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When we teachers miss one lesson plan, one day's attendance or grades we are written up and disciplined. These principals endanger staff and students (minors) and are allowed to continue to work without arrest. I may start working on a project looking at principals that are sabotaged by the board despite their efforts to fix a school.

No accountability!

[url=http://hbpub.vo.llnwd.net/o16/video/olmk/klein/new_wmv_large.wmv new=true]Shock Doctrine![/url]

The plan is to keep everyone fearful that way it is easy to steal the money at the top.

The shock doctrine is not about controlling people, its is on the lower level, but it is about creating a distraction so people do not question what management or higher level policy level organizations can divert resources to their own interests.

Iraq, Bailout Plans, Crime Waves, Health Care Crises, Illegal Immigrants, etc……

Do not be fooled into being afraid or standing up for your rights. If you do not stand up who will? Surely it will not be the next person who just saw the principal abuse the staff and get away with it.

The corruption and abuse needs to end!

Do your jobs protect the children and staff in your schools.

Report all corrupt and criminal conduct to the proper authorities.

Be part of the solution not part of the problem.

John Kugler
kuglerjohn@comcast.net

Resources

Planned Chaos (1947) Ludwig von Mises [url=http://mises.org/story/2454 new=true]Read Here[/url]

Disaster Profiteering: Purging the Poor in the New New Orleans, September 23rd, 2005
[url=http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/23/1338233&mode=thread&tid=25 new=true]Listen or Watch[/url]

Bailout Profiteers and the Multi-Trillion-Dollar Crime Scene
November 17, 2008 [url=http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/17/naomi_klein_on_the_bailout_profiteers new=true]Listen or Watch[/url]

Fuel, Food, Housing and Banking Crises
July 15, 2008 [url=http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/15/with_crises_in_fuel_food_housing new=true]Listen or watch[/url]

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Thanks George, I've learned a lot from your blogs. I realize that I am bored with corruption, condesending, ego- tripping principals with their shady llt's and ap's. Not to mention the elitest attitudes of the soroities, ( no one does it better) heaven forbid they take over the whole school, system or world.. I feel there are too many diva's in education, who would rather die than be placed in a class room. We are here to educate children! not to evaluate fashion statements. Again if they did'nt flood the schools with people who want to model, we might have enough money to get better resources. There will be justice, I believe it, and it's worth waiting for.

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Yes, that's the one. Always played favorites in programming and assignments, but could be made to uphold the contract.

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"...Could it be that Bernie Eshoo did not apply the best tactics in representing the faculty and teachers, and blames it on CTU instead of taking responsibility herself?..." (yesterday).

No.

Karvelas had to really stretch to get rid of a union delegate who was doing her job. And the realities of her previous school, as you darn well know, were a lot more complicated than being diplomatic. Remember the test scores roller coaster? I know you have a lot more to share, and can't wait until the sharing begins without the fluffery.

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What do you know about Bill Fletcher's theory that the working class has become paralyzed in the wake of the overwhelming push from the ruling class in the race for profits??? He also seems to talk about stagnant union leadership that hasn't mobilized the workers. How do you view his work in the context of our present leadhrship??

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The "Greek movement"is not a derogatory statement/definition.
Some ethnic groups are more politically connected than others.
"Greek movement"is a positive description of the group of people who work effectively together,they are helping each other and share successes.Vallas was a Greek and he was very effective regardless.Where is the problem?

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You are a typical Polish chauvinist...which I always felt. Now you are an ethnic racist as well. Instead of your drunken blogging, perhaps you might find a tutor to teach you how to speak and write fluently in ENGLISH...the language of the country you live in and enjoy the benefits of! Better use of time...especially if you ever want to teach again. God knows, I would never hire you for reasons on many levels.

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"I am little confused:Carvelas is perceived as an active Union member in the past. Is it any kind of Greek movement? Vallas, Haji, Sia and Pam? What's going on?..." (Chris, yesterday).

Chris, I don't think it has anything to do with "Greek". Traitors and back stabbers are traitors and back stabbers.

Karvelas was an active union member when she taught English at Amundsen High School. After the English Dept. was crushed in order to get rid of me (half the teachers in English purged so they could reach me in 1993; I sued and won), she was one of a half dozen who were put "on the road."

Our union brothers and sisters helped her at Hyde Park when she arrived there, fearful of the students at Hyde Park. She also spent some time at another high school before she began cashing in her administrative credential (and Nova "doctorate").

By the time she purged Lincoln Park High School, she (and her mentor, former Amundsen Principal Ed Klunk, who was also once a "good union man") were utilizing every technicality and trick to undermine and purge the union.

One of the ironies of the current reality is that Ted Dallas is now meditating on the mendacity and treason of some of Karvalas's landsmen (as we would call them among the "Dutch" -- which was American for Deutsch). But Karvelas's purge of Lincoln Park was done in part with the cooperation of the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union at the time.

Ironic, isn't it, how things come around to basic principals?

But one thing's for sure...

If you worry about the race, religion or ethnicity or these self-serving non-entities, you'll never get very far in understanding how things are working.

