My need for Family Leave #FAMILYAct « MomsRising Blog

My need for Family Leave #FAMILYAct « MomsRising Blog:

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How the FAMILY Act Will Help Direct Care Workers, Their Clients, and Our Economy

Next Tuesday, December 12, will be an important day in the fight to help direct care workers and their families and other hard-working people in the U.S. On that day, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) will introduce the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY Act), [link to http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work-family/paid-leave/family-act-fact-sheet.pdf] a national paid family and medical leave program, into Congress. Under the bill, nearly all U.S. workers would be able to take a limited period of time off from work w

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How Congress Can Deliver for Working Families #FAMILYAct

This post originally appeared on Human Rights Watch. When Samantha learned she was pregnant, she hoped for a healthy delivery, a happy baby, and a smooth return to work. Life did not go according to plan. Samantha had a C-section, and the wound got infected. She took eight weeks of leave from work, much of it unpaid. Samantha went into debt, deferred student loans, and dipped into savings. She was in pain when she returned to work, barely able to walk. Her employer then laid her off, saying they wanted someone who could work late shifts with little notice. This week a bill will be introduced

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Paid Family Leave: We Shouldn’t Have to Choose Between Our Families and our Jobs #FAMILYAct

This post was originally published on the AFL-CIO website. Only 12% of the workforce has paid family leave. While the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)—the nation’s only federal law designed to help working people meet the dual demands of job and family—has kept millions of people from losing their jobs when serious medical needs arise, it doesn’t cover 40% of people on the job. In addition, the FMLA only guarantees unpaid leave, which is unaffordable for many working women and families. The issue of access to paid family leave was one of the serious problems raised earlier this week, when I

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TODAY

The FAMILY Act: A Long Overdue Investment in Our Families

This blog post was originally published on A Better Balance Blog. When a family member is confronted with a serious illness, or when a new child is born or adopted, many American workers are forced to choose between their jobs and the well-being of their families. Even though most workers will experience the need to provide care to a loved one at some point in their lives, no federal law guarantee

by Jared Make / 1h 

Breastfeeding, Health and Work: Why We Need the FAMILY Act Now

Breastfeeding has significant health benefits for babies – from protecting them from illness to reducing the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Children who were breastfed are less likely to develop asthma or become obese.  Breastfeeding is also associated with health benefits for women, including decreasing the risk of certain cancers.  Families that breastfeed can save hundreds or

by Julia Parish / 1h 

Paid Leave Keeps Women in Their Jobs and That’s Good for the Economy #FAMILYAct

August marked the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA); a groundbreaking law that has been used more than 100 million times, helping workers keep their jobs while they care for a family health crisis or a new baby.  Unfortunately, because FMLA leave is generally unpaid and has eligibility restrictions, millions who qualify for it can’t afford to take it, an

by Linda Meric / 1h 

Bridging the Gap: Bringing the Benefits of Paid Family Leave to American Workers #FAMILYAct

This blog post was crossposted from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research FemChat blog. In its founding year, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) analyzed the costs to workers of not having unpaid leave for childbirth, personal health needs, or family caregiving in its inaugural publication, Unnecessary Losses: Costs to Americans of the Lack of Family and Medical Leave. IWPR’s res

by Lindsey Reichlin / 1h 

The Ripple Effects of the FAMILY Act

This blog was crossposted from Family Values @ Work “Unintended consequences” – this is the term we hear all the time from lobbyists for mega corporations when they try to block new policies that would allow people to care for their loved ones and provide for them. “You’re well-intentioned,” they drone, “but you’ll bring about unintended consequences that will hurt the very people you want to help

by Ellen Bravo / 1h 

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 Must be Expanded to Provide Paid Leave #FAMILYAct

