with the budget and everything to do with stripping workers of our bargaining rights.
It’s time for Scott Walker stop the lies, end the showboating, and come to the table to negotiate a deal that gets Wisconsin moving forward again.

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This Week In Education: Quote: Banning Unions Won't End Teachers' Influence

Thompson: "When The Nation Has A Cold, Schools Sneeze" [image: Community] Larry Cuban reminds us of the "Big Picture" in our educational civil war, noting that "when the nation has a cold, schools sneeze." He describes today's "reformers" as an embodiment of American culture with an historical ...

Quote: Banning Unions Won't End Teachers' Influence *[image: Quotes2] If unions are banned tomorrow, that’s not going to stop teachers from organizing politically on behalf of their own interests. And any kind of teachers’ lobby is going to be pretty politically effective...*-- Matt Yglesias

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Reforms with no merit

Reforms with no merit

by Mike Klonsky

If you need any more evidence that so-called "merit pay" is a crappy idea, here it is, right from the horse's mouth:

New York City’s heralded $75 million experiment in teacher incentive pay — deemed “transcendent” when it was announced in 2007 — did not increase student achievement at all, a new study by the Harvard economist Roland Fryer concludes.“If anything,” Fryer writes of schools that participated in the program, “student achievement declined.”-- Gotham Schools

Teacher evaluation

Over at the teacher-free National Journal, a panel of experts rehashes test score-baed teacher evaluation and the B.S. continues to pile up. Here's more on the continuing saga of Bill Gages, the man who nobody

Schools Matter: Mitch "Red Menace" Daniels Going for the Public Jugular

Mitch "Red Menace" Daniels Going for the Public Jugular

by Jim Horn

With the reckless urgency that marks a desperate cynical scrambling to sustain a corporate welfare education scheme that is doomed by its own greedy overreaching and fraudulent machinations , the Koch Industry governors have gone All In to dismantle public schools and to crush teachers and staff. From Nick Anderson at WaPo:

INDIANAPOLIS - The Republican faceoff with labor unions in the Midwest and elsewhere marks not just a fight over money and collective bargaining, but also a test of wills over how to improve the nation's schools.

GOP governors are pushing to limit teacher bargaining rights, dismantle teacher tenure and channel public money toward private schools. All are direct challenges to the teachers unions and their mostly Democratic political allies in Congress and in statehouses across the nation.

This approach to school reform is far more confrontational than President Obama's and threatens

Volunteer to Help Recall the Republican 8 | Defend Wisconsin #WeAreWI #WIUnion

Volunteer to Help Recall the Republican 8 | Defend Wisconsin

Volunteer to Help Recall the Republican 8

– MARCH 8, 2011POSTED IN: VOLUNTEER

Recall the Republic 8 is organizing the recall of the 8 Republican Senators. If you would like to help, sign up here.

Canvass times are 10am and 2pm Saturday and Sunday at the following locations.Robert Cowles
Green Bay/De Pere/Ashwaubenon
Brown County Dems Office 1061 W. Mason St., Green Bay
Shawano Angies Main Cafe 132 South Main Street, Shawano

Alberta Darling
Milwaukee/Shorewood/Whitefish Bay Sweet and Associates 2510 E Capitol

Sheila Harsdorf
Hudson Hudson Coffee and Bagel 800 Carmichael Rd., Hudson
River Falls Earth Angels 321 N 2nd St, River Falls

Luther Olsen
Portage Home of Margo Miller 813 W. Carroll St., Portage
Waupaca Woods Shopping Mall at 825 W. Fulton St
Ripon **This location has changed** The new location is United Steelworkers 443 Scott St., Ripon

Randy Hopper
Fond du Lac Winnebagoland Uniserv 325 Trowbridge Drive, Fond du Lac
Oshkosh UW Oshkosh Reeve Union 748 Algoma Boulevard, Oshkosh

Dan Kapanke
La Crosse/Onalaska Machinists Hall 1307 Market Street, La Crosse

The Answer Sheet - Ravitch: Jon Stewart and other education heroes

Ravitch: Jon Stewart and other education heroes

This was written by education historian Diane Ravitch for her Bridging Differences blog, which she co-authors with Deborah Meier on the Education Week website. Ravitch and Meier exchange letters about what matters most in education. Ravitch, a research professor at New York University, is the author of the bestselling “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” an important critique of the flaws in the modern school reform movement. Dear Deborah, I am writing from Madison, where I arrived an hour ago. Tonight, I am speaking to the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, a date arranged many months ago, long before anyone imagined that Madison would be the scene of a major political battle. The stalemate in Wisconsin continues, and polls show that the public supports collective-bargaining rights for public-sector workers. I was worried that there might be a race to the bottom, having read complaints on blogs that

Schools Matter: Teacher Merit Pay Has No Merit, Again

Teacher Merit Pay Has No Merit, Again

by Jim Horn

First, the ground-splitting Vanderbilt study. And now this from New York City, a study conducted, no less, by pay for performance fan, Roland Fryer. If this doesn't finally end the fascination with this line of stupidity, what will.

