"Teachers union’s objection bolstered; State panel finds contract disparity" by James Vaznis, Globe Staff | October 5, 2009
The Boston Teachers Union’s objection to the Teach for America program has sparked an investigation by the state Division of Labor Relations, which has determined that a strong likelihood exists that the Boston School Committee violated the union contract when signing an agreement with the highly regarded national program.
Hey, the only binding contracts are for Wall Street bonuses.
Educators should know that.
Some of the possible violations center around differences between the union contract and the Teach for America agreement, which essentially appears to give the 19 Teach for America recruits greater rights in retaining their positions in the event of any layoffs.
Related: Boston Globe Bashes Boston Teachers
That prospect is significant because the Boston Teachers Union has questioned the wisdom of bringing in the national program at a time when budget cuts have forced the city to lay off roughly three dozen teachers in the last school year. City finances are also expected to remain tight for the foreseeable future, school officials have said....
Teach for America has been particularly effective in helping districts nationwide to find teachers in hard-to-fill areas such as the sciences, math, special education, and programs for non-English speaking students....
Of course, the KIDS COST a WHOLE LOT LESS!
I'm sure that has nothing to do with it, though.
The state investigation also is examining whether the School Committee has wrongfully withheld information for the last several months from the teachers union about which positions have been filled by the Teach for America recruits....
Oh, the School Committee LIED to the TEACHERS, huh?
Yeah, that will really help the trust factor.
--more--"Of course, some things will be fully funded:
“Arts programming is such a crucial component to a child’s educational success because they connect all that we are trying to do for our children, both in and out of school, by teaching them to think creatively and to express themselves in a healthy manner,’’ Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement. “The BPS Arts Expansion Initiative is a great example of how arts programming can pull entire communities together.’’
--more--"
Related: Why the Arts Are Important
Everything comes down to pushing the agenda no matter what it is, readers.
"Dramatic shake-up planned at 12 Boston public schools; Staff at 6 must reapply; 5 principals to be removed" by James Vaznis, Globe Staff | March 5, 2010
Boston school officials announced yesterday that staff at six schools will have to reapply for their jobs and five principals will be replaced after the schools were listed among nearly three dozen statewide that will probably be declared “underperforming’’ and subject to drastic change.
Overall, 12 Boston schools face being listed as underperforming, slightly more than a third of the 35 schools statewide.... The state’s action was the first under a two-month-old law requiring dramatic changes to overhaul the state’s lowest-performing schools. Superintendents will have three years to turn around these schools or face a state takeover.
Related: Memory Hole: Learning How to Make a Law in Massachusetts
Yeah, they didn't even know what they were voting on, did they?
In announcing the shake-up, Superintendent Carol R. Johnson said the schools must have top-notch staffs to successfully turn them around. She emphasized that staff members are not being fired and that employees not rehired could find work at other district schools.
Why would they want a s*** teacher?
“We feel it’s important for teachers to recommit themselves to the tough work ahead,’’ she said at a press conference at the Holland Elementary School in Dorchester, which was on the state’s list.
Johnson’s swift move drew the immediate ire of the teachers union, which accused her of trying to “evict’’ hard-working teachers and said it is exploring legal action.
No one cares what you think anymore, whipping boys and girls.
YOU are the CAUSE of ALL OUR PROBLEMS!!
Not lying, looting legislators, pocket-stuffing politicians, or the well-connected corporations and interests towards which they shovel tax loot.
But with the fate of 17,000 students at risk in the 35 targeted schools, state education officials said yesterday that radical change is imperative and needs to come swiftly.
That is when I want the brakes applied!
Anytime AGENDA-PUSHERS say URGENT my sniffer smells a stink.
The students are overwhelmingly poor and of disadvantaged ethnic and racial groups.
Maybe we should stop being a haven for illegal immigrants, Massachusetts!
“I’m worried about the kids,’’ Governor Deval Patrick said. “I’m worried about the kids being left behind. I’m worried about the kids getting the resources they need.’’
He's unbelievable!
