Showing posts with label chicago. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicago. Show all posts
Friday, November 8, 2013
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Cheating Michelle Rhee: What happens when Oprah stops calling, there is no more propaganda to promote. and people have caught you cheating
Change.org, the progressive online powerhouse that channels grassroots energy into petition-based activism, has dropped two anti-union clients, including Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst, according to multiple sources familiar with the decision.
The move comes after intense pressure from the labor movement and other progressive allies, who accused the for-profit company of betraying its liberal roots by partnering with Rhee, the former head of Washington, D.C., public schools, and the similarly aligned group Stand for Children headed by education advocate Jonah Edelman. The ouster of StudentsFirst and Stand for Children was confirmed by a Change.org spokesman.
Leaders of Rhee's group were outraged. "We're surprised at their decision," Nancy Zuckerbrod, spokeswoman for StudentsFirst, told HuffPost. "When we spoke to them this afternoon, they couldn't point to a single one of our petitions on their site that violated either the terms of use or spirit of their organization. Not a single one. In fact, they said they agreed that much of the work of our members were in line with the progressive values of the organization. And it's clear that the Change.org community does as well, as tens of thousands of them signed our petitions fighting for the civil rights of all children to receive a high-quality education. For instance, more than 47,000 people signed our petition in support of the Dream Act, compared to fewer than 4,000 who signed the heavily organized protest petition on a different site against Stand for Children."
Change.org's meteoric rise has included a host of glowing profiles and the Timemagazine stamp of approval when it named CEO and founder Ben Rattray one of the100 most influential people in the world. It is staffed by some of the most talented progressive organizers in the country -- many of whom are well known and liked in the tight-knit liberal community, making the feud that much more bitter. And Edelman is the son of liberal champions Marian Wright Edelman and Peter Edelman.
StudentsFirst and Stand for Children oppose teachers unions as obstacles to education reform, and advocate on behalf of tying teacher pay to test scores and other student metrics. Change.org started working with Rhee's Students First in March 2011, five months after her resignation as Washington's public schools chancellor, and with Jonah Edelman's Stand for Children in October 2011.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Chicago teacher union call for a strike with 90% of the vote
View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.
Chicago teachers have shown their solidarity in massive numbers. More than 90 percent of teachers have given the OK for a work stoppage, multiple sources told NBC Chicago.
That number is well above the 75 percent needed, by law, to authorize a strike.
ChicagoTeachers Union spokesman Stephanie Gadlin declined to provide an official number but said that some schools have seen 100 percent of teachers approve a strike.
"We're pleased," she said, but added: "We know there will be challenges by [Chicago Public Schools].
CTU is analyzing and double-checking the numbers before releasing any information on the vote. That may happen Monday.
CPS officials declined to comment until official numbers are released.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel last year rescinded a four percent pay increase and pushed for a longer school day. CPS has since proposed a five-year contract which guarantees teachers a two percent raise in their first year and lengthens the school day by 10 percent. Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/chicago-teachers-union-ctu-strike-authorization-vote-158260415.html#ixzz1xJcr02R8
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Tom Morello at Nurses Union "Ghost of Tom Joad" with Tim McIlrath 05/18/...
Welcome to the New World Order. No home, No job, No peace, No rest.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Teachers union welcomes compromise, but says 7-hour day too long - Chicago Sun-Times
Teachers union welcomes compromise, but says 7-hour day too long - Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Teachers Union Tuesday afternoon applauded the mayor’s shift in his longer school day stance — cutting back his demand from 7.5 to 7 hours for elementary schools — but asserted the mayor has far to go on compromising.
“Once again, CTU has been proven correct. Today, the mayor moved his toe an inch from the line,” union President Karen Lewis said at a news conference at the group’s Merchandise Mart headquarters, calling the longer day a “political slogan, not an educational plan.”
“Now that the mayor is starting to listen to parents, teachers and research regarding the pitfalls of the longer school day program being pushed in school districts across the country, it is now time he used both ears to hear everything we are saying about the types of schools our children deserve,” she said. “It is not the length of time but the quality of time that truly matters here.”
Last year, CTU officials proposed a seven-hour school day modeled after the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools as a “starting point” for discussion. On Tuesday, they welcomed Emanuel’s counterproposal, but said they believed parents would still prefer a 6.5-hour day , which is closer to the statewide average. She wants to know how the city will pay for the longer day, considering the system faces big budget problems.
“The mayor still needs to tell us how he intends to pay for this. He should hold a news conference and announce how he will fund the art, music, physical education and world language instruction needed to give our students the world class education they deserve.”
