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By J. Patrick Coolican (contact) 
Friday, May 4, 2012 | 2 a.m.
J. Patrick Coolican
Sun coverage
A conundrum: Polls show that teachers are some of the most admired people in America. Yet, nearly half of the respondents in a 2011 Gallup poll said teachers unions hurt the quality of education, while just 26 percent said they helped.
Some of this is due to sustained attacks on unions from the conservative movement, but it’s also due to self-inflicted wounds such as we’ve seen this week from the Clark County Education Association.
In a written ruling about education that suffered from poor grammar, spelling and missing words, an arbitrator ruled in favor of the union in its contract negotiation with the Clark County School District, which means raises for some teachers and layoffs for others, according to the school district.
The union is playing right into the hands of anti-union forces, seeming to throw some of its members overboard and accepting increased class sizes in exchange for those raises.
Ruben Murillo, president of the Clark County Education Association, said the union believes the district has the money and should husband its resources better.
“We’re hoping to avert layoffs by working with the district to make sure their priorities are correct,” he said.
He called the arbitrator’s decision “bittersweet” because of the looming layoffs. But this would seem to be a tacit acknowledgement that the union’s victory will indeed lead to layoffs.
Murillo said the district should not have hired 800 teachers at the beginning of the school year knowing that tough negotiations were coming. He also said that once teachers announce they are retiring or leaving the district, the administration will be able leave openings unfilled rather than resort to layoffs.
But this misses the point. Unfilled positions have the same effect as layoffs: fewer teachers in classrooms and larger class sizes. What are parents supposed to think of this? Or rank-and-file teachers who will face even larger classes than the current warehouse conditions besetting many district schools?
The district, which faces a more than $60 million shortfall this coming school year, says 90 percent of its budget is personnel, which means layoffs are inevitable after the arbitrator’s decision.
In previous years — before Superintendent Dwight Jones took over in late 2010 — the district threatened layoffs during negotiations but never made good on the threats. This has union defenders saying the district is again crying wolf.
Not this time, Amanda Fulkerson, a district spokeswoman, told me.
“This is not a game of chicken. This is happening,” she said.
(If they turn out to be empty threats, I’ll be the first to write a column saying the district gamed the media; but again, unfilled positions will amount to the same thing — fewer teachers and larger class sizes.)
Fulkerson said the district has made $150 million in cuts this school year, including a 20 percent reduction in administration.
Murillo said the district has been so busy fighting the union that it has lost sight of the real problem: not enough money for education. “What I didn’t hear (Jones) do was attack the source of the problem, which is lack of proper funding for education in Nevada. We’d like to work with the district to present a plan to the Legislature to have adequate funding.”
Murillo noted that teachers haven’t received cost-of-living increases in several years (welcome to America) and spend a lot of their own money on education materials for their students and pursuing graduate work.
Fair points. According to a 2010 report from the National Center for Education Statistics, among the 20 largest school districts in the United States, Clark County ranked 13th in per-pupil spending. (The data are a little old, and years of budget cuts may make our current situation worse.)
Our district has big challenges — English language barriers, social ills such as poverty, and the difficulty recruiting and retaining teachers in such a tough environment — and we need more resources. Fine, but as of now, we have a zero-sum game. Money for raises means fewer teachers in the classroom.
And so the union has delivered, gift wrapped with a bow, an easy talking point to its critics in the Legislature. The union could have made concessions, as other public sector workers have the past few years, and kept more teachers in the classroom, thus lowering class sizes. Instead, they fought for their raises.
In other words, the union looks less like an education advocacy organization and more like just another special interest group.
Addendum: When I wrote that “The union could have made concessions, as other public sector workers have the past few years, and kept more teachers in the classroom, thus lowering class sizes,” I should have been more clear that I meant concessions in the current contract dispute. The union agreed in May 2010 to forgo raises based on experience.
I like the way Coolican gets his head around the issue. Our problems will not go away quickly or easily.
The in-fighting has wrought frustration and disappointment for teachers and parents, but the big losers are the little ones who have no say in how their development might come, no quality time at school, few moments of connection to their improved selves and a rather disrespected childhood as a direct result of the things Patrick has identified - their environment of widespread poverty, illiteracy, language disfunctionality, absentee parents and an administration seemingly unresponsive to much of this snowballing threat to their successes in life its own self.
Teachers may have won the battle, but folks, we are losing the war. Ignorance and ineptness are dominant here; it's a top-down phenomenon - this charade of concern, this pantomime of parenting, our shadow of schooling our young.
Nodding and winking doesn't help the child with needs, with one chance to become. Those early years of potentially significant mental development are being sacrificed for layers of administrative blubber.
Let's play Blame Game.
* Working parental units...'well we HAFF to' - no fault.
* Fewer teachers and bigger class sizes...'We earned our raises' - no fault.
* Hundreds of administrators. 'We need them to manage the flow' - no fault.
* Fewer qualified teachers entering the system...'Why in the world would I want to waste my life trying to pick up the shattered pieces of wasted lives when I could be making easily twice the wage and having a pleasant life elsewhere?' ...no fault
Unless and until the citizens recognize the value of learning, of developing human potential and fostering healthy allocations of resources, this community will be losing out...and in the middle of The Information Age when technological advancement based on human understanding is blazing trails never dreamed before.
We are discarding our kids because we think less of them than feral dogs think of the runts. Disposable comes to mind.
Mr. Coolican...
What in the world are you blathering on about?
I'll 'bet you' this;
Not ONE SINGLE TEACHER will lose their position over the arbitrator's ruling *(with the possible exception of a couple folks that deserve to be let go due to disciplinary issues).
"(If they turn out to be empty threats, I'll be the first to write a column saying the district gamed the media; but again, unfilled positions will amount to the same thing -- fewer teachers and larger class sizes.)"
So, in essence, you're saying 'it's the teacher's fault'...
If CCSD HAS THE MONEY, (as the arbitrator has indicated in his ruling) but CHOSE NOT TO USE IT for the purpose of fulfilling contractual obligations to it's employees, it is somehow *(AND CONTINUALLY, IN PERPETUITY) INCUMBENT UPON TEACHERS to pay for the effort to reduce class sizes and other efforts the school district makes to improve education...these funds should COME OUT OF THE TEACHER'S POCKETS, instead of both realigning the current budgets AND demanding the state provide a PROPER AND ADEQUATE funding formula for it's school districts?
Should the teachers feel GUILTY for having 'won' the arbitrator's decision?
HE!! NO!
But, on the whole, DO THEY have 'mixed feelings' over it?
SURE THEY DO!
Contrary to popular opinion in Nevader, teachers are NOT STUPID...
If 'the pie' is adequate to pay their salaries, and they have sacrificed FOR YEARS to the effort to retain their fellow cohorts AND prop up the state's MINIMALIST FUNDING FORMULA as adequate for the job when it is CLEARLY NOT, why would/should the teacher's say, 'well, heck; keep this year's increase and combine it with the last few year's increases and NEXT YEAR'S INCREASE, and 'retain a few of my comrades so class sizes will remain constant at a level that is already less-than-desirable for optimal educational outcomes?
SHIRLEY, YOU JEST!!!
Mr. Lamy...
As always, I enjoyed your insightful comments.
Folks like you should be part of the discussion on 'how to' improve and drive education into the new millenia.
You are one smart hombre, but WAAAAY BEYOND the grasp of this state's low-functioning functionaries.
Gmag,
There's hope in despair and desperation - altruism, the drive to undo what the ages have piled up, the enslavement of potential and the plight of the down-trodden kids left to starve.
The stark contrast between what is disgustingly abhorrent and what beauty surrounds it begs for compassion and release.
Call it a rainbow, see it as a rainbow, feel it in the heart's core...
Somewhere there's a movement to Deliver Happiness
one word...Zappos
one guy...Tony
one place...Vegas
The potential is locked up today, but the seams cannot withstand decency or joie de vivre
Just between you and me and the lamp post, I feel this flow, this unleashing of a potential from an interloper - just a ray at first, then a beam and eventually the wash of incredibly uplifting humanity busting chains and restoring a civility not known hereabouts since the pelvis of Elvis ground the air into gyrations of jubilance.
Maybe, maybe not. Time will tell.
WHEN UNIONS LEAD PUBLIC SERVANTS DOWN THE WRONG PATH
Is a simple pay increase worth swelling classroom sizes of children and seeing many of your teaching peers put out to pasture? I guess it is. Not surprising to me at all. I've seen all this play out before. The greed of a few extra bucks in the pocket. No problem that this comes at great consequence to others.
Hope it's worth it.
Bask in the warmth of your union leaders comforting each of you that funds previously allocated now belong in your takes.
Just know this. For you teachers that survive these impending layoffs, your students in the classroom are not stupid. They know each one of you would leave them abandoned in a burning building to serve your best interests.
(I posted these on the other news item. It should have been posted here. Sorry Editors!)
The arbitrators did NOT give us a raise. We merely get to keep what we have, such as it is.
Last year, we agreed to freeze our salary. This year, we just get to keep what we have. THERE IS NO SALARY INCREASE! We do not get anything more in our paycheck. In fact, we get less because we now contribute to our medical insurance and our retirement. We do not have social security benefits nor unemployment benefits.
We did NOT have a cost of living increase for a decade now and when money was plenty. All other government agencies - the state employees, other county employees, the police, the firemen, and everyone else got a raise. WE DID NOT! And their salary are way higher than ours. A plumber from the county whom I hired a few years back for my home's plumbing problems made $80,000 that year while I, with a masters' degree, made $38,000. My accountant told me that one of his clients, a dancer in a gentleman's club, reported $397,000 income that year.
This is Las Vegas and I realize priorities are a bit askew. I don't begrudge them of their income because they deserve it considering the difficulty of their job. We have a very difficult job too with the pressures teachers have to deal with these days, in addition to the enormous responsibility of teaching and learning. Public apathy makes it painfully harder. We were left behind all these years, we just want to keep what we have.
Direct your anger to where it belongs. Fight for responsibility and accountability in politics. Fight for fiscal responsibility from our school board, higher administrators, and state leaders. Fight for the removal of bad teachers and administrators, but leave a little dignity and appreciation for those who work their hearts out.
Thank you very much.