From Elizabeth Green at Gotham Schools (ht to Monty Neill):

New York City’s heralded $75 million experiment in teacher incentive pay — deemed “transcendent” when it was announced in 2007 — did not increase student achievement at all, a new study by the Harvard economist Roland Fryer concludes.

“If anything,” Fryer writes of schools that participated in the program, “student achievement declined.” Fryer and his team used state math and English test scores as the main indicator of academic achievement.

Nobody’s coming to the “tax the retiree” party but the IEA. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Nobody’s coming to the “tax the retiree” party but the IEA.

by Fred Klonsky

When Illinois Senate President John Cullerton floated the trial balloon yesterday, it got shot down pretty quick.

Capitol Fax reports that the idea of a tax on retiree benefits was not well received yesterday.

Ironically, two weeks ago the IEA Board of Directors voted to place it on the table for consideration at the urging of out-going IEA President Ken Swanson. This would require a change in the IEA legislative platform by the RA that is meeting Friday and Saturday.

It should be quite a discussion.

While the IEA leadership is willing to sit at the table on this, it appears the

Michigan firefighters, union members storm capitol in protest of anti-union legislation | Detroit Free Press | freep.com #WeAreWI #WIUnion

Michigan firefighters, union members storm capitol in protest of anti-union legislation | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Michigan firefighters, union members storm capitol in protest of anti-union legislation

In a scene similar to protests in Madison, Wisc., hundreds of firefighters and union members from around the state have jammed the rotunda of the Michigan Capitol building protesting what they call anti-union legislation percolating in the Legislature.

Loudly chanting, "Shame on you" and "We are union," the protesters can be heard loudly in the Senate chamber, where bills to strengthen the powers of emergency financial managers for distressed cities and school districts were expected to be acted upon today.

It is the first time a union-led protest -- several in recent weeks --

Insulting Letter to Dem. Senator Mark Miller from Scott Fitzgerald Solidarity Wisconsin #WeAreWI #WIUnion

Solidarity Wisconsin

All Out for Madison, Saturday March 12 « Larry Miller's Blog #WeAreWI #WIUnion

All Out for Madison, Saturday March 12 « Larry Miller's Blog

All Out for Madison, Saturday March 12

by millerlf

Thank the Wisconsin 14

Have you thanked the Wisconsin 14 yet? Use this Facebook link to write a thank you note to the Wisconsin 14 who are standing up for the people. They are true American heroes.

Canvassing/Phone Banks

Please contact Area or Senate District leads to sign up to canvass and make phone calls. Milwaukee Area (Jennissee Volpintesta 262-364-6751) and Peter Drummond (414-333-1606)

Capitol

Saturday 3/12/2011 – 12:00 – 2:00 pm
- Farmer Labor Tractorcade. Farmers from across the Dairyland will bring tractors and solidarity to the WI capitol to fight for labor rights and a just state budget. Rural communities will be disproportionately hurt by the cuts to education and Badgercare.
Saturday, March 12th – 3pm
- Capitol Rally

Buses to Madison

MTEA. Buses are leaving from the MTEA at 12:45 PM – boarding at 12:15. To register go the MTEA website.

Voces de la Frontera

Milwaukee: Buses depart 11 am from Voces de la Frontera, 1027 S. 5th St. Return at 6 pm

To reserve your seat for Milwaukee buses call: 414-643-1620

Racine: Buses depart 10 am from Pick ‘n Save, 2210 Rapids Dr. Return at 6:30 pm

To reserve your seat for Racine buses call: 262-619-4180

Kenosha:Buses depart 10 am from Centro Hispano, 5900 11th Ave. Return at 6:30 pm

To reserve your seat for Kenosha bus call: Ana Ortiz, 262-657-2160 ext. 230

Burlington: Buses depart 10 am from Iglesia de San Carlos Borromeo, 440 Kendall St. Return 6:30 pm

To reserve your seat for Burlington buses call: Antonio 262-492-6434

AFT/MGAA

Buses will be leaving from

Progressives Get Serious About Wisconsin Recalls | TPMDC #WeAreWI #WIUnion

Progressives Get Serious About Wisconsin Recalls | TPMDC

Progressives Get Serious About Wisconsin Recalls

Evan McMorris-Santoro | March 8, 2011, 8:49AM

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Demonstrators outside the Wisconsin state Capitol, February 16, 2011.