Friday, April 6, 2012
Chicago teachers ready to strike, union says
Chicago teachers ready to strike, union says
But in to order strike, new Illinois law says the union needs 75 percent of its eligible voting members on board. There are 675 schools in CPS.
Lewis said CPS wants to lock in a five-year contract and is offering teachers a 2 percent raise in the first year, with salaries based on performance in later years.
CPS officials would not comment on the on-going negotiations, but CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard said talk of a strike is premature and problematic.
“We shouldn’t be talking about the ‘S-word,’” Brizard said at a news conference Thursday. “Let’s talk about finding a way to work together to improve a system that will benefit nearly a half million children.”
Emanuel reacted strongly to the possibility of teachers walking out of their classrooms.
“Any time anybody’s not focused on their first priority, which is teaching our children, that’s where I get angst,” he said. “Don’t take away from your main mission, your job, what the people of the city of Chicago, the parents, the taxpayers expect of you, which is to teach our children.”
LP - We understand that the teachers' first priority should be on educating the children but apparently that isn't a priority for the governor. This is a problem when elected officials think that they have nothing to do with educating the kids in the cities they run. The buck really doesn't stop with the teachers if the kids aren't being educated it is the mayor's fault, no questions asked, and no amount of campaign funds should get you out of that.
But in to order strike, new Illinois law says the union needs 75 percent of its eligible voting members on board. There are 675 schools in CPS.
Lewis said CPS wants to lock in a five-year contract and is offering teachers a 2 percent raise in the first year, with salaries based on performance in later years.
CPS officials would not comment on the on-going negotiations, but CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard said talk of a strike is premature and problematic.
“We shouldn’t be talking about the ‘S-word,’” Brizard said at a news conference Thursday. “Let’s talk about finding a way to work together to improve a system that will benefit nearly a half million children.”
Emanuel reacted strongly to the possibility of teachers walking out of their classrooms.
“Any time anybody’s not focused on their first priority, which is teaching our children, that’s where I get angst,” he said. “Don’t take away from your main mission, your job, what the people of the city of Chicago, the parents, the taxpayers expect of you, which is to teach our children.”
LP - We understand that the teachers' first priority should be on educating the children but apparently that isn't a priority for the governor. This is a problem when elected officials think that they have nothing to do with educating the kids in the cities they run. The buck really doesn't stop with the teachers if the kids aren't being educated it is the mayor's fault, no questions asked, and no amount of campaign funds should get you out of that.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Despite public outcry, Chicago approves closure of 17 schools
Just shocking they have to ignore the community to help their children. What a laugh.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Schools Matter: Rahm's Corporate Pals Running CPS School Closings ...
Schools Matter: Rahm's Corporate Pals Running CPS School Closings ...: After years of malignant neglect by the Daley Machine in Chicago, Rahm Emanuel is now in charge of completing the school corporatization pl...
After years of malignant neglect by the Daley Machine in Chicago, Rahm Emanuel is now in charge of completing the school corporatization plan that has fully taken shape since 2000. Emanuel last year appointed the former head of the corporate welfare outfit, the Academy of Urban School Leadership (AUSL), to head his covey of appointed toadies on the CPS "Board of Education." From the Tribune:
Who will benefit? Not the children and not even their test scores, as the Tribune story below the video clearly indicates. But that doesn't seem to matter to Rahm the Reptile, who believes, anyway, these kids are "never going to amount to anything." With his swindler cronies in charge of psychologically sterilizing these kids, Rahm surely knows what he's talking about.
Launched by a reform-minded venture capitalist in 2001, AUSL has always enjoyed a close relationship with CPS. But never more so than under Emanuel, who selected a former AUSL top executive to oversee CPS' finances and named AUSL's previous board chairman as president of CPS' Board of Education.AUSL is another of the total compliance lockdown school designs created to culturally neuter urban children, and now AUSL has almost the entire feeding trough to themselves in Chicago.
Who will benefit? Not the children and not even their test scores, as the Tribune story below the video clearly indicates. But that doesn't seem to matter to Rahm the Reptile, who believes, anyway, these kids are "never going to amount to anything." With his swindler cronies in charge of psychologically sterilizing these kids, Rahm surely knows what he's talking about.
Rahm Emmanuel is a living breathing example of how you can make much more money performing government work than you can in the private sector. There's Lot's of business opportunities there.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Chicago school draws scrutiny over student fines - Peoria, IL - pjstar.com
Chicago school draws scrutiny over student fines - Peoria, IL - pjstar.com
CHICAGO —
A sense of order and decorum prevails at Noble Street College Prep as students move quickly through a hallway adorned with banners from dozens of colleges. Everyone wears a school polo shirt neatly tucked into khaki trousers. There's plenty of chatter but no jostling, no cellphones and no dawdling.
