Currently: 84° | Complete forecast | Log in
Thursday, May 12, 2011 | 7:45 p.m.
Or words to that effect in a brutal new teachers union spot with cute children, posted at right.
Final line: "Call your legislator and ask them where they stand."
Teachers union: Why do you hate grammar?
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
75 Comments
Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Yesterday, 1,200 teachers or so who were on the surplus list attended a meeting for job assignment. They were 'surplussed' because of programs being cut or they are new to the district. There were only 130 or so jobs available and mostly in special education. As names were called according to seniority, fear and anxiety gripped the teachers as one by one the job they hoped to get, disappeared. If they did not accept the job for reasons beyond their control, they were terminated.
These teachers were recruited from all over the United States and abroad. These are people with children, mortgage, car payment, health problems, and debts. They moved here promised by the recruitment video of a land of opportunity - now the land of broken promises.
Fiscal mismanagement is not their fault. Why are they the ones suffering? Why do we spend billions of dollars saving Bank of America, AIG, etc. and big companies,casinos, filthy rich people not even offering meager funds to save these teachers? What is 400 million to rich people and corporations rolling in dough they don't even know what else they could buy with their money? Why are we extending their tax cuts?
Shared sacrifice, my foot!
(HEARTLESS RIGHT WINGER NEED NOT RESPOND. I've had enough idiocy to last one lifetime.)
Wow, Nancy. You really expect a handout from real people in real jobs who have earned their income and did not take a supposed "entitlement" job? Get real. The more you post the more you make people see what greedy grubbers teachers are.
Yeah, right Rejecto. You are so right. HANDOUT? Where? We'd like some! Tell us where to get in line. We really need it bad! We don't want to work. We only want hand out. PLEASE DO TELL us where to go.
While you're at it, please learn some comprehension strategies and maybe buy yourself a heart.
OTHERWISE, SHUT THE HECK UP!
Rejecto,
When are you going to take me up on my offer to teach my class for a week. You can do my job for a week, and then tell me I am a free loader. I have made that offer for the past week, and I get the same response. SILENCE. You think that my job is so easy, them why aren't you a teacher? Talk is cheap, walk the walk. Those you can teach, those who can't post as rejecto.
Tanker:
At this point, being a greedy grubber teacher is the only way to go. If there is anything to grab, let's do it! (but Rejecto and his ilk got to it first.) LET THE GREEDY GRUBBING CONTINUE!
I can actually understand why they are what they are: THEY DID NOT LEARN ANYTHING while in school. Their comprehension is at best moronic, their syllogisms skewed, and their citizenship skills nil.
Their teachers were busy being greedy grubby to teach them anything. (Then again, I doubt if he is at all educated.) You see, an educated person is broad-minded, understands social issues, and is compassionate.
The apple does not fall far from the tree. I am sure Rejecto's parents were also selfish that is why he does not possess compassion, but of course, it was all the grubby greedy teacher's fault.
ASadTeacher.
I know, the apathy is frightening, both with the public and the teachers. I am very fearful for next year. I hope the union doesn't give any concessions. After all, we are greedy, money grubbing parasites. I think that the loss of teachers will be unbelievable. I feel that most teachers who can retire will, and most of those who can leave will. If I were 10 years younger, both my wife (Special ed teacher) and me (Highly qualified in Math and Social studies) would be gone to any place but Nevada. I think people are going to be surprised in August. I think the shortage in August will make the times when we were trying to open 5-10 schools look like the good times. I hope and pray that I am wrong, but am very afraid that I am right.
Oh the bleeding heart, progressive, libitard response. Take the rich's money, they have more than enough! We need it because we chose to do a job that nobody else wanted...WOW! Guess what ASadTeacher, we, the taxpayers of Nevada and the USA also have mortgages, car payments, children, and debts as well. We want the budget trimmed or else there wont be a Nevada or USA to live in. But take solice in the knowledge that you people who think everybody is "entitled" to our money are the ones who will eventually destroy the American way of life, get your Yen ready folks! Now in reguards to the teachers, I agree that the gov's heart is in the right place, just not his mind. The teachers who teach our children need a paycheck commiserate with what they do...However your unions are complete SCUMBAGS...So, what to do? Gov. Sandoval needs to grow a pair and tell the federal government WE WILL NOT FUND MEDICAID ANYMORE!...Get the illegals off entiltement programs and then send them back to their own country...Get the welfare collecting scumbag druggies off our tax dollars...And get the users who collect unemployment a job, even if it isn't want they "want" to do...Then maybe I can actually get the paycheck I work so hard for...And not the one the jackbooted thugs (IRS) think I deserve...
People come to the USA, aka "the Land of Opportunity," seeking to improve upon their current circumstances. Not all these folks have followed the rules: they enter the USA illegally, they refuse to become USA citizens once here, and they TAKE MORE THAN THEY GIVE to our once great land. These folks get here and feel "entitled" to whatever can be had.
