Obama hates teachers...

[mzteris]

President Obama wants Congress to pass emergency education funding legislation that would provide $23 billion to preserve teacher jobs in the face of massive impending layoffs across the country.

"We are gravely concerned that ongoing state and local budget challenges are threatening hundreds of thousands of teacher jobs for the upcoming school year, with estimates ranging from 100,000 to 300,000 education jobs at risk," Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"Without swift action, millions of children will experience these budget cuts in one way or another through reductions in class time; cuts to early childhood programs, extracurricular activities, and summer school; and reduced course offerings as teachers are laid off," the letter continued.

**********

The Keep Our Educators Working Act (S. 3206) will:

* Provide $23 billion to help school districts avert educator layoffs in the upcoming school year;
* Make sure that our children’s education is not shortchanged by the economic crisis; and
* Enable districts to continue to implement positive programs to help ensure that all students receive the great education they deserve.

Urgent! Call Now!

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was enacted one year ago. The law helped stabilize a rapidly declining economy, provided a lifeline where none existed, and helped reduce the harmful impact of the recession on many vulnerable people.

More needs to be done. The unemployment rate remains at nearly 10 percent, and many members of our communities continue to struggle. We must take additional steps to provide relief. Failure to preserve and create jobs will endanger our economic progress and threaten any sustainable recovery. And, in the absence of immediate assistance, state legislatures looking to bridge huge budget gaps may make decisions that could have long-term harmful results.

Complete the form below to be connected to your Senator’s office (we’ll provide a sample script for you).

http://www.aft.org/click2call/jobs_senate.cfm


*****

NEA urges immediate passage of Keep our Educators Working Act

WASHINGTON— As the school year winds down, kids across the country are preparing for summer break, camp and family vacations. Yet, as the end of the school year approaches, so does the likelihood that there will be fewer educators there to welcome the students back in the fall.

With three months left in "pink slip" season, the National Education Association is projecting at least 125,000 educator layoffs—with that number likely to increase. State and local budgets are at critical levels, more cuts are looming, and the prospect of larger class sizes, less individual attention and more crowded school buses has parents concerned.

NEA is urging immediate passage of the Keep Our Educators Working Act, introduced today by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chair of the Senate Education Committee.

http://www.ohea.org/GD/Templates/Pages/OEA/OEADetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=102&Content=17125


TAKE ACTION
Urge the Senate, the President and your Governor to take immediate action on a jobs package that includes an Education Jobs Fund – to save and create hundreds of thousands of education jobs. Urge your Representative to cosponsor the Local Jobs for America Act.

http://www.nea.org/home/1295.htm

http://capwiz.com/nea/issues/alert/?alertid=14895431

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Done. Doubt if my Senators will listen.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. That's right Arne! We can't let these teachers lose their jobs

before you have a chance to fire them.

[mzteris]

5. He didn't fire anyone.

You're in Raleigh. You know what the state of education is like. How's that new schoolboard working out for ya?

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. My sister is a teacher, and she's decided to go for early retirement.

Another few years would improve her retirement considerably, but she doesn't think it is worth the hassle.

[NNN0LHI]

12. That is a good thing your sister did

Her early retirement will open up a job for someone else just starting out maybe with a young family who really needs that job.

That was part of the reason I retired at 48.

Give someone else a job who needs one.

I knew some fellow workers who would not retire for anything. Had plenty of money, house paid off, kids grown and you couldn't pry them out with a crowbar. They were convinced the place would shut down without them. It didn't.

Most of them finally went out the door feet first on a gurney with a nurse pounding on their chests. Never collected one retirement check. What a way to retire.

I hope your sister enjoys her retirement as much as I have enjoyed mine.

Don

[mzteris]

17. Then that's probably a good decision for her.

I do NOT have a warm spot in my heart for the Wake County School Board, past or present.

[EC]

3. His mother was a teacher

the hyperbole is a bit much...I'm a bit fed up with all of it...blah, blah, blah Obama this or that.

[mzteris]

4. um -

i didn't think I needed this, but just for you, I'll add:

:sarcasm:


The point is, there is post after post about how "Obama HATES TEACHERS" and how "TEACHERS WILL REFUSE TO VOTE FOR HIM in 2012!!" Blah blah blah...

I was trying to point out how f'ingly STUPID that meme is.

[EC]

11. I was agreeing

sorry if I confused...I'm tired of all the complaining too...It's like everyone is expecting miracles...