Bradley,
Las Vegas is the burning building and the fire is ignorance gone to seed. Without the hope these remaining teachers are providing the next generation, their souls are toast, bro.
It was not their call for the district to claim "We're broke!"
It is their right to stand up for the kiddos they are trying to help.
Teachers do NOT go into the profession for the dough; they do it for the WHOLE PACKAGE. That includes just enough dough to survive, a pile of extra work and the sense of working in a life devoted to uplifting the potentials springing all around us.
When their deal is thrown away based on lies, they stand their ground as any red-blooded American would by God do.
Nobody in their right mind BLAMES them, and I feel certain you are in this category when you're not on your high horse.
Come on down, Brad. There's a bunch of folks that need our understanding because their efforts are the best chance our next generation has of becoming other than we see around us now - poverty and illiteracy and everyman for himself.
This is no way to get where we deserve to be, and you and I both know what it is going to take - humility and respect for what we do NOT have now - a chance at a better world.
Thanks to the teachers who gave us their best in spite of the abuse that life gave them. Where do we find people like that??
Teachers are the firemen and firewomen wading through the rage of flames and spit wads to find the gems inside. They need our respect or at least a dose of humanity. Got some?
OK. You want us to be honest with kids:
Here' the reality. You don't have to go to school. Be a drug dealer and you will make bank. You don't have to go to college. Just work in the entertainment industry. Heck a stripper can make hundreds of thousands. Rob a bank! Go to someone's house and steal their money and jewelry. Pretend to be a financial whiz and steal millions, even billions from your clients. Lie to people - become a politician and enrich yourself. Be a lobbyist. When you get a lot of money, be a corporate raider and make even more money.
Do you want teachers to 'tell the truth' and encourage children that way? Oh, my job would be A LOT EASIER. There is plenty of 'realia' I can show them. The newspapers are full of them!
This is what I fight against, every day of my life. And, it is getting extremely difficult:
"My neighbor did not finish high school, but he has a red flashy car and a lot of gold around his neck."
"My Mom showed me yesterday, how to hide a makeup I like at Walmart so we do not have to pay for it!"
These comments came from my first graders a few years back. Just a few days ago, a boy came to school to report his mom and sisters are dead!
Deal with that Uncle!
Yes, I am putting a 'wool over my my students eyes.' Amidst this chaotic and apathetic society, I teach them RESPONSIBILITY, RESPECT, and RESILIENCE - something they DO NOT see every day.
You bet I deserve the salary I get! If you don't think so, you can try it!
Greedy teachers, greedy unions, below average student test scores/graduation rates and teacher excuses have all led to unfavorable opinions of teachers. You tell us all the things you do for your students when pay increases are debated but when test scores and graduation rates are posted you commence with the blame game. Too often Las Vegans feel the extra teacher pay does not translate to better results.
You are paying US to take care of YOUR children because NOBODY else care or does.
Here's a scenario, and a lot cheaper:
Use the schools as day care warehouses. No 'highly-paid' teachers or 'highly-paid' administrators.
Put computers in where children can play computer games all day long, until their parent remember to pick them up. They bring junk food they eat all day long while at the computers. No PE, no Music, no Library, no Art. They fix the computers themselves.
Hire security guards at the doors. You don't need books and other materials. Just uniforms and batons for the guards. If there is a fight among the children, let them be - survival of the fittest. You don't need a cafeteria. You don't need a gymnasium, you don't need sports. You don't need theaters. You don't need musical instruments. And, least of all, you do not need teachers or administrators to tell them what to do.
How's that scenario working for you.
"You don't have to go to school. Be a drug dealer and you will make bank. You don't have to go to college. Just work in the entertainment industry. Heck a stripper can make hundreds of thousands. Rob a bank! Go to someone's house and steal their money and jewelry. Pretend to be a financial whiz and steal millions, even billions from your clients. Lie to people - become a politician and enrich yourself. Be a lobbyist. When you get a lot of money, be a corporate raider and make even more money."
logically absurd consequences (Reductio ad absurdum)
"Greedy teachers, greedy unions, below average student test scores/graduation rates and teacher excuses have all led to unfavorable opinions of teachers. You tell us all the things you do for your students when pay increases are debated but when test scores and graduation rates are posted you commence with the blame game."
post hoc ergo propter hoc...after this, therefore because of this
Teachers are the union. When union leaders asked teachers if the wanted to accept a salary reduction teachers said no. They were tired of propping up the school district and state on their backs. The district agreed to arbitration. It is a fair system. When Jones and the district won arbitration a few months ago to keep money they unilaterally took from our paychecks you did not hear Dr. Jones complaining about the system.
Where does this sentiment come from? How dare teachers ask to keep a living wage! After all, they are just teachers!
Yes, you will be gamed. Keep an eye on how many long term subs will be hired to save money and provide substandard education to our students.
'
Dump a family, wreck a business community, tie an M-80 to a kitty cat and light it just to watch the family die, the community suffer and the kitty cat explode...
Thanks for posting Re, Have a nice day supplanting decency and potential with your brand of life-style, bashing teachers and preying on the poverty you find in abundance here. And good luck to you and yours.
Oh, yes, you can bet they'll increase class sizes, then say, "The teachers did it! The teachers did it!"
Did you ask how many licensed teachers are in non-teaching positions and could be put back in the classroom?
Did you ask about how much money was wasted recently on nonsense that will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help children, such as "performance zones" and the new star rating system?
Did you remind your readers that DURING THE BOOM WE SUFFERED WHILE EVERYBODY ELSE WAS PROSPERING? Now that it's a bust, "YOU HAVE TO SHARE THE PAIN!" you all yell.
I'm not disagreeing with you that it makes teachers look bad, but that's not because teachers are bad, that's because people are angry and ignorant. They are taking their anger out on the wrong people.
BTW, teachers, this is a columnist who hawked "Waiting for 'Superman'".
Equitable estoppel, also termed estoppel in pais, refers to the LEGAL notion that if ya don't stick up for yer rights, then ya don't have 'em.
The teachers were bound by their respect for their jobs and their respect for the children to stick up for what's right, totally irrespective of the LIES and shenanigans spewing from the stinking holes on the face of the district reps.
Without their rejection of the false choice of "raises and lay-offs and larger class size OR submit to our reductions" the losers would have been not just teachers, kids and community but also the lady in the harbor with the lamp by the golden door and that one with the scales.
Anybody messin' with the ladies is messin' with you and me, and you know this.
Freedom and justice for all. Amen
"The union could have made concessions, as other public sector workers have the past few years, and kept more teachers in the classroom, thus lowering class sizes."
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN EVERYBODY ELSE WAS GETTING RAISES AND TEACHERS WEREN'T? HOW COME FOR TEACHERS IT'S "YOU CAN'T SHARE THE BOOM, BUT YOU MUST SHARE THE BUST" AND THAT'S OKAY?
Have you compared what teachers make over years to what average school police officers make? To what most government employees make?
It's not "the union" making teachers look bad; it's local journalists. You expect this from the RJ. Too bad the Sun is jumping on the same teacher-bashing bandwagon.
A lot of people will not be happy until teachers are temp workers.
Does anybody know if in the contract the district has with the union there is a class size limit?
"For you teachers that survive these impending layoffs, your students in the classroom are not stupid. They know each one of you would leave them abandoned in a burning building to serve your best interests."
OMG, BradleyC, really? Really?
Anyway, there are enough overpaid firefighters to take care of that, aren't there? How about the school police officers who make more than teachers?
I wish this decision had come out May 1st. What a perfect nail in the coffin of unions in this country. The vitriolic anti-union message is just another way that we have ceded the middle class to the whims of politicians and big business.
So teachers can't dare ask for a decent middle class living? If they do they are greedy? Please.
Why has no one mentioned the fact that when the Sun started their "exclusive" stories on Mr. Jones' "turnaround" schools they lost a little bit of their reporting independence. This whole town seems to be in Dwight's pocket. He must be some terrific salesman. He is because no one is mentioning the fact that he demanded a huge salary to come here from Denver and then immediately demanded paycuts from almost everyone in the district. I'll be surprised if he doesn't take his cool million he'll pocket after about three years and be off.
Chuck, there are basically no limits on anything in our contract, and that includes basically no limits on extra hours and hours of work that your principal can tell you that you have to do to institute this and that program that the principal wants, even if you know it's a worthless waste of your time.
Limits? There were class sizes DURING THE ECONOMIC BOOM of more than 40,50,60.
The school Administration needs to be cut by way more than 20%. How many 6 figure jobs does it take to run a school district?
And for the record, I object strongly to the notion that all parents are absentee. That generalizaion is no different than saying all teachers are greedy.
And also for the record, teachers don't make a lot of money, and they don't get social security or medicare, they have PERS, and that benefit comes from the taxpayers. So, it's not just your salary but your retirement also that the taxpayers pay for.
I don't have that safety net, but I sure pay for yours.
Joe Lamy advises me to, "Get down off my high horse." Nancy Agustin advises me, "To try it."
I've not only tried it, I did it for over twenty years in Nevada's prisons. Under paid, overworked, I educated those who could be taught. Never once did my personal gain override my dedication to not only my sworn oath, but to the ethics that comes with being a public servant. I took pay and benefit cuts, as well as compensation freezes more than a few times. On my part, there were no complaints.
In the midst of all this, a toxic fire erupted in my cell block. Half of my electronic control panel became disabled. About a third of inmates on my cell block were trapped behind locked doors. With no protective fire equipment available, I made the choice to go down the cellblock and manually key them out for evacuation.
In the aftermath of a toxic inhalation, the union told me I should have left the inmates down the cellblock. The officer's union position was, the state was negligent in not making available appropriate protective fire equipment. True, but should this have been at the consequence of inmates who were locked in their cells? I didn't think so. In my eyes, I had an obligation to do just what I did.
The officer's union referred to me to an attorney who wanted the state to pay a huge settlement in this case. I relieved the lawyer and the officer's union as my representative. I only asked the state to pay my immediate medical costs. I asked for no long-term payments or benefits.
To quote one inmate while being evacuated from the fire, he stated to me, "I just knew you wouldn't abandon us."
I don't have a "high horse" Mr. Lamy. And, Ms. Agustin, "I've tried it".