This has put a tremendous burden upon our system. And where Americans once were their "Brother's Keeper," sort of speak, now we are witnessing an administrative strategy of setting, "Brother against Brother," and the use of "Divide and Conquer," for just about any resource.
Look at what "WE" have become! Is THIS what we desire to leave as a legacy for future generations and our own children?
If folks are watching or listening to commercials these days put on by Students First, which is directly supported by Michelle Rhee, an "advisor/consultant" to Governor Sandoval, it put this Ralston: "Kids to Gov.Sandoval: Why do you hate us? article into perspective. We cannot allow a single leader/party destroy the future.
"Lord what fools these mortals be"! I love this state, this city, and at one time the school system. When I first arrived here, the CCSD was one of the best in the west - now we are at the bottom of anything of value and the top of stupidity.
Where did we go wrong?
I have repeatedly asked the school board to consider two modest proposals to triage our economic bleeding:
1) Stop bussing high school students, they can ride their bikes, take public transportation, walk, Nevada is near the top of the fattest states, so it would be healthy exercise.
2) Stop paying for ESL classes, for whatever reasons if children need to learn English to attend our schools let their parents pay. When I wanted to attend school in France - I was told I was welcome to do so when I learned French, and the government wasn't going to pick up the tab.
The bus idea is a good one. Given the cost of fuel, and the availability of the net as well as a fairly good public transportation system, 80% of the buses can be eliminated. Maybe a 3 or 4 day school week, with online studies? for some students.
Sandoval is an empty suit. He job hops so people won't know he is doing a lousy job. He literally has his strategies and speech scripts written for him by NPRI and the Koch Brothers. He is counting on GOP taking the White House in 2012 so he can get a cabinet job, etc.
He can't really make a decision, he is a sock puppet for the corporations.
brasscasing: Your post was extremely sad...sad because it is one of the most illiterate posts I've read in a very long time and, ironically, it's railing against teachers. You may need to look up "ironic" in the dictionary.
I love how the teachers union throws kids under the bus for their own SELF interests, and then tries to blame someone else. And they talk about actually taxpayers being greedy, Wow.
Shared sacrifice means it is the teachers turn.
Its time to stop cutting the kids books, supplies, programs..... and have the unions actually share in the sacrifice a little, for once.
Funny how some cry about fairness but could not handle things being fair. Funny how some yell shared sacrifice but say cut everything else and tax everyone else but me! Funny how some say they are tax payers too when they consume hundreds of times in tax money than they contribute.
We are giving you the fairness you have been yelling for. Get ready for it!
@tbvegas
As has been reported in the Sun, Barrick Mining touted it's record profits and earnings in the 2010 Annual Report. The return on investment went up from 12% in 2009 to 19% in 2010. In 2009 the mining industry paid 48.6 MILLION in state taxes on 5.8 BILLION gross revenue. In 2010, the gaming industry paid 416 MILLION on 5.8 BILLION in gross gaming revenue. We were talking about fair share.
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/pdfs/......
tbvegas: When everyone was rolling in the dough and everyone was getting raises, teachers were told, "Oh, no, not enough money for you." That's a fact, tbvegas. Teachers have always been the ones doing the sacrificing. It appears they've decided to quit getting kicked in the head and fight for what has been contractually promised to them.
Dr. Geiser:
I posted a proposal to respond to the article on school reform written by Mr. Oceguera and Ms. Smith. One item in my proposal is making parents pay for transportation or transport their children themselves (among others). The powers-that-be are proposing band-aid reforms that do not go deep enough to the root cause of the problems in education. Implementing band-aid reforms will not solve the problem. It will still be here decades from now. AND, MONEY IS THE LEAST OF THE PROBLEM.
I have been in this district for over 20 years starting as a PTA officer, as support staff, as teacher, as Specialist, and as a member of the school administration. I know the politics in the district. What is really asinine is blaming the teachers. They are farthest from what cause the problems. As teachers, our hands are tied. Most administrators are like the Damocles sword hanging over our heads and any wrong move would split our heads into two. We are told what to do and if we wished for a life with any semblance of "bearability," we better show "fidelity" to directions or else.
That is why I cannot understand the apathy of some people toward teachers. Yes, there are bad teachers, but they are not the majority. And, it is not the good teachers' fault that they are still in the district. We cannot do anything about them, especially when they are 'protected' by administrators. We don't like them either because they make our jobs harder. We do not have any say in the district's systems and processes. We do not have autonomy, not even in our own classroom.
That is why I have asked repeatedly for the public to come to school to observe, to watch, to get involved. These are the only ways they can possibly know how it is to be a teacher. Yet, they continue with their attacks. To put it into proper perspective, WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD BABY SIT 20 to 40 CHILDREN EVERY DAY FOR NINE MONTHS AND BE TREATED LIKE DIRT! Nobody wants to be treated like dirt, no matter what job you do.
If you are a teacher, you know your answer. If you are not, THINK ABOUT IT!
It is no coincidence those who believe teachers are overpaid seem to be the least literate.
It is a sad irony, but NO coincidence.
