It’s been said you can judge a person’s character by the company he keeps. The same can be said of organizations. That’s why it’s so troubling that a national teachers union – the American Federation of Teachers – continues to employ such radicals.
The latest example is Shaun Richman, the deputy director of organizing for the AFT. It was first reported at EAGnews.org.
Richman’s previous organizing experience? The Socialist Party-USA. In 2001 he was quoted discussing the party’s plans to run candidates for office and in 2005, he was running the party’s national convention. In 2006, he was producing the party’s magazine. He’s a socialist true believer. Read More »
By and large, politicians are not willing to tackle the unsustainable costs they’ve created. Consider Illinois public employee pensions.
Public employee pensions have been a state expense. Therefore, a big chunk of legacy costs don’t need to be shown on school district books. But new legislation proposed by Senate Democrats seeks to change that. They want local school districts to bear that burden.
The problem? On third of Illinois school districts are already on “financial watch lists,” according to the New York Times. So the geniuses in Springfield are proposing to increase the weight because it is likely much easier to raise property taxes in local communities than it is to reform spending or raise state taxes in Springfield.
The Connecticut Senate is considering a bill which would require all government school students to learn “labor history” as a part of the curriculum. The bill would add language to existing law which stipulates the types of subjects schools shall teach.
Currently, the law requires students to learn information about these histories:
Holocaust and genocide education and awareness;
the historical events surrounding the Great Famine in Ireland;
African-American history;
Puerto Rican history;
Native American history
Strangely, “American” history is missing from the list. But if the Connecticut Democrats get their way, students will be learning more about the virtues of Jimmy Hoffa than of George Washington; of Andy Stern than of Abraham Lincoln.
The bill would insert the requirement in two parts of existing law. The other lists several subjects which students shall learn, including:
Unfortunately for traditional America – the one that values independence, free market capitalism and limited government – too many aging radicals from the 1960s and ‘70s have found their way into government school classrooms.
Some, like Bill Ayers, found a home in the hallowed halls of higher academia. Today he collects a pension from the very government he vowed to destroy just a few short decades ago. Others, like Robert Roth, set their sights on K-12 education.
As these former Abbie Hoffman wannabes matured a bit, they realized they had to – in the words of modern-day radical Van Jones – drop the radical pose to achieve the radical ends.
So they don’t call for warfare and setting bombs anymore. They don’t call press conferences and vow to kill the pigs or topple American imperialism.
Every so often, a story comes along that is so outrageous, all one can do to soothe the rage is to laugh. And shed a tear. That’s the case in Buffalo, New York.
There – for years – teachers in the government education system have enjoyed free plastic surgery procedures, courtesy of taxpayers. Teachers don’t pay a dime and the entire cost is borne by the school district. So a school district that recently announced it is operating with a $42 million deficit paid $5.9 million last year for teachers to get boob jobs, tummy tucks and facelifts.
I’m sure the union just wants its members looking their best for the kids. How thoughtful. But the Buffalo school district has a graduation rate below 50 percent. What a shame there are fewer students to see the gussied-up teaching staff. It makes the $5.9 million the school district spent on plastic surgery last year an even bigger jaw-dropper. Could those dollars have been put into programs designed to keep more kids in school?
Bullying has always been a problem in American government schools. Statistics say there are over 2 million bullies lurking in the hallways and on playgrounds.
As an aside, I am troubled by the recent focus on bullying. Bullying is a problem – yes. But the threshold of “bullying” has dropped significantly to the point where virtually any disagreement or conflict in personal or religious beliefs constitutes “bullying.”
A classic case occurred in Michigan. A Howell High School teacher wore “a purple shirt in solidarity with bullies LGBT youth.” When a student objected to homosexuality on religious grounds – without ever intimidating or “bullying” anyone – the teacher argued with the student and ended up getting him suspended.
The Chicago Teachers Union has brandished its radical political stripes in recent months. It has fully embraced Occupy Chicago, protested side-by-side with Action Now (the reincarnated ACORN) and joined a coalition set to protest the upcoming NATO/G-8 meetings scheduled for May in Chicago.
