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During Education Nation on NBC last month, President Obama recommended lengthening the school day and year as a potential solution to our children falling behind. The suggestion inspired praise from some reformers and critique from others, citing more expenses and stringent union contracts. Are longer days and shorter summers the wave of the future for students and teachers? Continue Reading...
L.A. Schools in Debate over “Last Hired, First Fired” Policy
posted by: Alix | October 12, 2010, 10:28 am
Changes are brewing in America's second largest school system and the unions are not happy about it. Last week a preliminary ruling based on the case between the ACLU and the Los Angeles Unified School Board was reached in an effort to combat inequality in teacher layoffs. The ACLU had sued the district over layoff procedures that essentially wiped out the staff at three schools serving inner city minority students. Continue Reading...
Teachers Boycott Back-to-School Night, Infuriating Parents
posted by: Colin | September 20, 2010, 04:50 pm Parents, you took time out of your busy day to come to your child's school, to get involved, to learn about what they are learning, and to meet their teacher. But what if the teachers don't even bother to show up?That was the situation at one Pennsylvania school district when 150 parents arrived on back-to-school night only to find that the teachers, battling the district over a three-year contract dispute, decided to skip out on the annual tradition. Continue Reading...
New Study Released on Attracting Best and Brightest to Teaching Profession
posted by: Alix | September 20, 2010, 02:11 pm Today, McKinsey and Company released a thought- provoking study entitled, Closing the Talent Gap: Attracting and Retaining Top-Third Graduates to Careers in Teaching. Continue Reading...Next month, Los Angeles will unveil what some are calling the most expensive public school ever. The RFK Community Schools complex, built on the infamous Ambassador Hotel, where school-namesake Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 while campaigning for the Democratic nomination, costs $578 million and will accommodate 4,200 students throughout its six pilot schools. Continue Reading...
California Unions Fight Life-Saving Legislation Over Jobs Dispute
posted by: Colin | August 16, 2010, 12:25 pm I don't envy adults who walk around with an EpiPen in case they go into anaphylactic shock due to a debilitating allergy, which are all too common. I certainly don't envy the parents of children with dangerous allergies, parents who live each day with the anxiety that their child might just be out of reach of an EpiPen or someone capable of administering the shot, when they need it the most. One of those parents is Mark Hemingway, commentary staff writer for The Washington Examiner. Continue Reading... This week President Obama signed a $26 billion jobs bill designed to supplement struggling state education budgets, touting that the extra funding will save the jobs of teachers that would otherwise be laid off. Sarah Lee, of The Daily Caller, and others have criticized the bill as being a bailout to the teachers unions. In her argument, Lee notes that not all teacher associations are proponents of the union model, specifically noting (emphasis added): Continue Reading... Joyce Irvine is a casualty of bureaucratic necessity. A stellar principal by all accounts, Ms. Irvine was traded by her Burlington, Vermont school district for $3 million in federal stimulus funding. Despite a myriad of successes listed in a recent New York Times article, Ms. Irvine's couldn't significantly raise annual test scores during her six-year tenure as principal of Wheeler Elementary School. Under an Obama administration funding formula, Ms. Irvine has to lose her job if her school district is going to receive stimulus dollars. Continue Reading...
Update: Massachusetts Legislature Passes Measure to Save Retired Marine's Teaching Position
posted by: Colin | June 16, 2010, 09:11 am Earlier this week the Massachusetts legislature approved an amendment to save retired USMC Maj. Stephen Godin's job. The measure, which had been defeated by Democrats the week before, exempts public school JROTC teachers, like Maj. Godin, from having to pay union dues. Continue Reading...
Retired Marine Under Attack for not Joining Teachers Union
posted by: Colin | June 14, 2010, 09:38 am After logging 2,000 hours flying F-4 Phantoms and serving in five overseas deployments, retired USMC Maj. Stephen Godin decided to take on an equally demanding challenge–teaching public high school. For the past fourteen years, Maj. Godin has been teaching in the distinguished JROTC program at North High School in Worcester, Massachusetts. The principal of North High praises Maj. Godin as an "excellent" instructor. Maj. Godin also coaches the regional champion drill team and he's never missed a day of work. Continue Reading... Politico reports that Republican and some Democratic politicians have turned on public workers and their labor unions—particularly teachers unions, including the NEA and the AFT. According to Politico, "public employee unions [are] emerging as an intransigent public enemy number one in cities and state capitals across the country." Continue Reading... New Jersey high school students are learning about political activism firsthand this week as they staged walkouts to protest Gov. Chris Christie's proposed education budget cuts. Nearly 18,000 students signed up to participate in a Facebook event titled, "Protest NJ Education Cuts - State Wide School Walk Out." Michelle Ryan Lauto, an 18-year old college student, started the Facebook page in protest to Gov. Christie's proposed reduction of direct aid to over 600 school districts by as much as 5 percent of each district's operating budget. Continue Reading... Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is sponsoring a bill that would spend $23 billion of federal taxpayer money to help schools prevent impending layoffs. This $23 billion would be on top of the $100 billion provided to states as part of the 2009 economic stimulus. The bill follows warnings from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan that budget cuts could lead to 100,000 to 300,000 layoffs across the country. Continue Reading... |
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