Latest News and Comment from Education

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Wisconsin Update: Fox and the Tea Party Are No Match for Tens of Thousands of Protestors | Change.org News #wisolidarity #wiunion #weac

Wisconsin Update: Fox and the Tea Party Are No Match for Tens of Thousands of Protestors | Change.org News

Wisconsin Update: Fox and the Tea Party Are No Match for Tens of Thousands of Protestors

For the last four days, crowds of tens of thousands of Wisconsin workers have flooded the state capital of Madison in attempts to halt Republican efforts to smash state workers' collective bargaining rights.

"I've been here since 10am and the crowd has been getting larger by the hour," said Milwaukee educator Thomas Orozco Saturday afternoon. "There are senior citizens, firefighters, private sector unions, folks from all races here."

Last week, Gov. Walker announced he would "fix" an $137 million budget shortfall by eliminating collective bargaining rights for public workers. Rather than going after the two-thirds of Wisconsin corporations who pay no tax in the state, Walker wants to destroy the most basic labor rights for his own employees.

Outrage against the bill quickly spread across Wisconsin. Thousands workers, students, and supporter

Update On Wisconsin | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Update On Wisconsin | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Inside Miguel del Valle's campaign

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Inside Miguel del Valle's campaign

Inside Miguel del Valle's campaign

Are you part of the solution, or…? | Dailycensored.com #wisolidarity #wiunion #weac

Are you part of the solution, or…? | Dailycensored.com

Are you part of the solution, or…?

Governor Scott Walker took a state headed for a great surplusand instituted tax cuts for his Republican friends, which turned the surplus into a huge deficit. Now is using this deficit to justify the crucifixion of labor. He is attempting to eliminate collective bargaining and increase the burden on the middle and lower class of Wisconsin.

Besides attempting to transfer wealth to his friends he wants to break the back of the middle class. He wants to destroy public education. He is the point man for the Koch’s Tea Party that

An Alarming Trend | Billionaires for Educational Reform #wisolidarity #wiunion #weac

An Alarming Trend | Billionaires for Educational Reform

An Alarming Trend

I say, when the unwashed hordes descend on the capital demanding this and that, it’s disturbing. For the love of Smedley, can’t those despicable Wisconsin residents stick to their cheese and leave the rest of us alone? Apparently they cannot. They have to have their pensions, and their medical benefits, and what they call their “right” to negotiate working conditions. Working conditions should rightfully be dictated by employers, and thank goodness this bold governor is standing up to them.

Nonetheless, should these persons of no account prevail, the results will prove highly unprofitable. In fact, such a move could provoke government to reverse the sensible tax breaks we’ve received on not only a national level, but a local level as well. We must stop this at any cost. Fortunately there are trends here in

Police and firefighters join lawmakers in Grand Rapids rally against repealing binding arbitration | MLive.com #wisolidarity #wiunion #weac

Police and firefighters join lawmakers in Grand Rapids rally against repealing binding arbitration | MLive.com

Police and firefighters join lawmakers in Grand Rapids rally against repealing binding arbitration

Published: Saturday, February 19, 2011, 9:24 PM
g0220arb03.JPGState Rep. Brandon Dillon, D-Grand Rapids, speaks to a crowd of more than 300 Saturday at a rally opposing the repeal of Public Act 312, which requires binding arbitration to resolve disputes between cities and unions.

GRAND RAPIDS — More than 300 police officers, firefighters and other union supporters rallied on Calder Plaza Saturday to let lawmakers know how much they oppose a bill to end binding arbitration to resolve disputes between their unions and municipalities.

State Reps. Roy Schmidt and Brandon Dillon, both Grand Rapids Democrats, organized the event that also drew members from the Michigan Education Association and Grand Rapids Employees Independent Union.

Grand Rapids City Commissioners Dave Shaffer, Walt Gutowski, Ruth Kelly and Rosalynn Bliss were present as were Board of Education members Tony Baker and Jon O’Connor.

The rally was called to show support for the 1969 Public Act 312 which mandates bindin

Daily Kos: "Riot Police" at 2 AM in Madison? Maybe not . #wisolidarity #wiunion #weac

Daily Kos: "Riot Police" at 2 AM in Madison? Maybe not . . .

"Riot Police" at 2 AM in Madison? Maybe not . . .

see update at end

twitter is alive with breaking messages, primarily citing Mother Jones, that the riot police have been ordered to clear the Capitol at 2 AM.

I have no source that I can cite other than Mother Jones citing their sources.

I presume that the Governor hoped at that hour there would not be any press coverage.

I have to hope that people there will have contacts with the press and be able to inform them

An idea for journalists covering education

Yesterday, February 18, I attended a seminar on quality teaching sponsored jointly by the Education Writers Association and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. There were more than 50 journalists who write about education, just over a dozen educators, each of whom blogs/writes about education, and several experts who presented and took questions. I will before the holiday weekend is over write a more extensive piece about my reflections on the event.

One interesting part of the event was a dialog among the journalists and educators. In an email discussion, the educators have decided to offer some suggestions to the journalists about stories they can do to more completely tell their readers about teaching, schools, education. The first such post was by Ariel Sacks and

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Modern School: March 2nd Day of Action for Public Education

Modern School: March 2nd Day of Action for Public Education

March 2nd Day of Action for Public Education

Poster by Juan Garcia, Defend Public Education
March is the National Month of Actions to Defend Public Education. For more information, check the websites below.

Schools Matter: Koch Bros. Own Wisconsin's Scott Walker and the Demonstrators Who Support Him #wisolidarity #wiunion #weac

Schools Matter: Koch Bros. Own Wisconsin's Scott Walker and the Demonstrators Who Support Him

Koch Bros. Own Wisconsin's Scott Walker and the Demonstrators Who Support Him

The Wisconsin chapter of the Billionaire Boys Club bought themselves a governor last Fall who is proving to be a quick study for the script that the Koch henchmen have written for him. Their effort, however, to roll back labor arrangements to the 19th Century was a slight misjudgment, you might say.

The violated workers of Wisconsin and America have been been awakened from their historical anesthesia (Freire), and they are carrying the fire once more. What are two befuddled oligarchs who made their billions by poisoning our mother earth to do in the face of people re-committed to the political struggle for fairness and equality and sanity in the workplace?

Well, of course, they call out their paid demonstrators to march in favor of their bought Governor. From Think Progress:
Wisconsin’s newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker is facing a growing backlash over his

Mad City! « Fred Klonsky's blog #wisolidarity #wiunion #weac

Mad City! « Fred Klonsky's blog

Mad City!

What More Do They Want? #wisolidarity #wiunion #weac


WEACvideo | February 19, 2011 | likes, 0 dislikes

Dedicated Wisconsin public employees say they have agreed to Governor Walker's pension and health care cuts, but they won't give up their rights.

City of Madison Law Enforcement Praises Protesters' Conduct #wisolidarity #wiunion #weac

City of Madison News Release

SATURDAY'S CAPITOL SQUARE DEMONSTRATIONS

Law Enforcement Praises Protesters' Conduct

On behalf of all the law enforcement agencies that helped keep the peace on the Capitol Square Saturday, a very sincere thank you to all of those who showed up to exercise their First Amendment rights. You conducted yourselves with great decorum and civility, and if the eyes of the nation were upon Wisconsin, then you have shown how democracy can flourish even amongst those who passionately disagree. As of 5:00 p.m., no major incidents had been reported. There have been no arrests. However, discourse and discussion was - at times - loud and heated. That was to be expected. As previously indicated, the goal of law enforcement has been to provide a safe environment for democracy to take place. That goal has been realized for yet another day.