A New Byline At The Tribune
Some of you may have noticed a new byline on today's front page Tribune education story this morning -- Kayce T. Ataiyero (Chicago Public Schools to fire hundreds at 8 under-performing schools).
From what I understand, she's been newly assigned to the education beat to help replace those who have left the beat or the paper (Tracy, Jonathan, etc.).
Congrats, condolences, as usual.
I don't know much about her, but you can find lots of her stuff via Google (here). She's apparently a DC native who's been in journalism for a little while and been at a bunch of big papers. Will she figure out how to get past the CPS media manipulators and find out what's really going on? We can sure hope so.
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 1:37 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Don't want to see teachers fired in the state of recession that we are in. Orr H.S. has to go, I always see students cutting walking back and forth down Chicago Ave. hang with the drug dealers over their in the 27th and 37th Wards. Where are you Ald. Burnett and Mitts.
But, yes their are excellent students who will be effected. Hopefully CPS will send them to Whitney Young, Jones, Payton H.S. to say on some who are at the levels the state wants its schools to be so they can continue.
Get rid of the fat at CPS and place some of these teachers in spots where they have experience.
But, yes their are excellent students who will be effected. Hopefully CPS will send them to Whitney Young, Jones, Payton H.S. to say on some who are at the levels the state wants its schools to be so they can continue.
Get rid of the fat at CPS and place some of these teachers in spots where they have experience.
Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 5:27 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Instead on consistently concentrating on the firing of teachers, who are allegedly underperforming, why not fire Peoplesoft and Impact.
Better yet, ( for you non-educators who are making these outrageous decisions) why not do a pilot program: send all teachers who are doing such a fantastic job at the high performing schools to the under performing schools for one month; and those that are teaching at the low performing schools to the high performing schools for one month. One thing for sure; those that teach at the low performing will be able to teach anywhere, on the other hand, I question whether those performing at the, so called, high performing schools will be able to survive for ONE WEEK!!!
Better yet, ( for you non-educators who are making these outrageous decisions) why not do a pilot program: send all teachers who are doing such a fantastic job at the high performing schools to the under performing schools for one month; and those that are teaching at the low performing schools to the high performing schools for one month. One thing for sure; those that teach at the low performing will be able to teach anywhere, on the other hand, I question whether those performing at the, so called, high performing schools will be able to survive for ONE WEEK!!!
Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 6:32 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
To: 5:27 As a teacher who has worked at high, low and middle scoring schools you are absolutely right. Most teachers who have only taught at high scoring schools would not last a day. Special education teachers would barely last an hour. Classroom management would be a big issue as would the manner in which parents are treated. I think this is a great idea.
Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 6:53 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
What is really "high" or "low" performing schools. Since when do schools do any performing at all? One must say the students are low or high performing not the schools.
Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 7:34 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
A tale of two schools
My buddy taught at Lane tech for over 20 years. He was the last wood shop teacher
To get bounced. Finally he got a position at Harper. He almost lasted a year at Harper
One of his poor misguided students bounced his head off the floor causing him to
black out from time to time. The Lamb did go to jail but the union field rep totally
Botched the the case .At least after 32 years of service the pension people let him
Go out on disability. I want to warn anyone thinking about going to Harper it is
A no joke dangerous place. If they actually leave the current students in attendance
It will be a disaster.
My buddy taught at Lane tech for over 20 years. He was the last wood shop teacher
To get bounced. Finally he got a position at Harper. He almost lasted a year at Harper
One of his poor misguided students bounced his head off the floor causing him to
black out from time to time. The Lamb did go to jail but the union field rep totally
Botched the the case .At least after 32 years of service the pension people let him
Go out on disability. I want to warn anyone thinking about going to Harper it is
A no joke dangerous place. If they actually leave the current students in attendance
It will be a disaster.
Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 8:57 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Enough is Enough. Give me a break of non educators. Do you have a Law Degree like myself? Or are you just a teacher or insider with CPS.
Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 10:56 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
No disrespect Mr. Attorney, and please don't take my comment out of context, but would you be allowed to perform surgery in an operating room?
As far as my status is concerned, I am a veteran teacher and administrator with over 31 years of dedicated service to CPS and extremely tired of Non-educators (those without education degrees) treating our children like they're pieces of paper, because LAWYERS, like yourself and all other professionals who received degrees in other disciplines want to run the education system like a BUSINESS with POLITICAL AGENDAS. These are CHILDREN!!! There is no stability in the schools, because people like you feel that there is nothing wrong with shuffling our children from building to building, and changing principals and teachers ever 5 minutes.
It is also your disrespectful and shallow comment "or are you JUST a teacher; these are comments teachers have to listened to on a regular basics. What if people had the same attitude towards you? "Or are you just a lawyer" Yet, it was a teacher that helped you get where you are today. Being a lawyer doesn't make you an expert on educating children and it also doesn't make you any better than anyone else. Just like you feel that you are an expert in law, teachers feel they are experts in education; that is our profession and we are genuinely concerned about OUR CHILDREN!! Do we have bad apples? Sure we do, but so does your profession.
Do I have a LAW degree? No. Can you teach a class of 30 children that not only have problems academically but also have to deal with the social ills of society? I think not, you wouldn't survive two hours!!! If you thought you could, you wouldn't have gone into law.
If you want to help, be a part of the solution. Bashing teachers is not the answer.
Maybe you should use your expertise in law and solve the problem of our corrupt legal system. Instead of putting all our youth in jail (a business) why not try helping them turn their lives around; something teachers (especially in the inner city schools) have to do on a regular basis....hmmm. If you want to know what helps children become successful, ask a teacher. If you want to know how to decipher legal briefs and documents, ask an attorney!!!!!
As far as my status is concerned, I am a veteran teacher and administrator with over 31 years of dedicated service to CPS and extremely tired of Non-educators (those without education degrees) treating our children like they're pieces of paper, because LAWYERS, like yourself and all other professionals who received degrees in other disciplines want to run the education system like a BUSINESS with POLITICAL AGENDAS. These are CHILDREN!!! There is no stability in the schools, because people like you feel that there is nothing wrong with shuffling our children from building to building, and changing principals and teachers ever 5 minutes.
It is also your disrespectful and shallow comment "or are you JUST a teacher; these are comments teachers have to listened to on a regular basics. What if people had the same attitude towards you? "Or are you just a lawyer" Yet, it was a teacher that helped you get where you are today. Being a lawyer doesn't make you an expert on educating children and it also doesn't make you any better than anyone else. Just like you feel that you are an expert in law, teachers feel they are experts in education; that is our profession and we are genuinely concerned about OUR CHILDREN!! Do we have bad apples? Sure we do, but so does your profession.
Do I have a LAW degree? No. Can you teach a class of 30 children that not only have problems academically but also have to deal with the social ills of society? I think not, you wouldn't survive two hours!!! If you thought you could, you wouldn't have gone into law.
If you want to help, be a part of the solution. Bashing teachers is not the answer.
Maybe you should use your expertise in law and solve the problem of our corrupt legal system. Instead of putting all our youth in jail (a business) why not try helping them turn their lives around; something teachers (especially in the inner city schools) have to do on a regular basis....hmmm. If you want to know what helps children become successful, ask a teacher. If you want to know how to decipher legal briefs and documents, ask an attorney!!!!!
Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 11:32 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Real funny Lois!!! Thanks for the correction.
Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 11:39 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Thanks for your support. Yet, the children who are going to be displaced, will not have the option of going to Whitney Young, Walter Payton or Jones; they would already be there. These schools are selective enrollments and students have to test to get in.
Fri Jan 25, 2008 at 7:32 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Sweet
My buddy informed me that the Board sent his terminator, the Lane Tech principal, Off to save Marshall High School on the west side. They gave him a title "Superstar Principal" a pat on the back and into the breech. I hear it was not pretty and a total failure. Just changing the boss and teachers will not work.To the person with the law degree remember that degree and two dollars will get you a cup of coffee.
My buddy informed me that the Board sent his terminator, the Lane Tech principal, Off to save Marshall High School on the west side. They gave him a title "Superstar Principal" a pat on the back and into the breech. I hear it was not pretty and a total failure. Just changing the boss and teachers will not work.To the person with the law degree remember that degree and two dollars will get you a cup of coffee.
Fri Jan 25, 2008 at 12:09 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Why did I just loose my job?