Democracy for America, PCCC, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Wisconsin Protests

A coalition of progressive groups are taking their threats to recall several Republican members of the state Senate in Wisconsin to the next level this week.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy For America say they've raised more than a half million dollars from a TV ad the groups have been running in two Wisconsin media markets for a week. Now they plan to take that money and refocus their attention on recalling three Republican Senators.

PCCC and DFA first raised the recall threat last week, launching an automated phone campaignto gauge voters interest in recall in several state Senate districts. The response? Voters are ready to give their Senators the boot -- and the PCCC and DFA are ready to help.

According to results of the campaign provided to

EQUALS: JAMES BOND SUPPORTS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2011

WeAreEquals on Mar 5, 2011

JAMES BOND SUPPORTS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2011
www.weareequals.org / www.weareequals.org/blog
The two-minute short, specially commissioned for International Women's Day, sees 007 star Daniel Craig undergo a dramatic makeover as he puts himself, quite literally, in a woman's shoes.

Directed by acclaimed 'Nowhere Boy' director/conceptual artist Sam Taylor-Wood, scripted by Jane Goldman ('Kick Ass') and featuring the voice of Dame Judi Dench reprising her role as 'M', the film will be screened in cinemas and streamed online in a bid to highlight the levels of inequality that persist between men and women in the UK and worldwide. It is the first film featuring Bond to be directed by a woman.

Director: Sam Taylor-Wood. Producer: Barbara Broccoli. Scriptwriter: Jane Goldman. Director of photography: Seamus McGarvey. Featuring the voice of Dame Judi Dench.

Editor: Mel Agace
Post production: Michael Sollinger
Post production coordinator: Harriet Dale
With thanks to all the team at Ascent, including Patrick Malone, Dean Harding,
Grading: Robin Pizzey
Deluxe grade production: Rob Farris
Effects fix: Emily Greenwood
Sound producer: Hannah Mills
Sound: Simon Diggins and Peter Gleaves at Goldcrest

The EQUALS partnership and Annie Lennox would like to thank all the production team, cast and crew that donated their time, vision and energy in the hope of a more equal world for women and girls.

This Week In Education: Media: How Reporters Got Sucked Into Value-Added Debacle

Media: How Reporters Got Sucked Into Value-Added Debacle

by Alexander Russo

Conventional wisdom is that journalists only care about making the front page and beating the competition, and frankly that's often true. But in the March issue of CJR, J-School prof LynNell Hancock tells the fascinating story of how NYC education reporters struggled to figure out what to do with value-added teacher data that they had requested / were being fed by the Bloomberg administration. Hancock describes the reluctance and suspicion with which NYC reporters regarded the value-added data they knew that their editors and many readers would want to see it. "Some were so angry at what looked like a blatant attempt by the city to use reporters in its fight with the

Wisconsin: Democrats Unify While Another Republican Nudges Toward Compromise | FDL News Desk #WeAreWI #WIUnion

Wisconsin: Democrats Unify While Another Republican Nudges Toward Compromise | FDL News Desk

Wisconsin: Democrats Unify While Another Republican Nudges Toward Compromise

by David Dayen

Wisconsin Dems have started the clock on these GOP Senators. (photo: markonf1re)

Dane 101 (one of the great sites of the Cheddarsphere, all of which have been invaluable to covering the Wisconsin story) has collected statements from 11 out of the Fab 14 Senate Democrats, all of which announce their unity of purpose and their desire to meet with the Governor to move this forward. Scott Walker’s contention that Mark Miller was holding up things does not fit with these statements.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side, another state Senator has stressed his willingness to be flexible. As you know, Republicans control the Senate 19-14, so a shift of only three on this issue would change the balance of

Losing My Edu-ligion « EducationCEO's Blog

Losing My Edu-ligion Leave a comment

That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight, I’m
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I haven’t said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

‘Losing My Religion’ - R.E.M.