Massachusetts could receive an infusion of $250 million from the federal government to help these schools and others.
Nope, didn't.
The US Department of Education announced yesterday that the state is among more than a dozen that will advance to the final round of President Obama’s Race to the Top competition, which will reward states that aggressively fix failing schools and expand independently run charter schools.
The list of underperforming schools is preliminary because the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has not yet approved regulations to execute provisions of the new state law. The board is expected to vote on those regulations later this month. The state released the list early because superintendents expressed eagerness to get started.
The schools are considered to be the worst of the worst, culled from a pool of roughly 370 schools, the bottom 20 percent of the state’s 1,846 schools, based on persistently low test scores. In developing the preliminary list, state education officials also weighed other factors, such as a school’s failure to meet federal education standards under the No Child Left Behind law.
“These are schools where results are unacceptably low,’’ Mitchell Chester, state commissioner of elementary and secondary education, said of the newly identified schools. “Kids are not being well served in these schools.’’
Related: No Apple For This Teacher
Looks like the "public $ervant" i$ being $erved quite well by taxpayer$.
Yeah, but they care about the kids.
Much of the effort to improve will probably conform to one of four intervention models developed by the Obama administration, and each includes striking actions, ranging from replacing principals and at least half of the entire school staff to having a charter school operator run the school.
Don't forget to sig heil.
The most severe action calls for shutting down a school and transferring students to high-performing schools....
Oh, I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE!
See: Shut Down South Hadley High School
What failure could be more severe than that?
Richard Stutman, the teachers union president, questioned how Johnson and her principals would decide which teachers should be rehired at the affected schools when few teachers receive job reviews. A report last week found that almost half the city’s teachers have not been evaluated in at least two years, prompting Johnson to announce her intent to remedy the lapse....
Johnson said her department’s human resources office has already stepped up efforts to evaluate teachers in the schools slated for overhauls.
Under the new state law, administrators must prove “good cause’’ to fire staff members in underperforming schools. That makes it likely that, in schools where teachers must reapply for their jobs, those not rehired will shift to other schools.
Why?
Who would want to take on a substandard teacher -- especially when cuts and layoffs are still part of the equation?
Many superintendents in the affected districts welcomed the designations, even though it could bring negative attention to the schools.
Sigh.
Must EVERY PUBLIC OFFICIAL and AUTHORITY be a LIAR?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is because it comes with a trade-off: a possible $500,000 federal grant, independent of the Race to the Top money, to fund each school’s improvement plan....
Yup, THAT i$ what it i$ ALWAY$ ABOUT here in AmeriKa!!!!!
Of course, if the SCHOOL CLOSES then there ARE NO TEACHING JOBS, are there?
"Schools chief warns of closings; Deficit may force city’s hand, she says" by James Vaznis, Globe Staff | March 10, 2010
A looming budget deficit could lead to the closing of a significant number of Boston schools over the next two years and further reductions in staff, Superintendent Carol R. Johnson said yesterday....
But they are going to BRING IN Teach for Amerika and THOSE NOT REHIRED are going to be able to work somewhere else!
Welcome aboard, teachers!
How does it feel to be LIED TO like the rest of us?
Certainly is a furthering of YOUR EDUCATION, huh?
Johnson and her staff will discuss the budget crisis at tonight’s School Committee meeting, as they target nearly $50 million in spending for next year, trying to balance a proposed $817.9 million budget.
I know where you could find $50 million:
The Massachusetts Model: Tax-Exempt Memory Hole
Those Are the (Tax) Breaks in Massachusetts
Massachusetts won’t disclose tax break plans for firms
The Massachusetts State Budget
Yeah, WHERE did all the TAX INCREASE MONEY go?
Her staff has already identified a series of smaller cuts, such as not replacing retiring teachers and turning down thermostats at night, that has achieved about $25 million, but her team has been grappling to come up with the rest....
But they are going to REHIRE the teachers they fired, right.
This is the third year of cuts, and the city is forecasting that more will be necessary in the coming years because revenue projections appear weak.....