I voted for you.
You said you would save our jobs.
Why did I get fired yesterday when the close my school?
Why did it happen?
You promised to help us keep our jobs.
I voted for you.
You said you would save our jobs.
Why did I get fired yesterday when the close my school?
Why did it happen?
You promised to help us keep our jobs.
Fri Jan 25, 2008 at 4:05 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Based upon the terms of the NCLB Act, many
schools will have school staff to be
disassembled.
Look on the ISBE website for Report Card and
see if your school has the status of
Restructuring Implementation. As this is
the legal basis for why CPS can and will
be removing the staff at many schools
for the next school term.
schools will have school staff to be
disassembled.
Look on the ISBE website for Report Card and
see if your school has the status of
Restructuring Implementation. As this is
the legal basis for why CPS can and will
be removing the staff at many schools
for the next school term.
Fri Jan 25, 2008 at 5:13 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Counter attack
How about this as a novel idea. The teachers at Harper sue the parents for
Everything they can get. It would be interesting to see a crack whore explain
That little Julie missed 57 days this semester because she had to service the
Men her mother cannot. Or perhaps ask a parent to explain why her daughter
Acting as a birthday whore gave seven freshmen boys the clap. If we take this
Insult sitting down we deserve what we get. If we sue the parents the at the real
Cause of the Harper. Disaster might come out in the open.
How about this as a novel idea. The teachers at Harper sue the parents for
Everything they can get. It would be interesting to see a crack whore explain
That little Julie missed 57 days this semester because she had to service the
Men her mother cannot. Or perhaps ask a parent to explain why her daughter
Acting as a birthday whore gave seven freshmen boys the clap. If we take this
Insult sitting down we deserve what we get. If we sue the parents the at the real
Cause of the Harper. Disaster might come out in the open.
Fri Jan 25, 2008 at 5:33 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
The real cause is in adequate instruction support and underfunding for the more needy populations. Everyone talks of equity. At-risk students do not need what Glencoe students get per pupil they need at least 50% more because they are starting at a lower skill and support level.
Only then can we compare the two and see who is making gains.
As far as parents, I do not depend on parents. I am paid to teach the students in my room regardless of who they are many of my students live on their own. Punishing parents who have nothing already is like kicking a dead horse: a waste of time.
Focus on the students first and advocate for maximum resource allocation to the more needy students. Then you will succeed. Any educator that has any other agenda other than getting the most for every student is a fraud.
Students are first that is our job!
Anyone who believes that they have the power to divert, allocate, or reassign funding for initiatives other than direct instructional support is committing a crime against children. One day those children will grow up and remember who ripped them off. Those crooks will then be a lot older and weaker and will be at the mercy of those people they once subjugated and disenfranchised.
The rest is history.
Only then can we compare the two and see who is making gains.
As far as parents, I do not depend on parents. I am paid to teach the students in my room regardless of who they are many of my students live on their own. Punishing parents who have nothing already is like kicking a dead horse: a waste of time.
Focus on the students first and advocate for maximum resource allocation to the more needy students. Then you will succeed. Any educator that has any other agenda other than getting the most for every student is a fraud.
Students are first that is our job!
Anyone who believes that they have the power to divert, allocate, or reassign funding for initiatives other than direct instructional support is committing a crime against children. One day those children will grow up and remember who ripped them off. Those crooks will then be a lot older and weaker and will be at the mercy of those people they once subjugated and disenfranchised.
The rest is history.
Fri Jan 25, 2008 at 6:11 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Hey 10:56, while I'm sympathetic to your point, your operating room analogy doesn't hold much water because hospitals are usually run, at least at the operating level, by folks with business backgrounds. While they might not make decisions on what doctors do in the operating room, they would make decisions about facilities, spending, hiring, etc. Large school districts, for better or worse, need staffs of lawyers, business degree folks, etc. They are multi-billion dollar organizations that need to be run with at least some business sense.
The problem is not that there are non-educators in high-powered positions at CPS, but that their voice is not well-balanced with those of experienced educators. In the end, if CPS was serious about educating students, someone like Barbara Eason-Watkins (when was the last time we talked about her?), someone with experience in education, would have more power than someone like Arne. But CPS certainly would not be in any better shape if it was run entirely by veteran educators with no business background.
The problem is not that there are non-educators in high-powered positions at CPS, but that their voice is not well-balanced with those of experienced educators. In the end, if CPS was serious about educating students, someone like Barbara Eason-Watkins (when was the last time we talked about her?), someone with experience in education, would have more power than someone like Arne. But CPS certainly would not be in any better shape if it was run entirely by veteran educators with no business background.
Fri Jan 25, 2008 at 6:28 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Dear Kugler
Thank you for reminding me I am not God. If I were then I could teach the kids
Who are not in class, the Tribune doesn’t seem to mind blaming us teachers for
All the wrongs of society but you are correct why dump on the parents?
By accepting the premise that they have absolutely no responsibility for
The brood they decided to birth we can look past their present conditions to a
Brighter future and ignore years of damage. What about the teachers who are all branded failures? It is the very special teachers who worked like dogs to improve
The condition of the damaged ones who will pay the price for the parents, pimps, pushers
And whores that society has grouped in last chance schools like Harper. All the money in the world will not change that stink, But perhaps a court case could spread the
Blame .
Thank you for reminding me I am not God. If I were then I could teach the kids
Who are not in class, the Tribune doesn’t seem to mind blaming us teachers for
All the wrongs of society but you are correct why dump on the parents?
By accepting the premise that they have absolutely no responsibility for
The brood they decided to birth we can look past their present conditions to a
Brighter future and ignore years of damage. What about the teachers who are all branded failures? It is the very special teachers who worked like dogs to improve
The condition of the damaged ones who will pay the price for the parents, pimps, pushers
And whores that society has grouped in last chance schools like Harper. All the money in the world will not change that stink, But perhaps a court case could spread the
Blame .
Fri Jan 25, 2008 at 7:32 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Boy what part of this are you all missing. Your skills
as teachers and the dumping on parents is not going
to change the fact that the damage was not created over night
and the process to correct it was not going to happen overnight.
For the last six years you were working under a ticking
time bomb and most teachers and schools did not know
it. Casting blame is not going to change the fact that
the playing field was not leveled. So there was no
way you could have come out on top. What is happening
in these "Closing schools" was inevitable. Ask yourself
if the status is restructuring implementation what
were they implementing and when did you find
out as a teacher or a parent that if you did not
make progress then they would be closing
the school and or removing all of the staff.
WHen did they tell you that???
as teachers and the dumping on parents is not going
to change the fact that the damage was not created over night
and the process to correct it was not going to happen overnight.
For the last six years you were working under a ticking
time bomb and most teachers and schools did not know
it. Casting blame is not going to change the fact that
the playing field was not leveled. So there was no
way you could have come out on top. What is happening
in these "Closing schools" was inevitable. Ask yourself
if the status is restructuring implementation what
were they implementing and when did you find
out as a teacher or a parent that if you did not
make progress then they would be closing
the school and or removing all of the staff.
WHen did they tell you that???
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 4:05 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
"...when did you find out as a teacher or a parent that if you did not
make progress then they would be closing the school and or removing all of the staff?..."
Dear "Sorry"
The question is "progress" as measured on the basis of what, and by whom. As long as Chicago allows schools to be measured by secret abstractions on spreadsheets and then interpreted by experts who are basically hired flacks repeating cliches, these problems will get worse. Arne Duncan's professional training (outside of basketball) was in the same kind of mumbo jumbo that brought the world's economy into the current mess through stuff like "CDOs" and the rest of those thingies.
It's not about "progress" at all. Everyone who has ever studied it (long list unless you're really committed to your mindless spewings) has reported that so called standardized computer scored tests measure the wealth of families (SES) more than anything else. And certainly more than anything that can be done by teachers (or even principals) in a school building like Harper or Orr (or the 40 other general high schools Arne Duncan has been sabotaging since he took over).
Get real. Either you're a paid flack for the standardistos (as my friend Susan Ohanian would call it) or an unpaid one repeating pre-programmed cliches.
If the latter, you're ready for a job at the top of New Schools.
make progress then they would be closing the school and or removing all of the staff?..."