[mzteris]

16. oops- I'm sorry.

I'm used to having attack dogs slavering.

[lutefisk]

36. She was? Where and what?

I didn't know that.

[mzteris]

50. His mom "taught a littlle"

and his sister is a teacher.

Maya Soetoro-Ng is an alumna of Barnard College in Manhattan, New York. She received an M.A. degree in secondary language studies and an M.A. degree in English from New York University<9> and a Ph.D degree in international comparative education from the University of Hawaii.<10>

. .. She was a high-school history teacher at La Pietra: Hawaii School for Girls in Honolulu, Hawaii. She also taught night classes at the University of Hawaii.<13> She previously taught and developed curriculum at The Learning Project, an alternative public middle school in New York City, from 1996–2000.<14>

... Maya's Doctorate research at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu focused on Comparative International Education, and involved a comparative study between an international school in Indonesia where she taught and spent time, and a school in New York. She particularly looked at qualitative differences, interviewing students, staff, and other people involved in the two schools.


On his mom: http://www.barack-obama-timeline.com/ann_dunham/

[Hannah Bell]

57. maya taught at university & private schools, but she's mainly a bureaucrat.

not a public school teacher.

[EC]

51. She taught English in

Jakarta.

[Hannah Bell]

56. she was an anthropologist. she worked for us & international organizations. she was

never a public school teacher. she worked for tim geithner's father at the ford foundation, among other jobs.

Dunham studied at the University of Hawaii and the East-West Center and attained a bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. in anthropology. Interested in craftsmanship, weaving and the role of women in cottage industries, Dunham's research focused on women's work on the island of Java and blacksmithing in Indonesia. To address the problem of poverty in rural villages, she created microcredit programs while working as a consultant for the United States Agency for International Development. Dunham was also employed by the Ford Foundation in Jakarta and she consulted with the Asian Development Bank in Pakistan. Towards the latter part of her life, she worked with Bank Rakyat Indonesia, where she helped apply her research to the largest microfinance program in the world.<4>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Dunham

[Hannah Bell]

55. no, she wasn't. she was an anthropologist who worked for the ford foundation

among others.

[janx]

6. Thank goodness.

With state budgets being what they are, this is much needed.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. He doesn't "hate" them. Not any more than Reagan hated PATCO or Welfare Queens.

They're just pawns in a professional politician's chess game. Easily blamed, easily sacrificed, to advance his ambitions.

[mzteris]

8. I disagree.

SOME have made this "political" - but it ain't Obama. . .

[Tailormyst]

14. The day he cheered for an entire school system's teachers being fired...

... he made it political. I hope he feels like a complete horses ass for doing that.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NNN0LHI]

20. I did a little investigating into that myself and discovered you are correct

:applause:

[mzteris]

22. thank you.

These lies get started and then repeated and perpetuated - and it HURTS the push to improve education in the US. A system that is severely hurting and in danger.

How can ANYONE watch Obama and Michele in a classroom full of children and believe for one single second that he doesn't care deeply about children and their education? He clearly does want "what is best" for the children. Sometimes that means what is "not best" for the adults.

That said, I support teachers and really really believe in higher pay and smaller classrooms and more supports and greater autonomy. I am not anti-teacher. I am not anti-public school. I am not anti-traditional-public school. I believe in educational choices (but not vouchers). I do not support the handful of "for-profit" management companies who are running both traditional and (10% of the) charter public schools in the US.

Fraud and corruption exist in school systems across the country - it should be rooted out and prosecuted - in both traditional and charter public schools.

[janx]

23. Where did that idea come from?

:shrug:

[mzteris]

24. which idea - that Obama hates teachers?

That Obama is just out to "make money for his friends"? That Obama cares nothing about children or the state of education?

From certain groups of people who:

A) hate Obama (for various and sundry reasons. Some of which are just- well - wrong.)
B) fear change
C) fear accountability
D) just believed whatever the last person told them regardless of the source. :(
E) have their own "agendas" which don't withstand much perusal so it's "quick! look over there!" tactics.

[janx]

25. No, I'm aware of the points you mention, and I agree with you...

I've also seen other posts you have written on the subject. But specifically, I don't know where this: "The day he cheered for an entire school system's teachers being fired" comes from. :shrug:

[Cha]

52. Thank you for this OP, mzteris..

it was uber needed. Bookmarked!