For example, is Arne Duncan "Greek"? Or Barbara Eason Watkins? Or Richard M. Daley?

It's a class thing...

Unions are organized to defend working men and women from bosses. That simple, really. That's what Bernie Eshoo was doing questioning Karvelas about her stuffing class sizes so big (while the union looked the other way; then as now). The praxis that followed (from the CTU leadership; CPS; Karvelas) is a matter of history. And they have nothing to do with the fact that some of the people are "Greek" (and others Assyrian -- by marriage at least).

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I respect your position and your involvement .
I am little confused:Carvelas is perceived as an active Union member in the past.
Is it any kind of Greek movement?Vallas, Haji ,Sia and Pam?
Whats going on?
I was sure that we can depend on each other.

.

[b]Happy Thanksgiving![/b]

Thanks to all my family, friends and coworkers for standing up for what is right.

How to effect change is the question?

Martyrdom is not the goal; change is the mechanism to create both long-term and short-term operational adjustments that can transform existing systems.

Strategically planned actions that move individual events towards a critical mass that can then be used to FORCE an action are the desired ends of any concerted effort to create the conditions that will accept a different approach to conducting activities that have different results. It is only when there is a majority of individuals, who build a consensus that then leads to a movement when true change can occur. Without a consensus individuals are just spinning their wheels. It is even true in litigation, that the individual who struggles and has perseverance to build a legal case is also creating a movement that eventually has a decision and at that point in time if the individual has developed an argument to it's fullest potential using the tools of the system to change the system itself, then the only ruling can be in favor of the petitioner, but as it is very difficult and resource consuming to complete the judicial cycle from beginning to end, most individuals are not successful due to the nature of modern judicial procedures.

To make the simple analogy to warfare that we have all heard, we may loose a battle or two but we will win the war. We were all exposed in the most recent president debates to the talk of strategy vs. tactics; in many instances the tactics used during an individual event may not have the desired end, individual empowerment, but are part of the whole, which would be a mass movement that then furthers the goals of each individual.

Does change come about by power or can one group convince another to adjust behaviors to help promote change? Change can take place on many levels: “individual, intermediate, and macrolevel [sic]†(1998, p. 366). Steven Vago makes clear that change agents are usually “professionals who influence, promote, and implement innovation†towards a direction that is advantageous to the group that initiates the action of transformation (p. 338). Vago goes on to explain the means of change are through social institutions, convincing messages and force. The only differences in force are the degrees to which a change agent takes action to promote the modifications of behavior. In my view there are no ethical issues related to change or its agents for the reason that change is a natural form of development that will take place. It is only the means and the methods that differ. The process for change that can result in violence and destruction are the issues that create observable issues of distress to individuals and groups.

Aristotle determined that ethics is taking right action (350 BC) “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness†for the majority, writes Mill (1863, p. 144) James Madison in The Federalist No. 10 discusses factions and the fact that the cause of factions can never be eliminated, but a “well-constructed union†has to be able to break and control these factions (Fairfield, 1788, p. 16). The government is protecting the rights of the majority. If someone does not like a law, he/she should not break the law but change it. They can also promote their views to the majority and once accepted they will no longer be in opposition. Any means to correct improper behavior or action is good as long as it promotes the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

Now, I can hear, what the heck is that have to do with anything? Kugler you are off your rocker, too much turkey for you, slow down, take a nap, and chill out.

What I'm trying to say is: are you fighting to fight, or are you fighting to win? Well this is a trick question; you shouldn't be fighting at all. The point is change. As I stated in my opening argument, change can only be affected by consensus and majority not a minority, so that idea must be to change individuals: how they think and how they feel, to see that certain actions can and will lead to a higher level of interactions between people, that in the end will serve everyone. The idea of progress needs to be questioned: is all progress good? The answer would have to go back to the moral intention of the value of the progress towards the good of mankind.

John Kugler
[url=http://csdu.org/ new=true]CSDU[/url]
kuglerjohn@comcast.net

References

Aristotle. (350 BC/1985). Nicomachean ethics (T. Irwin, Trans.). Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Pub. Co.

Fairfield, R. P. (Ed.). (1788/1966). The Federalist papers; a collection of essays written in support of the constitution of the United States. From the original text of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison [and] John Jay (2d ed.). Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books. (Originally published 1778 to1788)

Mill, J. S. (1992). On liberty and utilitarianism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. (Originally published: On Liberty, 1859 and Utilitarianism, 1863)

Vago, S. (1998). Chapter 9. In Social change (4 ed., pp. 332-372). Upper Saddle, NJ: Prentice Hall/Pearson Education (Reprinted in ED8004: XanEdu Capella University Coursepack (2005). Ann Arbor: ProQuest, pp. 39-79).