Dear "Sorry"
The question is "progress" as measured on the basis of what, and by whom. As long as Chicago allows schools to be measured by secret abstractions on spreadsheets and then interpreted by experts who are basically hired flacks repeating cliches, these problems will get worse. Arne Duncan's professional training (outside of basketball) was in the same kind of mumbo jumbo that brought the world's economy into the current mess through stuff like "CDOs" and the rest of those thingies.
It's not about "progress" at all. Everyone who has ever studied it (long list unless you're really committed to your mindless spewings) has reported that so called standardized computer scored tests measure the wealth of families (SES) more than anything else. And certainly more than anything that can be done by teachers (or even principals) in a school building like Harper or Orr (or the 40 other general high schools Arne Duncan has been sabotaging since he took over).
Get real. Either you're a paid flack for the standardistos (as my friend Susan Ohanian would call it) or an unpaid one repeating pre-programmed cliches.
If the latter, you're ready for a job at the top of New Schools.
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 6:33 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
I just stopped by the Catalyst reports on the latest Arne plans and wondered why Catalyst doesn't save the rent and move into the 6th floor offices at 125 S. Clark St. where Arne's Ministry of Truth presides.
Basically, the Catalyst update uncritically repeats all of the supposed "data" Arne hashed out about why he had to do what he's doing to all the schools. None of it is accurate in context. Not the "demographic" claims, and certainly not that prattle about "above" and "below" on the ISAT (for the elementaries) and that matrix used to target two high schools (out of 40 general high schools for which the same nonsense could have been reported).
Equally curious is why the Catalyst calendar of the hearings is so strangely rendered. Children, they will not be "debating" the closings at those kangaroo courts. Those are rubber stamps for the mayor's policies, just like the Board of Education meetings are. As Barabara Eason Watkins was saying in her full glory behind the scenes a week ago, it's a done deal. The hearing officer is a rubber stamp for the Mayor's Office and has been for years. They probably won't hire a crooked lawyer who was disbarred in Michigan, like they did for a few schools three years ago, but the joke will still be on the people who believe this is a "debate" as Catalyst wants everyone to.
I'm also curious as to why Catalyst reduced to incoherence a fairly explicit calendar, since there is no reason to scrimp on space on the Web.
The actual calendar has a couple of school hearings away from 125 S. Clark St. and most at 125 S. Clark St. Try and figure out which is which from the Catalyst schedule for the "debates." It's far better to separate out each one, as opposed to what Catalyst did for additional mystification.
Now, everyone knows that Catalyst has to get the nod from guys like Arne Duncan and Mike Koldyke before it can stay funded. Some people's "reporting" jobs are on the line if Catalyst gets de-funded -- like the groups that dared to be independent of Mayor Daley's media echo chamber over the past couple of years.
But give us a break.
Why not just remain silent, rather than presenting propaganda straight from the CPS Office of Communications as fact and history? Or is that what Catalyst is paid for. Recycling propaganda as "independent reporting"?
Basically, the Catalyst update uncritically repeats all of the supposed "data" Arne hashed out about why he had to do what he's doing to all the schools. None of it is accurate in context. Not the "demographic" claims, and certainly not that prattle about "above" and "below" on the ISAT (for the elementaries) and that matrix used to target two high schools (out of 40 general high schools for which the same nonsense could have been reported).
Equally curious is why the Catalyst calendar of the hearings is so strangely rendered. Children, they will not be "debating" the closings at those kangaroo courts. Those are rubber stamps for the mayor's policies, just like the Board of Education meetings are. As Barabara Eason Watkins was saying in her full glory behind the scenes a week ago, it's a done deal. The hearing officer is a rubber stamp for the Mayor's Office and has been for years. They probably won't hire a crooked lawyer who was disbarred in Michigan, like they did for a few schools three years ago, but the joke will still be on the people who believe this is a "debate" as Catalyst wants everyone to.
I'm also curious as to why Catalyst reduced to incoherence a fairly explicit calendar, since there is no reason to scrimp on space on the Web.
The actual calendar has a couple of school hearings away from 125 S. Clark St. and most at 125 S. Clark St. Try and figure out which is which from the Catalyst schedule for the "debates." It's far better to separate out each one, as opposed to what Catalyst did for additional mystification.
Now, everyone knows that Catalyst has to get the nod from guys like Arne Duncan and Mike Koldyke before it can stay funded. Some people's "reporting" jobs are on the line if Catalyst gets de-funded -- like the groups that dared to be independent of Mayor Daley's media echo chamber over the past couple of years.
But give us a break.
Why not just remain silent, rather than presenting propaganda straight from the CPS Office of Communications as fact and history? Or is that what Catalyst is paid for. Recycling propaganda as "independent reporting"?
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 8:11 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
I am an experienced educator working in the CPS system, and have also worked at several private schools and universities. I am close to finishing doctoral work in education, as I continue to teach a fourth and fifth grade class. My largest concern with the majority of comments that I see posted on this blog is the superficiality of comments and the lack of depth of discourse pertaining to the education of children. Bashing one another and the political nature of the system will not solve any of the problems facing schools and the children who come to them. The CPS system because of its size, age and location is a political machine. Our jobs within this system are ours to keep or leave for more interesting options. We have choices! We also have choices on how we present ourselves personally and collectively as a profession. We can choose how we teach and how we respond. The children are the ones without the power. The choices we must make in all actions as eduators, both minutely and globally should be choices that positively affect the children
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 9:02 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Re: Teacher
A very high-minded attitude, but this still does nothing to address the social problems of the children from those schools. The poverty and its acompanying ills that most of them face still are not being addressed in any meaningful way by our society, yet we teachers are expected to change things at these schools anyway.
A very high-minded attitude, but this still does nothing to address the social problems of the children from those schools. The poverty and its acompanying ills that most of them face still are not being addressed in any meaningful way by our society, yet we teachers are expected to change things at these schools anyway.
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 9:35 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Dear teacher
Well done on your PHD like I wrote the other person who bragged about there
Advanced degree, Law as I recall, Take that degree and two dollars and buy a cup of coffee. My question is are you now, or have you ever taught or attended Harper, or Orr
High schools? If you are on staff at one of those schools please let us know how
It feels to be a PHD candidate and a branded looser? If not consider yourself blessed.
Well done on your PHD like I wrote the other person who bragged about there
Advanced degree, Law as I recall, Take that degree and two dollars and buy a cup of coffee. My question is are you now, or have you ever taught or attended Harper, or Orr
High schools? If you are on staff at one of those schools please let us know how
It feels to be a PHD candidate and a branded looser? If not consider yourself blessed.
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 9:54 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
On the off chance of going to a high priced coffee house, I only buy the regular coffee, so it is less than two dollars. So thanks, but I'm covered on that end. I don't teach at Harper or Orr. I have taught in several inner city schools, live (by choice) in an inner city neighborhood and am a confirmed high school drop-out. So, loser in many eyes, but a dedicated teacher nonetheless. I think that teachers as a group need to begin to value their contributions more, then maybe the public will follow suit.
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 10:53 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Dear Teacher
Ok I think we can talk. Seems we have walked on the same ground.
Ok I think we can talk. Seems we have walked on the same ground.
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 11:00 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
What is happening is there are neo-liberals, neo-cons and reactionary forces are dismantling the public systems for social equity: for personal profit. What happens is that if there was not a smoke screen (bad teachers, violence, sex scandals, school closings, etc) then the public would clearly see that the infrastructure that are public assets are being transferred to private hands.
Where did it all start? No one point can be identified as starting the downward trend of capital growth in the US. What is important is that once you give something you worked for and owned to a stranger you have lost it forever and there is no obligation to return the favor. In fact as you can see when a private education entity fails there is no news about it they just fade away with all the assets without any accountability.
And again the teachers and students will be blamed: to hide the fact that they were given a bad hand to begin with and the other players already had all the aces in their hands.
The foundations of public education are that everyone has equal and easy access to schooling so they can be a productive member of society.
Teachers do not have to value their contributions, teachers just need to do their job teach students the truth and teach them what they need to succeed. Nothing else. I owe nothing to anyone except my students. At the end of the day when my students can do something they could not do before then I am a success no matter what the test scores or anyone else says.
I had an example of a malicious counselor saying that I was unfair and discriminatory to a truant student because I made him write a 20 page paper to change his failing grade so he could graduate, on the influence of African American architects on America.
