15+ family members and employees of a New York tug boat towing and ferry boat company give to Malloy PAC
Saturday, December 8, 2012
15+ family members and employees of a New York tug boat towing and ferry boat company give to Malloy PAC - Wait, What?
15+ family members and employees of a New York tug boat towing and ferry boat company give to Malloy PAC - Wait, What?:
Boys and Girls HS vs DOE - Report from Public Meeting 12/4/12 6 Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública
Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública:
Boys and Girls HS vs DOE -
Report from Public Meeting 12/4/12 6
Principal Gassaway with Boys & Girls Students
Approximately 450 parents, students, educators and community leaders attended the December 4 meeting at Boys and Girls High School in Bedford Stuyvesant to respond to the DOE’s “Report to the Community on the Performance of Boys and Girls High School” and its proposal concerning the future of the school.
Brooklyn HS Superintendent Karen Watts (formerly Principal of Wadleigh HS in Harlem) presented the DOE’s proposal for Boys and Girls HS which resembles the “good” cop, “bad” cop interrogation scenario. The DOE is considering two “Action Plans” for Boys and Girls. “Action Plan” # 1 involves increased professional development (whoopee!) and removal of Principal Gassaway who enjoys widespread support in the community. “Action Plan
Boys and Girls HS vs DOE -
Report from Public Meeting 12/4/12 6
Principal Gassaway with Boys & Girls Students
Approximately 450 parents, students, educators and community leaders attended the December 4 meeting at Boys and Girls High School in Bedford Stuyvesant to respond to the DOE’s “Report to the Community on the Performance of Boys and Girls High School” and its proposal concerning the future of the school.
Brooklyn HS Superintendent Karen Watts (formerly Principal of Wadleigh HS in Harlem) presented the DOE’s proposal for Boys and Girls HS which resembles the “good” cop, “bad” cop interrogation scenario. The DOE is considering two “Action Plans” for Boys and Girls. “Action Plan” # 1 involves increased professional development (whoopee!) and removal of Principal Gassaway who enjoys widespread support in the community. “Action Plan
The in box. Getting the word out about Springfield rally. « Fred Klonsky
The in box. Getting the word out about Springfield rally. « Fred Klonsky:
The in box. Getting the word out about Springfield rally.
All IEA Retired Members served by the IEA Skokie Office will be receiving postcards early next week – please see attached. Please call the Skokie Office (847-329-7756) to reserve a spot on the bus, and invite family, friends, former colleagues, etc. IEA membership is not required – the bus, donuts/coffee, and lunch are donated by the IEA for all attendees.
Also attached is information from Fred Klonsky’s Blog <http://preaprez.wordpress.com> that supplies more details about the bus. It should be a great day with lots of camaraderie. Please join us!!!
Skokie IEA-Retired Member: The first rallies in support of pension preservation for 2013 will take place on Thursday, Jan. 3 at the Statehouse in Springfield.
Demonstrate to the legislators that the voters back home care enough about this issue to come to Springfield and let their voices be heard!We need you to express your interest in preserving your pension! Reserve a seat on the bus. Contact Pat or Linda at the Skokie Office:
pat.church@ieanea.org or linda.payne@ieanea.org or call:
(847-329-7756). Call or e-mail before Dec. 18th to reserve your seat.· IEA members are encouraged to wear blue. We are looking into providing IEA T-shirts to attendees.Save the date, Jan. 3, and check the IEA website regularly for updates. A bus will be leaving the Golf Mill Shopping Center for Springfield on Jan. 3rd.Make sure that IEA-Retired has your home email address so we can quickly alert you to new developments. E-mail:kim.riley@ieanea.org
More information will follow in January regarding a meeting for IEA-Retired members in the Skokie area!I hope this information is helpful, and I thank you again for helping us spread the word in your area!KimKim RileyIEA-Retired Program ParaprofessionalBloomington IEA Office
The Happy Good Time Emotion Response Place and School Part V: The Playroom Edition.southbronxschool.com
http://www.southbronxschool.com:
The Happy Good Time Emotion Response Place and School Part V: The Playroom Edition
Oh, there is fun to be had every day at The Happy Good Time Emotion Response Place and School, but only if you seek it.
The Happy Good Time Emotion Response Place and School has turned into nothing more than a playroom. A place where students, those students that disrupt their classes, throw chairs, run through the halls, punch and kick teachers are punished by being able to finger paint play with dolls, and have ice cream parties.
