Teacher union head hires fed pay czar to develop plan to get rid of teachers.

[madfloridian]

It seems odd that the president of the AFT is considering herself and her union incapable of dealing with "bad" teachers. She calls in Kenneth Feinberg, the federal government’s so-called pay czar, to develop a more efficient protocol for disciplining — and when necessary, removing — teachers accused of misconduct.

Really? Suddenly there are so many bad teachers that the federal "Special Master for Compensation" must be brought in to help the American Federation of Teachers sort out the bad guys faster?

There really must be a hurry now to get rid of the "bad" teachers. I have a feeling many of them will be those with more seniority on the high end of the pay scale....funny how that works. You save money by hiring cheaper teachers. Of course you get what you pay for.

Weingarten to Hire Fed Pay Czar to Develop Plan to Fire Teachers

Everyone who has followed Weingarten's ascendancy to her position as AFT President knew that she had been the pick of the Oligarchs. Her earlier sweet talk about gutting the teaching profession with pay per score plans had earned her the Business Roundtable's seal of approval, and now she is returning the favor by shifting her tepid endorsement of weakening ethical teaching into a full-blown advocacy for busting her own union. Randi Weingarten should be recalled by the AFT membership, and she should be put out to pasture with the other nags.

At a time when the greed merchants and uncharged felons of Wall Street burrow into the system once more to plan another financial catastrophe a few years hence, Obama's man in charge of deciding how many millions the CEO criminals should get has just been subcontracted out by Weingarten to create a plan to fire teachers for their "misconduct." The scourge of the nation--teacher misconduct!! Misconduct will surely include refusing to go along with educational genocide that is occurring in urban schools, where cognitive decapitation in segregated environments is the order of the day for the poor and the brown.

It would seem to me that Kenneth Feinberg would have his hands full with Wall Street and the bankers.

Kenneth Feinberg -- whose official title is Special Master for Compensation -- indicated on MSNBC Thursday that he will likely stay at his temporary post for a while longer.

"I'm a far way from leaving this assignment," he said. "Don't forget that even though Bank of America and Citigroup have repaid the taxpayer, there still are five companies in the legislation enacted by Congress that require me to continue 2010 compensation."

General Motors, GMAC and AIG still are majority-owned by the federal government and Chrysler and Chrysler Financial still hold large financial investments from the government. Bank of America and Citigroup, two of the largest recipients of money under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) repaid their bailout funds late last year.

Feinberg's apparent commitment comes as Wall Street firms are set to pay out billions in bonuses to top executives after a year when many banks recovered to record large profits -- some with the help of federal government bailout money, much of which was recently returned by large firms.

Seems to me he has enough on his plate without figuring a way to find more "bad" teachers faster in order to fire them. :shrug:

Seems to me that a union head just sold out a teachers' union.

[madfloridian]

1. Unrec without reading it....way to go.

[Nikki Stone1]

2. Gave it a rec.

They don't understand you here, Madflo.

[madfloridian]

3. More likely few care.

When public education is finally turned over to corporations....people will start to notice.

Thanks for the rec.

I hate it when one appears just as it is posted. :-)

[Nikki Stone1]

20. I care very much

and so do my friends :)

[Dinger]

6. Rec #3 From Me

Just to keep track.:)

[CoffeeCat]

16. I think sometimes people unrec...

...when they strongly disagree with the headline. So, this could be a person who is agreeing with you--by
protesting against the headline with an unrec.

Kind of like, someone unrec-ing a "Rush Limbaugh is amazing!" headline to symbolize their disdain for
what the headline says.

I rec'd ya by the way. :)

[Bucky]

23. I think it's worse than that

Some people unrec when they just don't like the news. The problem isn't unrecommending the "Limbaugh is Amazing" threads, but those who unrec "Limbaugh says the president is a Martian Nazi" threads. They think it means "approve/disapprove" rather than "the world should know this vs. no one needs to pay attention to this."

A flaw in the rec/unrec system, of course, but no system would be perfect.

[Tutankhamun]

49. The head of the nail has been hit.

[Canuckistanian]

4. K&R

This is disturbing on many levels.

[madfloridian]

7. Yes, it is disturbing. A teachers' union calling on the feds..

to help them weed out "bad" teachers. It is very disturbing.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. It surely is.

[BlooInBloo]

5. *Less* pay? (facepalm)

That's the last thing they need. Quadrupling their pay would be more helpful (among other things), if their goal was to change America's idiot-production factories (aka "schools") into something a bit more useful.

