IDBillzFan Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 And it's even more surprising that he hasn't made a statement on it, given who the mayor of Chicago is and how cozy Obama is with the AFT. And again, even more surprising when you consider he has to give his opinion on everything else he shouldn't opine about. Maybe Obama is finally learning what "acting stupidly" really looks like. But let's not kid ourselves. The only reason he hasn't commented on it is because he can't win on either side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Man Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 And again, even more surprising when you consider he has to give his opinion on everything else he shouldn't opine about. Maybe Obama is finally learning what "acting stupidly" really looks like. But let's not kid ourselves. The only reason he hasn't commented on it is because he can't win on either side. Now, now, I am sure that once the focus group findings come back, he'll be right out there with the "approved" statement..................................................what a leader.........4 more years! . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 What's a strike without the purple people beaters? http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/clout/chi-some-chicago-public-schools-custodians-may-strike-20120911,0,595858.story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle flap Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 Rob, advocates for teacher tenure say that teachers need protection from power hungry administrators and school board members who have personality conflicts with a particular teacher. Tenure status protects a teacher, when a school board member’s child fails their class, from having the repercussion of being fired. It provides job security for teachers, which many believe, translates to happier teachers and teachers who perform at a higher level. Tenure also ensures that those who have been there longest have guaranteed job security in tough economic times even though a newer teacher is cheaper to the district. In essence, what you said is correct, but I just want to add that tenure does not guarantee anything but due process. A tenured teacher can still be fired for incompetence or any number of valid reasons. Plus, tenure is earned, not just bought by paying union dues. So, if administrators are doing their job in the first place, the caricature of the incompetent teacher collecting taxpayer money for doing a poor job wouldn't have been awarded tenure in the first place. In most, if not all, unionized districts, teachers are subject to intense scrutiny while working under "temporary" or "probationary" status (and often part time) before they are hired as "permanent" tenured teachers. In fact, most teachers in large urban districts are laid off and rehired a number of times before they reach any semblance of job security with a "permanent" position. six step solution: 1) suspend all union shop clauses in the city 2) begin the interview process for new teachers with independently offered contracts 3) begin sending out pink slips to all teachers systematically as their replacements are hired 4) allow them to reapply for their old jobs with the new contract system based on merit opposed to tenure 5) if the new teachers attept to unionize remind them exactly one time how they got their jobs 6) rinse and repeat Having previously read some of your posts, I know you're an intelligent guy. However, this painfully impractical solution reeks of an emotional argument. I would like to assume you're joking. You don't like unions, fine. I assume you don't think teachers deserve any sort of protection from the hazards of the job, and should trust that whoever is judging their "merit" will make an unbiased decision every time. Politicians want to run education like a data (read: profit) driven business, and it just isn't. Standardized test scores are not an accurate measure of a teacher's "merit." Teachers should not be accountable for for things beyond their control. If a doctor tells you to quit smoking, eat more vegetables, and work out more often... but then you don't follow his or her advice... is that your doctor's fault that you have high blood pressure or become obese, etc.? I guess based on a "merit" system, that would be a terrible doctor, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juror#8 Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 I read someone opened fire on a school bus in Chicago as well. Not to mention someone is shooting a teenage black child like every 30 minutes or so. On the upside, it's just blacks shooting blacks. According to the media, shooting a black teenager only matters if the shooter is a white hispanic. Chicago will have to wait, though. Rahm is off to collect money for Obama for a while. He'll be back when Obama unlocks the chains. You can find a racial component to almost anything can't you? I find it fascinating - in a very neo-Jungian way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdnlng Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 (edited) Believe me. Work as a teacher in Chicago. But then again, you know this... You probably have lots a family members that work in places like Chicago, DC or God knows whatever parental hell hole lies out there. Stop villifying the success working as a UNION brings. And of course you can back this up with fact. Maybe Tom was right... You cretins do talk in metaphors! Exhiled, you got me there. I have no way of proving that even one of the teachers in question is capable of flipping burgers. Edited September 13, 2012 by 