When I told the student that the counselor was saying and reporting me to the principal for unfair treatment of a student, the student laughed and said that he learned a lot from the assignment and the counselor was funny for trying to keep him from learning what he needed to be a success.
Again, the students are the ones we serve. When the district fires teachers, closes schools and makes fake claims of reorganization with the approval of the union then it is the duty of the teacher to help show the student the right way to success no matter what happens. When a student is given the tools to succeed they will make it no matter what. They will see who is hurting them and they will see who is helping them.
My obligation is to my students and no one else. Not even myself!
Where did it all start? No one point can be identified as starting the downward trend of capital growth in the US. What is important is that once you give something you worked for and owned to a stranger you have lost it forever and there is no obligation to return the favor. In fact as you can see when a private education entity fails there is no news about it they just fade away with all the assets without any accountability.
And again the teachers and students will be blamed: to hide the fact that they were given a bad hand to begin with and the other players already had all the aces in their hands.
The foundations of public education are that everyone has equal and easy access to schooling so they can be a productive member of society.
Teachers do not have to value their contributions, teachers just need to do their job teach students the truth and teach them what they need to succeed. Nothing else. I owe nothing to anyone except my students. At the end of the day when my students can do something they could not do before then I am a success no matter what the test scores or anyone else says.
I had an example of a malicious counselor saying that I was unfair and discriminatory to a truant student because I made him write a 20 page paper to change his failing grade so he could graduate, on the influence of African American architects on America.
When I told the student that the counselor was saying and reporting me to the principal for unfair treatment of a student, the student laughed and said that he learned a lot from the assignment and the counselor was funny for trying to keep him from learning what he needed to be a success.
Again, the students are the ones we serve. When the district fires teachers, closes schools and makes fake claims of reorganization with the approval of the union then it is the duty of the teacher to help show the student the right way to success no matter what happens. When a student is given the tools to succeed they will make it no matter what. They will see who is hurting them and they will see who is helping them.
My obligation is to my students and no one else. Not even myself!
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 11:22 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
Act only on those maxims (or rules of action)
that you could at the same time will to be a universal law.
What makes the will good? The will is good when it acts out of duty, not out of inclination.
What does it mean to act out of inclination?
To do something because it makes you feel good or because you hope to gain something from it.
What does it mean to act out of duty?
We should act from respect for the moral law.
How do we do that?
We must know what the moral law is.
How do we know that?
We use the "Categorical Imperative."
Kant's example of a false promise (Using Test One)
Maxim: I may make a false promise in order to reap financial gain.
Generalized: Anyone may make a false promise to get something s/he wants.
This is self-contradictory because:
If anyone may make a "false promise," nobody would take a promise seriously; promising becomes meaningless.
Result: I may not act on that maxim.
The maxim fails Test One.
For more information on how to become moral to one's self.
Kant's Duty Ethics
http://www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/ethics/kant.htm
Act only on those maxims (or rules of action)
that you could at the same time will to be a universal law.
What makes the will good? The will is good when it acts out of duty, not out of inclination.
What does it mean to act out of inclination?
To do something because it makes you feel good or because you hope to gain something from it.
What does it mean to act out of duty?
We should act from respect for the moral law.
How do we do that?
We must know what the moral law is.
How do we know that?
We use the "Categorical Imperative."
Kant's example of a false promise (Using Test One)
Maxim: I may make a false promise in order to reap financial gain.
Generalized: Anyone may make a false promise to get something s/he wants.
This is self-contradictory because:
If anyone may make a "false promise," nobody would take a promise seriously; promising becomes meaningless.
Result: I may not act on that maxim.
The maxim fails Test One.
For more information on how to become moral to one's self.
Kant's Duty Ethics
http://www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/ethics/kant.htm
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 2:28 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Teachers should value their contributions because they are creating exceptional, student-centered environments with challenging expectations, interesting, stimulating activities, with room for intellectual and intuitive twists and turns in lesson plans. A way to do that is to live authentically in the moment that is presenting itself. If teachers are choosing not to do that, they should find other things to do.
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 3:40 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Dear 1.04:
Why are you so angry? Who hurt you? Were you once abused as a child or parent and can identify with those you speak of? Are you in an abusive relationship now? Are you dying?
Why are you so angry? Who hurt you? Were you once abused as a child or parent and can identify with those you speak of? Are you in an abusive relationship now? Are you dying?
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 7:11 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Dear Real Doctor
None of the above. It is just my way of getting people to let
Us know how they really feel. I am as normal as 38 years of inner
City teaching allows me to be. I have a wonderful wife, to grown kids,
Few bills and just quit smoking. Let’s get back to the professional extermination
Of seven faculties think any of them will be needing your services next year?
None of the above. It is just my way of getting people to let
Us know how they really feel. I am as normal as 38 years of inner
City teaching allows me to be. I have a wonderful wife, to grown kids,
Few bills and just quit smoking. Let’s get back to the professional extermination
Of seven faculties think any of them will be needing your services next year?
Sun Jan 27, 2008 at 5:29 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
"Teachers should value their contributions because they are creating exceptional, student-centered environments with challenging expectations, interesting, stimulating activities, with room for intellectual and intuitive twists and turns in lesson plans. A way to do that is to live authentically in the moment that is presenting itself. If teachers are choosing not to do that, they should find other things to do... blah... blah... blahditty, blah..." (teacher, yesterday).
Thanks, "teacher." Why didn't I think of that? Were you trained to think in Power Point blather? You've made me feel like I feel the skies have opened every time I hear Arne Duncan remind me that "all children can learn..." I taught for 28 years across some of the most challenging high schools in the USA -- created not by teachers, but by this system's vicious class and racial economic and social systems -- but it wasn't until I heard the first corporate school reform myrmidon recite the "all children can learn" mantra that I realized what the real problem was.
I have a writing prompt here are Prairie State and ISAT approach, and given the infinity of mindless cliche that has spewed from corporate school reform the past decades, I think we're on to something here. So, here goes...
Let's do an extraordinary rendition of this boilerplate as follows (sort of Bachian, background music from the Brandenburg Concertos or something)...
"...Schools CEOs should value their contributions because they are creating exceptional, student-centered environments with challenging expectations, interesting, stimulating activities, with room for intellectual and intuitive twists and turns in all levels of planning, avoiding oversimplifications, cliche, and obfuscations. A way to do that is to live authentically in the moment that is presenting itself. If CEOs are choosing not to do that, they should find other things to do..."
"Principals should value their contributions because they are creating exceptional, student-centered environments with challenging expectations, interesting, stimulating activities, with room for intellectual and intuitive twists and turns in lesson plans. A way to do that is to live authentically in the moment that is presenting itself. If principals are choosing not to do that, they should find other things to do... blah... blah... blahditty, blah..."
"...Physicians should value their contributions because they are creating exceptional, Patient-centered holistic health environments with challenging expectations, interesting, stimulating, and healthy activities, with room for intellectual and intuitive twists and turns in all levels of diagnosis and treatment. A way to do that is to live authentically in the moment that is presenting itself. If physicians are choosing not to do that, they should find other things to do..."
"...Police officers should value their contributions because they are creating exceptional, citizens-centered safety environments with challenging expectations, interesting, stimulating, and law abiding activities, with room for intellectual and intuitive twists and turns in all levels of law enforcement, including arrest, prosecution, and incarceration. A way to do that is for law enforcement officers to live as authentically as possible in the moment that is presenting itself. If law enforcement officers are choosing not to do that, they should find other things to do..."
"...Mayors who have been granted dictatorial power over large urban school districts should value their contributions because they are creating exceptional, student-centered learning environments with challenging expectations, interesting, stimulating activities, with room for intellectual and intuitive twists and turns in lesson plans. A way to do that is to live authentically in the moment that is presenting itself. If teachers are choosing not to do that, they should find other things to do... "
Don't you love the potential of all that sanctimonious corporate sound bite Duncanized bullslime boilerplate for poetry, satire, and other forays into art like this?
Thanks, "teacher." Why didn't I think of that? Were you trained to think in Power Point blather? You've made me feel like I feel the skies have opened every time I hear Arne Duncan remind me that "all children can learn..." I taught for 28 years across some of the most challenging high schools in the USA -- created not by teachers, but by this system's vicious class and racial economic and social systems -- but it wasn't until I heard the first corporate school reform myrmidon recite the "all children can learn" mantra that I realized what the real problem was.
