I better hurry or I will be late.
"Mass. wins $250m for schools" by James Vaznis and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | August 25, 2010
The Obama administration yesterday awarded Massachusetts $250 million in a national education competition, a victory for the state that reaffirms its reputation as a national education leader and injects desperately needed money into struggling school systems....
Related: Memory Hole: Learning How to Make a Law in Massachusetts
Learning Boston Teachers a Lesson
Obama's blackmail leads to a cash award to help his buddy who is in a toss-up race for governor, folks!
Governor Deval Patrick said at a jubilant State House press conference that the money will go a long way in helping an already launched effort to close a persistent achievement gap among students of different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds....
Related: Boston Globe Summer School: Teachers Do Not Understand the Language
That's where, who, and what the money is going to and for?
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Yeah, Boston teachers are going to love going to work this semester:
"More will be asked of Hub teachers; City wants longer day, performance linked to raises" by Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff | August 25, 2010
Carol R. Johnson, superintendent of Boston public schools, yesterday outlined sweeping changes the city is seeking as it negotiates a new teachers contract, including proposals to add an extra hour to the school day and to incorporate student test scores in teacher evaluations.
School administrators also want annual teacher pay increases to be linked to performance reviews, and are pushing for greater staffing flexibility that would allow principals to move instructors and change schedules without the approval of teachers, Johnson said.
In an interview at a training seminar for new teachers, Johnson described the city’s demands as a “reasonable proposal,’’ but she said that negotiations will be a challenge, given the city’s financial constraints....
Johnson also said the city is proposing to introduce a program she called “paying for excellence,’’ in which the city would commit extra resources to groups of teachers at successful schools.
What "extra" resources?
Just leave those s***ty districts and kids behind right?
And don't forget to cut a chunk of change for the teacher training in culture sensibilities!
Aren't THEY supposed to be teaching that not the kids?
Inmates running the asylum, 'eh?
The extra money could be split among the staff as merit bonuses, or used to buy extra classroom equipment.
Richard Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers Union, struck a conciliatory tone in a phone interview yesterday....
Was he waving a white flag?
The union agrees that a longer school day would be helpful, Stutman said, but his members want “appropriate compensation’’ for working more hours. But Johnson said Boston’s teachers are some of the best-paid in the state, and argued that the current contract’s 6 1/2-hour day means that elementary school students in Boston spend less time in class than all but 2 percent of the nation’s school children.
“We pay higher than others, but we are doing few hours per day,’’ Johnson said....This might not be helping much:
"I'm double dipping and I'm happy to be doing it," said Ralph Olsen, 62, who is finishing up his second year as principal of Durfee High School in Fall River and plans to return next school year. Olsen, who retired as Framingham High School principal in 2004, earns $87,311 a year in pension income and makes $140,000 a year in his new position....
Eugene Thayer... earns $192,000 a year as superintendent of Framingham schools.... His pension is worth an additional $85,000 a year"
And you wonder why you have money for nothing, Massachusetts?
How many teachers could you have saved had some not been "double-dipping!?
"Stutman dismissed Johnson’s assertion as “fuzzy mathematics’’ and turned to his own figures. City teachers spend $600 to $800 a year out of their own pockets on tissues, hand sanitizer, and other classroom supplies as “compensation for the School Department’s failings when it comes to resources,’’ Stutman said....
I wonder what failings he was talking about.
At the same time, thousands of the city’s unionized employees, some of whom accepted voluntarily pay freezes last year, watched in June as firefighters won a 17.5 percent increase over five years.
Related: Boston Fights Fires With Arbiters
Boston Cops Bankrupting City
Yeah, and they even got an exemption from the health tax.
Why didn't teachers, taxpayers?
Greedy government reaches for all it can get, 'eh?
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Also see:
- Boston Globe Summer School: Checking in at College
- Boston Globe Summer School: Graduates Caught in the Gap
- Boston Globe Summer School: School Fund-Raiser
- Boston Globe Summer School: Time to Teach the Teachers
- Boston Globe Summer School: Time For Recess
- Boston Globe Summer School: Taking the Test
- Boston Globe Summer School: Teacher's Lounge
- Boston Globe Summer School: Geography Class
- Boston Globe Summer School: Sex Education
