And nobody cares.
"Public ratings cited in teacher’s suicide; Union asks paper to drop rankings" by Christina Hoag, Associated Press | September 29, 2010
SOUTH GATE, Calif. — The Los Angeles Times should remove teacher performance ratings from its website after the apparent suicide of a teacher despondent over his score, the union representing Los Angeles school teachers said.
United Teachers Los Angeles also has asked school administrators to join with them in the request to the newspaper, which published the ratings last month, union president AJ Duffy said.
The body of 39-year-old Rigoberto Ruelas Jr., a fifth-grade teacher at Miramonte Elementary School, was found Sunday at the foot of a remote forest bridge in what appears to be a suicide.
The motive for Ruelas taking his own life is far from clear. But union officials said he had been upset since the Times published his district ranking as a “less effective’’ teacher based on his students’ standardized English and math test scores....
In a statement, the newspaper extended its condolences to the family and said it published the database “because it bears directly on the performance of public employees who provide an important service, and in the belief that parents and the public have a right to judge the data for themselves.’’ And the paper will decide what data is important -- and not just surrounding state budgets.
Think, dear readers, of all the war lies and propaganda; the lying insults regarding the economy and environment; the minimizing and concealing of the oil and radiation disasters; the one-day wonders that are buried inside and fade away while the war drums of division and propaganda are beaten daily in the agenda-pushing AmeriKan media.
Yeah, the paper is your friend, AmeriKan citizen. That's why your kid is being returned in a s***ty steel box with a Nazi, 'er, AmeriiKan flag draped over it (notice the AmeriKan media still staying away from the airfields where the dead return even though courts said it was okay).
The publication of individual rankings sparked widespread outrage among teachers....
After what happened here in Massachusetts the prevailing opinion among the PtB is "So what?"
The union protested in front of the newspaper’s downtown headquarters and called for a boycott of the Times, which published the rankings as part of a push for a better method to evaluate teacher effectiveness.
I think that is a GREAT IDEA! It is becoming time for me to boycott the Boston Globe.
Although other factors may have been at play in Ruelas’s death, union official Mathew Taylor said Monday he believed the ranking was a contributing factor based on conversations with teachers at the school. Principals have been using the rankings to crack down on teachers, he said.
“He was a very well-respected teacher,’’ Taylor said. “He took the pressure being applied to him to heart.’’
Ruelas was last seen Sept. 19 when he dropped off a birthday gift for his sister.
He notified the school to get a substitute for his classes the following Monday and Tuesday, but he did not return to work Wednesday and his family reported him missing....
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And since California sets the trend:
"Rating teachers on MCAS results; Sweeping change pushed by state education leader" April 17, 2011|By James Vaznis, Globe Staff
The state’s education commissioner proposed a set of regulations yesterday that would radically overhaul the way teachers and administrators are evaluated, making student MCAS results central to judging their performance.
Until the first teacher commits suicide over a poor rating?
The proposed regulations would reward teachers and administrators whose students show more than a year’s worth of growth in proficiency under the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System and on other exams, while educators whose students underperform would be placed on one-year “improvement plans.’’ Under the proposal, teachers could face termination if they do not demonstrate progress.
The goal is to fix a long-broken evaluation system that too often fails to provide constructive feedback to educators on how they need to improve and on what they are doing right, Mitchell Chester, the state’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education, said in an interview.
Evaluating teachers and principals has become a focal point for the state as it tries to reduce high school dropout rates and turn around dozens of failing schools....
The Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers union, supports using MCAS and other testing data in evaluations, to the dismay of some local affiliates. The association was still reviewing the proposed regulations yesterday.
If you guys are not going to defend yourselves why should I?
And I'm with the membership on all this.
Paul Toner, the association’s president, said he and his staff will be seeking clarification on some provisions, such as exactly how student test scores will be used in teacher evaluations, as well as how long teachers will be given to show improvement.
“We just want to make sure the data are used appropriately and fairly in the evaluation process,’’ Toner said. “We will continue to work with [the state] to come up with a great teacher evaluation that will help teachers improve and help students achieve.’’
Den how come dey ain't werkin' wit u?
Tom Gosnell — president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, which includes Boston teachers — reiterated the federation’s longstanding opposition to using MCAS scores in teacher evaluations and declined to comment on the proposed regulations until he reads them.