No matter how good a teacher might be, no one can teach anyone who flatly refuses to learn.
I would laugh at these people if their very existence weren't so bitterly depressing. Let's take a look at the arc they have created for their own lives:
I would rather skip school, drink, do drugs, have indiscriminate, disease-spreading sex with everything that moves, play video games, show up occasionally for class, not to learn but just to be disruptive and asinine, then, when I grow up into nothing worth mentioning, go online and post illiterate rants blaming the teachers for not teaching me.
Self-built nothings deserve the fate their fate. The teachers to whom they refused to listen and with whom they refused to cooperate deserve respect and a living wage, just like anyone else. They also deserve better students.
What a SORRY STORY and what's behind it. Prepping kids to beg for money to OVERPAY AND OVER FUND K-12.
CCSD is still paying teachers $90K. Sure some teachers aren't up to the top YET. STOP THE SOB STORIES and get real. We've done nothing, other than Unemployment Comp, for the American 99ers while 190,000 ILLEGALS IN NEVADA STEAL THE JOBS. The Illegals have MUCHO ILLEGAL STUDENTS, further STRESSING TAX REVENUES. My Gawd Sad Sack, can't you do ANY MATH? Stop crying about tax increases and GET TO THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM AND FORCE OUT THE ILLEGALS. Think for a minute, all illegals out of work and Americans / Nevadans working (unemployment immediately drops below 6%). 100,000 ILLEGAL STUDENTS MOVE OUT OF CLARK COUNTY. TANF / MEDICAID demands on state match would save us a couple hundred million a year. FISCAL CRISIS OVER. But oh ja, 4-5,000 teachers unemployed CAUSE WE DON'T NEED YOU.
Cut teacher salaries and LEAVE A FEW BUCKS FOR CLASS ROOM SUPPLIES. Cut the number of teachers and leave a few bucks for the students.
@roseanrose...wow! teachers making $90K??? I think I signed the wrong contract. Here we have yet ANOTHER uninformed and anonymous poster pulling numbers out of thin air. Why don't you do some research before you make yourself look like our friend rejecto? Regarding classroom supplies: most of us pay for "extra" classroom supplies too. We understand and care enough about our students whose parents can't afford to get those binders, pencils, highlighters, etc. I spend several hundred dollars a year and keep my room stocked with those things that make a difference. I also keep food in my room for hungry kids whose parents can't get them breakfast, or forgot their lunch money...whatever it is. ShannonK is right---the private sector quickly forgot how teachers have ALWAYS had to BEG for raises when the economy was good. Bonuses aren't part of our contracts, either. Now when times are bad, we must "share the sacrifice." Hey, we aren't the ones that screwed up.
Nancy, shut the heck up? Oh, my. I so hope you and the other "teachers" in the CCSD don't have the same attitude with your lovely "students" as some of the "teachers" seem to have here. You are very angry. Maybe some counseling would help. Bcause you made a bad career choice does not mean that others have to pay for it.
Rejecto: You have some nerve to claim that teaching isn't a "real job" and then get upset when someone tells you to shut up. Please, crawl back under the rock where you came from.
Rejecto, why do you think that teaching would be a "bad career choice"?
rejecto is now resorting to the teachers are angry argument, since his posts lack facts. If you think I made "a bad career choice" that's your problem. I have been an Army officer, owned my own business, worked for non-profits, been a city manager, and worked for major corporations, but none of those jobs compare to today. Teachers will understand. I had a student come to me today to thank me because they were graduating next month. Yeah, teaching was a "bad career choice", NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@roseanrose. Ok, if we are overfunding K-12 as a state, then please explain to me why it is ok for almost every school district in the state except Washoe and Clark Counties to spend more that 15K, yes 15K per student, with some spending in excess of 30K. Do those budget need to be cut as well? Please cite sources for your claims about illegal workers. If you have such detailed information have you reported it to ICE? Immigration is a Federal issue, not a state. The Supreme Court has held in numerous decisions that schools can not ask immigration status when a student enrolls. If you don't like those rules, I would suggest you contact a high school government teacher to get a refresher course on the differences between state and federal governments.
If roseanrose is getting those numbers of 90K for a teacher by looking at transparentnevada.org salary data, there is no explaination of what you are seeing. There are some teachers who make that much, but what it doesn't tell you is that those teachers are getting paid to teach extra classes over and above their contract time. They may also be coaching or supervising extra curricular activities. I know of many teachers who work, their normal day, and then teach evening classes in credit retrevial schools to help students graduate. If NPRI which sponsors transparentnevada would provide more information about what the data represented, she wouldn't be confused.
You bet I am angry. People who lost their jobs are human beings with families and they are made to suffer because of your self-serving ideas. You continue to make the rich richer and you trample on the poor. You claim to dislike big government, yet you blatantly use it to push your own agenda.
We are supposed to be evolving into better human beings, but you set us back centuries. Your ideologies violate the tenets of a humane and decent society.
You will get you comeuppance.
YOU WILL GET YOUR COMEUPPANCE!