[mzteris]

64. wanna know what's sad?

The teachers that so desperately need this measure - want this measure - can't even bring themselves to say anything good about it because Obama (and Duncan) are FOR it.

How's that for cutting' off your own nose, etc...

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

38. Well said mz!

The only thing I'd argue against is the smaller classrooms - it's an unsustainable model financially and has literally no supporting evidence on its impact on student achievement. I'd rather see smaller faculty-to-student ratios, where you can bring in multiple assistants to support master teachers, making it so teachers don't deal with bullshit bureaucracy and aren't wasting their time proctoring or monitoring lunches, and instead are able to focus on doing what they do best - TEACH!

[mzteris]

65. there was a study some years back

um- maybe 10ish years ago - that showed a correlation between smaller classes (under 20) in the first three grades and improved performance all the way through school, regardless of class size in later years. I'm not sure what the most recent studies show.

However, I do think smaller classes lend themselves to more individualized instruction/differentiation for those students who need it. The more individualized attention a kid gets, the better, imo. While, I do understand the whole financial problem - in an ideal world and all that . . . well, things would be a lot different.

I like your idea of "master teachers" and multiple assistants. Sort of like college professors and TA's?

One idea I've always suggested is that "new teachers" - say less than three years experience - should be "assistants" in classrooms to proven teachers. "New" teachers should NEVER be in charge of a classroom, imo. something akin to an apprenticeship or an internship. I think that would help not only with teacher training/efficacy, but with retention as well.

Again, filthy lucre is the problem. Of course if we spent more on education, we'd spend less on incarceration. More on teaching and less on non-productive members of society. Less on wars and more on empowering and supporting people.

Ah well. A girl can dream . . .

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

66. Money is definitely a problem.

However, even adjusted to cost of living, we still outspend the world in education. There actually is a significant amount of waste in the education system, mostly because we have such a decentralized system that we often have to duplicate efforts in nearly every imaginable category (data systems, professional development, administration, etc.) All of that said, we do need to both reduce duplicative spending AND significantly finance the system.

We also have to realize that there's a reason why companies like GM and US Steel went out of business, and it's the pensions. We should absolutely honor every teacher's pension, but that doesn't mean we should continue offering it. Long term, it's not a viable financial situation - as it currently stands, 40 cents on every additional education dollar spent by the government goes to teachers that aren't in the classroom anymore. Honestly, it's not a great deal for teachers themselves either - it locks them into careers (which this generation of Americans doesn't like at all - most switch careers 3 times in their lives) if they want to ever see their actual earnings, which they don't realize until they're in their late 40s in most cases. Plus, you can't buy a home with pension money you don't get until you retire. If you look on a dollar for dollar, total compensation package, teachers actually do make a very good living, except that most of it is deferred. I say stop deferring it - the average teacher makes about $45k/year now - bump it up to $80k and axe the pensions. The overlap would mean a short-term investment to switch systems, but in the long run, it will save our municipalities and states a lot of money and will make teaching a much more attractive profession for top college graduates.

On another note, I definitely like the idea of new teachers starting at an assistant teacher level, especially under the system I propose (which yes, is sort of like the professor/TA system, although I imagine the TAs being a little more involved in the classrooms than what happens in colleges). I would also add that teachers with unsatisfactory performance should spend a year as an assistant under an excellent teacher (at the same compensation level, of course). We expect professional development to be the end-all solution to improving teacher performance, but brief glimpses into someone else's classroom or a few seminars every year really is not going to do the trick. It's not fair to teachers to expect them to get better without actually showing them what "better" really looks like.

Lastly, vis a vis classroom sizes - everything you say makes empirical sense, I absolutely agree, but the results haven't really born out that conclusion. Believe it or not, we actually have reduced student-teacher ratios by about 5 kids since the 70's, and yet our achievement levels have been essentially flat since then. The problem is, as further studies have shown, you'd need to reduce classroom sizes by a lot - like 10 or more kids - to achieve actually giving more individual attention to a student. That also makes sense if you think about it - there's a critical mass where once you go over a certain number, any teacher would have to stop treating the class as a set of individuals and start treating it like a group.

