Monday Morning News Rash of Shootings Is Seen in Chicago NYT / AP
The superintendent of the Chicago Police Department on Sunday blamed an excess of guns and gangs for a rash of 26 shootings over the weekend that killed and wounded victims from 13 to 65 years old.
Teacher same-sex bill fails Windy City Times
“I think people were just not ready for it,” said Chicago Teachers Union ( CTU ) lobbyist Traci Cobb-Evans.
Interfaith director for Chicago Public Schools helps families of ... Chicago Tribune
Renaldo Kyles would rather mentor kids and get churches to help them, but more and more he has to help with funerals
Let's fight what fosters young toughs Dawn Turner Trice
These young toughs have become the enemy. Their greatest weapon may not be their guns, but maybe our failure to find a solution that's more than surface deep.
Teen charged in slaying is ordered held on drug warrant
Greer was the 24th CPS student killed this school year, and the 21st killed by gunfire, according to the school system. He is the second student from Community Christian Alternative Academy, a small, tight-knit high school in the Lawndale neighborhood, killed in the last six weeks.
Bill seeks ban on trans fats in schools Medill Reports
Illinois lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban trans fat from school lunches. How would this benefit students, and what role do politics play in the school lunch program?
Teacher For A Day Chicagoist
Chicago Public Schools, in conjunction with the Chicago Teachers Union, have a unique opportunity for you: become a teacher for a day. The Teacher for a Day event happens on Tuesday, May 6th. The deadline for application submissions is today, April 18th.
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Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 9:15 AM
Monday Morning News
Services and education opportunities for young people in Chicago have been and are being destroyed. All young people see, is their neighborhoods being taken away and the places they saw as safe destroyed. In addition they are labeled as failures and on probation.
What do you think is going to happen when the model of behavior is "take whatever you want"?
Naturally the young person is going to do the same.
When the government can illegally close a school without any recourse what use is it to follow the law when the example is there is no law because I am the law.
What do you think is going to happen when the model of behavior is "take whatever you want"?
Naturally the young person is going to do the same.
When the government can illegally close a school without any recourse what use is it to follow the law when the example is there is no law because I am the law.
Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 10:27 AM
Monday Morning News
Charter Expansion Bill
Click here to contact your state senator today and register your opposition to SB 2402.
Click here to contact your state senator today and register your opposition to SB 2402.
Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 12:38 PM
Monday Morning News
College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007
In September 2007, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 (CCRAA) was signed into law (PL 110-84). The initial media coverage dealt with the increase in Pell Grant limits and the reduction of Federal loan interest rates (both for undergraduate students) and the reduction in payments to lenders. There were many other provisions of the act, but the ones affecting law students have to do with Income-Based Loan Repayment and Loan Forgiveness.
The new law allows individuals to more readily enter careers in the government and nonprofit sector, as it (a) places an annual ceiling on loan payments for borrowers with high educational loan obligations compared to their incomes and (b) enables such borrowers to make affordable monthly payments for ten years while in the public service, after which the government will forgive the remaining obligation...............
.................Who are considered Public Service Employees?
A public employee is defined as having:
“(i) a full-time job in emergency management, government, military service, public safety, law enforcement, public health, public education (including early childhood education), social work in a public child or family service agency, public interest law services (including prosecution or public defense or legal advocacy in low-income communities at a nonprofit organization), public child care, public service for individuals with disabilities, public service for the elderly, public library sciences, school-based library sciences and other school-based services, or at an organization that is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code.”
This is a very broad definition of public service employees.
Under this loan forgiveness program, the Department of Education will cancel the balance of principal and interest due for any borrower who is employed in a public service job and has been employed during the time he or she has made each of 120 payments on the Direct or Direct Consolidation Loan. If the borrower has made 120 payments either under a standard 10-year repayment plan, under the Income-Based Program described in section 203, or under an Income-Contingent Plan (ICR) under direct consolidation, and has any principal and interest outstanding, that amount is forgiven......................
jk
In September 2007, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 (CCRAA) was signed into law (PL 110-84). The initial media coverage dealt with the increase in Pell Grant limits and the reduction of Federal loan interest rates (both for undergraduate students) and the reduction in payments to lenders. There were many other provisions of the act, but the ones affecting law students have to do with Income-Based Loan Repayment and Loan Forgiveness.
The new law allows individuals to more readily enter careers in the government and nonprofit sector, as it (a) places an annual ceiling on loan payments for borrowers with high educational loan obligations compared to their incomes and (b) enables such borrowers to make affordable monthly payments for ten years while in the public service, after which the government will forgive the remaining obligation...............
.................Who are considered Public Service Employees?