The world's top education performers, including Finland, Singapore, South Korea and, in China, Hong Kong and Shanghai, don't threaten their teachers - they respect them. These countries and cities see teacher development as the fundamental driver of quality in their school systems. They place a high priority on recruiting well-qualified teacher candidates, preparing them for the profession and sparing no expense to provide continual support throughout their careers. And their teachers graduate from college debt free, while U.S. student loan debt is now higher than credit card debt.
These countries treat union-management collaboration as standard operating procedure and focus on teacher quality. In South Korea, teachers are considered "nation builders." Finland invests heavily in teacher preparation and support. In Singapore, all teachers have 100 hours of paid training every year, their work is closely evaluated, and they have about 20 hours per week built into their schedules for shared planning and learning. In Shanghai, pre-service teachers are taught to work collaboratively as "action researchers" to improve lesson quality.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...
I really enjoyed the post by brasscasing for the usage of "commiserate" in the phrase"..teachers get pay commiserate with what they do" because the intended word, commensurate, was replaced by commiserate.LMAO
"Commensurate" indicates a value corresponding to appropriateness.
When one commiserates, she identifies and sympathizes with someone's plight.
So here we have a brasscasing, a bullet jacket, carrying fire with absolutely no idea what he is saying but blasting away at those raising the next generation, and doing it for peanuts, grubbing their meager meals from tossed-away trash in garbage cans while doing what parents can't do, won't do and completely fail at doing. The proof, the brasscasing's tell-tale posting. LMAO
The ongoing tragedy of the fate of Nevada's teachers and schools lies in the discarding of souls blessed with what our kids truly need, but seldom get at home - teachers with perseverance, respect for little ones, concern for fellow humanity, desire to treat others the way they'd like to be treated, capacity for their betterment, honesty, faith in what they do to uplift our potential, compassion to understand how somebody else sees this place, and endless forgiveness for human foibles and frailties.
These qualities, though abundant in most teachers, are scarce in our society, our homes and our workplaces.
Good luck with that promised land.
To all who were discarded and to those considering alternative life plans, I say these things:
The skills you develop as teachers have lateral transferability!
The abilities you acquired from experiencing, tolerating and improving awful situations go with you.
The good-naturedness within you can earn you big bucks and endless yuks.
Lots of my friends do many other things after having once been teachers, and they absolutely ENJOY their daily activities like few teachers can imagine.
Look around, count your blessings, then count them from the perspective of the needy world, and plan to go to the bank! The world is your oyster.
Here's the start of your basic marketable qualities you seldom review: reflection, dialogue, persuasion, even temperament, tolerance, assessment through discussion, attention to detail.
Toss in the peripherals: ability to see humor, to develop trust, to empathize, to engage and to entertain, and POOF, the world is knocking at your door: "HEY Teacher, are you in there?? Have I got a DEAL for you!! No more dumb papers to grade!! "Pay to the Order of..." becomes your guide.
As disgusted as I am with teaching and being blamed for things over which I have no control (to the point I was looking at online programs in business-related fields this morning so I can get out), I am also disgusted to see children being used like this, in a commercial. The grammar error is an additional source of disgust. The whole system is absurd at this point. I don't want to see public education dismantled, but I don't see the will to change it - like sticking to standards for passing and not allowing kids to be passed on to courses for which they're not prepared, and getting behavior problems removed from classrooms where they're affecting many other students.
Teachers, when less than 50% of CCSD are teachers, What does that tell you? Demand the money make it to the classroom and cut the admin. by 75%. Then the support will come.
Tanker: Try Nevada Department of Education. SD's must report info on a regular basis.
STOP PROTECTING TEACHERS and cut their compensation from $90K to half or so. Eliminate 35% of the teachers and eliminate more as the ILLEGALS GO HOME. Cut the number of administrators, secretaries, bus drivers, cooks..... 37,300 employees for 309,000 students means an employee for every 8 1/4 students. 100,000 ILLEGAL STUDENTS THAT WE CANNOT AFFORD TO SUPPORT without sacrificing our essential government programs.
@roseanroase. Same comment as before. Info doesn't report that a teacher taught additional classes, which raise their pay. It just reports the total amount paid. I know one teacher who teaches a full contract day at one school and then teaches more classes at another school. For those extra classes they are paid additional money. Those classes are credit retrevial classes to allow students to catch up so that they can graduate. If a teacher teachs summer school, they are paid addition money, or if a teacher sells their prep period to teach a class it would not show that. I would suggest that you also look at all of the school districts in the state at the state site, and you will see that the figures for CCSD are roughly the same as all other districts in the state as far as support staff and teachers.