This as the economy is allegedly roaring ahead in recovery?
PFFFFFFFFTTT!!!!!
Related: Hub school officials say budget gap nearly filled
You believe them, teach?
"As critics wail, panel OK’s pared-back school budget; Police hold off crowd pushing into meeting after a rally" by James Vaznis, Globe Staff | March 25, 2010
A crowd from a rally that drew hundreds of school employees tried rushing into Boston School Department headquarters last night, sparking a standoff with police, just hours before the School Committee slashed millions of dollars in spending for the next school year but without closing any schools.
More than a dozen police officers struggled for several minutes to pull the doors free of the crowd, in an effort to prevent anyone from entering the downtown Court Street building, where the School Committee chamber was nearing its capacity of 167 people.... '
Eventually the officers slammed the doors shut and stood guard.
The confrontation came as the district faces its third consecutive year of severe budget cutting, while the state and the city struggle to rebound from the nation’s troubled economy....
Emotions are running even higher than in previous years because new efforts by the state and federal governments to overhaul public education have led the state to declare 12 Boston schools underperforming this month, causing Superintendent Carol R. Johnson to force teachers at half of those schools to reapply for their jobs.
The rally was organized by the teachers union and included community activists, parents, students, and members of other city unions such as bus drivers and custodians.
“Our schools aren’t underperforming, they are underresourced,’’ Richard Stutman, the teachers union president, yelled to the crowd earlier.
Hey, STOP INCITING a RIOT!!!!
Besides, OUR TAX LOOT needs to go to FAVORED CORPORATIONS and INTERESTS as well as BANKS, so....
While the budget does not call for teacher layoffs, it will bar principals from replacing some teachers who retire or leave the district for other reasons.
But you can reapply for work.
Won't get it, but you have the "opportunity" to apply, teach.
One area taking a big hit is building maintenance.
And the schools are already pens of s*** in Boston!
Yeah, this is a great move!
More than $5 million worth of repair projects, such as repainting dingy walls, will be put on hold. The budget also eliminates more than 80 custodial positions, about 20 percent of that workforce, nearly all through layoffs.
In a statement yesterday, Michael Lafferty of the custodian union linked maintenance in the schools to student health and safety. Several School Committee members expressed discomfort with losing so many custodians....
So what?
It's ALL for the KIDS, right?
The district had to cut roughly $50 million because of increases in health care premiums and contractually negotiated pay raises.
Related: The Massachusetts Model: Municipal Health Mess
And those damn contracts and pay raises, eh?
After making a series of cuts, the district still confronted a $3.5 million spending gap this week....
I know where you can find $3.5 million dollars.
But Johnson warned last night that a significant number of schools will have to close in the coming years. Enrollment has plummeted by thousands of students over the last decade, leaving roughly 4,500 empty seats scattered across the district’s 135 schools....
Just wondering why this next paragraph was cut:
Johnson also pulled from the table a proposal to eliminate busing of students to parochial and private schools, the second consecutive year that Johnson has proposed such a move only to remove it from consideration. The School Department's attorney believes the district has a right to deny transportation to those students, but City Hall's legal counsel has said such a move could put the city at risk of litigation.
But it is all about the kids, yup.
Related: Boston School Children to Hit Sidewalks
And you wonder why they have a budget shortfall, huh?
I'd love to have a school bus all to myself if I were a kid.
You can stop here, driver!
Back to the printed paper again:
The budget now heads to the mayor, who will include it in his budget proposal to the City Council next month.
During public testimony before the vote, Manuel Rios Alers, a 17-year-old junior from the John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science in Roxbury, spoke against cutting more than $500,000 from his school’s operating funds and also reducing custodial staff from the district. He said his school, where students must pass an academic exam for admittance, suffered leaks during last week’s torrential rain, causing mold. “If you keep cutting our schools, we will be in the gutter,’’ he said....
Let me give you a clue. kid: They ALREADY ARE!
You live in Boston, right?
--more--"
How can they save money when they don't have enough to live?