“We don’t have one shred of evidence that the MCAS is a proper evaluation tool for teachers,’’ said Gosnell, but he added that the federation does support rigorous evaluations.
Thomas Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, said the state might be better off getting legislative approval for some of the most stringent aspects of the evaluation system, such as terminating employees who fail to make progress under the one-year improvement plans.
What if the kids are drug-addicted (legal and not), self-entitled a**holes?
Also see: Boston Globe Summer School: Teachers Do Not Understand the Language
Boston Globe School Daze: Kids in Charge of Boston Classrooms
Isn't that like the insane running the.... never mind. That explains the classroom environment.
But Chester said he believes the state board has the authority to execute the evaluation system through new regulations....
Districts that fail to comply could face state sanctions, such as a loss of funding, or legal action, he said....
Isn't that bullying?
Related: No Apple For This Teacher
Not unless there is a worm in it.
Massachusetts committed itself to developing a new teacher evaluation system based on student achievement data in its application for a grant from Race to the Top, the Obama administration’s competitive school overhaul program. The state ultimately secured $250 million last summer, some of which will help local districts implement evaluation changes.
Why is Obama pitting Americans against each other?
See: Memory Hole: Learning How to Make a Law in Massachusetts
School's Out Forever For Some Boston Teachers
Yeah, the money was too good to pass up. Your first lesson, teachers!
A fiery debate subsequently emerged over how much weight testing data should have in determining the overall effectiveness of a teacher or administrator....
Really? Where?
Even music, physical education, and art teachers would be subject to the regulations, requiring districts to develop some way to measure student achievement growth in those subjects....
The proposed regulations also would raise the bar for provisional teachers to reach “professional status,’’ a designation that provides them with job protections. Teachers would have to rate proficient in all evaluation areas....
Yeah, they are really looking out for you and your classroom.
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About those test results:
"Stellar MCAS results lead to inquiry at school" March 15, 2011|By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff
When students at the Wilbur Elementary School in Somerset brought home their MCAS scores last fall, parents were thrilled. The math scores were off the charts, with an impressive 79 percent of fifth-graders scoring in the top category.
But for some parents who had watched their children struggle all year with math assignments, the stellar results didn’t add up. The year before, almost one in three fifth-graders had failed to reach proficiency. This time around, none failed to reach that mark.
Now, state education officials are investigating whether the scores are legitimate after receiving complaints from suspicious parents, according to parents and a school board member. One parent told officials that her child received an “advanced’’ score on the MCAS after receiving mediocre marks in her math class....
In 2009, a state investigation concluded that staff at a charter school in Springfield engaged in “pervasive, systemic cheating.’’ State officials later shut down the school.
And students are told that is the gravest offense as soon as they enter school.
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Related: Boston Globe Summer School: Taking the Test
And like all kids (and citizens), they take their lessons from the role models in the media.
What do you tell the kids when it is YOUR LEADERS, GOVERNMENT, and MEDIA that are LYING TO and CHEATING YOU?
Of course, everyone knows TEACHING is a GRAVY TRAIN!
"Fund gives Hub teachers $8m in perks; Union defends trust that dates to 1968" December 27, 2010|Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
Like most city workers, Boston teachers enjoy generous health benefits that would be the envy of many private-sector employees struggling with rising insurance costs.
Isn't the Globe being a bit of a bully?
Related:
"Legislators also agreed last week to change legal language in the recently passed sales tax hike to assure credit agencies that $100 million earmarked for the Turnpike Authority would go toward paying off Big Dig debt"
Also see:
Memory Hole: Massachusetts' State Budget
Mass. State Budget: Screwing Cities and Towns
Uniting With Hollywood
Oh, but the state had $82 million to hand profitable Hollywood last year?
Just wanted you to see where all the money is going, fellow citizens and taxpayers.
But teachers can count on even more: A taxpayer-funded trust provides dental and vision coverage better than the plan for most city workers. In recent years, the trust paid some $45,000 annually for funeral expenses, hearing aids, a softball league, and other extras, according to recent tax filings.
Yeah, teachers are the ones ripping us off.
As part of the package, taxpayers also contributed almost $1.3 million in the last school year for teachers’ legal services unrelated to the classroom, helping with wills, bankruptcy, real estate, name changes, and defense against some misdemeanor criminal charges.
Un-f***ing-real!!!!
Since when has the Globe cared about taxpayers?
The perks cost taxpayers $1,423 per teacher and $887 per paraprofessional this year, for a total of almost $8.4 million.