A public employee is defined as having:
“(i) a full-time job in emergency management, government, military service, public safety, law enforcement, public health, public education (including early childhood education), social work in a public child or family service agency, public interest law services (including prosecution or public defense or legal advocacy in low-income communities at a nonprofit organization), public child care, public service for individuals with disabilities, public service for the elderly, public library sciences, school-based library sciences and other school-based services, or at an organization that is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code.”
This is a very broad definition of public service employees.
Under this loan forgiveness program, the Department of Education will cancel the balance of principal and interest due for any borrower who is employed in a public service job and has been employed during the time he or she has made each of 120 payments on the Direct or Direct Consolidation Loan. If the borrower has made 120 payments either under a standard 10-year repayment plan, under the Income-Based Program described in section 203, or under an Income-Contingent Plan (ICR) under direct consolidation, and has any principal and interest outstanding, that amount is forgiven......................
jk
Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 12:47 PM
Monday Morning News
How about sending a lot of CPS downtown staff, BOE members, aldermen, CPS lawyers, education reporters, LSC members and City Hall folks to "teach for a day" in a special ed classroom in CPS. What would be their "take-aways"?
Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 1:01 PM
Teacher for a Day
I'd like to be at Northside College Prep or Jones...or even Walter Payton...
I'd like an alternative Chicago Public School Experience to the one I have...you know, where 8 people come in late, six use their cell phones, three shout acrosss the room demanding work for the time they were out for suspension, where one girl brags that she didn't serve her suspension time for beating another girl, where the fellow in front of me is back for the first time in 15 days, no reinstatement...and we only have a classroom set of books.
I'd like an alternative Chicago Public School Experience to the one I have...you know, where 8 people come in late, six use their cell phones, three shout acrosss the room demanding work for the time they were out for suspension, where one girl brags that she didn't serve her suspension time for beating another girl, where the fellow in front of me is back for the first time in 15 days, no reinstatement...and we only have a classroom set of books.
Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 1:17 PM
Monday Morning News
Can we have our money back?
Teacher same-sex bill fails
News update Fri., April 18, 2008
by Amy Wooten
A measure that aimed to extend survivor benefits to the same-sex partners of Chicago Public School teachers failed, 43-67, after a long debate.
HB 4731 was sponsored by openly gay state Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, who vowed to keep fighting for its passage despite the setback. The measure would have extended survivor benefits, at no cost to taxpayers, to the same-sex partners of Chicago Public School teachers who have passed away.
“I think people were just not ready for it,” said Chicago Teachers Union ( CTU ) lobbyist Traci Cobb-Evans. Cobb-Evans added that although CTU was very clear about why such a bill was needed, she thought many legislators still believed its passage would “open up a can of worms.”
CTU is an organization of educators seeking to advance teacher's rights, improve learning conditions and promote quality public education.
Among issues brought up during the debate were concerns over the bill being “discriminatory” against unmarried straight couples and that the level of commitment in same-sex partnerships was vague and undefined.
In a statement made following the failure of the bill, Harris said that he hoped the passage of a civil unions law in Illinois would help solve these concerns that were brought up during the extensive debate.
“Otherwise, these arguments seem to be a smokescreen for continuing to deny fair and equal treatment for all Illinois families,” Harris said in the statement.
Chicago-area state representatives largely supported the bill.
“I think it's going to take years for people to realize it simply helps those few teachers who are being treated unfairly,” Cobb-Evans said. Cobb-Evans said that the bill would have impacted only about seven households if it became law, CTU estimates. Only a handful of Chicago teachers have qualified domestic partners.
Although the bill's failure is a disappointment to CTU, Cobb-Evans said the organization is pleased that the bill at least made it out of committee and onto the floor for a third reading and standard debate, as opposed to last year.
“We'll just start anew next year,” Cobb-Evans said.
She added that CTU plans to work toward getting more CTU members involved and having one-on-one conversations with lawmakers to see what is holding them back on supporting the bill.
Hopefully without a scab representing us!
We will be taken more seriously!
FIRE HER!
Teacher same-sex bill fails
News update Fri., April 18, 2008
by Amy Wooten
A measure that aimed to extend survivor benefits to the same-sex partners of Chicago Public School teachers failed, 43-67, after a long debate.
HB 4731 was sponsored by openly gay state Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, who vowed to keep fighting for its passage despite the setback. The measure would have extended survivor benefits, at no cost to taxpayers, to the same-sex partners of Chicago Public School teachers who have passed away.
“I think people were just not ready for it,” said Chicago Teachers Union ( CTU ) lobbyist Traci Cobb-Evans. Cobb-Evans added that although CTU was very clear about why such a bill was needed, she thought many legislators still believed its passage would “open up a can of worms.”
CTU is an organization of educators seeking to advance teacher's rights, improve learning conditions and promote quality public education.