The reason, administrators say, is that students have learned there is a price to pay — literally — for breaking even the smallest rules.
Noble Network of Charter Schools charges students at its 10 Chicago high schools $5 for detentions stemming from infractions that include chewing gum and having untied shoelaces. Last school year it collected almost $190,000 in discipline "fees" from detentions and behavior classes — a policy drawing fire from some parents, advocacy groups and education experts.
LP - Another success story of ed reform which was covered by Ed Schultz. These parents are paying public funds for a public skill and then billed again by their publically funded charter school. Rahm Emmanuel has held this company up as a success story.
CHICAGO —
A sense of order and decorum prevails at Noble Street College Prep as students move quickly through a hallway adorned with banners from dozens of colleges. Everyone wears a school polo shirt neatly tucked into khaki trousers. There's plenty of chatter but no jostling, no cellphones and no dawdling.
The reason, administrators say, is that students have learned there is a price to pay — literally — for breaking even the smallest rules.
Noble Network of Charter Schools charges students at its 10 Chicago high schools $5 for detentions stemming from infractions that include chewing gum and having untied shoelaces. Last school year it collected almost $190,000 in discipline "fees" from detentions and behavior classes — a policy drawing fire from some parents, advocacy groups and education experts.
LP - Another success story of ed reform which was covered by Ed Schultz. These parents are paying public funds for a public skill and then billed again by their publically funded charter school. Rahm Emmanuel has held this company up as a success story.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Activists, parents 'occupy' school slated for turnaround | WBEZ
Activists, parents 'occupy' school slated for turnaround WBEZ
A group of parents and activists have taken over a West Side Chicago public school, marking a new level of opposition to district plans to close or turn around schools.
Tents were set up Friday evening outside Piccolo Elementary, and parents, students and activists were occupying classrooms on the first floor, with plans to stay there.
The school district wants to completely re-staff the school—firing the principal, teachers and ancillary staff like the lunch ladies.
All the students would continue at Piccolo, which would be run by the nonprofit Academy for Urban School Leadership, a teacher training academy with close ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration. AUSL specializes in turning around failing schools. In all, the district is proposing to completely re-staff a record 10 schools by fall
LP - This is the level of opposition we need to keep control of our school and out of the hands of our politicians.
A group of parents and activists have taken over a West Side Chicago public school, marking a new level of opposition to district plans to close or turn around schools.
Tents were set up Friday evening outside Piccolo Elementary, and parents, students and activists were occupying classrooms on the first floor, with plans to stay there.
The school district wants to completely re-staff the school—firing the principal, teachers and ancillary staff like the lunch ladies.
All the students would continue at Piccolo, which would be run by the nonprofit Academy for Urban School Leadership, a teacher training academy with close ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration. AUSL specializes in turning around failing schools. In all, the district is proposing to completely re-staff a record 10 schools by fall
LP - This is the level of opposition we need to keep control of our school and out of the hands of our politicians.
Monday, September 19, 2011
An excerpt from the good old days pre-unions. One that Congress seems dying to return to
"Their protest ended quickly and peacefully, seeming to be little more than a brief outburst of frustration, but the following spring came the storm. When lumberyard owners cut the wages of common laborers from $1.50 to $1.25 a day, the Bohemians reacted to the blow as a community. Thousands of lumber shovers left the yards en masse. When they were replaced by unemployed Irish workers from across the river, the strikers attacked the interlopers, and street warfare raged through the Southwest Side until wagonloads of police finally arrived and drove the Czechs off the streets.
"Medill's Tribune devoted three days of coverage to the 'serious troubles in the Bohemian lumber district,' but few of its readers would have paid any attention to the riots in a depressing river district no Americans visited other than salesmen, vessel men and policemen... When these men struck, they always failed and were forced to return to work for less pay than they were getting before they went out. 'There were ten pairs of hands ready and willing to take the place of every single pair of hands that quit,' the reported noted. With their families on the edge of starvation, the workmen were being driven to starvation." -- From James Green's book Death In The Haymarket. Late 1870's Chicago.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Language can be quite salty but there is Duncan busy selling out Chicago kids before he had a chance to sell out American kids. Perry should be lectured but Duncan is no position to lecture anyone.
Perry should be lectured about Texas' abysmal graduation but is this guy in a position to lecture anyone.
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