Oh, they DIDN'T GET a TAXPAYER-FUNDED CHECK for MILLIONS like MILLIONAIRE HOLLYWOOD ACTORS?
That figure is above and beyond the $86.2 million the city will contribute for teachers’ life and health insurance, which includes below-average premiums and copayments as low as $10.
Look at the agenda-pushing Boston Globe push the teachers around!
And they are supposed to be a pro-union paper?
The Boston Teachers Union makes no apology for its trust fund, saying that it agreed to the benefits decades ago instead of a pay hike.
Yes, they ONLY PLAYED the SYSTEM by the RULES and now find the SYSTEM is CHANGING the RULES and TAKING AWAY what was promised them while BANKS and WELL-CONNECTED CORPORATIONS FEAST upon STATE TAX LOOT!!
Payments to the fund are set at a fixed rate per teacher, union officials said, so the expense to taxpayers is capped and will not rise unexpectedly like other health-care costs.
But with a sputtering economy, the city faces intense financial pressure as it negotiates a new contract with teachers and almost all of its other 43 unions.
How can that be after allegedly more than eight quarters of growth and declining unemployment? How could that be?
The School Department alone must close an estimated budget gap of $63 million and plans to shutter 10 schools and consolidate eight others to cut costs. Some observers argue that the time has come for the city to take a hard look at old collective-bargaining deals.
Oh, so NOW the CITY is going to SCREW YOU, too!
Lesson #2!
“It’s time to rethink health and welfare and treat teachers exactly as other employees in terms of benefits, and eliminate the expenditures for these other services,’’ said Samuel R. Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, a fiscal watchdog funded by businesses and nonprofits. “It really ought to be an item on the list in terms of trying to negotiate changes.’’
Does that mean you are going to stop shitting on them?
And it is BUSINESS and NONPROFITS DRIVING the ATTACK on UNIONS, huh?
Here is MASSACHUSETTS?
Related:
"Though still considered among the strongest in the country, union clout in Massachusetts has been waning for years, sapped by declining membership, [and] a well-financed group of business-backed think tanks."
It's official: CORPORATE CA$H is KING in Ma$$achu$ett$!
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And why aren't teachers tapping the fund for this stuff?
"Gift limits for teachers irk givers, recipients; Many reject fears of undue influence" February 21, 2011|Peter Schworm, Globe Staff
A new state advisory on the rules governing gift-giving to public school teachers is causing a stir for the second straight year, with good government advocates saying big gifts to teachers can be seen as attempts to influence and parents griping about restrictions and red tape.
But lobbyists shoveling corporate loot to get taxpayer-funded kickbacks.... (sigh).
“It puts teachers in a very awkward position,’’ said Tim Kearnan, a second-grade teacher in Hopkinton who heads the local teachers’ association. “There are a lot of teachers scratching their heads. It’s too bad we’ve reached this point in society when a thank-you gift is looked at sideways.’’
And we know which agenda-pushing piece of corporate propaganda is responsible for framing those conditions in your mind.
And yeah, grabbing your ankles or spreading your cheeks is a very awkward position.
The latest comes as schools notify parents and teachers of a recent statement from the State Ethics Commission reminding that teachers, as public employees, cannot accept gifts from students or parents worth more than $50. Even those worth less can require submitting a public disclosure form.
Excuse me a minute as the lobbyist writes the campaign contribution to politicians bringing this all down.
The rules are longstanding ones, but have recently ignited widespread irritation among teachers, in part because of the requirement for written disclosure if “a reasonable person’’ might think the teacher’s actions would be influenced by the gift.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,’’ said Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents. “Why are we spending our time with something as minor as this? There’s no common sense here.’’
That's what state government is for.
Many teachers use presents, typically gift cards to a book or office supply store, to buy items for their classroom, rather than for personal use, Scott and others said. Expensive gifts are rare, they said.
Why would they need WELFARE from PARENTS to buy CLASSROOM SUPPLIES?!
Seriously, WHO is STEALING all the TAX MONEY in Massachusetts?
For years, teacher gifts flew under the radar of state oversight, simple tokens of appreciation given at Christmas and the end of the school year. Over time, gifts from individuals have given way to larger gifts from the entire class, often earmarked for books and supplies.
