Here is an idea let's get rid of experienced professionals, and replace them with private companies. Let's take a public good, and try to incentivize it to the hands of private corporations. It has worked wonderfully with prisons, health-care, and the military industrial complex, why not with schools. This is in effect what Arne Duncan, Obama's Department of Education secretary has offered to do.
Fact: A Connecticut superintendent that earns in excess of $450,000 a year has revealed in a meeting with principles, that any redesigned school that does not make AYP within six years will be made a private charter school.
Fact: By 2013-14 100% of students will be required to be proficient at CMT and CAPT standards.
Fact: The State Board of Education is in the process of applying for "Race to the Top" funds from the U.S. Government.
Fact: "Race to the Top" supports an over 50% saturation of privately run charter schools, and an over 50% attrition of current staff in "urban" school districts.
Fact: Charter schools receive "charters" so that they do not have to meet CMT or CAPT standards
Fact: Charter school staffs are rarely unionized, and in large measure receive significantly less compensation
Fact: Public school teachers who are fired prior to fully vesting are not eligible to receive fully vested pensions, and only receive a very small amount upon reaching retirement age.
Fact: Public school teachers in Connecticut, and in many other states, do not pay into Social Security and are not able (unless other work is performed) to receive Social Security retirement benefits.
Fact: Members of both parties (Democrat and Republican) have declared the desire to deleverage the state from the burden of public pension systems.
Fact: Last month over 130,000 education professionals lost their jobs
Fact: While all of this takes place, the American Federation of Teachers (Of which most local Federation of Teachers are charter members of) supports charter schools and the "Race to the Top" initiative
Fact: The AFT and the Hartford Federation of Teachers are signifying that they are O.K. with a 75% reduction of workforce in little over 5 years
Fact: The AFT and the Hartford Federation of Teachers are signifying that they are O.K. with many long term tenured teachers losing their retirement benefits.
Fact: No Child Left Behind, and its new incarnation of "Race to the Top" are attempts to cheapen education at the expense not only of teachers but of America's students.
Teaching is One of the Hardest jobs to fill, and it has one of the lowest retention rates.
On a personal note. A teacher (who IS NOT an ISS teacher) I know, who is 6 months pregnant, was sent two ISS kids today who both have severe, documented mental and emotional issues. Both had yesterday sent different teachers to the hospital. Instead of suspending them from school, these two were placed into a room with a pregnant woman.
Of course suburban schools can have 0 tolerance for violence, but in Urban districts 0 tolerance is viewed as racially biased. Never mind that less than a month and a half into the school year 3 teachers in this district have died. Never mind that teachers do not get lunch breaks, and work an average (at least at most schools) of 12 hours per day.
Teachers are the cause of all educational failures, or so the tag line goes. It goes this way because education must be cut to save money. Don't worry that we are flushing our future down the tube.
turn away if you don't like cursing
Fuck you Arne Duncan.
Why not hold charter schools to the same standards as regular schools? Is it because you know, as everyone in education knows, that they will fail?
Of course you know this, so continue your fucking con game of blaming the teachers for students and parents too lazy to invest in their kids education. Fuck you for allowing administration to eat up over 60% of the budget while you over-stuff our classrooms, and refuse to expel extremely violent children.