Nothing is taken seriously. It is all about making the students feel good. So what if Ezra in 5th grade tells a female teacher to "suck his dick," so what if Schlomo in 5th grade tells a teacher he will "put a cap in you after school," who cares if Menachem never shows up to class. These students know that in The Happy Good Time Emotion Response Place and School there will be zero consequences, for the good time that is awaiting
Nothing is taken seriously. It is all about making the students feel good. So what if Ezra in 5th grade tells a female teacher to "suck his dick," so what if Schlomo in 5th grade tells a teacher he will "put a cap in you after school," who cares if Menachem never shows up to class. These students know that in The Happy Good Time Emotion Response Place and School there will be zero consequences, for the good time that is awaiting
NYC Public School Parents: Grover Whitehurst's big pay day, testifying class size doesn't matter
NYC Public School Parents: Grover Whitehurst's big pay day, testifying class size doesn't matter:
Grover Whitehurst's big pay day, testifying class size doesn't matter
The State of Texas is being sued for inadequate school funding; with over $5 billion cut from school budgets last year alone, leading to unprecedented increases in class sizes. About two-thirds of the school districts in Texas— serving three-quarters of the state’s public school students — are plaintiffs. What’s particularly tragic is that Texas was the first state in the country to systematically reduce in class size: in 1984,
Do Schools Kill Creativity? | toteachornototeach
Do Schools Kill Creativity? | toteachornototeach:
Do Schools Kill Creativity?
Do Schools Kill Creativity?
by Ken Robinson
I’ve spoken twice at TED. The first time was in 2006. TED was a very different event then. It was a private conference for about 1,200 people. After the event, the talks were packaged in a box set of DVDs and sent just to the attendees. I gave a talk called “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” A few months later, Chris Anderson, the curator of TED, called to say they were planning to put a few talks on their website as an experiment and asked if they could include mine. The timing was perfect. Social media was beginning to take shape and the insatiable appetite for YouTube and short videos was about to emerge. The experiment was an instant success and has turned TED into a global cultural phenomenon. There are now several hundred talks on the website and the number of downloads has passed one billion.
I’m surprised and delighted to say that my first talk remains the most viewed of all TEDTalks so far. It’s been
by Ken Robinson
I’ve spoken twice at TED. The first time was in 2006. TED was a very different event then. It was a private conference for about 1,200 people. After the event, the talks were packaged in a box set of DVDs and sent just to the attendees. I gave a talk called “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” A few months later, Chris Anderson, the curator of TED, called to say they were planning to put a few talks on their website as an experiment and asked if they could include mine. The timing was perfect. Social media was beginning to take shape and the insatiable appetite for YouTube and short videos was about to emerge. The experiment was an instant success and has turned TED into a global cultural phenomenon. There are now several hundred talks on the website and the number of downloads has passed one billion.
I’m surprised and delighted to say that my first talk remains the most viewed of all TEDTalks so far. It’s been
Jersey Jazzman: Great Moments in Reformy Tantrum Throwing
Jersey Jazzman: Great Moments in Reformy Tantrum Throwing:
Great Moments in Reformy Tantrum Throwing
Diane Ravitch points us to a story about yet another reformy "school leader" who can't get the job done; consequently, throws a tantrum:
A Franklin County school superintendent vented publicly this week about the slow pace of reforms he wants to see at one of the largest public high schools in the area, Bellows Free Academy-St. Albans.Robert Rosane, superintendent of the Franklin Central Supervisory Union, blasted faculty and administration for blocking innovationin an email he sent Monday to BFA social studies teacher and union leader Justin Bedell.
Top Content this Week - 12-8-12 The Educator's PLN
Top Content this Week - The Educator's PLN:
Cannibalizing the system Parents United for Responsible Education
Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » Cannibalizing the system:
Cannibalizing the system
From today’s Tribune:
Chicago Public Schools said Friday it plans to add four more charter schools to the nine charters previously approved for the coming year, which quickly became fuel for critics of the district’s plans to close many neighborhood schools.