I have a writing prompt here are Prairie State and ISAT approach, and given the infinity of mindless cliche that has spewed from corporate school reform the past decades, I think we're on to something here. So, here goes...
Let's do an extraordinary rendition of this boilerplate as follows (sort of Bachian, background music from the Brandenburg Concertos or something)...
"...Schools CEOs should value their contributions because they are creating exceptional, student-centered environments with challenging expectations, interesting, stimulating activities, with room for intellectual and intuitive twists and turns in all levels of planning, avoiding oversimplifications, cliche, and obfuscations. A way to do that is to live authentically in the moment that is presenting itself. If CEOs are choosing not to do that, they should find other things to do..."
"Principals should value their contributions because they are creating exceptional, student-centered environments with challenging expectations, interesting, stimulating activities, with room for intellectual and intuitive twists and turns in lesson plans. A way to do that is to live authentically in the moment that is presenting itself. If principals are choosing not to do that, they should find other things to do... blah... blah... blahditty, blah..."
"...Physicians should value their contributions because they are creating exceptional, Patient-centered holistic health environments with challenging expectations, interesting, stimulating, and healthy activities, with room for intellectual and intuitive twists and turns in all levels of diagnosis and treatment. A way to do that is to live authentically in the moment that is presenting itself. If physicians are choosing not to do that, they should find other things to do..."
"...Police officers should value their contributions because they are creating exceptional, citizens-centered safety environments with challenging expectations, interesting, stimulating, and law abiding activities, with room for intellectual and intuitive twists and turns in all levels of law enforcement, including arrest, prosecution, and incarceration. A way to do that is for law enforcement officers to live as authentically as possible in the moment that is presenting itself. If law enforcement officers are choosing not to do that, they should find other things to do..."
"...Mayors who have been granted dictatorial power over large urban school districts should value their contributions because they are creating exceptional, student-centered learning environments with challenging expectations, interesting, stimulating activities, with room for intellectual and intuitive twists and turns in lesson plans. A way to do that is to live authentically in the moment that is presenting itself. If teachers are choosing not to do that, they should find other things to do... "
Don't you love the potential of all that sanctimonious corporate sound bite Duncanized bullslime boilerplate for poetry, satire, and other forays into art like this?
Sun Jan 27, 2008 at 5:47 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
I will never post here or read this blog again. All the anger is not worth spending any time with. I'll leave with my final thought, that yes, all children and adults can learn. I am making a choice to find other things to do.
Sun Jan 27, 2008 at 5:56 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Dear teacher
Nice knowing you, have a good life, stay happy.
Nice knowing you, have a good life, stay happy.
Mon Jan 28, 2008 at 12:08 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Everyone knows that firing the teachers is not going to make a difference at Orr, Harper or their feeder elementary schools. I've been the recipient of "you're being replaced" twice in my teaching career. Both schools were under performing with students that most teachers wouldn't wish on anyone. The Board notified the entire staff that the school would be closing so we either could retire, resign, or look for a new positon. They were kind enough to bring in HR and pension people to help us with our decision. They closed the school, sent the few hundred students to a neighboring high school and reopened a couple of years later with all new staff and new students. In 2004, the principal was escorted out of the building and fired. So much for positive change.
The second time was the biggest mess I had ever seen. We were notifed that the school would be converting, not closing, but the ineffective staff would be replaced once the original population was phased out. The process took three years and it was absolutely demoralizing on the staff. But the interesting thing is that even though we all knew the school was changing most of us decided, for whatever reasons we each personally had, to keep coming back and wait for the inevitable axe to fall. We were interviewed and then we received a transition manager who came up with a better interview process. I've never been through a four team CPS interview in my life until that year. Then we found out that the interviews were not conducted properly (most likely not legally) and they were all thrown out. The last year saw new teachers come onboard without any position numbers to pay them and all the veteran teachers pushed out of department chair positions. Nine positions were cut that year but the Union promptly recovered them for the short term. At the end of the school year, all but a select few teachers were out of job (there were a couple of veteran teachers who did not get forced out and are still teaching there). I always questioned how they were able to stay and the rest of us were the reason the students performed so badly and we had to be replaced by better teachers.
The school shortened it's name, became a college prep academy and reneged on every change it promised in promotional materials to students and parents. Prinicpals haven't lasted there long either. The newest one seems to have won the favor of the LSC, the parents and the students and might remain.
If you are a veteran teacher in the system you know what is really going on. New teachers are hired into our schools and given the best classes, the extra curricular programs, and department chair positions. They immediately return to grad school, get a Type 75 and move on up and out which means the children have no continuity. Gone are the days when you had a teacher who not only taught you but your kids as well at the same school. Times they are a changing. We're not lousy teachers who don't care or are burnt out, we're just too darn expensive. Watch the teacher statistsics over the next few years as well. You'll see a dramatic shift change in who's teaching Chicago's children.
I did and still do much soul searching, especially when I pass these former workplaces of mine which I still do with way too much regularity. I remember stopping in front of the first one when it re-opened with mixed feelings. Why weren't we contacted about interviewing for the new positions? Why couldn't we be part of the planning team for the new small school? I was still new to the system then but I got the message loud and clear. "We don't want you. You're no good for the students, for the district, or for yourself." Be gone! And so it is. But even with a new student population with better scores and parents on a higher step on the socio-economic ladder these schools haven't become academic powerhouses to rival North Side Prep or Whitney Young. Of course it will take time. But what happens to the students that are displaced to make room for the new school. Ask the techers and administrators of Dyett who were there when CPS announced to the public before the staff that they would become a high school. Compare the scores and academic issues of their population to those of the school where they would have gone to had change not come. Look at how the improvement of one school leads to the destruction of another.
And the wheel goes round and round.
The second time was the biggest mess I had ever seen. We were notifed that the school would be converting, not closing, but the ineffective staff would be replaced once the original population was phased out. The process took three years and it was absolutely demoralizing on the staff. But the interesting thing is that even though we all knew the school was changing most of us decided, for whatever reasons we each personally had, to keep coming back and wait for the inevitable axe to fall. We were interviewed and then we received a transition manager who came up with a better interview process. I've never been through a four team CPS interview in my life until that year. Then we found out that the interviews were not conducted properly (most likely not legally) and they were all thrown out. The last year saw new teachers come onboard without any position numbers to pay them and all the veteran teachers pushed out of department chair positions. Nine positions were cut that year but the Union promptly recovered them for the short term. At the end of the school year, all but a select few teachers were out of job (there were a couple of veteran teachers who did not get forced out and are still teaching there). I always questioned how they were able to stay and the rest of us were the reason the students performed so badly and we had to be replaced by better teachers.
The school shortened it's name, became a college prep academy and reneged on every change it promised in promotional materials to students and parents. Prinicpals haven't lasted there long either. The newest one seems to have won the favor of the LSC, the parents and the students and might remain.
If you are a veteran teacher in the system you know what is really going on. New teachers are hired into our schools and given the best classes, the extra curricular programs, and department chair positions. They immediately return to grad school, get a Type 75 and move on up and out which means the children have no continuity. Gone are the days when you had a teacher who not only taught you but your kids as well at the same school. Times they are a changing. We're not lousy teachers who don't care or are burnt out, we're just too darn expensive. Watch the teacher statistsics over the next few years as well. You'll see a dramatic shift change in who's teaching Chicago's children.
I did and still do much soul searching, especially when I pass these former workplaces of mine which I still do with way too much regularity. I remember stopping in front of the first one when it re-opened with mixed feelings. Why weren't we contacted about interviewing for the new positions? Why couldn't we be part of the planning team for the new small school? I was still new to the system then but I got the message loud and clear. "We don't want you. You're no good for the students, for the district, or for yourself." Be gone! And so it is. But even with a new student population with better scores and parents on a higher step on the socio-economic ladder these schools haven't become academic powerhouses to rival North Side Prep or Whitney Young. Of course it will take time. But what happens to the students that are displaced to make room for the new school. Ask the techers and administrators of Dyett who were there when CPS announced to the public before the staff that they would become a high school. Compare the scores and academic issues of their population to those of the school where they would have gone to had change not come. Look at how the improvement of one school leads to the destruction of another.
And the wheel goes round and round.
