The countdown begins this weekend.
A week of hosting visiting offspring and grand kids ends this morning when I drive them all to O’Hare for the flight back to Brooklyn. Having family in another city means seeing my grandchildren grow in fits and jerks. Four months go by. Six months go by. A toddler becomes a little boy. A little girl suddenly seems wiser than you expected.
It will be quieter around the house.
Then it is two weeks before the start of the school year on August 20th. A Friday, for goodness sakes!
I need to get the room set up. I have a meeting of the school’s teacher leadership team. The weather forecasts say it will be in the 90s all week. Who wants to do class set-up in that heat?
We will have a new principal this year. A new superintendent.
And then on August 23rd there will be students in my room.
So, Let me get this straight. It’s not really my money.
Ron Lieber writes a column in the NY Times business section called Your Money. Today’s column is one that calls teachers and other pensioned state employees selfish for expecting that promises made are promises kept when it comes to our pensions.
If you’re a government retiree or getting close to the end of your career? Consider what it means to be a citizen in a community. And what it means to be civil instead of litigious, coming to the table and making a compromise before politicians shove it down your throat and you feel compelled to challenge them to a courthouse brawl.
Readers of this blog know how I feel about such threats. I retire in two years. If they take my pension away, “civil” will not be the word that will describe my response.
Colorado’s Michael Bennet attacks the Times report but doesn’t answer the question.
Yesterday, the NY Times printed an expose of Senator Michael Bennet’s financial dealings while superintendent of Denver schools.
The Times story of a stacked transaction that produced windfall profits for the banks but catastrophe for the schools has given new life to questions raised by Bennet detractors about his relationship to big money. The Bennet campaign says the Times simply got the story wrong.
The Colorado primary is Tuesday.
Huffington Post runs attack piece on Diane Ravitch. Claims she’s against all tests.
The chief press flak for the NY Department of Ed has a piece in the Huffington Post. Bloomberg continues his policy of going for the jugular when it comes to criticisms from Diane Ravitch.
If Ms. Ravitch had her way, she’d probably do away with tests all together — she doesn’t believe in a system of accountability.
Fred Klonsky 
Oh, my…Speaking of DPS officials not answering questions, find the first hour of Dave Sirota’s progressive talk show yesterday (He makes his archives available as free podcasts on iTunes). Bennet’s buddy and successor Tom Boasberg did the same thing, even when directly confronted by three people, including one of the DPS board members (one of the only three who has a brain or a spine).
And does anyone in a leadership position even know what accountability means anymore? And that it *doesn’t* just apply to students and teachers??