“It simply makes their argument, ‘We have to close schools,’ sound ridiculous,” said Julie Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education. “It would be one thing
Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee wins over a critic
Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee wins over a critic:
In October, a former teacher and education activist named Greg Harris was tapped as director of StudentsFirst Ohio, part of former D.C. public schools chancellor Michelle Rhee’s national anti-union education advocacy organization. But not long before that, he had been decidedly anti-Rhee, publicly attacking her involvement in Ohio school reform. “If students truly did come first, then why is Rhee using her celebrity to coddle the very governors who are ransacking education funding?,” he asked in the following scathing blogpost that he wrote in 2011. It was called “Smoking Rhee-fer” but has been since been removed from his blog — though it still lives elsewhere online. Following the post is a statement from Harris, sent in response to a question I asked about the reasons for his 
conversion to Rhee-style reform. I find that the statement raises more questions than it answers, but see what you think. Harris, a Democrat, has a history of activism; among other
Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee wins over a critic
In October, a former teacher and education activist named Greg Harris was tapped as director of StudentsFirst Ohio, part of former D.C. public schools chancellor Michelle Rhee’s national anti-union education advocacy organization. But not long before that, he had been decidedly anti-Rhee, publicly attacking her involvement in Ohio school reform. “If students truly did come first, then why is Rhee using her celebrity to coddle the very governors who are ransacking education funding?,” he asked in the following scathing blogpost that he wrote in 2011. It was called “Smoking Rhee-fer” but has been since been removed from his blog — though it still lives elsewhere online. Following the post is a statement from Harris, sent in response to a question I asked about the reasons for his 
conversion to Rhee-style reform. I find that the statement raises more questions than it answers, but see what you think. Harris, a Democrat, has a history of activism; among other
Ed Notes Online: The cycle of profiteering and privatizing
Ed Notes Online: The cycle of profiteering and privatizing:
The cycle of profiteering and privatizing
We know everything about your child
From Robert Rendo:
First the deformers, Pearson et al for example, push for self interested legislation, they help write the wording of the law even though they themselves are not educators, then they over test the kids, then the tax system prevents any of their profits from trickling down to schools and teachers for better resources, then they push for starving the schools of funding from government, then when the school "fails", they have it closed with their local crony governments and reopen it under private management, destabilizing neighborhoods, children, families, teachers, society, like never before.
This is little more than one big fat cycle of profiteering and privatizing. .
From Robert Rendo:
This is little more than one big fat cycle of profiteering and privatizing. .
Saturday coffee and the Pension Reform Revolt « Fred Klonsky
Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky:
Saturday coffee.
Chicago teachers marched past Marshall High School during the strike.
Anne and I took two cars to Peets this morning.
After my latte and bagel I headed off to Marshall High School on Chicago’s west side.
The CTU and other community and parent groups are meeting all day today to talk about the next steps. They are calling it an education summit.
There are issues of funding, curriculum, school closings and charters. And, of course, an elected school board.
The summit began in the beautiful auditorium of Marshall. The building is an architectural gem.
As CTU VP Jesse Sharkey pointed out in his opening speech that Marshall’s well-maintained building stands as
Illinois Retired Teacher Association Executive Director James Bachman on the Nekritz bill.
IRTA Executive Director Jim Bachman wrote this letter to the editor regardng the HB6258, the Nekritz Bill. IRTA members should contact local IEA Region offices to reserve a free seat on one of the buses going to Springfield on January 3rd. The bus from the north suburbs will be leaving Golf Mill around 6AM and returning around 6Pm. Buses from the western suburbs will depart Metea Valley High School, 1801 North Eola Road in Aurora. They leave around 7AM and return around 6PM.
The latest version of Pension “reform” legislation introduced by Representative Nekritz, D-Northbrook is an improbable step backward in efforts to save public pensions.
Foremost in it regression is language that impairs and diminishes the constitutionally-guaranteed pension benefits being received by current retirees. There is one indisputable fact that cannot be
The in box. Glen Brown comments on my post: The impact of benefit cuts.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 1 day ago
…If legislators can breach contractual obligations through legislation (such as HB 6258), the entire middle class will “pay” the consequences. There will be extensive and devastating economic outcomes for the entire State of Illinois if its public employees are robbed of their earned and constitutionally-guaranteed benefits. The attack on public employees is an attack on [...]
The impact of benefit cuts to legislative districts and the state’s economy.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 1 day ago
In the latest issue of The Advocate, the publication of the Illinois State University Retirement System (SURS) there is a fascinating chart. It’s a PDF. Scroll down to the chart that shows the benefits received bv SURS members in each state representative and senatorial district. It totals over $1.2 billion. And that is just for [...]
There is no pension benefit crisis.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 1 day ago
To paraphrase Nobel winning economist and NY Times columnist in his piece this morning, “Let’s get this straight. Illinois is not facing a pension benefit crisis.” There is a state funding crisis. The political leaders of this state, both Republicans and Democrats, refuse to address the fact that they can’t pay their bills by taxing [...]
If you are a public employee, active teacher or retiree in the Chicago north suburbs.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 1 day ago
Pension Rally Springfield Legislators introduced HB 6258 this week. If passed, this legislation will: Increase your Retirement Age Decrease your pay Reduce your Cost of Living Adjustment Join us in rallying at the Capitol on January 3, 2013. A bus will be leaving from the Church Street side of Golf Mill Shopping Center (near [...]
Ten minute drawing. From the US Senate to the Stupid Hall of Fame. A short trip.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 2 days ago
Click on drawing to enlarge.
Pensions, Rhode Island and get your butt to Springfield.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 2 days ago
Once again, Glen does a great job of giving us the facts about the Nekritz bill and the other threats to our pensions. And John explains Cash Balance Plans. If these two guys didn’t already exist, I would have to create them in my basement laboratory. When there are these two bloggers at your disposal, [...]
