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Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Big Education Ape Nite Cap UPDATE 5-9-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2


UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE


BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS

BEFORE NOON HONEST!


RahmPublican

What Rahm must be thinking: Hey, this is great. It's like I'm back in the White House -- embracing the GOP, attacking teachers unions, their pensions and health careclosing mental health clinics, and warring on NATO protesters -- all on the same day.

Testifying before a House committee, Emanuel called for a 10-year holiday on paying cost-of-living increases in Chicago's four pension funds and other government retirement systems around the state. That freeze would apply to both current workers and those who already have retired.

As for Rahm's Teacher Appreciation Day pat on the head, the Reader's Ben Joravsky writes:
Apparently, Mayor Emanuel's appreciation for teachers is a little like his affinity for the principles of the Democratic Party... He's certainly not shown much appreciation for Chicago's public school teachers... Having already cut their pay, he's ordering them to work longer for less, while converting more unionized schools into lower-paying, nonunion charters and playing hardball in contract negotiations. It sure looks like he's itching for a strike. All in the name of helping the kids, of course.

Morello raging against Rahm
Then, just to top off his fine RahmPublican day, he ordered the nation's largest Nurse's Association's march 


Email message from Barack Obama

Kenneth --Today, I was asked a direct question and gave a direct answer:
I believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.
I hope you'll take a moment to watch the conversation, consider it, and weigh in yourself on behalf of marriage equality:
http://my.barackobama.com/...
I've always believed that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally. I was reluctant to use the term marriage because of the very powerful traditions it evokes. And I thought 


Strongly urge people to read Andrew Sullivan

in his heartfelt post on marriage equality.  It is titled Obama Lets Go of Fear and it is powerful.
Let me just give a few snips.
So let me simply say: I think of all the gay kids out there who now know they have their president on their side. I think of Maurice Sendak, who just died, whose decades-long relationship was never given the respect it deserved. I think of the centuries and decades in which gay people found it  impossible to believe that marriage and inclusion in their own families was possible for them, so crushed were they by the weight of social and religious pressure. I think of all those in the plague years shut out of hospital rooms, thrown out of apartments, written out of wills, treated like human 


The NJDOE Makes Their Own Rules, Yet Again...

Now I've had it.  From State Street Wires:


TRENTON - The following charter school applications have been qualified for the approval process, the state Department of Education.

Approval decisions will be made later, officials said.

The following applications are listed by name, grade levels, number of student they are projected to take in, and the municipalities which they will serve.

They are:

Camden's Rosedale Charter School
Grades Kindergarten to 4
Projected to serve



WE NEED TO ACCEPT SOME OF THE BLAME

I hate to say this, but Illinois teachers need to accept some of the blame for the current pension crisis.  Did we do everything possible over the years to combat the underfunding of our pension here in Illinois?  Did we see this crisis coming and start demanding years ago that the legislature stop stealing our funds? Did we hold rallies, protests, letter writing campaigns, and threaten to take action when the first few millions were stolen by the state?  I hate to say this, but I don’t think we did. I think we failed right along with our union leaders, lobbyists and legislative allies.  We should have voiced our outrage long before the millions became billions. We should have threatened state-wide strikes and done whatever it took to demand an end to the stealing of our pension funds. The question now is, what are we going to do now that the crisis is out of control? We probably have until November to do everything we can to fight for our pensions and insurance benefits. Will we make our outrage heard this time so the damage isn’t too severe?  I sure hope so.
Our failure to confront the pension problem early on, is very similar to how teachers failed to stop the trend of

Many Schools a No-Show at DCPS Job Fair

Written by Candi Peterson


Eastern Senior high school, was the site for the first  DC Public Schools job fair held on May 9th. Surprisingly, it was not as crowded as it had been in years past. In fact the number of educators present seemed sparse and a little over 100 teachers. This year 333 teachers were officially hand delivered excess notices on Friday, May 4, 2012 which means they will no longer hold their current positions at the end of the school year. By definition an "excess is an elimination of a Teacher’s position at a particular school due to a decline in student enrollment, a reduction in the local school budget, a closing or consolidation, a restructuring, or a change in the local school program, when such an elimination is not a ‘reduction in force’ (RIF) or ‘abolishment."
According to a press statement released by DCPS earlier this week: "Excessed employees have until August 15 to find a placement for next school year. After that point, all unplaced excessed employees with Effective or


Big Education Ape Nite Cap 5-9-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

A Big Education Ape Nite Cap