G-8 protests typically get violent, and we won’t be surprised if the CTU resorts to ugly behavior as well.
Neither will anybody else in Chicago. That’s why one company, Midwest Solar Control Corp., is urging local businesses to install “window blast film” and “anti-graffiti film” to their buildings before the G-8 summit begins.
It is heartbreaking to witness the unfolding scandal at Muskegon Heights Public Schools. The breathtaking mismanagement has inflicted long-term damage on students, the community and the staff of the school system.
More than anything, this sad situation developed due to a lack of leadership in the school distict. When it came time to pitch in to help bail water out of the sinking ship, Superintendent Dana Bryant “accidentally” fell into the lifeboat of a taxpayer-funded pension in the middle of the current school year. How much is that pension, you ask? We don’t know. That’s apparently none of the taxpayers’ business. If this is any indication, his annual compensation package totaled $185,082 when he abruptly retired.
Bryant is Muskegon Heights’ own Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Italian cruise ship that recently ran aground. Instead of saving lives, Schettino reported “fell” into a lifeboat to save himself. He has rightly earned global scorn for his cowardice and dereliction of duty.
Is Bryant really any better?
Make no mistake, this is a multi-year problem that festered under Bryant’s watch. Instead of sounding the alarm and asking for help, Bryant and his school board apparently didn’t know how to deal the problem, or worse, chose to look the other way.
The education establishment is pulling out all the stops to stifle the movement to expand the use of technology to modernize the way students learn.
Digital education is a growing form of school choice. Virtual charter schools are a natural way to provide access to top-notch instruction for students, regardless of their geographical location. But the protectors of the status quo are doing everything they can do stop it.
Finally, their true colors are showing.
Debbie Squires, a representative of a school principal’s association, recently told the Michigan House Education Committee that while parents do indeed care for their children, they’re not knowledgeable enough about what is best for their children.
This is a standard line of thinking – those with the background and “expertise” know what’s best for children, not their parents. See recent articles on the “school food police” for further evidence.
The other line of attack is that “profits” are evil and that no one should be making money in education, even if for-profit companies provide quality instruction for children.
Michigan Parents for Schools (but apparently not virtual charter schools) recently urged its members to contact lawmakers and demand that they reject the virtual charter bill, which would remove the cap on the number of schools allowed in the state. The subject line of the email read, “Let’s make sure online schools help kids, not pad profits.”
This is an interesting criticism because ultimately, lots of people make money off education. Textbook companies make money. Contractors make money. Teachers make money. Administrators make money.
But who’s accountable when taxpayers are ripped off by government schools that aren’t delivering results?
Say, for example, Muskegon Heights school district in my own quaint community in western Michigan.
Recent data shows that 6.8% of 11th graders are proficient in reading and writing while only 2.2% of students are proficient in math. Meanwhile, the school district is nearly broke and may not be able to meet its payroll for the rest of the academic year.
Someone is grossly mismanaging district funds (perhaps making a profit?) while the children go without a decent education. Where is the outrage from the establishment about that?
Perhaps the Michigan Parents for Schools group should call a few Muskegon Heights parents, to see what they think.
My bet is that most, if not all, of those parents would welcome a digital education option, a charter school option, a school voucher option – anything to get their kids out of that miserable “not-for-profit” government school district.
And they probably wouldn’t care if some company was making money while teaching their children, as long as their children learned.
Top teachers union organizer self-declared socialist, bin Laden apologist
It’s been said you can judge a person’s character by the company he keeps. The same can be said of organizations. That’s why it’s so troubling that a national teachers union – the American Federation of Teachers – continues to employ such radicals.
The latest example is Shaun Richman, the deputy director of organizing for the AFT. It was first reported at EAGnews.org.
Richman’s previous organizing experience? The Socialist Party-USA. In 2001 he was quoted discussing the party’s plans to run candidates for office and in 2005, he was running the party’s national convention. In 2006, he was producing the party’s magazine. He’s a socialist true believer. Read More »