we had a meeting for our union contract and when it came time to vote we did not vote. There are claims that 70% voted for the contract it seems strange then why all those people are yelling?
as you can see nothing is sacred anymore not even a democratic controlled city, county, and state. There is still politics involved to make sure the right side wins. If you look in the contract all employees must use direct deposit and the default bank is a major player in Chicago. If you look at the insurance the rates are frozen for three years and then can be raised "by a minimal amount." In the national front for equity and justice the tide my be turning on an idealistic plane, but down here in the trenches freedom and democracy is lost.
CTU Tentative Agreement 2007-2012
Sorry for all the links but they all work together to tell the story of how the democrats in Chicago want to raise the future generation.
Open dialogue is indispensable to initiating and implementing change. Real change depends upon a culture of free and open exchange of ideas that incorporates personal experience and/or dissent from prevailing views. To help shape future teachers, administrators, professors and veteran teachers must model trust and professionalism. To achieve success and continued progress, any organization requires continued quality improvement and process evaluation.
The politics of standards creates a new paradigm of control that conflicts with the foundations of public education, which originally was meant to create productive citizens on the local level. The issues brought forth do pertain to change in schools, but to disregard or generalize anyone that could have experienced change in the past may be unwise. Listening to and understanding the frustrations and past lessons of experienced educators is generally better. Blending past experiences with current initiatives to create successful learning environments might be productive.
How can we be productive at our craft when we have to fight for our own livelihood from the ones that are suppose to be helping us against the government that does not have the best interest of the children in mind.
Just look what is happening to our kids and teachers today."I am surprised they are not cutting their throats," states Jonathan Kozol during a 2005 presentation, referring to the pressures school administrators live through on a daily basis. Before any serious presentation on leadership, it is wise to gain perspective on today’s educational leadership arena. The following are just snapshots of some current events pertaining to leadership in American schools. Hot off the presses is the high school principal who covered up sex between an eighteen year old football player and a fourteen year old cheerleader in a school bathroom, so as not to hurt the team’s chances for success in their conference. Then there is Marty McGreal, the principal fired because he did not allow more students to be transferred into an already overcrowded low-performing high school.(marty is now in New Orleans starting the first public high school. The same district administrators who fired this principal could not explain why or recover stolen laptops from the central office that had 40,000 social security numbers of Chicago school teachers. Then there is the good gone wild, when principal Dr. McJunkins of Hyde Park Academy put on a surprise pep rally celebrating the football team going to the city playoffs. The rally spiraled out of control into a riot broken up by armed Chicago police officers. Lest we forget, there was also the secretly made DVD of a principal having sex with a science teacher in his office that was sent to parents of Sandridge Elementary School.
How much fun we have in the old school house!!
if you want some inside analysis http://www.substancenews.net has an open forum that gets to some of the truth behind the business of education and how messed up the system can be just read a little of what is posted. We are lucky to have even that place to talk when they are not trolling or phishing the site. What is funny is that there is nothing to be found except talking about the issues. I wonder if the watchers learn anything?
Substance™
That's enough for now.
Over and Out