Teachers deserve respect!WE LOVE TEACHERS! That is what we have taught our children for years & that is what I was taught...& my mother, & her mother...etc. For many years in this state we were told we weren't paying our teachers enough & we weren't competitive with other states. We were hundreds of teachers short.Anyone who has lived here for any amount of time knows that something has changed.You see, Nevada has always been the least participatory state, least volunteering state,& the state with the highest teen & adult suicide rate.There has always been certain things that COULD NOT be said by politicians-not anymore. Let me explain why...In 2009 Service Corporation International purchased Palm Mortuary.Now, the death rate in Nevada is connected to the stock market. The more people that die, the more money they make.They have gone door to door in my neighborhood, grocery store, & churches.I have been here for over 30 years & the real Palm Mortuary NEVER came to my house.Not to mention the Oman Free Trade Agreement. We are being deceived into poverty because Bush garnered FTA & now we have to compete with 3rd world workers.Look it all up.
@roseanrose. I have posted a link to the current CCSD pay scale. The base pay is what is paid to the teacher. The other columns reflect what is paid by the district on the teachers behalf. The base pay is paid over 12 months. Please show me where you see a base pay of 90K. If the budget proposed by Sandoval is passed, all of the columns to the left of the base pay would need to be subtracted from the base pay, NOT added. Class A is a teacher with a Bachelors degree right out of college. Class C is a teacher with a Masters degree and the last class is a teacher with a PHD. Hope this helps.
http://ccsd.net/jobs/LLPsalary.php
Tanker: Thanks for posting links to facts. Roseanrose will never bother to educate herself, but hopefully other readers will learn something new today.
A thirst for knowledge starts at home not at school. If we are to point fingers at the responsible parties in the decline of quality education how can you absolve the parents of blame. The number of self-educated people in our nations history points to the hunger to know as a driving force. When this is nurtured in the home, it can be a life long pursuit. I hear about the disruptive nature of our classrooms today and wonder what the students are being taught at home prior to entering the school environment. Class size, funding, ESL, No Child Left Behind and all the other distractions are excuses used to hide a larger fundamental flaw in our society. The breakdown of the parent/child relationship that fuels the desire for education is a sad reality.
Patrick Linn is spot on with that post.
Until the home and family can do their part in acculturating the child, there's really going to be a serious and continuing failure by little Nevadans in schools and lives.
On the other hand, when the input and concern from homes and family does pick up, then the results are magnificent: kids come to school every day ready to get better, stronger, smarter and more prosperous with greater drive, deeper appreciation of their potentials and a better learning attitude.
Look at roseanrose, for example. As admitted here, the child of neglect and abuse has been floundering at life, failing to connect and resulting in nothing but senseless denigration and pointless attacks that bear her signature and dismal stamp of a hateful reprobate. We really don't need any more of that ilk, do we now?
the feral flower, our own rosie, smelling like sh!t and scratching everything in sight
"...damn progress, screw tomorrow, pitch the baby, cut pay in half, no food for the hungry, no schools for kids, nothin.."
Brasscasing wrote....'need a paycheck commiserate with what they do.' Commiserate? He could also try looking up the words 'commiserate' and 'commensurate'. Typo? I think not.
Yay Nevada:how low can you go?
This story appeared the LVRJ today. It is about UNLV engineering students who are taking a product to market. http://www.lvrj.com/news/unlv-students-g...
is there no depth that a public union won't sink?
Everybody better just keep giving more money, or else the kids will suffer, or public safety will fall apart and chaos will be everywhere.
Well, how about some efficiency and reasonable compensation packages? Oh, no...we can't have that.
Americans have become increasingly stupid over the last couple of decades. You can't deny it, its all around. Our politicians are just a reflection of what is happening everywhere else in this country. We can't make hard choices, we care less about our children's futures than we do about our own current wealth, and we have become primarily a nation of lazy individuals hoping to get free what we don't want to earn. Education is NO different! The problem with education in America has little to nothing to do with the teachers. Blame them all you want, but today's teachers are more well prepared than any generation of teachers in America. The problem with education cannot be solved though the reforms endorsed by Michelle Rhee who is an idiot! The problem with education is the same problem with welfare, once it becomes an entitlement it gets taken advantage of. When I was a kid my parents told me how lucky I was to live in America, to get a free education, and to have the ability to become anything I wanted through hard work. A free public education was regarded as a privilege, not a right! This is the problem today! People dump their little delinquents off every morning to disrupt, act out, or do nothing! They disrupt the education of the kids who are there trying, they take most of the teacher's and administrator's time with discipline, and they genuinely do not care about theirs or others education. To fix education we only need to start sending children home immediately to their parents anytime they misbehave, and to institute a three strike no tolerance policy. The third time you are sent home, you stay there indefinitely. Put the education and maturity of the child back onto the parent. This may seem heartless or drastic, even unfair. However, I argue that it is unfair to the millions of students who want to succeed to let the morons take their ability to succeed away from them. Parents have to be made to take responsibility for the children they brought into this world. I guarantee you that a strict policy like this would clean up our schools in a hurry! I also don't want to hear that this will make more criminals because these disenfranchised youth will turn to a life of crime. That's where they're headed anyway, we would just be speeding up the process. We shouldn't be blaming teachers and administrators. We should have their backs! The simple fact of the matter is that teachers are easy scapegoats for a cowardly and ignorant legislature who should be helping the school districts force the parents to take responsibility.