Think about it like this - let's say you have a dinner party. If you invite 6 of your friends to show up, you can sit around the same table, everyone can be in on the same discussion, and you never really feel like you have to stop and make sure any particular people are having a good time. You are essentially giving everyone your undivided attention at the same time. But if you invited 12, chances are good that you can't sit around the same table or you have such a big table that you would never be able to talk to the person sitting way over on the other side of it. It's much more difficult to include everyone in on the same conversation, and you wind up having to divert your attention to other people. Once you cross that threshold where you can't reasonably expect to give everyone your full attention at the same time, the dynamic becomes appreciably different and stays that way to a minorly varying extent whether you have 12 or 30 people at the party.

I don't know if that metaphor makes any sense at all, but it's the same dynamic that occurs in classrooms.

[Hannah Bell]

59. no, he just made statements in support of the firings & spun the facts in favor of the firings.

technically, that's not "cheering" but it amounts to the same thing.

[Tailormyst]

27. Really, because I'm pretty sure he was all for it

He used what happened in CF to try and score points during a speech. He took a situation he knew jack shit about and praised the city for firing all the teachers. Praised them and held them up as an example of what should be done elsewhere. As someone who lives in the area, knows the area and comes from a family of teachers it damn well felt like cheering to me.

[mzteris]

29. That is not what happened nor what was said.

Revisionist history is not reality.

[Tailormyst]

31. Not revisionist at all.

[mzteris]

32. well, let's call it interpretive spin, then, shall we?

You filtered what he said through preconceived notions.

Here is EXACTLY what he said,

" "We'll not only challenge states to identify high schools with graduation rates below 60 percent, we're going to invest another $900 million in strategies to get those graduation rates up. Strategies like transforming schools from top to bottom by bringing in a new principal, and training teachers to use more effective techniques in the classroom. Strategies like closing a school for a time and reopening it under new management, or even shutting it down entirely and sending its students to a better school.
"And strategies like replacing a school's principal and at least half of its staff.

Now, replacing school staff should only be done as a last resort. The public servants who work in America's schools -- whether they're principals or teachers, or counselors or coaches -- work long and hardon behalf of our children and they deserve our gratitude. Keep in mind I've got a sister who's a teacher, my mother spent time teaching -- one of the most important jobs that we have in this country. We've got an obligation as a country to give them the support they need -- because when principals and teachers succeed, then our children succeed.

"So if a school is struggling, we have to work with the principal and the teachers to find a solution. We've got to give them a chance to make meaningful improvements. But if a school continues to fail its students year after year after year, if it doesn't show signs of improvement, then there's got to be a sense of accountability.

"And that's what happened in Rhode Island last week at a chronically troubled school, when just 7 percent of 11th graders passed state math tests -- 7 percent. When a school board wasn't able to deliver change by other means, they voted to lay off the faculty and the staff. As my Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, says, our kids get only one chance at an education, and we need to get it right.

"Of course, getting it right requires more than just transforming our lowest performing schools. It requires giving students who are behind in school a chance to catch up and a path to a diploma. It requires focusing on students, from middle school through high school, who face factors at home, in the neighborhood, or in school that put them at risk of dropping out. And it requires replicating innovative ideas that make class feel engaging and relevant -- because most high school dropouts in a recent study said the reason they dropped out was that they weren't interested in class and they weren't motivated to do their work.

The entire speech at: http://www.projo.com/news/2010/pdf/obama_central_falls_remarks_0301.pdf

[Tailormyst]

33. And I could say the same about you.

You are seeing what you want to see. I've heard and read the speech. I see we differ on this greatly. I respect that you have your opinions and I would ask that you respect the fact that I have mine. We can disagree without becoming disagreeable.

[mzteris]

47. Thank you.

I'm sorry if I was getting on the grouchy side. It's not often (anymore) that people have been polite to me about these disagreements. I'm sorry if I was projecting their behaviour on to you.

[Tailormyst]

53. No problem

I bet we agree on TONS more then we disagree on !

[mzteris]

63. Probably!!

:toast:

[janx]

39. OK...

Now I understand.

[Kalun D]

40. Orwellian Television Blinders

I see the Obama can do no wrong cheerleaders have got their Obama corporate funded TV show blinders on.

""And strategies like replacing a school's principal and at least half of its staff""

sounds like support to me. This school had problems in the math dept, that's it. So fire half the teachers that will fix it.

fire half of them and hire them back non-union, just another step in kicking the working class further into the ditch.

Arne Duncan is a scumbag Union busting privatizer, since he's Obama's right hand man at education that says a lot about Obama.