3rdnlng Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koko78 Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 What's a strike without the purple people beaters? Aren't they still out harassing people at TEA Party rallies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanker Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Chicago would burn to the ground before the union would let this happened. Rahm Emmanuel would be gutted like Mel Gibson at the end of Braveheart. Know what I find most interesting? Rush Limbaugh calls a 30-year-old college student activist a "slut" or a white hispanic shoots a 17-year-old black kid in Florida, and Obama needs to weigh in. But teachers go on strike and 400,000 students are on the streets while gangbangers murder teenage kids every freaking weekend, and he's got nothing to say. You don't need to be a right-wing kook to realize how embarrassing that is. Obama is quick to weigh in on things when the Muslim Brotherhood is involved. Syria - not so much. Iran - nah. But Egypt and Lybia - gung ho baby, gung ho! Meanwhile when his Arab Spring blossoms into a remake of The Night of the Living Dead, he's so tired he's got to go take a nap. Ambassador gets murdered because the State Department doesn't do its due diligence and send adequate protection with him - or better yet - call him and don't let him go to the consulate. Nope. BO's gotta get some shuteye because you know, the next day is pretty busy with a long flight on AF1 to Vegas baby. You people have no idea the kind of strain he's under. Meanwhile, the press blames Romney for saying the State Department was wrong to apologize for our Constitutional right of free speech. Of course the weak trelliswork of bamboo, balsa wood and twine that is our foreign policy can't be blamed for the reason our Ambassador was sodomized and suffocated and three of his coworkers were executed. Oh no, in fact it would be worse if BO weren't in office. Remember, we were told that the Muslim world will like us better once he was elected. You REALLY think that President Obama is "President Obama" because he's black? THAT'S the reason? Please present your evidence that President BO is smart. He must be because he graduated from Columbia and Harvard. He was even editor of Harvard Law Review, then a Constitutional lecturer in Chicago before finding his calling as a community organizer. Trouble is, there are no scholarly writings by this man. None from when he was at Columbia or Harvard. Nor are there any from when he was pontificating about the Constitution in Chicago. He has no piece of legislation with his name on it from when he was a State Senator in Illinois - where he voted over 150 times "Present!" None from his two years in the US Senate either. Pity us. He's keeping his brilliance to himself leaving us nothing to know about him other than the books he dictated about himself. So we know he was a doper and ate dog. Not much to go by. So prove to me that he isn't an affirmative action hire. Word is he applied to Columbia and Harvard as a foreign exchange student so he could get a free ride. Now he's taking the country on one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keukasmallies Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 I agree w/ uncle flap. It is relatively routine to evaluate, develop objectives, re-assess, document, then recommend dismissal of incompetent teachers. How do I know, I've done it several times. The process is protracted, and somewhat expensive, but ALWAYS worth it. Dismissing poor teachers tells the staff, parents and the community that student success is job 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob's House Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 In essence, what you said is correct, but I just want to add that tenure does not guarantee anything but due process. A tenured teacher can still be fired for incompetence or any number of valid reasons. Plus, tenure is earned, not just bought by paying union dues. So, if administrators are doing their job in the first place, the caricature of the incompetent teacher collecting taxpayer money for doing a poor job wouldn't have been awarded tenure in the first place. In most, if not all, unionized districts, teachers are subject to intense scrutiny while working under "temporary" or "probationary" status (and often part time) before they are hired as "permanent" tenured teachers. In fact, most teachers in large urban districts are laid off and rehired a number of times before they reach any semblance of job security with a "permanent" position. We'll have to simply agree that we have a difference of opinion on tenure, although your approach is certainly more sane and reasonably than tomato boy's. I don't think people should get tenure, period. I've seen a lot of people in various professions who come out the gate strong and then after a few years get complacent and coast. I know of no other profession where people are insulated from their performance and, while I can see some modicum of value in it, I'd say the it is far outweighed by the negative aspects. And I know it wasn't your assertion, but the idea that urban teachers need to be insulated because of the pervasive problem of powerful people calling for the heads of good teachers that hold their kids accountable is a joke. That's reaching to the bottom of the bag to pull out the only shred of an excuse one can get a grasp. The internal irony that the teacher can't be held accountable so that the child can be, apparently escapes some people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 And the strike goes on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Hey Rahm, why don't you work like these teachers work? Shut the A/C off on the 5th floor of City Hall. They just had one teacher on saying how she bought 3 A/C units for her classroom with her own money... BUT can't plug them in! Who's zooming who here with the rosy arses! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 And I know it wasn't your assertion, but the idea that urban teachers need to be insulated because of the pervasive problem of powerful people calling for the heads of good teachers that hold their kids accountable is a joke. It is not a joke. Everybody defines "good" differently. Define "coasting." Your idea of coasting might not be my idea of coasting. The concept of tenure in education is not new... And you want to turn it on its head out of petty jealousy. That petty jealousy of yours is exactly why they need to be protected with tenure. Anyway, no way these teachers are miracle workers and should ONLY be judged on quantitative test scores... IMO, that is the administration's version of "coasting." Get the boots on the ground to evaluate these teachers properly. Maybe get into that 100 degree classroom with no A/C and see what the teacher is actually doing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Hey Rahm, why don't you work like these teachers work? Shut the A/C off on the 5th floor of City Hall. They just had one teacher on saying how she bought 3 A/C units for her classroom with her own money... BUT can't plug them in! Who's zooming who here with the rosy arses! How many !@#$ing AC units do you need for ONE room? She bought THREE? Please tell me there's more to this story than she being an imbecile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 (edited) How many !@#$ing AC units do you need for ONE room? She bought THREE? Please tell me there's more to this story than she being an imbecile. What are you, a HVAC contractor?... Maybe she bought them for multiple classrooms? WTF do I care... Rahm doesn't want to fork over the electric bill... Betcha Rahm's got his thermo turned down to 68 from May through Sept. And he wants them to have a longer school year? WTF? Edited September 17, 2012 by ExiledInIllinois Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 What are you, a HVAC contractor?... Maybe she bought them for multiple classrooms? WTF do I care... Rahm doesn't want to fork over the electric bill... Betcha Rahm's got his thermo turned down to 68 from May through Sept. And he wants them to have a longer school year? WTF? Perhaps. But you'd said she'd bought them for HER classroom. I was trying to find a reason why she'd bought 3 AC units for 1 room, shy of her being a moron. You might have just supplied the reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Where does Rahm send his little kids to school? You bet it is NOT the Chicago Public Schools! He lives in the Ravenswood neighborhood and the Mayor sends his kids to the private lab schools to rub noses with kids of other millionaires. The Mayor doesn't even have faith in the public schools... Why should others? Perhaps. But you'd said she'd bought them for HER classroom. I was trying to find a reason why she'd bought 3 AC units for 1 room, shy of her being a moron. You might have just supplied the reason. Her classroom doesn't mean one classroom. She can only be in one classroom at a time. WTF... Maybe she donated them to other teachers? Cheapo Rahm doesn't want to fork over the electric bill... Some of these schools are old... Imagine what energy sieves they are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Where does Rahm send his little kids to school? You bet it is NOT the Chicago Public Schools! He lives in the Ravenswood neighborhood and the Mayor sends his kids to the private lab schools to rub noses with kids of other millionaires. The Mayor doesn't even have faith in the public schools... Why should others? Her classroom doesn't mean one classroom. She can only be in one classroom at a time. WTF... Maybe she donated them to other teachers? Cheapo Rahm doesn't want to fork over the electric bill... Some of these schools are old... Imagine what energy sieves they are? As Ned Flanders would say: okely-dokely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Yeah... I admit it is rather silly arguing about how many classrooms and what not. The point is, it is 2012... We have the cheap technology to make people comfortable in the heat and cold... Yet, the fat cats like Rahm want to hog the resources and provide very little to the rank and file... Then judge them on test scores alone... Obviously, this teacher spent her own money... She should be allowed to plug them in so her students have it more comfortable to learn. Again, it is 2012... The technology is readily available and their squabbling over an electric bill? Like I said, pull the plug on the 5th floor of City Hall and see how the mayor likes it. The sad part about this all is that he doesn't even send his own children to CPS... He sends them to posh private schools to build friendships with other children of the rich and powerful... Betcha those schools have a/c when it is hot. Setting a good example ALWAYS starts at the top and works down. If the top brass have no faith in the public schools... Why should the common people? Same with Obama, Clinton, and all the other limo libs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanker Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 I dunno. I went to High School in a public school building that was built as a WPA project. There was no air conditioning in that building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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