Kids ask why do you hate us? That is BS... nothing more than leftist liberal scare/fear tactics. There is NO money... We are all overtaxed and we need to cut back NOW.
Nevada's AB 521 allows for those disruptive kids to be EJECTED and disciplined. USE IT!
Send them OUT. SHAME them. With lousy parenting comes the out-of-control monster. Put 'em back on mom and dad where they belong, not disrupting the learning environment.
Write 'em up, throw 'em out (86 'em) and teach the ones that are there to learn.
haroldspurplecrayon is right on.
@Jeanine62. Then you are ok with the fact that Barrick mining is announcing record profits and dividends to share holders? You don't mind that the mining industry had gross revenue of 5.8 BILLION in 2009 and only paid 48.6 MILLION in tax to Nevada? How about the fact that Wal-mart, Costco, the banks and all other businesses paid NO TAX to Nevada on the profits made in Nevada in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010? You were talking about over-taxed.
Here is the link to the Barrick Mining annual report.
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/pdfs/...
Give it a rest tanker. Profitable companies pay your salary.
Look further into barracks reports and you will see all their mines are profitable, now. But if you had a brain you would realize that Nevada mines do not make as much as foreign mines.
So who would you tax out of existence if Barrick were to shutter their least profitable mines and dry up EVER town in this state if gold went back down. It's been done before. Your self serving greedy public union tax loving peasant side is showing every time you hate on those that feed you. Your an id!
To repeat what Tanker1975 wrote, Barrick Mining announced record profits and dividends to share holders. The mining industry grossed 5.8 BILLION in 2009 and only paid 48.6 MILLION in tax. Wal-mart, Costco, the banks (specifically Bank of America), and all other big businesses paid NO TAX to Nevada on the profits made in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
You talked about being over-taxed? Teachers are overtaxed too! You call teachers whiners and grabbers. Why are you not calling these businesses grabbers? Did you get "dividends" from them?
THEY ARE THE GRABBERS AND YOU ARE THE WHINERS! Take your whining to the right people -- YOUR GOVERNOR and the people you elected for their promise of NO NEW TAXES.
YOU ARE ADVOCATING FOR THE WRONG PEOPLE don't you see that? You are like parrots repeating what your "masters" taught you. Why don't you think a little. Would that be too much of a stretch for you?
@tbvegas. According to the annual report, in 2010 the Cortez Hill Mine produced 1.14 MILLION ounces of gold at a production cost of $312 per ounce. During the First Quarter of 2011, the mine produced 366000 ounces at a cost of $220 per ounce. If you project that out over 4 quarters that amount produced will be 1.464 MILLION ounces, or a 28% increase in production. That is on pages 5 and 6 of the report. In 2006, the projected reserves at Cortez Hills were 6.3 MILLION ounces and Barrick had a 60% interest. The reserves in 2011 were projected at 14.5 MILLION ounces with Barrick having a 100% interest. The report goes on to say that the Future Value Considerations for Cortez Hills include the Middle and Lower Zone extensions as well as "significant exploration opportunities in underexplored 1080 square mile property". Page 13 gives reasons why investors should invest more with Barrick Mining.
Translated, they're not going anywhere, especially with gold prices continuing to rise to record highs. With costs of $220 per ounce and gold selling at $1500+ per ounce, that is a PROFIT of $1280 per ounce.
Don't believe me, take a look at the annual report.
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/pdfs/...
@tbvegas. Which profitable companies pay my salary, since there is no state tax on profits? The only state tax on business is a payroll tax of 1.16 percent and state unemployment compensation. What taxes? Which companies? Please enlighten me, so that I can benefit from your knowledge. I'm not saying tax Barrick out of existence, just have them pay thier fair share. On the same amount of gross revenue, mining pays 48.6 MILLION, while gaming pays 416 MILLION, and other business pay NOTHING.
What business will want to come to Nevada with the worst education system in the country? Hey we have low business taxes, but we can't provide an educated work force for high tech well paying businesses. Would you locate a business here?
I have a nightmare every night. I see Nevada in 5 years. The higher education system is destroyed, as well as K-12. The K-12 classrooms are filled with 50+ students because CCSD can't hire teachers because no teacher will move to Nevada, and the qualified substitute teachers aren't enough to fill all the vacanies. Schools are closed and standing empty. Crime rates are jumping and the visitation to the strip has dropped to record low levels. No high tech businesses have moved to Nevada and in fact, businesses are leaving because they can't find qualified workers and anybody who is qualified won't come to Nevada. Unemployment in Nevada is triple the national rate, which has dropped as the recovery has taken hold. All along the strip, casinos are closing towers. The long shuttered construction projects are still waiting for completion, and more and more strip malls are empty of stores. The foreclosure rate has doubled as more and more people lose jobs or just walk away. In some blocks, the number of vacant homes outnumber the occupied ones. The population of Las Vegas has dropped as people leave to search for jobs.