What I do have is something many of you teachers who follow your union representatives will never have. And that is, "Dedication to being a public servant at any personal expense."
You teachers get off the high horse and try it the right way. I stand by my initial post. "WHEN UNION'S LEAD PUBLIC SERVANTS DOWN THE WRONG PATH."
Actually, most teachers get neither PERS nor SS.
The reason is that MOST teachers drop out before the first 5 years. So for all that time, their net gain in retirement income is ZERO.
And if a teacher with PERS also did other jobs that did pile up a tiny stash in SS, well, there's this provision called the WEP (Windfall elimination punch, I think); it means the would-have-been recipient only gets a tiny fraction of their SS because they are also getting their PERS.
So for idiots like me who put in some time teaching, built some houses, developed some stuff and then somehow got old and wrinkly and frail, those yahoos get the dough I stuck away just for this eventuality... fair is fair unless it's your own tiny pile, and then it's the law...lol
Hey Brad, God saw you stumbling through those fumes and smoky hell on that day physically keying those cons out of certain death.
I agree your path was the one most would have avoided; you did it because of that little voice inside ya saying it was the right thing and by God you listened.
Teachers do this every day, buddy. Nobody is watching, nobody cares and they do it because they CAN.
No kid ever told me 'I knew you wouldn't abandon us" but i felt the love in my heart, and enough is enough.
I am grateful to you for your valor and for your words, but teachers are people too, struggling on way less than you made at the prison. They have rights, and abandoning their rights would be tantamount to walking away from kids in a burning prison, locked up, doomed and dying... because nobody could find the guts to do the right thing.
We may disagree, but I could never abandon my respect for the humanity you displayed here or back in the day.
i am starting to think...
the only solution might be the nuclear option...
blow the whole frickin thing up...
blow it up into 4 or 5 or 6 districts...
bigger clearly is not better when it comes to education...
and all the frickin excuses...
makes you sick...
frickin grow up people...
YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE ADULTS IN THE ROOM!!!
"A lot of people will not be happy until teachers are temp workers."
A lot of Las Vegans will be happy when they see improved student test scores/graduation rates for their tax dollar.
"A lot of Las Vegans will be happy when they see improved student test scores/graduation rates for their tax dollar."
Hey Re
A lot of families will be happy when the scabs and their scab-in-chief quit bashing the family units, stop their blood-sucking dissolution practice of dissolution of community values and GO HOME if they even have one.
Nothing personal, just what I hear.
This just opens the door to get rid of The Public School System to Those For Profit Charter Schools with less oversight from the State, less rules,no unions and the use of taxpayer's dollars. Parent's love these schools they believe they are better. If you CAN'T FIX THE SYSTEM PRIVITIZE IT.
More pay, same test/graduation results. Teachers win more money and tax payer/students lose.
Joe, glad you're here providing meaningless babble to this comment section. Give us another absurd and dramatic reason why tax payers should feel happy handing over more of their hard-earned tax dollars without seeing improved results.
Should any district comply with No Child Left Behind FEDERAL mandates (in order to get Federal funding), certain Title 1 Schools are required to have restricted class sizes. It is routinely circumvented by school districts by the Administrating Principal of such a school, to kindly ask teaching staff to SIGN a WAIVER(at least in prior years) so that class size will be INCREASED. It is all legal, and has zero to do with what teachers believe is in the best interest of classes.
As you can well imagine the pressure in signing such a WAIVER, if a teacher does NOT.
After the last few years of economic crisis, most students have felt the cuts, in the form of reduced classroom supplies, teachers not having adequate paper for providing working copies, fewer after school programs, and the use of long term substitutes. It takes longer for burnt transformers in classroom light fixtures to be serviced, and incentive prize boxes for motivation and rewards are getting leaner.
But let me tell you, in my parts, students still know in their hearts, the incredible love and care teachers at their school have for them. You have evidence of that with the letters that they write to these teachers, and the impromptu hugs manifested throughout the day. Their day is spent in trying hard---learning and showing that they have learned. Their faces and conversations are full of happiness, glad to be in class and at school, running to their classrooms as soon as the gates open, to greet their teacher, be helpful with classroom chores, and sharing with their fellow students. They are NOT caught up in the hatred, condemnation, and bitterness that is spewed in the media by adults. How could that be? Part 1 of 2
Blessings and Peace,
Star
Continued-Part 2 of 2
Yesterday, while leaving after hours from school, five children came my way. The one thing they know in life is that they can ask a teacher. A little 3 year old was with older siblings across the street playing at the park (which has NO restroom facilities), and the oldest, her 4th grade brother, knew she couldn't make it all the way home to relieve herself. Of course I escorted her and the next youngest little girl to the staff ladies room even though it is not my responsibility to tend to children after school. There were other staff in the building. Point is, that children in our society understand the life mission of educators. They maintain that respect until they equate money into popularity, and greed becomes the center of proving yourself in life. Then football heroes and basketball stars are idolized because of money, not the goodness of the person.
Nevada needs to change its tax structure to meet the needs of the People in Nevada. For over a century, LAWMAKERS have kicked that political can down the road, and now we have an economic crisis that is screaming out to LAWMAKERS to finally address this decades neglected problem. Nevada's infrastructure cannot possibly continue the course its been on: it is dysfunctional and ineffective, and no longer able to serve the People of Nevada.
It is a waste of time to hate. Let's use time wisely and create solutions. Education is a sound-byte in the BIG picture of Nevada's problem landscape.
Blessings and Peace,
Star
This just opens the door to get rid of The Public School System to Those For Profit Charter Schools with less oversight from the State, less rules,no unions and the use of taxpayer's dollars. Parent's love these schools they believe they are better. If you CAN'T FIX THE SYSTEM PRIVITIZE IT.
Here we have the future in a NUT shell.
Rules are no longer countable...fewer
only one taxpayer...taxpayers'
Parent owns love rather than parents...parents
No comma after introductory subordinate clause...tem,
and the killer, the salient sales point in demolishing community values PRIVITIZE..make it a stnkin' privy
I feel confident that Michelle Rhee and her eraser-wielding cohorts would agree, Jac
I have had the honor and privilege to stand at Frank Little's grave site and read the inscription "Slain by capitalist interests for organizing and inspiring his fellow men". I've stood at the Labor Day parades in Butte, Montana and watched retirees from Miner's Local Union #1 march and celebrate their struggles with the ACM...Anaconda Copper and Mining...the Company. Coolican, you can't take one incident and forget about the context. Unions are collectivist organizations whose purpose is to better the economic and social conditions of their members and, by extension, their communities. They have been remarkedly successful in advancing those goals. When I first moved to Montana many years ago the state AFL-CIO regularly met with the Farmers' Union, the Grange and even the more conservative Farm Bureau. They lobbied the leg alongside the Bar Association, the Medical Association and other like-minded collectivist groups. The Chamber is one, as is the Newspaper Publishers association and the National Association of Manufactures. Why is it acceptable for the capitalists to engage in concerted collective action on behalf of their membership but it is not acceptable for the working class?
CCEA did the right thing for the majority of its members. We demonstrated to a neutral third-party arbitrator that the District had the ability to honor its contract with us. That they choose not to do so is an indictment of their integrity, not ours. The District wanted the ability to remove ineffective teachers....it's in the arbitrators decision at our request. The District wanted criteria other than seniority...same thing. Certainly those items are weighted in our favor...that's our responsibility to our members. Remember too that this contract covers all teachers, not just dues paying members.
We've given a big victory to the anti-union forces. You mean those groups that organize and act in exactly the same manner that a union does, working collectively for the interest of their members? See my first paragraph. We have no obligation to cooperate with those folks whose stated purpose is to destroy us. If we have offended their tender sensibilities then too bad....perhaps they can join in a damaged self-esteem therapy group.
If it were not for the Federation of Teachers and the Education Association the state of education in the United States would be poorer still. We might even have states placing creationism in science curriculums and banning hand-holding as a gateway sexual activity.
Why do school districts have unions? Was there a time in American history when teachers were forced to work long hours with no over time pay? Where teacher forced to work in dangerous buildings that threatened their well being? I don't remember ever hearing about any of that. So why do schools districts have unions? Oh yeah, so unions can make money. Get rid of unions and get rid of the problem.
I wonder if people even realize the there are far more teachers that DON'T belong to the teachers unions than those that do.
Also I'm sick of hearing or seeing posts like the one above saying they only earned so much with a masters degree and some stripper earned hundreds of thousands or some plumber earned $80,000. It was your choice to go into a field that you know has never paid a lot. If you wanted to make a ton of money maybe you should head to the gym and start working out. Don't act like you went through all this school and found out what you went for wasn't a super high paying job.
So far, my child has not had a crappy teacher. She loves school and comes home every day telling me something new that she learned. I know what the curriculum for her grade is and the children in that classroom are getting that and more. My daughter is challenged to think, to problem solve, to research, to write about what she has learned, to use her imagination, to take what she has learned previously and apply it to new situations. In other words, what she is getting at school is simply an extension of what she learns at home. I'm not worried about my daughter's education in the public schools. From personal experience, I know what it takes to educate kids in the classroom, and based on what my daughter does at school, I know for a fact that these teachers are going above and beyond what is required in order to provide a quality education for their students.
The fact of the matter is that teachers HAVE had their pay frozen for years. They haven't received COLA increases. If they wanted to have any chance of receiving any pay increase, they have taken their precious time and money and done what the contract stipulated...received more education. The district and the newspapers claiming that teachers have not made any concessions is patently false. Too bad the public falls for the lies, every.single.time.
nisa715: "It was your choice to go into a field that you know has never paid a lot. If you wanted to make a ton of money maybe you should head to the gym and start working out. Don't act like you went through all this school and found out what you went for wasn't a super high paying job."
Teachers absolutely knew going into their field what to expect as far as pay and benefits. Knowing that their were step increases and ways to move ahead in salary based on additional education attainment was something they found acceptable. They knew that they were never going to get rich being a teacher, but they would make enough money to be comfortable and that was acceptable to them. They knew that after working hard for 30 years, they would have retirement benefits instead of Social Security and that was acceptable to them.
