Fri Aug 7, 2009 at 11:27 PMBy: kitty Latest Updates What were they thinking...? Shame shame shame.....

Sat Aug 8, 2009 at 9:20 AMBy: tearing down schools Latest Updates In addition to his Olympic committee role, Scott also is involved in the proposed Douglas Park sports venues through his position as president of the school board. Chicago 2016's velodrome plans call for tearing down the Collins High School campus' two gyms and indoor pool, a sensitive issue with many community residents who don't want the recently renovated facilities demolished.


Chicago 2016 Olympics: Member of city's bid team has deal to develop land near park earmarked for the Games
By Todd Lighty, David Heinzmann and Kathy Bergen Tribune reporters
August 7, 2009

Sun Aug 9, 2009 at 9:40 AMBy: cermak_rd Latest Updates I fail to see what the point of the uproar over the song is all about. For heaven's sakes, any of the students over the age of 12 have heard worse and more suggestive lyrics, and have certainly heard franker discourse related to issues of sexuality.

Sun Aug 9, 2009 at 1:00 PMBy: cermak_rd get out of the gutter. Latest Updates cermak_rd get out of the gutter. Huberman is not hip nor aware!
Another Huberman boner! Twitter ha... teens don't use it that much. Where is Huberman's head...

Sun Aug 9, 2009 at 1:32 PMBy: Fitgerald should be looking into the TIF Latest Updates Good luck trying to get info out of the Department of Community Development!!! All they give you is double talk!

Chicago Reader Article on Daley's TIF Shenanigans.

Sun Aug 9, 2009 at 2:05 PMBy: Parents have rights Latest Updates So now teachers can choose any novel to have a class read in the grammar schools irregardless of content-sexual or ....? Scary!

Sun Aug 9, 2009 at 8:49 PMBy: Wondering Latest Updates This past Friday, my principal stressed the contents of the new Acceptable Use Policy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it clearly states that NO third party social network should be used to communicate with CPS students. Perhaps I misunderstood. Maybe that is meant just for the little people who still promote integrity and morality.

Sun Aug 9, 2009 at 10:06 PMBy: TO WONDERING Latest Updates I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE ABOVE ENTRY IS TALKING ABOUT--
YOU ARE correct, FACULTY AND STAFF CAN NOW ONLY USE THAT BAD AND POOR AND HORRIBLE FIRSTCLASS TO BE IN TOUCH WITH THEIR STUDENTS. Yes, only first class can be used. You cannot give out your personal email address like: on yahoo or aol or sbc, etc. Otherwise, you are in violation of the AUP.
I guess we just cannot be in touch with our students any more about homework or test help, etc.

Sun Aug 9, 2009 at 11:12 PMBy: AUP Latest Updates Sent. It can also be found here:
http://policy.cps.k12.il.us/documents/604.1.pdf

Approved as of July 22, 2009.

Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 6:14 AMBy: dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb Latest Updates Could they actually give us a working email system before they ban us using non-internal email systems?

Every time, I have to use backspace in an email, my cps mail account locks up.

Remind me again, what's central office's job besides getting in the way of instruction?

Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 7:55 AMBy: Old technology rules us Latest Updates I had to send e-mail via my personal e-mail to parents this year because they had e-mailed me at work via CPS and I had to respond immediately (not the next day) due to the nature of the e-mail. I had to confer with colleagues (on my personal phone) before I responded to the e-mail so it could not be during the school day. I was unable to even get on First Class at home-this happens a lot.

Usually I can read but not respond to First Class at home. My principal is aware of this as we send in our lesson plans via First Class which means we often are sending him the plans on our personal e-mail.

We are unable to accesss the e-IEP, ISAT results for our students or First Class from home. There is very little time during the school day to complete all of this computer work and many of us do not have a computer at school or we work at such unsafe schools that we are told to leave with the security guards.

My server on my personal computer will not allow me to download the e-IEP due to viruses.

Will we be issued laptops?

This is happening city wide and the glitches are still pervasive.

Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 8:56 AMBy: Techno Morons Latest Updates Where's the Union in this? Oh! I forgot! On vacation for the summer...even tho the E schools start today.

AND, since the CTU site hasn't been updated for a month, what do THEY care about technology? They haven't for a year since they trashed the old site that actually was updated daily and put up the cr*p they've got now.

One would think...of course this is in the rational world...that a teacher making an extra effort would be praised...AND PAID FOR PERFORMANCE. Perhaps CPS might actually want to purchase the software he/she designed and give it to other teachers. I know, it's a shocking concept. But God forbid.

What would it take to EVER start off a school year praising teachers, throwing them some sort of crumb and doing something positive vs. the PR op for Huberman today at 1 school...probably the only one with air conditioning and a charter.

Wed Aug 12, 2009 at 10:42 PMBy: Killing 2 birds with 1 stone Expulsions of AA Males The expulsion of students in the AA community has sank to an all time low. After reading your article Catalyst In Depth, I wanted to respond to the issue of students expulsions. At my school, when teachers are not on board with the expulsion process, somehow they end up with erroneous accusations filed against them and validated by the CPS Law Department. The interesting thing is that students who have misbehaved in class and should be given referrals for specialized services are now used as star witnesses against teachers. You won't believe this but when the student is tricked into making false allegation ( because they are afraid of getting suspended) a "Let's Make a Deal" scenario emerges between the principal, the student and the CPS Law department . To add insult to injury,when the students are finished doing the dirty work, then an expulsion hearing is lined up for the student. The teacher then is asked to come and testify to help expel the student. There's something very sick and demented about this entire process. I wonder if this is a new strategy principals are using to get rid of tenured teachers and rid themselves of problem students simultaneously. It looks as if they are trying to "kill two birds with one stone". Also, many AA girls are going through the expulsion process. The numbers are increasing daily. Some research into the growing numbers of AA girls being expelled would be interesting.