[tonysam]

9. And Bob Herbert spews the "bad teacher" bullshit

He has NO clue whatsoever about teaching and the fact administrators can fire teachers EASILY and for the stupidest of reasons.

He can't seem to understand that "tenure" doesn't protect teachers as much as it protects SCHOOL DISTRICTS from wrongful termination lawsuits resulting from ADMINISTRATOR misconduct towards teachers. It puts a brake on the worst impulses of principals and other assholes in administration who want to get rid of teachers for the most trivial of reasons. Of course it doesn't completely stop them, as yours truly can attest.

If all public school teachers become "at-will" employees, watch the wrongful termination lawsuits EXPLODE. Even lawyers won't be hestitant to take teacher termination cases if they become many times more numerous than they are now.

[madfloridian]

11. Yes, that angered me.

I have a feeling there will some outcry from teachers soon....it is way past time.

[tonysam]

14. That whole NYT rag is as bad as any right-wing screed

when it comes to teachers and teaching. It is nonstop anti-teacher.

[laughingliberal]

10. I can't imagine why anyone would want to be a teacher

Hell, they ought to be glad anyone is willing to do the job. It's not well paid and they are overworked. It's like nursing. They won't quit till they drive everyone out.

[tonysam]

12. It's because there are so many people going into college to train for it

and not being aware of how radically changed the field has been since NCLB, and the decline has accelerated rapidly since Arne Duncan took over as secretary of education.

Districts treat teachers like shit because they can. There are literally hundreds of applicants for every teaching job opening because applicants want to help children and naively think public education in its current incarnation IS about children. It isn't; kids are now data. It's all about power, perks, and privilege for those at the top, those people who are rarely held accountable for their actions.

[laughingliberal]

15. Just like nurses. People get suckered in thinking it will give them an opportunity to help people nt

[tonysam]

18. And then they find out the working conditions and hours are horrible.

n/t

[laughingliberal]

19. Yep and we spend more time taking care of the damned charts than we do the patients. nt

[greennina]

21. Working less than half the days of the year...

is not horrible! My husband leaves for work after me, and he gets home three hours before me. That is in addition to the huge amount of time off he has. I really wish I had gotten a degree in education rather than a real degree so I could work as little as he does.

[MadHound]

22. As a teacher, let me say this

If your husband is spending so little time on the job, one has to wonder whether or not he is doing it properly.

In my experience, and that of most decent teachers, the job starts at 7am and you probably aren't done before 4 or 5 pm, depending on whether or not you're bringing work home.

[Generic Other]

25. I feel sorry for your husband having to put up with your attitude

Nothing like having a spouse whose lack of respect for what you do is so apparent she'd even trash you on a public forum. I bet you have a great high powered job yourself. Much more important than what he does. And I'm sure he appreciates your lack of support.

My husband leaves at 6 AM and gets home at 6 PM. He gets paid for working 8 hours a day, 9 months out of the year not including homework. The summer break is unpaid vacation when he is expected to prep for the next school year--that is when he isn't taking a part time job to stay alive. It such BS to whine about how teachers get long vacations. What they get is laid off in June and rehired in September. If they are lucky, their school districts withhold a portion of each paycheck so they can get paid during the summer.

My husband has three degrees. He teaches advanced placement classes. The schools and the students are LUCKY he chose to be in a classroom. He could easily have taken his real degrees and gotten an important job working with ignorant people like you.

[donco6]

34. Aren't you the one that said all teachers suck?

But you married one? Wow. Interesting.

[guruoo]

47. Or might it be that it simply takes him less time to meet his commitments

than it does his "real degree" spouse?

[Starry Messenger]

50. So after all your horrible experiences with teachers as a wee thing

you went and married one? Fascinating.

[Broke In Jersey]

24. Not in NJ

3 teacher friends of mine make over $90K. Awesome!!! Overworked - definately. But tons of days off and summers off!!! I give them credit...I couldn't do it.

[CoffeeCat]

13. nonsense like this...

...only makes life miserable for the teachers--which ultimately hurts kids and parents who have
to deal with the fallout.

As if No Child Left Behind isn't bad enough...

[madfloridian]

27. You are right.

Unfortunately, it is meant to make things harder for teachers. Bottom line soon will be profit. All the benefits worked so hard for in many fields through unions are going to be gone.

[bridgit]

17. That pay czar guy has plenty yet to do on Wall Street before he goes anywhere I would think

[madfloridian]

28. I can not imagine calling the feds in to manage teachers.

It is unbelievable, and you are right. He has enough to do.