What teachers didn't know when they chose their field that they were going to have to fight for what was in the contracts they signed. They didn't realize that they were going to have to contend with a public and their own bosses (CCSD) bashing them at every turn. It's demoralizing. Teachers just want to be able to teach without fighting for their salaries, fighting people who think they don't care or are lazy or incompetent or whatever nonsense people spew about people they don't know.
Wish there was an edit button to fix typos.
Are there problems with kids?...yeah
Are there problems with parents?...yeah
Are there problems with schools? a course
With unions...sure
With admin?...you betcha
Are there problems we could solve together if we put our individual issues aside in order to improve the lot of all of us together? .. well maybe so
DIVISION is the process of shrinking the pie by the number of forks
MULTIPLICATION is the process of leaping and bounding with all of us pulling together and using our strengths to cascade the benefits to share as a culture.
What we have here is ADDing things up when what we need is simply to SUBTRACT the personal issues from the picture.
What we end up with is an EXPONENTIAL growth versus a LINEAR war over individual issues.
A better world will grow from the release of selfishness. The kids can learn all kinds of stuff if given the chance. What we have done lately is fight over scraps and feed on our neighbors' shrinking cabinets. It's time to recognize something quite large in the room...tha fact that our Information Age provides us many ways out of this squabble, but the door is simply a thing called understanding.
We will have better kids and a much better world when we emphasize tomorrow's possibilities and fund them appropriately. The squabbles we witnessed here from shading the truth and hiding the facts do no one any good. The children are failing as a result of not getting enough of what helps them reach for their futures.
ShannonK's take of what is going on with her kiddo may be the simple path that multiplies our potential - bright kids learn from good teachers in a helpful arena, supported at home and at school by folks doing their best to develop our culture one kid at a time.
Pat wharfrat Hayes has a powerful lesson in the post of 7:16 - that our struggles have grown into turf wars, that the losses to humanity are growing and there seems to be no end to the bickering.
At some point, it becomes evident that the little smile on the kid who got to pee in a toilet rather than in her pants because Star had a minute to assist is what we really ought to be addressing rather than creating lies and hiring lawyers to fight battles to cheat somebody out of a COLA, a step based on schooling or a contract agreement.
We're in this thing together, and if we lose sight of that little smile, then we have lost the battle and the war. It's about them, not us. And they deserve better.
Endless inane comments by "teachers." Where are the moderators?
ccsd: Average per pupil funding. 51st in results.
"If it were not for the Federation of Teachers and the Education Association the state of education in the United States would be poorer still. We might even have states placing creationism in science curriculums and banning hand-holding as a gateway sexual activity."
---------------------------------------------------
I don't see how rhetoric such as this is really any different than people, for example, who argue that same-sex marriage will lead to bestiality and incestuous relationships becoming legal as well.
Here's to you rosie...
http://now.msn.com/now/0504-instant-drun...
Now you can get wasted without even going through the motions.
Just one puff..great for you short-termers who thrive on the quickies in life! Enjoy!
Adjusted for inflation (2008 dollars), Nevada spent $3,101 per pupil in 1959-60 and $8,682 per pupil in 2006-07. (Source: National Center for Education Statistics)
So we are spending more than 2x's what we were spending some 50 years ago.
I doubt that even 50% of k-12 teachers could pass 1960 final math and English exams. I say that only 20% of the High School Seniors could pass 1960 final math and English exams.
There are a ton of Nevada "Honor Roll" students that are being required to take remedial college coures in their Freshman year of college.
We are spending lots of cash but getting poor results.
Roslend @7:59 inane [adj] senseless, unimaginative, devoid of intelligent content, also see fatuous or vacuous.
Apparently you have some familiarity with the word.
SgtRock: Do you have a link to a 1960s final math and English exams? I'd take your bet.
@Teacher: maybe the union should establish guidelines for what an appropriate class size is that will effectively educate our students.
As far as a principal putting forth a useless program that you all know is going knowhere, why isn't an idea discussed with all involved and then decided on its merits.
Alls I ever read is about the lack of communication with the district and teachers. Seems like a fair request that our most knowledgeable should be able to collectively come up with a system thats effective.
You need to setup a process where 500 randomly selected k-12 public teachers take 1960s final math and English exams and have exam proctors to monitor the exams.
Some of the most articulate and intelligent comments I have seen in a long time. Obviously our faculty are above the fray.
Aside from Coolicans' comment about the true cause being lack of funding... Coolicans' usual more taxes is a good thing approach... he did highlight the real issue, will teachers eat their own to pad their pockets?
As the teachers union and thus the teachers always accuse the taxpayer and parents of punishing children to avoid tapping their wallet, it is now our turn to see if our teachers will come together and choose our children over personal gain.
Will teachers sacrifice those without seniority, tell students and parents to eat cake or will they act in the way they demand of others?
Possible? Yes. Likely? We'll see.
It's time to stand up and be counted.
Hey dipstick, Nevada has a dry heat and Mississippi is muggy. What's duh madduh wichoo? Been back East too long, er what?
Dennis the deal is simple. We, the taxpayers pay for everyone involved in the education of our youth to come up with ideas. If we as citizens need to do it for them, then essentially we don't need the district, just teachers that are good at thier profession.
People do come up with ideas but mostly come up with deaf ears. Why? because there is a struggle between the district and the union.
You of all people should understand that beings you're from Cook County. You have to admit that Chicago is a hotbed of corrupt politicians.
@Roslenda "ccsd: Average per pupil funding. 51st in results."
Actually, Nevada ranks 2nd to last (49th for those too uneducated to do the math) in per pupil funding. Only New Jersey spends less.
http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE/NEA_Ra... Page 10, top right corner...
There are 50 states, we cannot be "51st in results" Please educate yourself before posting absurd "facts" that you make up.
SgtRock: Down at the bottom of the page is a link (Praxis I Practice test) to the practice Praxis test that all teachers are required to pass before starting their degree program. http://www.praxisprepinfo.com/
After completing the degree, teachers must pass the Praxis II test for their area of expertise.
Sorry, NJ is the highest, Idaho is the worst...
chuck: Unions have absolutely nothing to do with setting curriculum or choosing programs, materials, etc.
Good point Dale, it is time to stand and be counted and teachers have through their representative organization, the CCEA.
Why is it that we should sacrifice when few others are doing so? If it's as bad as you imply and we're all in the lifeboat together then explain to me how come the bankers and financiers don't seem to be stepping up to the plate? How come the corporations are hanging onto cash rather than creating jobs? How come the Dow is way back up? How come the R-money crowd is raking it in and paying less than 15% income taxes?
Ohhhhh no, Mr. wharfrat you've just brought up class warfare. Too bad, you declared it, I'll fight back. I'm sick and tired of you folks who aren't represented by unions try to drag us down rather than standing up for yourselves.
In my haste I read the data backwards... NV is the 3rd lowest.
"States with the highest per student expenditures: New Jersey ($16,967), New York ($16,922), Vermont ($16,308), Rhode Island ($15,384), and Wyoming (15,345). Arizona ($6,170), Utah ($6,859), Mississippi ($7,752), Nevada ($7,813), and Idaho ($7,875) had the lowest per student
expenditures (H-11)."
The people understand that unions are part of the PROBLEM and will never contribute to the SOLUTION. So you can admire teachers for all the do, you can be contemptuous of their union because it is a hindrance to better education in this state and country.
dave202: How exactly are unions a "hindrance to better education in this state and country"?
Shannon my point exactly. The district dictates, the union has no say and the teacher is stuck in the middle. How about everyone working together for the greater good. Why don't you all get on the same page. Maybe if this were to happen we wouldn't have all the bickering going on since everyone would be involved in the decision making. The only ones that suffer are the students because the adults can't seem to work together.
Pat Hayes is using class warfare while union pensions are cutting services and bringing city governments across the country to near bankruptcy.
Divert attention by class warfare all you want Pat, we've understood for years that unions use extortion tactics to garner inflated wages that end up costing consumers and tax payers. Unions are one big special interest and teachers just got there cut at a time when we least can afford it.
http://www.pensiontsunami.com/
Matt Philips says "There are 50 states, we cannot be "51st in results" Please educate yourself before posting absurd "facts" that you make up."
Wow Matt, must be embarassing for you to read the very first sentence on page 2 of the report you cited which states "This publication, Rankings of the States 2010, contains rank-ordered statistics for the 50 states and the District of Columbia." which would, of course, mean that all of the rankings reported do range from 1st to 51st.
Next time maybe you should try actually reading the report you cited and educate yourself before making yourself look like a fool with an insulting comment that is contradicted by your own reference.
So it's good that you remembered that there are 50 states....bad that you forgot that the District of Columbia is almost always included in state level breakdowns....and really bad that you chose to smack others down erroneously.
And for the record, if there are three entries below Nevada (AZ, UT, MS) that would make Nevada 4th lowest, not 3rd lowest.
The chart you would have needed to look at would be chart H-11 on page 51 which shows nevada ranked at number 48 out of 51.
wendor: Interesting how you chastise the person who provided some actual data to disprove Roslenda, but don't bother addressing the fact that she was making things up, once again. Why is that?
And let's not overlook that the arbitrator found that "the District does have the ability to pay".
The school district was found to have enough money to continue to pay the teachers at the level they agreed to when they signed the current contract. The district is simply choosing to spend that money elsewhere.
So why is this getting spun as "Union victory causes layoffs" rather than "District's choice to spend money on areas other than contractual obligations causes layoffs"?
wendor: You make a good point. I watched Jones on Face to Face with Jon Ralston and when asked about that, Jones claimed that the money was already allocated. He never would say what it was allocated for.
For the record, Re freeman has told us that he is paid for busting up unions, for wrecking families and blowing up kitty cats with M-80s.
He delivers non-union labor to supplant once-strong communities by delivering non-union labor from places like Las Vegas where many starving folks are desperate for any kind of work.
He uses extortion tactics to promote his agenda in order to feather his own nest. A really community-spirited guy, that Re Freeman. Meowww
Shannon, because whether Nevada ranks last, next to last, or 4th from last depends entirely on which source and which breakdown you use, whereas the person I chastised failed to stop at "Hey, I found a chart showing Nevada 4th lowest, not last" and instead made a complete fool of himself over whether or not a state could be ranked 51st.
As to sources and breakdowns, try looking at Nevada's rankings even within a single source but taking in different defnintions of "per pupil funding". Do you mean...
...total amount of money spent on any area deemed "education" within the state?
...total amount of money that actually reaches public schools in Nevada?
..."per pupil" based on enrollments at the beginning of the year?
...END of the school year?
...are ADA and special needs pupils and funding included or not since they have different funding sources and needs?
...WHICH school year are the numbers even for?
So I guess I have to say that Matt didn't "disprove" anything. He simply provided a separate source with a slightly different result.
Specific rankings always comes down to "choice of methodology".
wendor: Roslenda said, "ccsd: Average per pupil funding." I'd like to see something that shows that is a true statement.
Coolican gave away his bias against the teachers union and the arbitrator when he called out the spelling mistakes of the Arbitrator. The headline writer must have been on loan from the RJ too...
JeffFromVegas: I won't fault Coolican for that. It was the first thing I thought when I read the arbitrator's decision.
ShannonK:
You are an excellent commentator here and I always enjoy your thoughts. The people who oppose rational thought here are of 2 groups I think. Those who are brainwashed into always hurting their own, and the downright nasty.
There is an occasional moderate among the haters. Just know that your questions have answers they cannot believe. I point this out from last Sunday's "Meet The Press" where the brilliant (New book #1 NYT) Rachel Maddow uncovered the fact that right wingers have been so deluded by talk radio that they have NO CONNECTION to the truth, and think that people proffering the truth to them are lying.
Please watch, it will explain a lot of the haters here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/...
Shannon, agreed. She should provide something to support her claim.
(which is an odd claim in the first place because she's claiming that the CCSD ranks 51st.....but CCSD isn't a state, it's a school district. How many school disticts are there? 51st out of how many?)
I responded to Matt primarily because, for better or worse, minunderstanding or misrepresenting facts is a common occurance here, but attacking someone on their facts....while completely misunderstanding/misrepresenting the facts you think proved your case is fairly egregious.
The first is all two often a case of someone repeating something they heard without doing their own research. The second was someone doing their research and then blatantly mangling the results of that research.
My guess is that he did a Google search and pulled a quote directly from the target....without taking the time to read the document he found in full. A sad mistake all too often made.
But we see it all the time. Not to push any buttons but how often in here do we see claims of "The US Supreme Court declared Bush the winner of the election" citing Bush v. Gore or "The US Supreme Court says corporations are people" citing Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission? In both cases I can immediately determine that the writer has NOT taken the time to actually read either decision. While thos emight be what talkign heads boiled down some of the effects of the decision to be, in neither case is it what the actual decison said.
Before I start to believe all these people telling me that unions are the reason for the problems we are having. Someone needs to explain to me how little people will have a voice against big corporations and big government?
Obviously when you own a lot of things like corporations do, like newspapers. They can print any viewpoint that serves their purpose.
I don't blame Coolican for spewing nonsense. He is just trying to make a living. He is a microcosm of society. He didnt really research anything for his article. He formed an opinion probably handed to him from his family, and went with it.
Next time don't be so lazy Coolican. Until the world finds a better way to give people a voice against the liars and the spinners, We will have Unions. Like it or not!
wendor: I get what you are saying. I have a personal problem with Roslenda spewing bile and lies on these threads, never once backing up anything she writes. It's tiresome and I snapped. I apologize to you.
Jeff: Thanks for the kind words. I've spent the past four years watching the phenomenon of people who will believe anything as long as it comes from Fox News and the like, refusing to see the truth even when presented with evidence that what they are believing is an outrageous lie.
Shannon obviously you are a teacher and up until your last post you had not only taught me a few things but actually showed credibility.
By stating that Fox or any other network is an issue you lose your fight. Why? because as an educator you should look at all news sources and then make your own distinction of whats truthful. For you to agree with Jeff on MSNBC you obviouly have one agenda and mindset, hence you lose credibility.
@Jeff: You use MSNBC as an example of truthful unbiased reporting? Sad sad sad>
chuck: I am not employed as a teacher. I used to be, oh, about 8 years ago.
Go back and read what I wrote. I didn't say anything about MSNBC. I don't even get my news from MSNBC or CNN for that matter. What I do have plenty of experience with, though, is proving the lies in FoxNews.com, CNS, and a variety of blogger stories. It's actually very easy. If something sounds completely unbelievable, chances are it IS unbelievable because it's simply not true. It sometimes take a bit to wade through page after page of the same lie that has spread like wildfire over the internet, but look long enough and the original source is able to be found.
By the way, what Jeff posted to was a segment done by Rachel Maddow who is a political commentator, not a journalist. She makes some good points. ;-)
Actually, the Union looks more like the Nevada Government, the school district administration and the residents since neither are truly education advocacy groups.
The residents say they want more and better education but can't support the institution. This is like drafting an Army and giving them bamboo sticks to win the war, just send more privates, like in Viet Nam.
Increase the class sizes and force them to learn more. Sounds more like spit wad city. When the classes became too big in our High School, it wasn't safe to walk by an open window.
All this for Iraq ! Unlimited borrowing and spending by the hundreds of billions, then stand by while the THIEVES in Real Estate made their big commissions, now this. That's why more than 50% of the homes sold are for cash. The Thieves made a bundle emptying the treasuries of this country and now education pays for it.
This is part of a press release that CCSD released today.
"Q: I've been hearing that teachers haven't had a raise in several years. Is this true?
A: No. In 2007 and 2008, teachers received a step increase. Step increases are increases given to employees for staying in the District another year. Teachers also received a four percent cost of living increase in addition to the step increase for the same 2007-2008 period. For the past four years, from 2007-2011, teachers also received yearly increases for furthering their own education. Those increases were given in addition to the cost of living and step increases."
I looked up the contracts for 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011. The salary schedule is the exact same for those three years. There was NO cost of living increase. Jones is lying about something that is easily looked up.
RE@11:44.......class warfare has been around a lot longer than me and thee. The only time it seems to be such a shock is when the proles get tired of their condition and start stirring up a fuss. Can you imagine the horror of it, Metsican field hands wantin' me to pay 2 cents more for a tomato so they can feed their kids; factory workers wantin' safety and health protection; teachers wantin' a middle class living comensurate with their education.
I'm a foot soldier in class warfare and damn proud of it.
Pat,
And I'm glad I'm in business consulting companies to rid themselves of unions and their inflated wages. The effort helps a company sustain and grow in competitive markets. Interesting, GM had 54% of the US market share in the mid 1950's and now their down to 18%. Unions and high prices wages and expensive pensions are great for business, aren't they? $70.00 an hour wages at GM. My my.....unions must be proud. Private sector unions dropped from 35% in the 1950's to 7% today. Gee, I wonder why?
Re,
In your delusional world it's always the rank and file at fault. Apparently grotesquely inflated salaries, bonuses tied to simply breathing rather than stock performance and lavish allowances and company provided perks are perfectly normal. In the mid 50's those corporate salaries were significantly less than now. Blue collar workers could afford a modest home and a car and the missus could stay home. Oh.....union membership was about 37% of the private sector workforce. When I see the Tea Party folks and their signs demanding to take back the country and return to those simpler times I gotta wonder if they understand the economic structure of those times.
GM didn't lose market share due to unions, they lost market to increasing global competition, an inability to react flexibly to that competition and a moribund product line from a conservative management.
We should go have a beer and argue more...as long as it's union made beer. Coolican should buy.
Pat,
The drop in private sector unions tells the story. Now for many years we've had union-backed candidates holding local government positions voting in favorable union wages and pensions which now are too expensive for cities to pay. Yeah, unions are great Pat. Unions are the "screw the tax payer" special interest group.
"After completing the degree, teachers must pass the Praxis II test for their area of expertise."
The testing standard for today is much lower than the testing standard was during the 1960's.
During the 1960's if one submitted a term paper that had more than 2 or 3 English errors on it then it would get an F.
I doubt that 50% of k-12 teachers could submit a passing term paper under those standards.
We have a ton of "honor roll" high schools students that have to take remedial courses during their freshman college year.
Colleges are cranking out degrees to people that could not pass a 4th grade English test during the 1960's.
You have your core 10% smart kids and they are doing OK.
The rest are getting sub-par educations even with us spending more than 2x as much now then we did during the 1960's (after taking out inflation).
It will only get worst.
The teachers unions will fight tooth and nail to fight any meaningful reforms.
All they want is raises. That is it....raises.
SgtRock: You've still not provided any proof to back up your assertions that testing standards were higher back in the 1960s.
I do remember my father teaching various biology classes in the mid 1970s. He would bring home tests to grade and have me look at them, asking me to read them. The writing was atrocious even back and even I (a third grader) could point out the poor grammar and misspelled words. I'm not sure what rose-colored glasses some people are looking through, but the fact is that kids weren't smarter or better educated back in the good ol' days.
Why to hostility to unions, ordinary working-class folks. I could understand outrage at, say, defense contractor and their Congressional handmaidens. We've moved way beyond $600 toilet seats to planes that can't fly and ship that develop stress fractures and take on water at a cost of billions....and don't get me started on Dick Cheney and Halliburton.
Of course unions are special interest groups. If you're a union-buster then you and your organization are as well.
The fact is, in this case of CCEA v CCSD, the union is in the right, the arbitrator supported our position because we made our case. That Jones and the District are continuing a scorched earth policy indicates that they have no desire to move forward to plan and implement a system for improving a dismal district in a dismal state. Teachers and their union are not the problem, they are a part of the solution. The current reform fad of demonizing teachers and teacher unions is simply a straw man to divert attention from the fact that very few jurisdictions have made successful transition to high-achievement education without broad community/parental support, stakeholder buy-in and money. Local example, the turnaround schools: add 750K a year to their budgets, repair the physical plant, require parental involvement, get better quality teachers and administrators and pay them more and, miracle, it works.
The ones that lose are the taxpayers.
Teachers can't do anything but read from a playbook and follow the playbook. Yes they spend on a lot on education to become teachers and they've paid their dues and expect to be paid more than they are paid. Still, this is career choice they made and until they change their system with the liberals, it's not going to get any better. Get use to it and stop expecting us to pay for a broken system, we're sick of it.