Mon Jan 28, 2008 at 1:04 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Shame on any teacher that does not believe all students can learn. Thank you "teacher". I would be honored to have you teach my children. And for those who are ciritical, please get out of the profession. Low expecations are the problem with these schools. How sad that some of you are in front ot children every day. Teachers will never be professionals until they get rid of this negative attitude. How can these people face a classroom of children every day?
Mon Jan 28, 2008 at 9:12 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
George, if people started to parse your every word on this blog you'd look like an even bigger idiot than you just tried to make "teacher" sound like. Stick your self-righteous, sanctimonious BS somewhere else.
Mon Jan 28, 2008 at 10:47 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
On the one hand, yes, all children can learn, obviously. But the question is do all children want to learn what schools must teach? When a student doesn't attend school for a third of the year, for no good reason, that student is making a statement that he doesn't want to learn what the school is teaching. When a student acts out in class and disrupts education for the other 29 students, that student is making a statement that he doesn't want to learn what the school is teaching.
But I don't buy the socio-economic excuse, that because society hasn't addressed poverty, the students won't learn. The fact is, society has addressed poverty for children to a great extent. There are section 8 vouchers, so that students don't have to be homeless (I realize there are reasons some students are still homeless, but they are a minority), there are food stamps and reduced price lunches so that students don't have to be hungry. There is TANF so that families can get back on their feet. There are Medicaid and the IL children's healthcare program so that student's health is addressed. Yes, more needs to be done there, including dental coverage.
I have lived in neighborhoods with significant poverty and what I have seen is it's all about the family. If Mom or Grandma is focused on her children's educations, and seeking out opportunities whether it be for free tutoring, access to a better school, or free music lessons, and is actively involved in supervising her children, and ensuring that homework and study is the first priority, then her children will probably do pretty well. If Mom or Grandma is not motivated to do these things, then it's a toss-up whether the children will prosper or not and if Mom or Grandma is a complete screwup (drug-addled, drunk, involved with abusive men, etc.) then the children are going to be screwed up.
It's all very well to say don't blame the parents, but sometimes it really is the parents fault.
But I don't buy the socio-economic excuse, that because society hasn't addressed poverty, the students won't learn. The fact is, society has addressed poverty for children to a great extent. There are section 8 vouchers, so that students don't have to be homeless (I realize there are reasons some students are still homeless, but they are a minority), there are food stamps and reduced price lunches so that students don't have to be hungry. There is TANF so that families can get back on their feet. There are Medicaid and the IL children's healthcare program so that student's health is addressed. Yes, more needs to be done there, including dental coverage.
I have lived in neighborhoods with significant poverty and what I have seen is it's all about the family. If Mom or Grandma is focused on her children's educations, and seeking out opportunities whether it be for free tutoring, access to a better school, or free music lessons, and is actively involved in supervising her children, and ensuring that homework and study is the first priority, then her children will probably do pretty well. If Mom or Grandma is not motivated to do these things, then it's a toss-up whether the children will prosper or not and if Mom or Grandma is a complete screwup (drug-addled, drunk, involved with abusive men, etc.) then the children are going to be screwed up.
It's all very well to say don't blame the parents, but sometimes it really is the parents fault.
Mon Jan 28, 2008 at 12:24 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
All teachers need to believe that all children can learn exactly the way that all doctors need to believe that all patients can be saved and all lawyers must believe that all defendants they represent are innocent.
Mon Jan 28, 2008 at 6:15 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Actually, most attorneys would rather know the truth about their defendant, even if it means they know he is guilty. It makes it much easier to defend their case.
Mon Jan 28, 2008 at 7:23 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Who Said
I read the whole string and did not read anyone saying a kid can’t learn
I did read a couple of true stories .and a lot of liberal hot air.
Let me say that everyone can be taught something. But not everyone can
learn everything.
Having said that let me make my point. There is an enormous pool of students
That do not know anything .They have the capacity to learn but choose not to.
Or they had an appeaser teacher who thought they were cute, played the race game,
Thought self esteem more important than the times tables and phonics an outmoded
pursuit. Pity the poor kid who had those teachers in grammar school because when
the check comes in High School they have nothing to pay it with.
If we were an honest system we would not be as concerned with test scores
As with individual competence. Algebra for everyone is ok, provided you know how
To add, subtract ect, first
I read the whole string and did not read anyone saying a kid can’t learn
I did read a couple of true stories .and a lot of liberal hot air.
Let me say that everyone can be taught something. But not everyone can
learn everything.
Having said that let me make my point. There is an enormous pool of students
That do not know anything .They have the capacity to learn but choose not to.
Or they had an appeaser teacher who thought they were cute, played the race game,
Thought self esteem more important than the times tables and phonics an outmoded
pursuit. Pity the poor kid who had those teachers in grammar school because when
the check comes in High School they have nothing to pay it with.
If we were an honest system we would not be as concerned with test scores
As with individual competence. Algebra for everyone is ok, provided you know how
To add, subtract ect, first
Mon Jan 28, 2008 at 7:24 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Who Said
I read the whole string and did not read anyone saying a kid can’t learn
I did read a couple of true stories .and a lot of liberal hot air.
Let me say that everyone can be taught something. But not everyone can
learn everything.
Having said that let me make my point. There is an enormous pool of students
That do not know anything .They have the capacity to learn but choose not to.
Or they had an appeaser teacher who thought they were cute, played the race game,
Thought self esteem more important than the times tables and phonics an outmoded
pursuit. Pity the poor kid who had those teachers in grammar school because when
the check comes in High School they have nothing to pay it with.
If we were an honest system we would not be as concerned with test scores
As with individual competence. Algebra for everyone is ok, provided you know how
To add, subtract ect, first
I read the whole string and did not read anyone saying a kid can’t learn
I did read a couple of true stories .and a lot of liberal hot air.
Let me say that everyone can be taught something. But not everyone can
learn everything.
Having said that let me make my point. There is an enormous pool of students
That do not know anything .They have the capacity to learn but choose not to.
Or they had an appeaser teacher who thought they were cute, played the race game,
Thought self esteem more important than the times tables and phonics an outmoded
pursuit. Pity the poor kid who had those teachers in grammar school because when
the check comes in High School they have nothing to pay it with.
If we were an honest system we would not be as concerned with test scores
As with individual competence. Algebra for everyone is ok, provided you know how
To add, subtract ect, first
Mon Jan 28, 2008 at 8:56 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Hmmm. Despite what some commenters are charging, I'm not seeing anyone say here kids can't learn. And, I'd say, anyone who blames the parents does not personally know a lot of parents who are poor who are also coping with addictions, mental illness, etc. I also think that George nailed it with his boilerplate (especially the hospital example - in the past 20 years, hospitals have also been taken over by the corporate model, turning patients into widgets and caregivers get the backseat). The education reporters keep missing the story. I've pay to see a teacher/administrator exchange day (make it two months) with the low-income schools' staff trading places with the high-income and high-scoring schools' staff. And the phrase that keeps running though my head is: "It's the poverty, stupid!" But, I'm not calling anyone here stupid... Oh, and my fingers are crossed that no one ever, ever, ever again tells others to "leave the field" if they complain. Now, that is a stupid idea.
Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 11:55 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
I have sympathy for those with mental illness. It is a huge, yawning, gaping hole in our social services. Addiction, I have no sympathy for as it is a choice that people make. I especially have little patience for addicts with children. If you are an addict, don't have children and if you have children, don't use things that can make you an addict. If the foster care system weren't so incredibly botched up, I would say that addicts should lose their children. Unfortunately, the foster care system is another huge, yawning, gaping hole in our social services, so the children might not prosper under an addict, but they might survive!
Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 4:37 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Success
Those of us who were not born rich, or have a missionary sense of guilt, maybe
Just had to run for there lives a few times do not swallow all the bull about the
Poor parents. Hell, our parents were poor so what? How much money does it take to
Read a book to a toddler? Clothes second hand just wash and press no problem?
What drives me up the wall are people who excuse rotten parents for all sorts of reasons.
Those of us who were not born rich, or have a missionary sense of guilt, maybe
Just had to run for there lives a few times do not swallow all the bull about the
Poor parents. Hell, our parents were poor so what? How much money does it take to
Read a book to a toddler? Clothes second hand just wash and press no problem?
What drives me up the wall are people who excuse rotten parents for all sorts of reasons.
Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 5:07 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Mine is off by 20K from my last pay stub.
Anybody else?
Anybody else?
Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 6:02 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Temper, Charlie, temper. Parse away. If you're programmed to repeat boilerplate, your life will be ever so much easier. You may even get hired eventually to be a "turnaround teacher."
Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 6:15 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Marilyn what do we do now?
Our W2's are incorrect will you help?
leadership@ctulocal1.com
Our W2's are incorrect will you help?
leadership@ctulocal1.com
Wed Jan 30, 2008 at 1:53 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
Alexander, as people (and vendors) open their tax information and gasp, this stuff is going to require a separate thread.
The incorrect W-2 forms that CPS has provided to some employees (of course, like the incorrect paychecks and the botched pensions, nobody knows how big the problem now is) flow from the mess Arne Duncan and Robert Runcie -- basically, the Chicago Board of Education -- created when they (basically) outsourced the entire payroll system without a serious and professional prototyping of the new system or a backup streaming from the old one. The failure of the Board to oversee this mess is equivalent to the failure of the Sun-Times Board to oversee the predations of Conrad Black. (And given the subcontracting shenanigans that went on, might be as corrupt after the whole story is forced out).
Notice I'm not discussing this by referencing the contractor ("People Soft") because once CPS launched this as its payroll system, CPS took overnewship of the mess. Period.
The Chicago Public Schools payroll debacle that's been documented for ten months now (remember, it began in PSRP and active duty teacher payrolls in March 2007 and hit the retirees in June 2007) has now hit in a place where people will be paying for it for years and years: inaccurate W-2 (and 1099) data provided to the Internal Revenue Service.
How big is the problem? The most frightening thing is that no one can answer that simple question -- ten months after Arne Duncan's crony administration launched the problem, blindly and in violation of both best practices and simple common sense.
Once Arne and his team screwed up the basic payroll system and then refused to repair it the only way possible (i.e., by bringing the whole thing in-house, suing the vendors -- that's a plural -- who messed everything up, and publicly admitting the biggest payroll mistake of any school district in history), the rest unfolded like a Greed tragedy.
Duncan and the Board of Education guaranteed that when the W-2 forms (and the 1099s by the way) had to be filed both with employees (or vendors) and the IRS (and state revenue systems; remember, CPS employees live in several states, and vendors in most) a bigger mess would explode.
For many people whose only sin is having too much trust in the system, this will be a huge problem for years to come, beginning when they file their 2007 federal and state income taxes. For others (and this includes some of the retirees, as many know) are facing dwindling resources to correct these problems. Is Arne Duncan going to pay for federal tax penalties for everyone who has been screwed by this massive example of corruption and incompetence?
For the Chicago Board of Education -- and Chicago -- this scandal should end any claim that the bankers and millionaires who make up the Chicago Board of Education are following "business methods." Neither of the bankers currently on the Board of Education would have allowed his underlings (at Bank of America/LaSalle or at Banco Popular) to install an ATM system that was "90 percent accurate" (as Rufus Williams admitted was the case back in March) and had progressed to being 98 or 99 percent accurate (as the Three Musketeers reported was the case by the time of the December meeting of the Board of Education).
Back in the back old days when teachers and career service people (with certificatioins and training) ran both the educational and operational ends of CPS, this kind of thing would have been unthinkable. Additionally, had something like this broken under the noses of Chicago's media, it would have been a page one scandal months ago, not an underreported and clearly under-understood side story. This mess is another example of what deregulation leads to. The idea was that anyone (Arne Duncan) could be hauled in off the street and given the power to run the third largest school system in the USA, and then he could install just about anyone in the highest paid positions in the system (and in many of the schools) without regard to any training or credentials (except perhaps fictional ones and padded resumes, which CPS then covers up by denying all FOIA requests for the information).
This whole thing has always been about crony capitalism and kleptocracy. Neither Arne Duncan nor Paul Vallas ever had to meet even the smallest of small business payrolls before become the "Chief Executive." Now, as this mess unfolds into future reality, the whole monstrous lie will haunt thousands of decent people for years to come.
The seven members of the Chicago Board of Education will continue to nod and utter their platitudes -- and rubber stamp every twist and turn of Mayor Daley's corporate "school reform" agenda.
Actually, I guess we can say this was a certain kind of "business model." The businesses (and business leaders) who gave the USA this model, though, are now notorious and will be remembered for years, if not generations. Ken Lay and Jeff Skillings from Enron (remember how, like CPS, they were hailed as "best" in the USA once upon a time during those fair tales). Conrad Black of Hollinger International. Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco. Bernie Ebbers of MCI World Com. It's a long list, and Arne Duncan (and the members of the Chicago Board of Education) now deserve to have their place on it as a reminder from that insane decade we're still trying to survive.
The incorrect W-2 forms that CPS has provided to some employees (of course, like the incorrect paychecks and the botched pensions, nobody knows how big the problem now is) flow from the mess Arne Duncan and Robert Runcie -- basically, the Chicago Board of Education -- created when they (basically) outsourced the entire payroll system without a serious and professional prototyping of the new system or a backup streaming from the old one. The failure of the Board to oversee this mess is equivalent to the failure of the Sun-Times Board to oversee the predations of Conrad Black. (And given the subcontracting shenanigans that went on, might be as corrupt after the whole story is forced out).
Notice I'm not discussing this by referencing the contractor ("People Soft") because once CPS launched this as its payroll system, CPS took overnewship of the mess. Period.
The Chicago Public Schools payroll debacle that's been documented for ten months now (remember, it began in PSRP and active duty teacher payrolls in March 2007 and hit the retirees in June 2007) has now hit in a place where people will be paying for it for years and years: inaccurate W-2 (and 1099) data provided to the Internal Revenue Service.
How big is the problem? The most frightening thing is that no one can answer that simple question -- ten months after Arne Duncan's crony administration launched the problem, blindly and in violation of both best practices and simple common sense.
Once Arne and his team screwed up the basic payroll system and then refused to repair it the only way possible (i.e., by bringing the whole thing in-house, suing the vendors -- that's a plural -- who messed everything up, and publicly admitting the biggest payroll mistake of any school district in history), the rest unfolded like a Greed tragedy.
Duncan and the Board of Education guaranteed that when the W-2 forms (and the 1099s by the way) had to be filed both with employees (or vendors) and the IRS (and state revenue systems; remember, CPS employees live in several states, and vendors in most) a bigger mess would explode.
For many people whose only sin is having too much trust in the system, this will be a huge problem for years to come, beginning when they file their 2007 federal and state income taxes. For others (and this includes some of the retirees, as many know) are facing dwindling resources to correct these problems. Is Arne Duncan going to pay for federal tax penalties for everyone who has been screwed by this massive example of corruption and incompetence?
For the Chicago Board of Education -- and Chicago -- this scandal should end any claim that the bankers and millionaires who make up the Chicago Board of Education are following "business methods." Neither of the bankers currently on the Board of Education would have allowed his underlings (at Bank of America/LaSalle or at Banco Popular) to install an ATM system that was "90 percent accurate" (as Rufus Williams admitted was the case back in March) and had progressed to being 98 or 99 percent accurate (as the Three Musketeers reported was the case by the time of the December meeting of the Board of Education).
Back in the back old days when teachers and career service people (with certificatioins and training) ran both the educational and operational ends of CPS, this kind of thing would have been unthinkable. Additionally, had something like this broken under the noses of Chicago's media, it would have been a page one scandal months ago, not an underreported and clearly under-understood side story. This mess is another example of what deregulation leads to. The idea was that anyone (Arne Duncan) could be hauled in off the street and given the power to run the third largest school system in the USA, and then he could install just about anyone in the highest paid positions in the system (and in many of the schools) without regard to any training or credentials (except perhaps fictional ones and padded resumes, which CPS then covers up by denying all FOIA requests for the information).
This whole thing has always been about crony capitalism and kleptocracy. Neither Arne Duncan nor Paul Vallas ever had to meet even the smallest of small business payrolls before become the "Chief Executive." Now, as this mess unfolds into future reality, the whole monstrous lie will haunt thousands of decent people for years to come.
The seven members of the Chicago Board of Education will continue to nod and utter their platitudes -- and rubber stamp every twist and turn of Mayor Daley's corporate "school reform" agenda.
Actually, I guess we can say this was a certain kind of "business model." The businesses (and business leaders) who gave the USA this model, though, are now notorious and will be remembered for years, if not generations. Ken Lay and Jeff Skillings from Enron (remember how, like CPS, they were hailed as "best" in the USA once upon a time during those fair tales). Conrad Black of Hollinger International. Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco. Bernie Ebbers of MCI World Com. It's a long list, and Arne Duncan (and the members of the Chicago Board of Education) now deserve to have their place on it as a reminder from that insane decade we're still trying to survive.
Wed Jan 30, 2008 at 2:38 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
>>> publicly admitting the biggest payroll mistake of any school district in history)
Just a minor correction -- the LA School District spent even more on a contract with Deloitte for their own payroll debacle.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/07/1638226
Just a minor correction -- the LA School District spent even more on a contract with Deloitte for their own payroll debacle.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/07/1638226
Wed Jan 30, 2008 at 7:20 AM
A New Byline At The Tribune
W2
There is no total compensation on my W2 and the various
totals listed are over twenty thousand dollars in error from
my last pay stub.I will attempt to call someone today and keep
you posted on this journey
There is no total compensation on my W2 and the various
totals listed are over twenty thousand dollars in error from
my last pay stub.I will attempt to call someone today and keep
you posted on this journey
Fri Feb 1, 2008 at 7:28 PM
A New Byline At The Tribune
"... publicly admitting the biggest payroll mistake of any school district in history)... Just a minor correction -- the LA School District spent even more on a contract with Deloitte for their own payroll debacle..." (1:04, before the storm)...
We're aware of the Los Angeles debacle, another example of corrupt outsourcing and sub-contracting.
However, before anyone thinks that LA has a bigger problem than Chicago (despite what Education Week reported), we need to take a closer look at the available (and potential) facts from both cities.
The Chicago mess was fundamental to the architecture of the system Duncan purchased, and so the waves of problems rolled ashore like a tsunami, each one as dangerous or more so that the previous one. Chicago's mess escalated from one iteration to the next. First in ESP payroll (March 2006); then teacher payroll (March and April 2006). By June, the retiree summaries had been botched. At every point, benefit days were being ripped off from people. (Woe to she who didn't save records on sick days and personal days; they've stolen millions from people on these alone). And now they've reached the incurable W-2 mess.
The solutions they have suggested (and announced) are simply lies, stalling. To use one metaphor among several possible ones: "Fixing" this mess is like putting a mile of toothpaste back into 300 tubes -- and having to identify each tube for each ten feet of paste; can't be done.
Not to quibble, but people in LA say their problems have been solved. Ours are still escalating, with the W-2 and benefit day messes beginning to accumulate now. And the 700 grievances the Chicago Teachers Union had finally taken in by October were not the total, but the tip of the iceberg. Marilyn Stewart is still clueless about what's happened, one because she decided to jump into bed with the boss, and two because she has no one on her staff who can explain what happened in all of its complex glory, from the initial RFP through all the tangled subcontractors that got us here, at a cost of much more than the admitted prices.
Criminal? Probably.
Incompetent and corrupt? Definitely.
Proof that Arne should be fired? Undoubtedly.
But this is Chicago, and everyone's being treated to another miracle management show between now and the Board of Education meeting on January 27.
Whenever anyone asks me what to do, I suggest saving every paper record in a special place. When you get audited by the IRS, you can often make your case and even "win" if you have the records. But you can't count on CPS to do anything accurately right now, let alone competently. People are going to be spending thousands of hours over the next several years trying to explain how this happened to federal and state tax officials when all the exceptions start rolling in. That will add additional cost for years to come -- and don't believe someone will impose a statute of limitations on how often the IRS will bother you.
Arne Duncan has his priorities.
Right now, the big priority is closing as many schools as possible to keep Renaissance 2010 on schedule and preparing everyone for the next round of closings, and the rounds after that. As in the trains are running on time for that runt who struts around patting himself on the back about his courage and all these educational miracles.
This week, CPS has deployed more than 100 people (from AIOs and lawyers on down) out and around to tighten the screws on the closings. Every squeeze is on to prevent people from speaking out against the closings. School by school. Lie by lie.
Far fewer people are crying and quitting because they tried, and failed, to straighten out the messes with "People Soft" (i.e., the payroll systems of the third largest school system in the USA).
The fact that Arne Duncan is still top dog in CPS says it all.
If CPS were truly run on "business principles" he'd have been ousted by June, when all the corruption of this payroll system (and its entangled sub-contracting messes) became visible even to the blind. Can you imagine what LaSalle Bank would have done to someone who put in a new ATM system that was "90 precent OK..." (like Arne and Rufus bragged the "People Soft" system was last March). You've got to be kidding, but the joke's ongoing and its on everyone in Chicago.
Instead of fixing the messes he's made, yesterday Arne was repeating his boilerplate and getting pats on the back from potentates (Daley), billionaires' reps (Gates people) and millionaires (Koldyke & AUSL) while another payroll was imploding.
We're aware of the Los Angeles debacle, another example of corrupt outsourcing and sub-contracting.
However, before anyone thinks that LA has a bigger problem than Chicago (despite what Education Week reported), we need to take a closer look at the available (and potential) facts from both cities.
The Chicago mess was fundamental to the architecture of the system Duncan purchased, and so the waves of problems rolled ashore like a tsunami, each one as dangerous or more so that the previous one. Chicago's mess escalated from one iteration to the next. First in ESP payroll (March 2006); then teacher payroll (March and April 2006). By June, the retiree summaries had been botched. At every point, benefit days were being ripped off from people. (Woe to she who didn't save records on sick days and personal days; they've stolen millions from people on these alone). And now they've reached the incurable W-2 mess.
The solutions they have suggested (and announced) are simply lies, stalling. To use one metaphor among several possible ones: "Fixing" this mess is like putting a mile of toothpaste back into 300 tubes -- and having to identify each tube for each ten feet of paste; can't be done.
Not to quibble, but people in LA say their problems have been solved. Ours are still escalating, with the W-2 and benefit day messes beginning to accumulate now. And the 700 grievances the Chicago Teachers Union had finally taken in by October were not the total, but the tip of the iceberg. Marilyn Stewart is still clueless about what's happened, one because she decided to jump into bed with the boss, and two because she has no one on her staff who can explain what happened in all of its complex glory, from the initial RFP through all the tangled subcontractors that got us here, at a cost of much more than the admitted prices.
Criminal? Probably.
Incompetent and corrupt? Definitely.
Proof that Arne should be fired? Undoubtedly.
But this is Chicago, and everyone's being treated to another miracle management show between now and the Board of Education meeting on January 27.
Whenever anyone asks me what to do, I suggest saving every paper record in a special place. When you get audited by the IRS, you can often make your case and even "win" if you have the records. But you can't count on CPS to do anything accurately right now, let alone competently. People are going to be spending thousands of hours over the next several years trying to explain how this happened to federal and state tax officials when all the exceptions start rolling in. That will add additional cost for years to come -- and don't believe someone will impose a statute of limitations on how often the IRS will bother you.
Arne Duncan has his priorities.
Right now, the big priority is closing as many schools as possible to keep Renaissance 2010 on schedule and preparing everyone for the next round of closings, and the rounds after that. As in the trains are running on time for that runt who struts around patting himself on the back about his courage and all these educational miracles.
This week, CPS has deployed more than 100 people (from AIOs and lawyers on down) out and around to tighten the screws on the closings. Every squeeze is on to prevent people from speaking out against the closings. School by school. Lie by lie.
Far fewer people are crying and quitting because they tried, and failed, to straighten out the messes with "People Soft" (i.e., the payroll systems of the third largest school system in the USA).
The fact that Arne Duncan is still top dog in CPS says it all.
If CPS were truly run on "business principles" he'd have been ousted by June, when all the corruption of this payroll system (and its entangled sub-contracting messes) became visible even to the blind. Can you imagine what LaSalle Bank would have done to someone who put in a new ATM system that was "90 precent OK..." (like Arne and Rufus bragged the "People Soft" system was last March). You've got to be kidding, but the joke's ongoing and its on everyone in Chicago.
Instead of fixing the messes he's made, yesterday Arne was repeating his boilerplate and getting pats on the back from potentates (Daley), billionaires' reps (Gates people) and millionaires (Koldyke & AUSL) while another payroll was imploding.