But controversy simmered in 2009, when the ethics commission reminded schoolteachers that they are subject to the same guidelines that govern other public employees. Though teachers lack the power of some public employees to influence policy or lucrative government contracts, the ethics commission reasons, they do influence young lives with grades, college recommendations, and even student placements. That raises the potential to be manipulated by gifts.
Is that ever one of the most INSULTING UNDERSTATEMENTS of all time!
If anything teachers are PUNCHING BAGS, WHIPPING BOYS, and RECEPTACLES of BLAME for ALL of SOCIETY'S ILLS!!
Related: Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
I guess the AmeriKan media can be influenced, too!!
Yet with many schools struggling financially, parent groups increasingly have been putting money into a pot for substantial gifts from the classroom as a whole, often to help buy supplies....
What that tells you is Americans are GOODHEARTED and WELL-MEANING SOULS that CARE ABOUT THEIR KIDS -- and who sadly don't seem to care about the massive government heist called taxes.
So far, educators say not much has changed because of the guidelines. Gifts continue to be modest, for the most part, making disclosures unnecessary....
Tim Sullivan of PTO Today, a magazine for parent-teacher groups, said the regulations are a solution in search of a problem.
That is what GOVERNMENT and MOUTHPIECE MEDIA are MOST CONCERNED WITH!
“I have never seen any parents or teacher try to do the wrong thing on this,’’ he said. “The absurdity is the attention it receives. It’s not like tipping your state rep.’’
No, those bribes are a hell of a lot larger.
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Also see:
Teacher bonuses fail to lift test scores, study says
Mass. gets $27m to try teacher bonuses
Need I comment?
US ‘Promise’ program looks to boost schools in 3 Bay State cities
Greater flexibility in teachers’ contract urged
Boston schools violated rights
Would-be school volunteers can be thwarted by their past
On iPod use, schools are calling the tune
School bus faces obstacles of traffic and pupil needs
Sex ed based on effectiveness receives funding
Debit now the big card on campus
And the biggest bullies of all:
Schools prodded on plans for bullies
US warns schools they may be liable when bullying is ignored
Unless you are Israel, of course. Then you are rewarded.
And this isn't going to win the youth vote for the next election:
WASHINGTON — Barely into the new school year, President Obama issued a tough-love message yesterday to students and teachers: Their year in the classroom should be longer, and poorly performing teachers should get out.
Related: Around New England: Obama Takes Rhode Island to Task
Rhode Island Rages Against Obama
But he will still win the state.
American students are falling behind their foreign counterparts, especially in math and science, and that’s got to change, Obama said.
Related: Harvard endows chair on gay studies
Yeah, instead our kids are getting worthless degrees based on political correct agenda.
Seeking to revive a sense of urgency that education reform may have lost amid the nation’s focus on the faltering economy, Obama declared that the future of the country is at stake....
Whenever government or media tells me something is urgent I am instantly suspect.
What s*** is being shoved down our throats this time?
Iraq was urgent because of WMD, remember?
Obama said teachers and their profession should be more highly honored — as in China and some other countries, he said — and he said he wanted to work with the teachers unions. But he also said that unions should not defend a status quo in which one-third of children are dropping out. He challenged them to accept, not resist, change....
“It comes down to the old bugaboo, resources,’’ said Mayor Scott Smith of Mesa, Ariz. “It costs money to keep kids in school. Everyone believes we can achieve greater things if we have a longer school year. The question is how do you pay for it.’’
ENDING the WARS would be ONE WAY!
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"More school could be costly; Extending classes would put strain on state budgets" by Karen Matthews, Associated Press | September 29, 2010
NEW YORK — President Obama’s call for a longer school day and year for America’s children echoes a similar call he made a year ago to little effect, illustrating just how deeply entrenched the traditional school calendar is and how little power the federal government has to change it....
Today’s American students have a long summer vacation because previous generations needed the summer off to work on family farms.
Yeah, let's take the summer break away. Given all the make-up days needed because of snowfall who would notice?
Now researchers say the tradition causes a “summer learning loss’’ as children put aside the books for the summer....
At traditional public schools where teachers and other employees are usually represented by unions, lengthening the school day or the school year would be subject to collective bargaining, and more hours would cost more money....
Not anymore.
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Also see: Praising community colleges, Obama seeks more graduates
Bullying the Massachusetts Legislature
Bullied by Boston Globe
Still Being Bullied By the Boston Globe
I need to end it with a boycott.
The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: She's No Princess
And they are no prince.