Kids will never become all they could be until teachers and parents are afforded the freedom to teach kids like it's supposed to be done. The liberal's infestation into the educational system has desecrated our educational system where kids have no earned consequences for not doing their homework or school work, it's sickening. Kids need more than natural consequences, as they hit the wall, they need to know it's wrong, simply giving a bad grade does nothing, making excuses is even worse. They become adults and they've learned what liberals wanted them to learn. Somebody else or something else is to blame, not them.
Look at society as a whole, it's messed up. If one really has an open mind and accepts reality. Look at their idols, lmao. Who would ever imagine brainless people making millions being stupid? I know I never imagined this would occur in my life, it did.
Sgt. Rock, please see the preceding post as an example of my last sentence in my 6:05 p.m. post.
Bob Realist...
Right on the money.
Dwight Jones is an unmitigated DISASTER.
But, he DID have the big brainy idear to 'rank' schools on a "Star System"...
Now, THAT was sheer GENIUS!!!
As I've followed the comments on this board, it has become apparent to me that we have two types of people posting.
One group, very short sighted, is only looking at the next year, and don't want to spend money. Everything is great at CCSD exactly the way it is. We like being last in everything, it gives us some to aspire to. Maybe we can pass Mississippi. Our kids aren't important, they can look forward to a future of parking cars, waiting tables, and other low paying service industry jobs. The best and brightest of our kids will leave the state to go to college, never to return.
The other group sees this for what it is, a fight for the future of our children, our grandchildren and Nevada. Did you read the study last weekthat said the fastest growing sector in new Nevada jobs were service industry. How can you ever expect to attract high paying, high tech jobs without a quality education system? Did you see last week Neveda dropped from the 10th best state to do business in to the 12th. The reason for our drop, the education system. The choice is up to the citizens of Clark County and Nevada, are you content with a short sighted view that doesn't look to the future, or do you DEMAND our elected leaders FINALLY solve the problems that have plagued Nevada for years. The choice is yours, your children can have no real future or you can demand change and give them the quality of life you want them to have.
As I looked at the slide presentation that was given on April 11th to the board on the 2012-2013 something didn't add up. The budget presentation said approximately 25000 FTE positions at a cost of 1,780,000,000. This is the link to that presentation. http://www.boarddocs.com/nv/ccsdlv/Board...
Let's assume for the sake of arguement that the 2012-2013 budget project approximately 17500 teachers at a cost of 1,000,000,000. That leaves a balance of approximately 7,500 positions for support staff, CCSD police and adminstrators at a cost of 780,000,000. Just dividing the two numbers means that the remaining 7500 people earn an average of 100,000+ each. We know that support staff probably makes up at least half of that 7500, so that begs the question as to who are the rest and how much do they get paid.
As much as it pains me to say it, I then went to the Transparent Nevada site for Clark County School District salaries for 2011. What I found was surprising to say the least. The salaries are listed in decreasing order from highest paid, Jones, to lowest paid, all 2125 pages of them with approximately 50 names on each page. As I paged through the list, it took UNTIL PAGE 37 for the page to show a majority of teachers. That is a list containing approximately 1850 names. The lowest salary at the bottom of page 37 was approximately 102,800. Even being conservative, that means that there are approximately 1400-1500 administrators making over 100,000 working for CCSD in 2011. That cost in 2011 comes to approximately 140,000,000+. There are 360 schools in CCSD and figuring an average of two administrators per school, that only comes to 720. Where are the rest of the administrators working? Has anybody seen a chart or table that shows the organization, and more importantly the staffing of performance zones and areas? Has anybody seen a listing of the duties and responsibilities of the perfomance zones and areas? This is the link to that site. http://transparentnevada.com/salaries/cl...
RefNV Said:
"And I'm glad I'm in business consulting companies to rid themselves of unions and their inflated wages. Interesting, GM had 54% of the US market share in the mid 1950's and now their down to 18%. Unions and high prices wages and expensive pensions are great for business, aren't they? $70.00 an hour wages at GM. My my.....unions must be proud. Private sector unions dropped from 35% in the 1950's to 7% today."
I say:
You are so far down the rabbit hole you can't see what you have exposed. The story I read you telling says that as you have beaten back unions you have pushed this country to the brink of ruin and now we are sort of, until the next great American idea, mired in the world of $4-5 a gallon of gas, your ideals have made tap water undrinkable, steaks are now $16.99 a pound on sale, a house that should cost 75k costs $250,000. When we had good strong unions we had a good strong economy. You guys with the constant beating down on the American worker have caused this decline.
But you don't care, yet.
I think y'all have overplayed your hand, trying to elect that corporation that is rumored to be a person president, a guy with the social IQ of room temperature in an igloo.
Can't wait for the "business consultant" in you to begin beating the drum for the poor kids whose parents income fall below certain levels that they will need to help with the lunch and before and after school cleaning. Of course they won't be able to unionize because they are mostly under 18.
Jeff,
I'm proud of getting rid of union facilities. Unions are extortionists who inflate their wages making companies uncompetitive. GM is a great lesson to companies. A high cost structure can doom a company during recessions. GM went from having 54% of the US market to 18%. GM just couldn't compete. Now you see cities struggling to cover the costs of very favorable union pensions. Like I said, unions are the "Screw the tax payer" special interest group.
Shannon says the public falls for lies, every time. When I get my property tax bill here in Calif., that's not a lie--I have to pay it and it's double what it was 15 years ago. Part of the reason for that is the stupid voters in my city agreed to one parcel tax after another for the schools. Last year they decided it was time to say no--and the school district couldn't get another parcel tax passed. I hear that the parcel tax for LAUSD failed too. Jeff, what else are you going to blame on the decline of unions?--is that the reason why network TV has so many boring reality shows and there are only 4 soap operas left? Because of a lack of union workers?
Incidentally, May 1 was not only May Day, it was also "$1 trillion day"--the day when student loan debt reaches a trillion dollars (and that's just FEDERAL loans. Nobody knows how much is owed to loan sharks like Sallie Mae and Wells Fargo). Teachers, quit telling your kids that someday they have to go to college.
RefNV:
A guy who is proud of ruining peoples livelihoods, destroying communities and building the Chinese skyline. I think we should call a spade a spade.
Traitor.
""A lot of people will not be happy until teachers are temp workers."
A lot of Las Vegans will be happy when they see improved student test scores/graduation rates for their tax dollar."
Then maybe those Las Vegans ought to do something about an epidemic of laziness and irresponsibility among its children, instead of teaching them to blame others for their behaviors and the consequences of their behaviors.
"You can lead a horse to water..."
Mr Freeman:
You are so proud of your union busting skills, why don't you go bust the biggest money grabbers of all? They are the congressmen and senators, the Ponzi schemers, the mortgage frauds, the band of CEOs who make themselves billions by corporate raiding, and union busters such as yourself who mess up other people's lives for their measly salaries.
Oops! I forgot. You are one of them!
"Then maybe those Las Vegans ought to do something about an epidemic of laziness and irresponsibility among its children, instead of teaching them to blame others for their behaviors and the consequences of their behaviors."
So you're telling me that extra cash in teacher's pockets won't help these students? That's what I thought. Tax payers pay more and get nothing in return for it. No surprise there.
As General Motor discovered shortly after WWII, the strength of a company can be found in one place -QUALITY OF EMPLOYEES. When Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi came out with his seminal book FLOW, the ramifications for upgraded employee autonomy came with it in good companies.
For example when 3M offered their folks 15% of their time to doodle, fukkoff, kabitz whatever, ya know what they did?? Pet projects. And these pet projects spurred the bottom line like nothing ever had with the NOTE-worthy item being the POST-IT note that currently adorns every office and home in the world much to the profit of McKnight who felt that the way to do well is "Hire good people, and LEAVE them alone!"
Fed Ex days are the same way. the most productive ideas come from the workers, Re.
Treating them like mules is so very Henry Ford...
Intrinsic motivation or autonomy develops cognitions because the workers are people not cogs.
They are autonomous beings, not automatons.
People working with a sense of purpose and conviviality make work places happy places; people hating the drudgery make work endless, laborious and dull.
Witness Google, where almost all the employees love their work because of the creative atmosphere. Closer to home, Zappos is the same way...happy people content to be a part of something good.
Teachers who want to teach well because they CAN are the ones who DO. Slaves don't think much about the motions they go through. Is there a difference in outcome when there is this difference in atmosphere, in pressure? The good stuff comes from inside. The door is the heart.
I have a question for those who are objecting to the arbitrators decision.
What kind of teacher would you get if you paid them entry level salary, poor benefits, and no chance of ever making more money? Would you work for an employer who was giving you that package? You complain about the results now, what kind of results do you think that would produce?
I wonder if Coolican gets paid by the number of responses his columns generate. A commission system sort of like where we are headed with teachers.....more passed proficiency tests, more graduates = more pay.
I have been involved in union activities for many years and one thing that strikes me odd about this situation is how rapidly it has deteriorated from a collaborative to an adversarial in the course of several years. Bob Realist brought up several valid points in his 6:09, May 4 post. At the time of Jones' hiring several commenters suggested waiting until a new Board was in place and more thoroughly vetting candidates. That was not done and, perhaps, that rush to judgement with Jones the last man standing has saddled us with an inadequate candidate.
That said, several on and off-site administrators whose judgement I trust have told me that they believe Jones has potential to remake the District but that he is getting bad advice from entrenched OG administrators bent on guarding their sinecures. Consider that Jones actually has only one independent administrator of his own choosing....Pedro Martinez. You may not like him because he is not an "educator" but bringing in a fresh perspective rarely hurts organizations. How many of the OG are hoping to damage Jones by omission or commission?
CCSD and CCEA should quickly move to get beyond the current imbroglio. The Board needs to quickly and firmly provide direction to District administration and teachers need to do the same with CCEA.
Mr. Freeman:
Bill O'Brien, President and CEO of Hanover Insurance said:
"...organizations do not provide significantly unique opportunities to command the loyalty and commitment of our people. The ferment in management will continue until organizations begin to address the higher order needs: self-respect and self-actualization (referring to Maslow's hierarchy of needs)..... there is an enormous reservoir of untapped potential in people that can be channeled more productively than it is.... you create organizations that are more in line with human nature---- yet, everywhere we look we see society in a terrible mess of self-centeredness, greed, and nearsightedness. The potential of businesses to contribute toward dealing with a broad range of society's problems is enormous.... We must learn to harness the commitment of our people - then our commitment to building a better world will have some meaning."
That is a hallmark of leadership. Denigrating people and pushing them toward poverty and deprivation do not make your type of work worthwhile.
Your posts do not convince people your work is anything but for self-aggrandizement. Stop hurting the poor. Stop calling the poor lazy. Opportunities do not come to them in a silver platter like your more affluent friends do. Inefficiency in government is not their fault. Everybody cheats the government, including your friends - only your friends do it in a bigger and more sophisticated scale.
Good luck to you here and the hereafter.
First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.
By Pastor Niemoller
At the beginning of the school year my daughter who is a Sophmore came to me very excited, she decided she wants to be a high school science teacher. She loves the subject and her teacher makes it fun and interesting. Now we are at the end of the school year and the last thing she wants to do is teach high school anything.
Most of the students have stopped listening the teacher, they are rude to each other and rude to the teacher. She is so sick of watching her teacher attempt to teach and make a difference. She is in a school that is striving to increase its graduation rate so no matter how hard the teachers and administration try to enforce the rules, the students know their are very few real repercussions for their actions. The only ones truly worried about their behavior and consequences are the good kids who think college is the future.
I am saddened to say that I am no longer encouraging her to be a teacher. The students are obnoxious, the parents think they have the right to scream at teachers because their little angels are never wrong, the administration for the school district is currently attacking their own teachers and the public seems to think they have a right to decide what a college educated teacher should make and be allowed to do in their job. Why would I encourage my child to take a job full of these daily abuses and challenges for a wage that will not allow her to live on her own unless she takes on another job as well. In ten years if we keep this up we will not have any good teachers left.
The amazing part is the teachers themselves still try to convince my kids that it will be alright. They tell my kids to go to school to learn to teach because it will all turn around again in a couple of years and the kids are worth it. I wish I had that same optimism in the system that the teachers do. I guess that's why they continue to teach no matter how rude the public, the school district, the students and the parents get.
Laura Cress:
They are so worried about making the attendance part of AYP that they have phone banks calling the kids in to take the proficiency exams. I have a close friend (a teacher at the CCSD) who has been told to quit assigning homework because it was lowering the kids grade too much and to substitute an attendance award in place of where the homework grade would have gone. Even right wing retards can figure out how this inflated grades and deflated intelligence.
I would encourage them to continue their dream, just to take a foreign language so they can move to a country that cares.
Jeff, can you explain to me how unionized workers earning $30 an hr. could compete with Foxconn, that huge plant in China where there were several suicides and worker fatalities, and where there is apparently no shortage of young people eager to apply for $2 an hour jobs making iPhones and iPods. Ref, have you seen the series on Frontline about Wall Street? Many cities like Birmingham, AL got into trouble because they had union pension obligations they couldn't pay--so they turned to salesmen from Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs who sold them complex derivative products that would reduce their loan debts (unless the markets went bad, which they did.)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/...
Nancy,
The concept you described is a respectful workplace environment.
union labor costs drove manufacturing companies overseas so companies could stay cost competitive with domestic and world markets. Unfortunately, GM could not move all manufacturing overseas. Consequently, GM announced they would close 11 plants in 1986 and in 1992, announced they would close 21 more plants. Going from 54% of the market share in the 1950's to 18% today will cause a company to downsize in order to survive. With it's costs still too high, GM was not able to sustain in 2008 without government assistance and a chapter 11 bankruptcy process to reduce some costs. Unfortunately American and worldwide consumers factor product price into their purchasing decision. In the 1950's, unions were present in 35% of the private sector now its around 7% so the trend is downward. Larry Summers, Obama's former National Economic Director in his book titled "The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics" concluded that unions cause long-term unemployment. Here is an excerpt:
"Another cause of long-term unemployment is unionization. High union wages that exceed the competitive market rate are likely to cause job losses in the unionized sector of the economy. Also, those who lose high-wage union jobs are often reluctant to accept alternative low-wage employment. Between 1970 and 1985, for example, a state with a 20 percent unionization rate, approximately the average for the fifty states and the District of Columbia, experienced an unemployment rate that was 1.2 percentage points higher than that of a hypothetical state that had no unions. To put this in perspective, 1.2 percentage points is about 60 percent of the increase in normal unemployment between 1970 and 1985".
Unions are extortionists. Extortion is forcing people to give up their money by threatening them in some way. Mafia "protection rackets" are extortion schemes. They tell a shop owner that she needs to pay them $100 a week so they can "protect" the shop owner from criminals who might demolish the shop or hurt the family -- the implication being that the Mafia members themselves are these criminals. Extortion or protection? The mafia made it sound so good, "I'll protect you and your business". In GM's case it was "Give me more money or I'll strike and hurt the business". Really nice to hear. GM average hourly rate is $70 per hour. Market share is now 18% vs 54% in the 1950's. GM had to get a bailout and go through bankruptcy. Not every company is a GM and can get a bailout. 98% of companies employee less than 100 workers. Consequently, they have to shed costs proactively in order to avoid bankruptcy when they start to see economic headwinds. American Airlines is another example. A company cannot be a high-cost leader in its industry and expect to survive a severe recession.
RefNV said:
"Unions are extortionists."
I say:
You are a word contortionist. Whatever caused the events that have made you so professionally hollow, I hope you didn't have any kids, poor things...
Jeff,
GM employed 877,000 in 1986, now 202,000. Hey, but they get $70.00 per hour. Yippie for the 202,000 employees left at GM. Lets see how much American Airlines shrinks next. It's important for companies to sustain and grow. Greedy unions inflate wages making companies cost-leaders which stifles growth, not an enviable position. Low-fare leader Southwest Airlines from the 1970's ate up American Airlines market share. Jeff, maybe you can convince consumers to "buy expensive, the union way".
RefNV:
That is over a HALF A MILLION jobs that you sent overseas, corporate hack. You must be real proud.
"The concept you described is a respectful workplace environment."
Mr. Freeman:
Have you ever wondered how that environment became that way?
Respect is earned - not given freely. Read about great leaders. Analyze the leadership styles of the bosses of the company you are trying to get unions busted. Maybe they can learn something about true leadership.
Please stop citing data and numbers. They are meaningless. Solutions that work before do not necessarily mean it will work again. One has to understand problems in the current contexts. They never are the same.
"That is over a HALF A MILLION jobs that you sent overseas, corporate hack. You must be real proud."
Most car companies manufacturer here in the USA. GM gave up market share to existing USA manufacturers.
"Please stop citing data and numbers. They are meaningless. Solutions that work before do not necessarily mean it will work again. One has to understand problems in the current contexts. They never are the same."
Data, numbers and drawing conclusions from each is meaningless. I'll have to remember that one Nancy.
Shannon: read Jon Ralston--Nevada pays average (nationwide) for per pupil funding in toto (look up the word) but gets 51st results. Arizona spends $1,000 per pupil per year less and gets graduates who can read and write despite ELL and other similar issues. All of the rest of the world (except Switzerland) pays LESS than Americans for K-12. If you want to see the citations, do a web search. But again, thank you for emphasizing my posts.
teacher: LEO's work about twice the hours you do. Where was I: It DIDN'T HAPPEN. Teachers have received raise and raise and perq after perq ever since (and before) Guinn was Governor and kept raising taxes. Now we can't afford to support ourselves 'cause we're too taxed to pay for a broken K-12 where teachers are concerned only about compensation.
RefNV said:
"Most car companies manufacturer here in the USA. GM gave up market share to existing USA manufacturers."
So you are now claiming you pitted community versus community, state versus state, company versus company and you see the result of that today and you want to be proud of this?
You forced wages down, looting middle America to enrich shareholders.
Traitor.
Shame on you. You don't get to celebrate labor day anymore. You reap what you sow.
No matter which way you spin it, you have sucked America dry.
Traitor.
Jeff,
American consumers wanted a higher quality product at a lower price. Consumer is king. Shame on those consumers.
Roslenda, quit looking at numbers that include capital expenditures. Those numbers are misleading because new schools were being built as well as old schools being rehabbed since they were falling apart.
"All of the rest of the world (except Switzerland) pays LESS than Americans for K-12. If you want to see the citations, do a web search."
Yeah, I looked that up way back when at a time you threw that gem out. You were wrong. I figured out that's why you can't be bothered to post any links because you know you are lying. ;-)
"Now we can't afford to support ourselves 'cause we're too taxed to pay for a broken K-12 where teachers are concerned only about compensation."
Yeah, cry me a river...property taxes have gone down year after year. If anything, people are paying less for education.
Oh, and see my note above that debunks your assertion that teachers keep getting raises.
The fault does not lie entirely on teachers/unions as parents as a general rule/pardon the broad brush pay someone else to raise their children. But I live next to a teacher and WOW... one of the most selfish people I have ever met. She is responsible for teaching our children and she only wants for herself and does not care about society or the current economy. She literally cares less about lower seniority teachers as she said she had paid dues for years and they were 'expendable'. On top of that she started an argument with the HOA we live in because we have a flag pole and she questioned why we fly a United States flag. This is an example... albeit a sad one of a typical teacher in the Las Vegas Community School District.
'Roslenda'...
I smell a roseanrose.
How many screen names do you use?
Your obvious bias against teaching professionals is typical of the TeaNut Set...you JUST DO NOT GET IT, and you post just to aggravate people.
Your incessant need to denigrate (look it up) and marginalize these hard-working, dedicated souls is silly.
Are you a former teacher who couldn't hack the classroom???
@Jeanine62. Is that the only teacher you know? So you are painting the other 17000 of us because of your opinion of her? Why don't you volunteer at your local school and get to meet some other teachers? You might change your opinion.
However, in my opinion you are part of the problem. You can't see the forest for the trees. How many children or grandchildren do you have and is every teacher they have had like your neighbor?
@gmag39. You are correct. Roseanrose had an identical post a few weeks ago. I asked her which of the 200 districts in Arizona she was talking about and to provide links. Got the same response.
RefNV said:
"American consumers wanted a higher quality product at a lower price. Consumer is king. Shame on those consumers."
I say:
You and your lunkhead buddies sat by as Honda and Sony and Toyota improved quality while you sat on both your thumbs.