The bush "no child's behind left" and it's crap testing policies are still in place that shows a lot about Obama also, this crap needs to be reversed.

[mzteris]

48. in the math department?

their worst (abysmal) scores were in math, yes, but they were hardly acceptable elsewhere.

They never wanted to "fire the teachers". That really wasn't their call. It was forced on them by the union rep they had not knowing how to do her job properly. (Not the "union" - that individual...)

Who said anything about hiring back "non-union"?? where did THAT ugly little meme come from?

The "testing" IS being changed. Did you ever get around to reading the Blueprint for the future? Has a whole lot of VERY good stuff in it.

I suggest reading the WHOLE thing, in it's entirety: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/index.html

[Hannah Bell]

62. better scores than those of the charter school obama chose to praise.

[Hannah Bell]

60. exactly. your revisionist version isn't what happened.

it's on video, spinmeister:

http://otrarchive.blogspot.com/2009/04/21st-precinct.html

[Hannah Bell]

58. sorry, yours is the lie. obama publicly supported the decision to fire.

"So if a school is struggling, we have to work with the principal and the teachers to find a solution," Obama said. "We've got to give them a chance to make meaningful improvements. But if a school continues to fail its students year after year after year, if it doesn't show any sign of improvement, then there's got to be a sense of accountability."

"And that's what happened in Rhode Island last week at a chronically troubled school, when just 7 percent of 11th graders passed state math tests -- 7 percent."

http://wbztv.com/local/central.falls.high.2.1528415.html

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - President Barack Obama Monday weighed in on the recent firing of all teachers at the long-struggling Central Falls High School.

Obama said during a speech in Washington Monday that there needs to be "accountability" if a school continually fails its students without improvement.

"If a school continues to fail year after year after year and doesn’t show sign of improvements then there has got to be a sense of accountability. That happened in Rhode Island last week," Obama said.

(with video: "when a school board wasn't able to deliver change by other means they voted to lay off faculty & staff")


uh, sorry obama, and his apologists, that's not "what happened".

and ms tetris, you have very specific & uh - dark - reasons for your non-stop pro-charter posts.


if you can make bullshit accusations, don't bitch when others do the same.

obama clearly, undeniably, made public statements in support of the firings in rhode island & spun the facts for the administration's stance.

no matter how many times you deny it.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

37. And how should those teachers feel for failing 93% of their students?

Do you hope they feel like asses too?

[Tailormyst]

41. I suggest you visit Central Falls

so you can have some clue as to WTF you are talking about.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

42. I'm asking you - how do you think they should feel?

I don't need to visit to ask your opinion on how they should feel. You clearly didn't need to meet with Obama and Duncan to determine how you think they should feel.

[Tailormyst]

43. I think they should feel proud that they do the job that they do

They teach in conditions most would run away from. They teach the most disadvantaged, poorest, transient, uneducated, gang and crime infested population in Rhode Island. 1 square mile of poor immigrants piled on top of more poor immigrants.

They were making progress, numbers were going up. 7 principals in 6 years. Very little in the way of funds.

I'll side with the teachers and not lose sleep at night because YOU are upset that I think your hero fucked up.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

44. I've seen teachers work in worse conditions (like Harlem or Anacostia DC) and do far better.

And I'm from New England and know the area quite well. I'm sorry, but no, those particular teachers should not feel good about it in any way, shape, or form.

[Tailormyst]

45. We have VERY different opinions on this

And no matter how much we go back and forth, I doubt either of us will change our minds. I'm going to wish you a nice day and head out of the office.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

46. I wish you well, too. (nt)

[Name removed]

49. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tailormyst]

54. Dear 11 Bravo-

There was no need to post insults. We can disagree on issues without getting nasty.

[janx]

10. kick

for some great news!

[EFerrari]

13. So, Arne is lobbying against cuts to his budget?

Good.

[mzteris]

19. um- say what?

:donut:

[janx]

15. Done!

How could this NOT pass? :shrug:

[uponit7771]

21. Yeap, hates em I tell yah....hates em

[mzteris]

26. so sad. . . n/t

[MichiganVote]

28. Either party hates the teachers. Must be getting campaign $ from private corporateers.

Bye Bye Obama.

[mzteris]

30. RUN SARAH RUN!!!

Woo-hoo...

I betcha she'll make a GREAT "education

[Hannah Bell]

61. she loves charters. loves 'em bigtime.

[janx]

34. kick

:kick: