Laughing Out Loud: Professional development.
My blogger buddy JD2718 gets it right. I won’t tell you how it ends.
Hollywood’s a union town.
I grew up in Hollywood. And Hollywood’s a union town. This video is of the writing crew from The Office. These guys aren’t as funny as we were when we were on strike a few years ago. But we’re teachers, so what would you expect?The Office star, Steve Carell won’t cross the picket lines:
Steve Carell informed NBC he is unable to report to work because he is suffering from “enlarged balls.”
Palatine strike deadline nears.
Working with a mediator, teachers and board members from Palatine/Schaumberg District 211 are working overtime to reach a deal. No luck yet and the strike deadline in tomorrow.
13,000 students are enrolled in the district.
Daily Herald reports:
Some teachers have complained about skyrocketing health insurance cost, which they said has more than doubled in recent years. They said that eats up any kind of raise they might have received.
Bronx teachers to merit pay: “Drop Dead.”
The NY Post reports:
Teachers at a Bronx elementary school gave a surprising response to a bonus plan that would pay them roughly $3,000 each for schoolwide student gains: Thanks, but no thanks.
Tzimmes and borscht.
Utah rejects vouchers and conservatives blame “Karl Rove tactics.”
It was no surprise that Utah voters rejected the statewide voucher plan. That was pretty much predicted. The percentage of the vote did surprise some observers. 62% of the voters turned thumbs down.
I was amused to read the right-wing National Review On-line complain that anti-voucher folks acted like Karl Rove and that it wasn’t fair.
Not surprisingly, voucher opponents have trotted out a tried and true election-shaping mechanism: the politics of confusion and fear. It’s almost as if their campaign strategy is being run by Karl Rove. Facts are few and far between but spooks and scary questions abound. These tactics do seem somewhat fitting given the Halloween time of year.
Berwyn students who protested Iraq war get the book thrown at them.
The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting:
Holding signs that read “Let us go to school,” and “No war for America,” 10 Morton West High School students suspended over an anti-war protest returned to campus Tuesday to demand they be allowed back in school.
The kids were among 25 who were suspended, with some now facing expulsions, after staging a protest against the Iraq war in the cafeteria last Thursday. About 20 parents and anti-war activists stood with them in front of the Berwyn school Tuesday.
The NY Times, covering the story, quoted one parent:
“Who’s the next group to go off to war?” said Adam Szwarek, whose 16-year-old son, Adam, faces expulsion. “These kids. The kids do a peaceful sit-in and they’re threatened with expulsion, yet the military’s running around the school trying to recruit.”
Pro-charter Democrat gets the boot in Indianapolis. Rotherham frowns.
Rotherham is disappointed that Indianapolis Democratic mayor, Bart Peterson, got tossed out of office on Tuesday. Although there were lots of issues in this campaign, Peterson was an enthusiastic proponent of charters. Oops. It doesn’t exactly provide evidence for the Ed Sector and DFER wing of the Democratic Party’s argument that promoting charters is a key to Democratic electoral victories.