Among issues brought up during the debate were concerns over the bill being “discriminatory” against unmarried straight couples and that the level of commitment in same-sex partnerships was vague and undefined.
In a statement made following the failure of the bill, Harris said that he hoped the passage of a civil unions law in Illinois would help solve these concerns that were brought up during the extensive debate.
“Otherwise, these arguments seem to be a smokescreen for continuing to deny fair and equal treatment for all Illinois families,” Harris said in the statement.
Chicago-area state representatives largely supported the bill.
“I think it's going to take years for people to realize it simply helps those few teachers who are being treated unfairly,” Cobb-Evans said. Cobb-Evans said that the bill would have impacted only about seven households if it became law, CTU estimates. Only a handful of Chicago teachers have qualified domestic partners.
Although the bill's failure is a disappointment to CTU, Cobb-Evans said the organization is pleased that the bill at least made it out of committee and onto the floor for a third reading and standard debate, as opposed to last year.
“We'll just start anew next year,” Cobb-Evans said.
She added that CTU plans to work toward getting more CTU members involved and having one-on-one conversations with lawmakers to see what is holding them back on supporting the bill.
Hopefully without a scab representing us!
We will be taken more seriously!
FIRE HER!
Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 2:15 PM
Monday Morning News
“There are just too many weapons here,” the superintendent, Jody P. Weis, said at a news conference. “Too many guns, too many gangs.” (Police Supt. Jody Weis quoted in today's New York Times).
At least someone representing the Daley administration is getting it half right. "Too many gangs..." Duhhh... (Anyone who thinks that the average citizen in Chicago is going to volunteer for unilateral disarmament is drinking something stronger than power water; Half the citizens in this town are armed to protect themselves from the bad guys down the street, and the only reason the bad guys don't mess with them is they know it. Ask around...).
Now for some real fun, since Supt. Weis at least notices Chicago has some gangs.
If he wants to know how big, strong and well organized the gangs are, he can spend a few nights in public property (Nancy B. Jefferson school; Consuela York High School; Cook County Jail) and ask where all the graffiti came from. And why the children on one side (or the larger children in one tier) all wear one color, etc., etc.
More than a quarter century of the Daley government "miracle" and 13 years of Daley's teacher bashing have turned more than half the city's territory -- and virtually every scene where people (and folks) are incarcerated) into a gang training center. If Weis can spend just a few days during the next week looking at the gang situation in those places under the complete control of the city and county government, maybe by next weekend he'll have an even better sense of the problems he's facing at his $300,000 a year salary.
But then he'd have to look his boss in the eye and ask what the hell Richard M. Daley has been doing to Chicago for since Ronald Reagan was President of the United States. The real death tally should be of all the dead gang bangers killed during the years since Richie became CEO of law enforcement, first as State's Attorney of Cook County and then as Mayor, CEO, and Chief Teacher Basher of Chicago.
Just don't giggle the next time Mayor Malaprop rants on about how "guns" are the problem. Just smile when all those well subsidized preachers preach about the evils of guns (while ignoring the gangs right outside their parish doors).
Oh, and remember to privatize another dozen public schools as part of the ongoing miracle -- after another year of teacher bashing...
At least someone representing the Daley administration is getting it half right. "Too many gangs..." Duhhh... (Anyone who thinks that the average citizen in Chicago is going to volunteer for unilateral disarmament is drinking something stronger than power water; Half the citizens in this town are armed to protect themselves from the bad guys down the street, and the only reason the bad guys don't mess with them is they know it. Ask around...).
Now for some real fun, since Supt. Weis at least notices Chicago has some gangs.
If he wants to know how big, strong and well organized the gangs are, he can spend a few nights in public property (Nancy B. Jefferson school; Consuela York High School; Cook County Jail) and ask where all the graffiti came from. And why the children on one side (or the larger children in one tier) all wear one color, etc., etc.
More than a quarter century of the Daley government "miracle" and 13 years of Daley's teacher bashing have turned more than half the city's territory -- and virtually every scene where people (and folks) are incarcerated) into a gang training center. If Weis can spend just a few days during the next week looking at the gang situation in those places under the complete control of the city and county government, maybe by next weekend he'll have an even better sense of the problems he's facing at his $300,000 a year salary.
But then he'd have to look his boss in the eye and ask what the hell Richard M. Daley has been doing to Chicago for since Ronald Reagan was President of the United States. The real death tally should be of all the dead gang bangers killed during the years since Richie became CEO of law enforcement, first as State's Attorney of Cook County and then as Mayor, CEO, and Chief Teacher Basher of Chicago.
Just don't giggle the next time Mayor Malaprop rants on about how "guns" are the problem. Just smile when all those well subsidized preachers preach about the evils of guns (while ignoring the gangs right outside their parish doors).