You guys--the old white guys--kissed away our countries dominance because you wouldn't walk across the street.
So you started blaming American workers. They've only done what is asked of them. If we are now down to &% union workers why are we only treading water? It is because you old guys in the old white guys network sold our country down the river.
A presidential candidate with bank accounts in Swiss banks and the Cayman islands is your heir apparent to the republican throne. He took $40,000,000 out of the American economy based upon the labors of primarily American workers and because he knows if he can get unions down to 3% he'll take $48,000,000 out of America next year. And another 200,000 American jobs. That's you guys turning into the mob.
Your generation was paid to keep the American train on the tracks. You guys took from the brave men and women that gave their lives in WWII a beautiful chance to make things great for the planet.
We can see now you chose only to enrich yourselves.
The unions are the bad guys?
Traitors.
You guys knew.
I'm glad that there's at least one thing the Repubs and Dems agree on--the post office has to shed 200,000 union workers fast. Saturday delivery of mail is going to disappear. I just opted to get my gas bill and electric bill online just to give the post office more grief. lol. The fast turnaround of Netflix discs is going to become a slow turnaround, but I can deal with that.
Jeff,
I'm in my early 40's. I'm not that old yet. LOL
Companies fail to sustain and grow when greedy unions inflate wages. It makes companies cost-leaders leaving less money for growth initiatives. Competitors eventually eat up your market share, ala GM and American Airlines. High union wages and pensions cost consumers and tax payers. Unions are a special interest group that benefits only union members and unions. Hopefully Jeff you can convince consumers to "buy expensive, the union way". Good luck with that.
Rosie was actually in many classrooms, as she has told us. her role there was not as an instructor or as a student. These truths are blatantly obvious. My suspicion is that the antipathy towards teachers, the school district and facts in general which she espouses repeatedly and under various names is derived from what she viewed as a role beneath that of others, the critical clean-up lady.
From my experiences in a few schools, that role is absolutely critical. Our custodians were the best people in the schools - diligent, dedicated to doing things right and able to arise to the most awful occasions. I recall a woman custodian one hot day draining the water fountain that was farthest from the intake from our well. She was catching the water in buckets and hauling them out to the greenhouse our kids had built with grant money we got to show how locally produced foods were better than importing thousands of miles, etc.
When I asked her why she was doing this instead of just using the water from the pipe in the greenhouse, she looked up and said "I checked the content of water here, and, not only does it taste bad, but loses some of the oxygen because of how long it just SITS in the pipe. And it just sits in the pipe because nobody drinks it because it tastes bad."
She was a marvelous human being who NEVER felt her position was below any of the rest us public servants. She did her job well and avoided the nasty attitudes that dominate rosie's postings under any name...
Their union was strong, but not as strong as the sense of commitment she offered daily to doing the right things for the right reasons.
RefNV:
Thanks for enlightening me to your blindness. You are part of that first generation after Viet Nam that got fat and sassy.
You know union members will save your life, save your home from fire and from the threat of bombs, have likely delivered many of your gifts to you and from you, have educated your children, you too.
You allow one single owner to carry wheelbarrows full of cash to their Swiss bank accounts while if the people who create the cash want a profit sharing agreement instead of high wages you call them extortionists.
Dude, you are just wrongheaded, single focused, and unpatriotic.
This country belongs to all of us, the roads (except in Indiana they sold em to foreigners), the bridges, the courts...
...if a company makes 100 million in profit, having your labor pool have a stake in it seems like the right way to protect American Business. This is what unions do. They get a piece of the pie for their members. What you guys want is a second wheelbarrow full of cash. And you don't care whose throat you crush getting it.
You reap what you sow.
Jeff,
It appears GM reaped what you sowed going from 54% share of the US market to 18% along with 500,000 fewer employees. Nice work unions.
Putting the advancements of the finest automakers in the world in the same category as GM is hardly fair to Lexus, BMW, Honda, Mercedes Benz, Saab etc.
One reason Re cites is accurate - we bought foreign cars. Our reasons were manifold - better, cheaper, more reliable, better warranties, better service = better satisfaction.
Join up with Mick Jagger, Re and start the ReRolling Stones and keep on blaming the ones that brought you here.
Joel Emmanuel Hagglund stood up against the tyranny of the barons of industry a hundred years ago. And the union movement he inspired brought water to the desert, hope to the millions, decency and humanity for our families and appreciation of talent.
Joe Hill won world wars and made babies. Joe Hill gave us technology and cell phones and computers and the internet. He took what are not known today, simple steps in organizing laborers to represent their issues. He inspired women's suffrage and civil rights. He was father to Martin Luther King Junior and brother of Mahatma Ghandi.
And you Re are no Joe Hill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR6SMAJQW...
Naah, here's a way better version from Woodstock 1969, same voice, song, better recording
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX7M9psH0...
Joe Hill is a friend of mine. His place in history will stand up and be counted because of where and how firmly he stood - for decency and respect for humanity and fairness for all of us.
Was he for profit??.. you bet he was for benefiting those who made this country great IN SPITE of the robber barons, the captains of industry piling up wealth so deep they often felt guilty and in their later years tried to assuage their guilt by building libraries, forming endowments and handing the dough to their families, friends and neighbors, the dough created by those starving masses of unwashed laborers.
Joe Hill dwells among us. He marched to Birmingham. He put up the flag at Iwo. He starved at Camp O'Donnell. He sat on the bus by Rosa. He danced with Susan Anthony. And he stalks the halls of Congress. Watch out!
Love how the conversation changed from whining teachers and their union to automobile quality and their unions...
Unions in all trades regardless are useless. Unions of today aren't the union of the past. Unions today are all about the union bosses and how much they can suck off their members. Union of today take no pride in who they allow in their trades where they employ anyone who is willing to pay the initiation dues, monthly dues and man the phone banks when it comes election time and one who will beat to the drum they're told to beat. In other words, they're brainless trolls that take no pride in the quality of the work provided or the end result of their work product.
Show me a union member who claims their union is good, I'll show you a liar every time.
This press release was sent to all CCSD employees on May 4th. https://interact.ccsd.net/Login/FAV1-001...
This is a link to the pay scale for teachers for 2007-2008. http://www.nctq.org/docs/6-07_6890.pdf
This is the link for the pay scale for teachers for 2008-2009. http://www.nctq.org/docs/6-08_6933.pdf
This is the link for the pay scale for teachers for 2009-2010 http://www.nctq.org/docs/6-07.pdf
This is the link for the pay scale for teachers for 2010-2011. http://ccsd.net/employees/resources/pdf/...
This is the link for the pay scale for teachers for 2011-2012. http://www.nctq.org/docs/Clark_County_10...
The pay for teachers was increased from 2007-2008 to 2008 -2009 school years. Since 2008-2009 to now, the pay scale has not changed. The only increases for teachers were movement either down the scale for time with the district, but for many teachers that didn't happen due to reaching the maximum experience for their pay class. For teachers with a bachelors degree that happens after 5 years, and with teachers with a masters degree after 9 years with the district. The only other way for teachers to move on the salary schedule was to move from class to class which required additional education which was paid for by the teacher. CCSD did NOT offer any raises or changes in the basic salary schedule. The CCSD claim to be giving raises is only based on teachers moving either horizontally or vertically on the pay scale, not by CCSD changing the pay scale.
Tanker, your links to facts prove that Jones lied when he stated that teachers have been receiving cost of living increases.
Nice going, tanker. The press release needs a login and PIN. Teachers, the student loan debt clock will reach $1 trillion in a few hours. You should be proud of yourselves for all the kids you told to go to college. That $1 trillion is worse than sub-prime mortgage debt and will be a drag on the economy forever. Check out the horror stories on occupystudentdebt.com. They are worse than a "SAW" movie.
http://www.finaid.org/loans/studentloand...
Tanker, your first link leads to InterAct. Here's the text of that press release sent to teachers:
CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
NEWS RELEASE
May 4, 2012
Frequently Asked Questions
A factual look at funds, positions and raises at CCSD
Q: Does the District have $70 million in extra money it could use to balance the budget?
A: No. There is no extra money in our budget. On the contrary, the Clark County School District is struggling to fill a $64 million budget deficit. The funds we do have are accounted for. If a family has $2,000 in their bank account but has not paid their rent and bills, it's not accurate to say they have $2,000 in extra money sitting around. "The funds we do have are accounted for and are needed to cover expenses through the remainder of the school year."
Q: Why is the District posting teaching positions online?
A: CCSD is currently in "transfer season." This means our current teachers have the opportunity to view and apply for positions that are open to replace teachers who are either retiring or resigning.
FACT: Even with retirements, resignations and the elimination of specialized positions, we would not have a balanced budget due to the arbitrator's ruling.
Second part of press release:
Q: What are the new 'learning coach' positions posted online?
A: Learning coach positions are educators who will provide specialized instructional support and assistance in mathematics and literacy. The K--5 Instructional Coach Project Facilitator position will be assigned to schools as needed by the District. These positions are fully funded by federal Title I or Title II funds and do not impact our General Fund budget.
Q: Does the District financially benefit from the additional education that teachers have pursued?
A: Because the District does not run the educational program(s) teachers use to obtain raises, the District does not make a profit from any courses teachers sign up for. The Clark County Education Association, however, does profit from teachers who further their educations taking classes with the Center for Teaching Excellence, the organization that provides courses that allow teachers to advance on the salary scale.
Q: Why is the District traveling around the country to recruit new teachers?
A: The District is actively recruiting new teachers to fill vacancies caused by retirements or resignations in hard to fill areas such as math, science and special education. It is our responsibility to ensure the best teachers in the nation have the opportunity to compete for positions in our classrooms.
Q: Does CCSD have more teachers this year than last?
A: No. In 2010-11, CCSD had 18,010 teachers. CCSD currently has 17,555 teachers for the 2011-12 school year.
Q: I've been hearing that teachers haven't had a raise in several years. Is this true?
A: No. In 2007 and 2008, teachers received a step increase. Step increases are increases given to employees for staying in the District another year. Teachers also received a four percent cost of living increase in addition to the step increase for the same 2007-2008 period. For the past four years, from 2007-2011, teachers also received yearly increases for furthering their own education. Those increases were given in addition to the cost of living and step increases.