[madfloridian]

26. Busting teachers' unions from the inside.

Seems that way to me.

The union leaders go along to get along.

[madfloridian]

29. Kick.

Even though I was just called here a non supporter of unions because I bought a Toyota.

By extension it was also said that teachers are unworthy because some drive Hondas.

Bringing the feds in to fire teachers more quickly.

Scares the hell out of me, even if I bought a Toyota.

Let the feds come in and bust the teachers' unions.

We will see what the future holds.

[tonysam]

31. It's PATCO all over again

only this time we have so-called Democrats spearheading this assault on a cornerstone of democracy.

[bonnieS]

30. this leaves me breathless

All those years as a proud teacher willing to strike and actually striking for better conditions for both teachers and students--like heat in the winter--alongside my husband, also a teacher, who worked and worked and worked --and THIS is what is going on?

I am just breathless.

[madfloridian]

41. I agree.

I find myself wondering where all the outrage is....that our public schools are in the process of being corporatized with hardly a whimper from the public.

I and my fellow teachers poured our hearts into doing everything we could for our kids. It is being dismantled so easily.

[madrchsod]

32. it used to be the republicans that cried about the "union teachers"

now it`s the union leadership?

my what a strange times we live in.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bertman]

35. That's INSANITY. What in the world is she thinking?

[madfloridian]

36. Arne has highest praise for Randi.

"Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement: "Randi is really showing courage by raising these issues." The National Education Association, the largest teachers union with 3.2 million members, had no immediate comment on the AFT proposals.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/12/AR2010011201647.html

And read what is said about going with the flow since the Obama admin is pushing. Just go along.

"Daniel A. Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, said Weingarten's stance on teacher quality seems realistic because the Obama administration is pushing in the same direction. "When a Democratic administration, which obviously is the only horse the union has to ride, is pushing these kind of reforms, you have to go with the flow," Domenech said."

What a hopeless sentence.

[Jackpine Radical]

37. Time for an instant recall election.

Jesus, what this supposedly Democratic administration is doing to the unions from the outside is bad enough, and now this!

[tonysam]

38. The neoliberals and privatizers are killing the districts

and the unions from within.

As one writer noted, these people hate public schools not because they are ineffective, but because they are public.

[Jackpine Radical]

39. Because they are uncaptured potential profit centers.

[tonysam]

40. Even though schools by definition are not businesses

Schools provide a public service, just like police and fire departments.

[Jackpine Radical]

45. That's your opinion.

It's also my opinion. I would go further and say that all education from kindergarten through the public university system should be provided at no cost to all qualified students.

However, the education system looms large in the sights of the Privateers.

[LWolf]

42. My body can't decide which to do first:

scream, kick, cry, or puke.

Anyone chiming here an AFT teacher? What will the teacher response be?

I'm NEA. Not that this doesn't affect us all, but members have the voice.

Edited to add:

I've just put writing MY union president a letter on the top of my weekend to-do list. Expressing vehement opposition to this idea, and implacable determination to keep it from infecting the NEA as well.

[madfloridian]

44. I fear NEA will get around to that position before long.

Everyone seems to be falling in line.

I hope I am wrong. I was NEA as well. I hope I am wrong.

[LWolf]

48. I hope so, too.

Late last night, (or early this morning for some of us,) we were shocked to hear our superintendent announce her retirement. A total surprise. No reason given.

That, on top of the looming budget and job cuts, after the pay cuts, budget cuts, and lost jobs last spring, have the teachers in my district reeling.

We're already facing MORE negative changes next year. What OTHER questionable changes might a new superintendent put in place?

It's hard to be a teacher in 2010.

[checks-n-balances]

43. I'm absolutely speechless.

And this is beyond despicable. The term "sold out" doesn't seem strong enough.

[Plucketeer]

46. And when ALL these BAD teachers are evicted...

... what'll be the next fix for the kids that continue to fail??? When is some vote-counting publick servant going to find the cajones to say: "'SCUSE ME - Mr. & Mrs PARENT! You actually have to be actively involved to see that your darlings succeed in school. Sorry to drop that responsibility in your laps, but that seems to be the only factor we haven't built a fire under."

Maybe we ought to eliminate all the un-responsible parents. OH GOD FORBID we make them answerable!!!

[madfloridian]

51. I want to make clear that though I oppose Duncan's plan to privatize schools..

that I am not advocating not voting for Democrats.

I am expressing my views on the subject.