Is it a nightmare or will it become reality? I am afraid that we are well on our way to finding out, and that makes me terrified for this is my home, my children's home and my grandchildren's home. Is this the future you want for your state and city? Because if it is, you are well on your way to getting it, be careful what you wish for, you may get it.
When I travel to third world countries, I frequently witness the picture that Tanker has painted for us - shuttered construction projects harboring rats, rusty cranes in the center of half-built housing, and mile after mile of pole buildings with ten or twenty families living side by side with blue tarps draped between them for privacy.
The skin-and-bones figures own a pair of shorts and thong sandals. Their days are spent foraging in the dumps for cardboard to recycle or broken things they might fix and sell on the streets. Their kids hang at stoplights and gather around cars when the lights turn red and beg for pennies.
Cats are few and skinny. Dog is considered a delicacy. Crumbling roads fill with water during the rains, and on several occasions, I saw local folks setting huge potted plants in the street, marking the monster potholes so that passing motorists unaware of the depth of the covered holes would not drive into them and become stuck or break an axle.
Meanwhile the crony elitists own yachts, fleets of airplanes and castles filled with virtual slaves - housekeepers, chefs, butlers, drivers, laundry-maids, teachers for their children, etc.
I peeked around the corners of this planet and saw Tanker's nightmare playing out for millions, starving millions of undereducated masses existing in poverty and squalor, begging for a chance at what we are busy dismantling as we post and pretend it couldn't happen here.
Look around Las Vegas. Look around, Las Vegas!
Joe: AB 521 (NRS 392.4644/392.4645) is another example of an unfunded law that simply doesn't work. An alternative placement must be provided for the student within the school. Even before the massive budget cuts, there just wasn't the staffing, particularly in elementary schools, for this law to work. Now, with the cuts, it's just another useless law. On top of that, teachers are expected by many principals to handle everything regarding discipline themselves. They do not want to see any students in their offices or in any way be put out by the teacher. Think about what would happen if some people get their way and some of the protections teachers have against vindictive principals get removed.
http://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/NRS-392.h...
Thanks Shannon. Back a few years I experienced the frustration of obtuse children from backwards leaning homes ruining the learning environment and invoked 521 and it worked.
With the masses of monsters now flooding the schools, I can easily understand how its unfunded nature would prove counterproductive, that principals would blame the messenger for reporting the situation that requires outside help, and that this would reflect poorly on the teacher who happened to have been assigned the problem children.
AB521 is a 'bridge too far' in this wretched environment where any behavior issues resulting from unfed children from abusive homes become a liability that imperils the teacher's life and the other children's learning.
Thanks for the perspective. I needed that. It's gotten worse than I ever thought when the principals are looking for reasons to eliminate teachers. Is the paddle allowed back yet? What about the boot? Can teachers bribe the good kids to gang up on the rowdy rascal at recess and pound his face into the concrete for awhile? OOoops. I'm showing my city school roots. Gang control 101
I remember when AB 521 became law and was excited to have a possible tool to use should all other efforts fail when dealing with a disruptive student. I very quickly learned that AB 521 wasn't going to happen at my school because we simply didn't have anywhere to put the child who was removed from the classroom.
My experiences with AB 521 were in a large public high school with numerous alternatives (which by the way, did help the kids FOR A WHILE). Once they learned how to wrangle and maneuver the system, though, they were constantly in the counselors' offices, with their probation and parole officers arriving on scene daily.
It's funny, but later when I taught in a charter school for the worst of the worst - the kids who had threatened to bring guns to school, those who had punched out the teachers, gotten drunk, stoned, pregnant and had children -one 17 y.o. with 3 kids, I found delightful learning situations even with the same kiddos. They had fallen and their faces were bruised and battered, but their hearts had come around.
They valued their futures enough to pay attention and to respect others. My kids enjoyed a 100% pass rate on the Nevada Writing Proficiency Exam because they had learned from writing every single day how to get the words out that carried their meaning. They had learned that the beating of their hearts meant something, that their time was valuable and their thoughts were worthy of full expression, that words are just the clothes for ideas and they deserved to appear classy and stylish and cool.
Many of them for the first time in their lives had come to grasp the notion that they could actually become, that their ability to accrue skill and acquire knowledge was a palpable and functioning piece of their own humanity. They were mostly homeless or couch-surfing. They had not had parents who had ever touched their lives. Some shifted from motel to empty car to cheap one-night motel. But they had something I'll never forget - a reverence for their new-found understanding of their potentials, the gift of esteem and gratitude for opening doors that had eluded them their entire lives.
That's fantastic, Joe, that you were able to touch the lives of so many of your students. I fear that the cuts and the demeaning of teachers in today's society is going to drive away the best teachers. They can only take so much of being beaten down before they take their skills elsewhere.
Shannon, I learned more about humanity from working with those castaway children than they learned from me. In my efforts to support their learning, I came across the Spirit of Sharing, the power of empathy and the fact that 'words are just clothes for ideas'
Until I really wanted them to see a hope for themselves, I had little faith. I tried and then they responded like troopers. Big fires came from tiny things.