I can’t explain what’s been going on with me lately. I haven’t written

as much as I did in the past or as much as I promised I would
shit in weeks or months. I don’t know; I haven’t bothered to check the date on the last entry. It’s not that I don’t have anything on my mind. In fact, the contrary is true: I have a lot on my mind because there is a lot going on. I even started writing blog titles and notes in my little composition book. Yeah, that’s the teacher-in-me. But the passion/spark/fire is gone. Or as B.B. King would say: ‘The thrill is gone baby/It’s gone away from me.’ I guess I am just tired because I feel as though I am saying the same things over and over again. And no one is listening, or they just don’t give a damn. Maybe it’s the fact that I am one of millions of parents who feels both voiceless and powerless in this freakshow they call education reform. And by they, I clearly mean the people who don’t know shit about what it takes to teach a class of 15-30 students, where they all have different learning needs/styles and come from different backgrounds (READ: They got stuff going on to which educrats will never be able to relate). Add to that the fact that teachers are no longer teaching for the love of the profession, but because they are scared shitless of some bureaucrat taking away their collective bargaining rights (if they had them to begin with) or harrassing the hell out of them for no other reason than, well, they don’t have shit else to do (because they can’t effectively do anything else). Let’s also throw in the fact that teachers, the

Walker’s elimination of family planning funds could jeopardize federal dollars, close clinics | Defend Wisconsin #WeAreWI #WIUnion

Walker’s elimination of family planning funds could jeopardize federal dollars, close clinics | Defend Wisconsin

Walker’s elimination of family planning funds could jeopardize federal dollars, close clinics

by jillhopke

Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal to eliminate all state funding for family planning services for low-income residents could also jeopardize federal dollars for pregnancy prevention.
“We just don’t know yet how that would work,” says Beth Kaplan, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Health Services.
In the last two years, the state has spent $1.9 million annually on federal planning services at

Communitywide Education Summit « Failing Schools

Communitywide Education Summit

MARCH 8, 2011

by markfriedman1

I have been quite busy these last few weeks building for a Communitywide Education Summit in Rochester, NY based around achieving fundamental meaningful change in our schools. I’d like to take this chance to invite all our readers and allies to come and participate, as we know this type of dialogue and action is quite necessary in order to improve public education. We at the Community Education Task Force (now a local affiliate of Parents Across America) have been working hard to engage parents, students, teachers, and community members. The debate, dialogue, and resulting coordinated actions will certainly bring out voices and views that I intend to follow up and post about here at Failing Schools. Below are the details for the event, which is free and open to the public.

The Community Education Task Force (CETF), Coalition for

Schools Matter: Christie's Data Thugs Cramming Down More Segregated Corporate Charter Schools

Christie's Data Thugs Cramming Down More Segregated Corporate Charter Schools

by Jim Horn

The ethically-challenged Chris Cerf is paddling hard to keep up with the dying wave of school privatization and union destruction that will be swept away as the public awakes to smell what has been cooked up by Wall Street and the Business Roundtable. Without real data to support the continuing spread of the segregated corporate containment camps for child brainwashing, Cerf and Co. are simply cooking the books.

Great summary here provided by Stan Karp on the latest from Christie's goons and stooges.

NJDOE Report on Charter Schools

Signs of Hope? - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Signs of Hope?

by Diane Ravitch

Dear Deborah,

I am writing from Madison, where I arrived an hour ago. Tomorrow, I am speaking to the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, a date arranged many months ago, long before anyone imagined that Madison would be the scene of a major political battle.

The stalemate in Wisconsin continues, and polls show that the public supports collective-bargaining rights for public-sector workers. I was worried that there might be a race to the bottom, having read complaints on blogs that begin, "If I don't have a pension or healthcare, why should they?" Then I learned, thanks to a correspondent, not to be too upset by blog comments. He said that there are people paid to post negative or positive comments about products, people, and ideas. Apparently such people create hundreds of fake identities to simulate public opinion. Oh, well, just another good reason to inform yourself, reach your own judgment, and not be swayed by the crowd, which might consist of one person pretending to be dozens or hundreds.

Last week, I had the exciting experience of appearing on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. Jon has assembled some hilarious satires on the showdown between Gov. Scott Walker and the state's teachers. The segments are

Feminism, Fear of Women, and Britain’s Student Protests « Student Activism

Feminism, Fear of Women, and Britain’s Student Protests

by Angus Johnston

Journalist/professor Nina Power has a great piece on the Guardian’s site today about the role of women in the protest movements that have been rocking Britain in the last few months, and the ways in which critics of the protests have reacted to their prominence.

Some excerpts:

For the usual suspects the participation of so many young women – in the education protests in particular – has given rise to a certain moral panic. See, for example, the hilarious Daily Mail cover:“Rage of the Girl Rioters”.

The attempted pillorying of these young women – accused of “lacking respect” – by the Mail is the latest in a long line of attacks on women who campaign directly against the state: the suffragettes; women involved

Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Wis. Workers to Walker: Stop the Lies and Come to the Table

Michigan firefighters, union members storm capitol in protest of anti-union legislation

Progressives Get Serious About Wisconsin Recalls

Evan McMorris-Santoro | March 8, 2011, 8:49AM

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Communitywide Education Summit