Jul
11
Teaching kids to drive Chicago style
July 11, 2008 | Tagged Blagojevich, Education, teacher unions | 1 Comment
Chicago Public Schools seeks waiver for driver’s ed - Chicago Tribune
Two months ago, 19 suburban high schools received an exemption from a controversial new state law requiring six hours of teacher-supervised, behind-the-wheel training for public school driver’s education students.
Now, Chicago public high schools are asking for the same exemption.
OK, what’s the deal with exemptions from state law? That’s the government monopoly education system for you. If you can’t meet expectations, lower them.
The new, behind-the-wheel requirement was part of a package of teen-driving laws signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in August 2007 and aimed at reducing vehicular crashes, the leading cause of death among teenagers.
If that legislation in August 2007 was for the children, then who is this exemption for?
For decades, six hours of supervised street driving was the benchmark.
But schools used obscure state rules to reduce that time. Some Chicago public schools were providing as little as one hour and 40 minutes of supervised street driving to students.
OK, now we know who it is for. Classic Chicago government. Figure out how to get paid the highest possible amount of money while doing the least amount of work. The Chicago Teachers Union had it down to an hour and 40 minutes when crashes are the leading cause of death of teenagers. Hmmmm.
Maybe its time government schools got out of the Driver’s Ed business and we let parents and siblings and neighbors teach the kids before they went down for their tests like we used to. It sure would save a ton of taxpayers money.
Teach your own damn kids to drive and leave your hands out of my pockets! Ah yes, that will play well in Peoria.
Jul
8
Illinois to participate in new education program - Daily Herald
July 8, 2008 | Tagged Educatioin, Illinois government | Leave a Comment
Illinois to participate in new education program - Daily Herald
Oooooo. Illinois gets to join five other states in a new Differentiated Accountability program to loosen federal guidelines. Now Illinois gets to have two different names for its failing schools. Comprehensive schools suck uniformly. Focused schools don’t completely suck. Yet. And this new program gives failing schools one more year until the state can start making decisions about the staff.
Well I’ll be darned, this is just the thing we needed to improve the schools. Who needs competition? Who needs to get rid of bad staff? Who needs to reward the good teachers with great pay instead of paying based on seniority? What parent in their right mind would like a choice on where their children go to school?
Differentiated Accountability solves all of our school problems folks. Hallelujah!
Jul
1
O’Fallon schools double property tax revenue; opponents cite more spending - Belleville News Democrat
July 1, 2008 | Tagged Education, Illinois government, taxes | Leave a Comment
The amount of local property tax revenue annually collected in the past six years grew in the O’Fallon School District 90 from $8.37 million to $16.39 million and in the O’Fallon Township High School District 203 from $7.81 million to $15.91 million. Likewise, property tax revenue annually collected in the Central School District 104 grew from $2.08 million in 2002 to $4.65 million this year.”
Fascinating but not much use without knowing enrollment fluctuation. Wanna bet the administrators are in line for multi-million dollar pensions?
‘Hotel Rwanda’ figure a true measure of bravery -Ralph Martire probably thinks O’Fallon’s schools administrators are Hotel Rwanda Heroes. Is that why Ralph Martire loves handing out $10 million pensions to school administrators at the expense of a quality education for disadvantaged children?
Hey Ralph, how about taking some of your own advice and start talking about multi-million dollar teacher and administrator pensions that suck money from the classroom? That’s right, the government employee and teachers unions don’t pay Ralph to talk about that. The taxpayers footing the bill for $200,000 per year pensions are the heroes, not Ralph Martire and his taxeaters who couldn’t fix government monopoly schools if they had all the money in the world because they’d just use it to make themselves rich exactly like they are doing now.
Jul
1
City teachers union to try vice president - Chicago Tribune
July 1, 2008 | Tagged corruption, Education, Illinois government, taxes, teacher unions | Leave a Comment
City teachers union to try vice president - Chicago Tribune
They have their own justice system, impressive.
In court papers filed last month, he said Stewart mismanaged the union’s finances and spent about a half-million on food over a 12-month period.
Stewart isn’t the one on trial, believe it or not.
The Chicago Teachers Union executive board voted 32-4 Monday to go forward with proceedings to remove the vice president after allegations surfaced that he may have misspent more than $6,200 on meals and liquor.
Ok, maybe they wouldn’t use it all to make themselves rich. They do have to eat. These are Ralph Martire’s Hotel Rwanda Government Monopoly Education Heroes. Fighting over who wasted the most money wining and dining themselves.