They taught me patience, respect for weakness, fear of being discovered while hoping to be seen and found, the quagmire of ignorance in what they considered 'later life', (16 years of age, but almost illiterate!)
I too expect the ranks of those pursuing a teaching career to drop off rapidly in this atmosphere. It's tragic and it will impact our future as a country in ways hard to imagine.
Mercenary teachers that can't do basic math. CCSD confirms the $90K plus, including benefits and free retirement. And, teachers get the firefighters retirement--full pension with 25 years, or less with credit for time at disadvantaged schools. Your lobbying efforts here are pointless. INFORMED NEVADANS ARE ONTO the greedy teachers. Teaching remains a respectable profession for EFFECTIVE DEDICATED TEACHERS with more on their mind that crying for handouts and hype--when the "average" Nevadan makes less than $35K with benefits, and works FULL TIME.
How's the country club at the trails Joe. And don't worry about 3rd world citizens, the 4th world is coming to us as K-12 HARBORS ILLEGAL STUDENTS and mistakenly uses them as an excuse to fund a BROKEN SYSTEM.
Sad Sack: This nation is not totally socialist yet. Pack up for somewhere else if that's what you want. Those of us with real roots here and the resolve that got us through years in the U.S. military are here to stay. You can leave with your illegal students. STOP WHINING. You CANNOT HAVE more tax funding.
Several hundred a year for supplies? Give me a break. You have NO IDEA what the average professional spends for work-related supplies. PS: The time to enable you to do your job in private industry is NOT CONSIDERED part of the work week--commuting time, time shopping for job essentials, continuing professional education, "socializing" with the boss and coworkers.
Comment removed by moderator. Attacking another commenter
The average professional doesn't pay for any work-related supplies. They don't buy paper, pencils, pens. They aren't required to have certain things on the walls in their office that they have to pay for. Roseanrose is full of crap.
poor rosie. This admittedly delusional child has told us time and again of her abused and neglected upbringing and how it has affected her attitude; it is abundantly clear from her raging attacks, her pointless construction of falsehoods and her denigrating antagonism against the noble profession that she has again managed to score some powerful stimulant.
She's the feral child gone wilder.
I know as much about country clubs at the trails as you know about teachers' pay, teachers' lives and teachers' expenses. Precisely nothing.
Teachers are robbed in this state of their Social Security because the state insists on taking the retirement, eliminating actual payments because they discovered that most teachers do NOT spend 5 years in the system here (Who could??) and so the state POCKETS the so-called retirement. The savings stays here, the teachers get no social security contributions for several frustrating years of raising feral children, and then you have the gall to fabricate lies accusing them of making $90 k a year.
Whatever you're smokin', rosie, it's probably gettin' to your diminishing faculties. You might want to put the pipe down and go for a walk. Try and get a grip on reality again.
Comment removed by moderator. Profanity
Shannon: There's your reading comprehension problem again. "Full pension" does not mean you get 100% of your earned salary.
Shannon: The average professional buys, at a minimum, good brief cases, presentation tools and supplies, token "gifts" for clients / peers, GOOD pens and pencils, flowers, gratuities, GOOD professional attire....
Roseanrose: I know exactly what "full pension" means. You stated, "And, teachers get the firefighters retirement--full pension with 25 years, or less with credit for time at disadvantaged schools." That's a lie. Teachers don't get "firefighters retirement." Additionally, I'd like you show me exactly where it states that teachers get their full pension with 25 years. Everything I've found shows it's after 30 years.
Briefcases and attire are the responsibility of the employee, not the employer (unless one's job requires a uniform to be supplied, in which case the employer provides it). "Presentation tools and supplies" - I'm calling BS because those were supplied by the employer in the businesses where I was employed as were supplies, flowers, gifts for clients/peers. If they were paid for by the employee, the employee was reimbursed by the company. It's sad that you feel the need to just make things up on a regular basis.
In forensics, before the debate starts, both sides agree on the basic premise, then each presents arguments.
In this forum, each side has its own premise. One side states a fallacy, the other side rebuts, the one who "gets caught" with the fallacy, skeedadles, no explanations. Ergo, the debate will never come to a conclusion.
What is idiotic is, they come up again, lies again, and skeedadles again.
Let us stop the madness. Let us keep on writing about the truth, and ignore the idiots. Their writing actually is the proof of their idiocy. It would be easier if it were a medical condition, but this one is innate. There is no cure for it. We will never convince them.
Smart people will see it. Dumb people like them, who cares. The truth always wins. It may take time considering where we are, but it will. There will be damage to our cause, but I believe the good guys always win. Let us continue teaching and those we teach will carry on. Here's my philosophy:
Children are like droplets of rain. Droplets make a puddle. As each droplet falls, the puddle gets bigger and bigger. One day the puddle will encompass lakes, rivers, and oceans and will meld into one big push for change, for the disenfranchised, for those who are marginalized, and for those who have no voice. Your power to effect change lies in each droplet. Nancy.