Oh, and remember to privatize another dozen public schools as part of the ongoing miracle -- after another year of teacher bashing...
Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 2:33 PM
Monday Morning News
There is one story here that almost made me blow chuncks.
Read this http://illinois.scout.com/2/545608.html.Perhaps
a lepard can change it's spots.Don't count on it.
Read this http://illinois.scout.com/2/545608.html.Perhaps
a lepard can change it's spots.Don't count on it.
Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 5:21 PM
Monday Morning News
I agree with George gangs are the problem and have been the problem when it comes to student killings for years. What is happening is that the CPS is hearding low performing students, special ed kids, along with suspected gang bangers into general high schools and Youth Connections Charter (Alternative) Schools. This is done in part by requiring that parents apply for all optional programs and we can be assured that many of the most messed up students' parents can not get it togehter to apply.
The few gang bangers that do get into Nobel Street, UNO, North Lawdale, CICS, etc are hunted down in these schools and effectively forced out by repeated disciplinary actions and then issuing a letter at the end of the school year telling the family the student is no longer enrolled and must go to the local general high school. The selective high schools probably have a few closet smart gangsters who are being preped to be money counters for gangs and while they may have an attitude they do not get kicked out, but more likely just say it is too hard and transfer out.
CPS likes it this way, the general high schools which they would like to close and priviatize become even more zoo like. We can have good stories for the local media, stories like Crane. Should we call it by its right name, news for suburban middle class and rich voyeurs, who like to smile over the killing of yet another black or hispanic youth. Thinking all the while - they really are animals, glad I am in Barrington Hills.
All of us in the CPS high schools know this is the killing and beating time of the year. Some of us look forward to the empty seats that were once filled with the gangsters who impeaded our instruction who are now not showing up in school, certainly not showing up after lunch. This is a big mess and I am so very tired of Duncan's and Daley's endless sound bites about the killing of minority youth on TV. Really it is enough to give up on the news and just play Grand Theft Auto.
The few gang bangers that do get into Nobel Street, UNO, North Lawdale, CICS, etc are hunted down in these schools and effectively forced out by repeated disciplinary actions and then issuing a letter at the end of the school year telling the family the student is no longer enrolled and must go to the local general high school. The selective high schools probably have a few closet smart gangsters who are being preped to be money counters for gangs and while they may have an attitude they do not get kicked out, but more likely just say it is too hard and transfer out.
CPS likes it this way, the general high schools which they would like to close and priviatize become even more zoo like. We can have good stories for the local media, stories like Crane. Should we call it by its right name, news for suburban middle class and rich voyeurs, who like to smile over the killing of yet another black or hispanic youth. Thinking all the while - they really are animals, glad I am in Barrington Hills.
All of us in the CPS high schools know this is the killing and beating time of the year. Some of us look forward to the empty seats that were once filled with the gangsters who impeaded our instruction who are now not showing up in school, certainly not showing up after lunch. This is a big mess and I am so very tired of Duncan's and Daley's endless sound bites about the killing of minority youth on TV. Really it is enough to give up on the news and just play Grand Theft Auto.
Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 7:11 PM
Monday Morning News
re: teacher for a day
What a joke. No one will be put in the hardest rooms like the special ed rooms.
I have said for a long time that the only way to get school reform is for ALL central office administrators to have to go into the sub pool for 2 weeks every year. Let them sit by the phone at 5 am and take whatever position is given. The school must use them as a sub - they cannot spend the day filing papers or chatting with the principal. Then, after 2 weeks of this, let them tell me how my "I can" statements make a real difference in the classroom.
What a joke. No one will be put in the hardest rooms like the special ed rooms.
I have said for a long time that the only way to get school reform is for ALL central office administrators to have to go into the sub pool for 2 weeks every year. Let them sit by the phone at 5 am and take whatever position is given. The school must use them as a sub - they cannot spend the day filing papers or chatting with the principal. Then, after 2 weeks of this, let them tell me how my "I can" statements make a real difference in the classroom.
Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 8:46 PM
Monday Morning News
No, no, please; I insist -
Renee Mitchell in a room with fifteen self contained male students; three small, frightened Learning Disabled kids and twelve large, hulking loose cannons with major behavior problems, half of whom are gang members, whose school and teachers were refused help, smaller class size or day school placement by Renee and her minions.
I love it.
Renee Mitchell in a room with fifteen self contained male students; three small, frightened Learning Disabled kids and twelve large, hulking loose cannons with major behavior problems, half of whom are gang members, whose school and teachers were refused help, smaller class size or day school placement by Renee and her minions.
I love it.
Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 12:19 PM
Monday Morning News
I'd pay to watch that show! On top of paying my taxes, I mean.
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