Will the US join the rest of the modern world – and California, New Jersey and Rhode Island – by supporting, with real policies, family values?  That’s the question that the proposed expansion of family and medical leave raises. The extension to the act, to be introduced into the US Congress in early October, proposes paid leave for mothers at the birth of a child and also provides for paid leave

by Bill Barclay / 1h 

My need for Family Leave #FAMILYAct

I blog to help share my story so others who have been through it know they aren’t alone and to educate those who haven’t been through it.  This is a topic that not only affects caregivers but parents, children and entire families.  I think it’s important for everyone to understand how interconnected all of these issues are and how we need to work together to accomplish change. I have been asked to

by Erin Hayes / 1h 

YESTERDAY

Women Who Code – Why Including Motherhood in STEM Discussions Matters

With millions of students taking part in “Hour of Code,” a campaign supported by technology companies as part of National Computer Science Week, there is a lot of internet chatter about the importance of high-tech skills in an innovation economy. By late Tuesday, more than 60 percent of the students who had taken one of the intro coding tutorials were girls.  This came as a surprise to the organiz

by Shay Chan Hodges / 6h 

Daily Kos: Perhaps it takes someone who has been poor

Daily Kos: Perhaps it takes someone who has been poor:

Perhaps it takes someone who has been poor

byteacherkenFollow

to know how gross the recent statement by Rand Paul about extended unemployment insurance really was.

I cannot claim to be that person, although there were brief times where I did not know how I would pay for my next meal.  But my rent was paid, I had a job, and I knew I would get through.

Charles M. Blow has experienced poverty, and that is part of the context in which his writes for tomorrow's New York Times in piece titled The Appalling Stance of Rand Paul, which I highly recommend.

Let's be clear that Paul is not alone in his attitude towards aspects of the social safety net.  Of greater importance, Blow fully recognizes that the idea of some being "takers" and abusing the system is not limited to the ppor:

Whereas I am sure that some people will abuse any form of help, I’m by no means convinced that this is the exclusive domain of the poor and put-upon. Businesses and the wealthy regularly take advantage of subsidies and tax loopholes without blinking an eye. But somehow, when some poor people, or those who unexpectedly fall on hard times, take advantage of benefits for which they are eligible it’s an indictment of the morality 

Are You a Leader or Manager? | Connected Principals

Are You a Leader or Manager? | Connected Principals:

Are You a Leader or Manager?

by Sam LeDeaux • December 11, 2013 • 0 Comments

Most school districts claim to want to move from good to great, become world class, become a 21st century district, or fill in the slogan blank.  Getting past the cliches (and the fact that we’re 14 years into the 21st century already), effective implementation of these transformations/progressions requires progressive thinking and leadership.  Doing things the way you’ve always done them is not going to vault you to a new status; it will maintain your current status.  As a matter of fact, maintaining while others around you vault forward, relatively speaking, equates to falling behind.

Whether leadership positions are in classrooms responsible for kids, or offices responsible for adults, people look up to you everyday.  Leadership positions tend to be occupied by leaders and managers.  Some differences are:

Leaders…	Managers…
empower	manage
support creativity & divergent thinking	teach “the right way” & make sure everyone knows what to think
trust	look over the shoulder
delegate tasks of great responsibility	delegate tasks of minor responsibility
ask questions	tell the correct answer
seek knowledge from everyone

Holy Crap. Cooper Union Just Blinked on Tuition. |:

Holy Crap. Cooper Union Just Blinked on Tuition.

December 11, 2013 in Students

Extraordinary. A victory on tuition at Cooper Union may be possible after all.

Today the Cooper Union board of trustees met for the first time after the college’s Working Group on tuition policy finished its deliberations. Though the trustees had previously approved a proposal to begin charging tuition for the first time in Cooper’s history, tonight they blinked.

In an announcement to the campus community released just moments ago, the chair of Cooper’s board of trustees announced that they need more time to review the Working Group’s proposal to keep Cooper Union tuition free, and that in order “to give the proposals contained in the report the serious and rigorous review and analysis that they warrant,” the board will continue its study of the proposal over the course of the next month.

The board will meet again in mid-January, the announcement stated, “to 

SBSB Calls For the Arrest, Prosecution, and Conviction of KIPP Principal Anokhi Saraiya - southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com:

SBSB Calls For the Arrest, Prosecution, and Conviction of KIPP Principal Anokhi Saraiya

Imagine if you are a mommy and one day you drop off your son at school. As you leave him and head to work thoughts of his learning, exploring, and creating are going through your head. You smile as you get to work with those wonderful thoughts still in your head.

As you walk into your job you dream of how much school means to the future of your son. You want him to have a love for learning and for school, something that can, and should last a lifetime. But then one day things change. For the worse.