The in box. Glen Brown’s latest on HB 6258.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 2 days ago
From Glen Brown’s blog: House Bill 6258 Reforms for Tier 1 Members (public employees hired before 2011) · Cost-of-living adjustments apply only to the first $25,000 of the employees’ pension · That limit is reduced to the first $20,000 for employees eligible for Social Security · COLAs are delayed until the employee turns 67 or five years after retirement, [...]
Here are the bill’s sponsors.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 2 days ago
Here are the sponsors of HB6258 which would destroy pensions for active and retired teachers. If you know one or more of them (and I know some of you do!) call them and express your profound displeasure. Rep. Elaine Nekritz - Daniel Biss - David Harris - Chris Nybo, Kelly Burke, Kelly M. Cassidy, William Cunningham, Robyn Gabel, Ann Williams, Linda Chapa LaVia, William Davis, Sara Feigenholtz, Jehan A. Gordon, Greg Harris, Elizabeth [...]
More Illinois Bizarro World pension news. Where up is down, black is white and Democrats are Republicans.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 2 days ago
Every day brings more evidence that Bizarro World is more than a sixties comic book. It is the state we live in. Recall that in Bizarro World everything is the opposite of the real world. In the real world Democrats appear to be the defenders of social programs, Social Security and Medicare. In the current [...]
Bizarro World Democrat Nekritz’s latest pension killer. She takes pride in her anti-union positions.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 3 days ago
State Representative Elaine Nekritz. A Bizarro World Democrat. Only in Illinois, the Bizarro World of Democratic Party politics, would a Democratic State Representative sit next to a teacher union activist and proclaim proudly that state unions detest her. Yet that is exactly what Representative Elaine Nekritz did at an Illinois Retired Teacher Association luncheon a [...]
Nekritz’s latest pension plan would cost retirees thousands in cost of living adjustments. And that’s just the beginning of the bad stuff.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 3 days ago
Greg Hinz is reporting the latest version of Squeezy the Pension Killing Cobra coming from Representative Nekritz. The state would reduce our cost of living adjustment. What do we get? The state would pay what they owe. Well that’s a win-win, wouldn’t you say? From Crain’s: Specifically, cost-of-living hikes would be limited to the first [...]
Welcome to Bizarro World.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 4 days ago
Back in the sixties there was a comic book called Bizarro World. Also known as Htrae, which is Earth spelled backwards, of course. Everything was backwards in Bizarro World. They followed the Bizzaro Code: ”Us do opposite of all Earthly things! Us hate beauty! Us love ugliness! Is big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro [...]
Remembering Fred.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 4 days ago
On December 4th, 1969 Chicago Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton was killed in his bed by the Chicago police under the direction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Cook County States Attorney Edward Hanrahan. While no official was ever charged or convicted of the crime, the families of Hampton and Mark Clark, also [...]
Get on the bus, Gus! Springfield. January 3rd and 4th.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 4 days ago
Word is slowly getting out regarding plans to stop the attack on public employee pensions by those in the state legislature who call themselves political leaders. I am told that each IEA Region will have buses available for active and retired teachers to go to Springfield January 3rd and 4th during the lame duck session. [...]
Tony at the Red Line Tap
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 4 days ago
“Got any of that IPA from Greenbush in Three Oaks Michigan,” I asked Marty. “Just got a couple of cases in,” she said. “Well, perfect,” I said pulling up a stool. “Hey,” I said to Tony. “It’s been a while.” “For you,” said Tony. “I haven’t moved from this spot in years.” “Some of us [...]
The in box. The IEA and Papa John’s crappy pizza.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 5 days ago
When IEA member Neil Parthun wrote to IEA Director of Communications about their promotion of Papa John’s Pizza, which is owned by anti-union money bags John Schnatter, he received the following reply. “Thank you for your email.We are well aware of the political comments of the owner of Papa John’s. Obviously, his comments not only [...]
The in box. Our pensions assumptions are fine.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 5 days ago
From Glen Brown’s blog. Our Pension Assumptions Are Fine by Dick Ingram, Executive Director of the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System To the Wall Street Journal: Your Nov. 23 editorial “Illinois the ‘Unfixable’” doesn’t provide your readers with an accurate view of investments made by the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System. You note that the TRS investment return in [...]
Spain Rodgriquez. RIP.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 5 days ago
Click on image to enlarge. NY Times Obit.
The Sunday Mail.
Fred Klonsky at Fred Klonsky - 5 days ago
After two weeks on the road, I’m back to my normal blogging schedule. Anne and I drove to Brooklyn to spend Thanksgiving with our New York family. We dropped off some school supplies at PS 90 in Coney Island. It was hit hard by Hurrican Sandy. The supplies were donated by my old colleagues at [...]
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