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The legal protection from genuine Union activities is protected by law but then the human factor becomes vital.
In the ’06 school year at at Lincoln Park, there were 150+ oversized classes and 12 teachers with over 140 students (same dept. – another teacher had 89 total; certainly not the teachers fault but patently unfair to teachers & students).
I had been LP delegate for a dozen years and had a working relationship with four passed principals. (LP frequently had oversized issues due to the many different programs – it was nothing new but it was my elected duty to bring the Union in and stand back and watch very little happed – another yearly event).
In late Sept '06, after I made my request to the programmer for a class size list, Principal Bessie Karvelas stormed into the Library, pointed her finger in my face, stated that if I “did anything about class size and upset her relationship with Arne Duncan, there would be cuts and she would tell everybody exact whose fault it wasâ€. She then stormed out of the crowded library. Yes, there was a teacher witness, the other librarian (who landed a new library overtime position and took over my Service Learning duties after Karvelas cut my library position). His response to the Union and labor lawyer requests was he “remembered the event but could not remember what Karvelas said to Eshoo†He refused to testify at my Unfair Labor Hearing as did two of the elected PPC committee members (they witnessed Karvelas’ over the top aggression towards me at Sept. ’06 PPC meeting). I have written statements from both teachers expressing their support of me, the acknowledgement of Karvelas’ vindictive treatment of me….but they could not or would not testify for me.
My LP 17 year career ended at 8:00 am on Oct. 4 when Karvelas called the Library and informed me that she had decided to close out my position, moments later an AP came to my Library office, confiscated my school keys, and walked me out of the building.
The vast majority of staff and hundreds of students protested. The teacher/student protest over my dismissal at the early Oct. LSC meeting (I had been the teacher rep. at LP since the mid ’90s…yes, that means I recommended hiring Karvelas in ‘05) made the local 10:00 pm news. Students, staff, and parents protested to the Bd. about the injustice of my dismissal.
It has been over two years and I have yet to have a final decision in either my unfair labor practice or my Union grievance.
I am now an assigned Librarian at Steinmetz. I like it there; it is a professionally managed environment with challenges and positive opportunities.
I didn’t intend for this to be so long – George you pushed the button on this Thanksgiving morning.

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There is nothing in the current contract that talks about retaliation but there are things in the state law that protects whistleblowers and may work in this situation.

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There is no protection from vindictive, self-absorbed Divas who masquerade as high school principals.
The Union cannot or will not effectively challenge the principle. The Bd. will not discipline a principle for deliberate harassment of delegates, and why would the Bd. it works in their favor.
The Union would serve the membership well by informing them that any non-tenured teacher (especially if the teacher is not in a core subject area) should avoid local Union activity.

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[b]The right to active participation in a Weingarten setting [/b]- The Supreme Court held, in a case known as Weingarten, that an employee who is being questioned by management, and who has a reasonable belief that discipline may ensue, has a right to representation prior to answering questions. The right must be invoked by the employee. A Delegate has no right to invoke it for the employee. In other words, the employee must request a Delegate.

Management sometimes asserts that the Delegate may only be a silent witness. This is wrong. The Delegate has the following rights:

When the Delegate arrives, the supervisor must inform the Delegate of the subject matter of the interview.

The Delegate must be allowed to take the employee aside for a private preinterview conference.

The Delegate must be allowed to speak during the interview.

The Delegate has the right to request that the supervisor clarify a question so that the employee understands what is being asked.

After a question is asked, the Delegate can give advice on how to answer.

When the questioning ends, the Delegate can provide additional information to the supervisor.

It should be noted that, if the Weingarten rules are complied with, Delegates do not have the right to tell workers not to answer questions.

Delegates will be most effective if they are knowledgeable about their legal rights as well as their contractual rights. When management violates the legal rights of Delegates, the judicious use of charges against the employer with the NLRB can be effective in educating management about their legal responsibilities.

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i find this interesting info

NLRB and the courts have recognized this problem and have created a special [b]legal status for Delegates [/b]when they engage in union business - they are considered
to be [b]equals with management.[/b]

As the NLRB has stated: The relationship at a grievance meeting is [b]not a "master-servant" relationship[/b] but a relationship between company advocates on the one side and union advocates on the other side, engaged as equal opposing parties in litigation.

[b]US Supreme Court[/b] has said the National Labor Relations Act contemplates robust debate and gives a union license to use intemperate, abusive, or insulting language without fear of restraint or penalty if it believes such rhetoric to be an effective means to make its point.

[b]The right to solicit grievances[/b] - There is a common belief among managers that union Delegates may not solicit grievances that they may file grievances only if employees complain and ask them to file. This notion is false. The NLRB has specifically ruled, the solicitation of grievances is a protected activity for Delegates as well as other employees.

[url=http://obmuaa.org/documents/Legal_Rights_of_Delegates_or_Stewards.pdf new=true]http://obmuaa.org/documents/Legal_Rights_of_Delegates_or_Stewards.pdf[/url]

we have had members be told point blank that they have no right to representation. The union at times has told members since "they filed one their own" the union has no responsibility advocate for the member that filed a grievance on their own.(just happened in sept) that is the state of our employment: fear and [b]illegal activity[/b] by the board and the union in [b]denying our members[/b] their [b]union protection.[/b]

John Kugler
[url=http://csdu.org/ new=true]CSDU[/url]
kuglerjohn@comcast.net