Today, the Daily News reported that the KIPP Star Washington Heights Elementary School on W. 177th St two young boys were detained into "tot cells" to cure their behavior. According to the Daily News, these rooms (The size of a small closet) had a single mat, a single light and a a window in the door 2x3 feet, seems like something out of a Viet Nam War prison camp. The students were left in there for 15-20 minutes.

Oh, these two boys were FIVE AND SEVEN YEARS OLD!

Teneka Hall, mother of one of the boys said;

“He was crying hysterically...It’s no way to treat a child.”

On December 3rd her son Xavier had to be rushed to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital because he wet 

Head Start funding partially restored in federal budget deal | EdSource Today

Head Start funding partially restored in federal budget deal | EdSource Today:

Head Start funding partially restored in federal budget deal

December 11th, 2013 | Add a Comment | 
By Jane Adams and Lillian Mongeau

A Head Start teacher and students in class in California. Credit: Lillian Mongeau, EdSource Today

Head Start received a reprieve Tuesday under the new Congressional budget agreement that would restore some, if not most, of the funding cut from the national child care program last spring.

Head Start lost about 57,000 slots for children, including more than 5,600 in California, because of cuts under federal sequestration, a program of automatically triggered, across-the-board spending cuts. These cuts have continued to ripple through Head Start operations month by month as they cycle through their federal grant processes.

“It’s good news, in that we will not see additional cuts this year,” said Rick Mockler, executive director of the California Head Start Association. But the deal, which must pass Congress and be signed by President Barack Obama, won’t fully restore the 5.27 percent cuts to California Head Start programs made under the sequester, he said.

“We don’t have a (budget) number yet,” said Mockler, noting that it might be a restoration of about 50 percent of the cut funding. Funding for programs is to be decided in the next few weeks, as appropriations committees in Congress work to allocate spending under the new agreement, if and when it is passed.

Head Start, which serves about 106,000 California children, has been operating in a degree of fiscal uncertainty since Congress failed to pass its 2014 budget in October, triggering a brief 

Education For The 21st Century:

Education For The 21st Century

Reading various commentaries about what should be taught in our schools in order to provide the best opportunity for student success in the 21st Century has got me thinking. It seems there are at least three primary areas that education should address: National/State/Local Needs, Economic Needs, and Personal Growth. Of course there could be other needs, perhaps many others, but properly addressing these three should give students a boost toward success.

By national/state/local needs I am referring to concepts such as “citizenship” which is already a core part of school curricula. The Common Core is promising as far as a national goal of what should be necessary of all students on a national level, but it is constrained by the numbing effects of politicians wanting it endlessly evaluated through the use of high-stakes tests, certainly not the way most educators would like to measure progress. State and local needs are similarly important in addressing the concerns of both polities, but there needs to be some sort of watchdog that will keep purely partisan requirements under control, especially those that do little 

NYU students allowed to unionize, hope to set precedent | Al Jazeera America

NYU students allowed to unionize, hope to set precedent | Al Jazeera America:

NYU students allowed to unionize, hope to set precedent

by Peter Moskowitz @PeterMoskowitz December 11, 2013 2:12PM ET

Graduate students circumvent the National Labor Relations Board in favor of independent unionization

Topics:

 

New York

 

College

 

Education

A flag flies from a building at New York University. 

Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

It’s not exactly what they hoped for, but New York University students are celebrating.

After a battle spanning nearly a decade between students, the National Labor Relations Board and the administration of NYU, graduate students who also work as employees — most as teaching assistants — will be the first private school students allowed to join a national union and collectively bargain with their employer.

But unlike most unionized workplaces, NYU’s students won’t be covered under NLRB labor law. That's because, in a last minute decision, NYU students decided to ditch their petition to be recognized by the board, and instead worked out an agreement with the school itself to allow unionization without governmental recognition.

Now, assuming most graduate student employees vote in favor of the measure on Wednesday, the students will be represented by the United Auto Workers Union. Any disputes between the the students and NYU will be mediated by the American Arbitration Association instead of the NLRB.

While the decision is a few steps shy of the full-fledged federal union status many have spent years fighting for, NYU student organizers say they hope their alternative route to union representation will set a precedent for other private universities with graduate student employees who want better pay,