Ahh,all is great in Rahmboland.The hell with the kid,right?No wonder we are so behind the world in education. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/09/13768624-chicago-teachers-to-strike-monday?lite By NBC Chicago and Reuters For the first time in 25 years, teachers in the Chicago school system will walk off the job Monday after failing to reach a contract deal with district officials, NBC Chicago reported. In Chicago, parents are holding their breath as 29,000 public school teachers and support staff prepare to strike Monday, principally about salaries and teacher evaluations. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis announced late Sunday night that negotiations with the school board have ended without an agreement. We have failed to reach an agreement that will prevent a labor strike, she said at a news conference. Earlier, Chicago School Board President David Vitale said that more than 20 offers had been made to teachers throughout the last four days in hopes of preventing a strike, NBC Chicago reported. A strike in the third-largest school district in the nation would set up a historic confrontation between Mayor Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama's former top White House aide, and organized labor in the president's home city. Follow @NBCNewsUS Community leaders have begged both sides to come to an agreement and keep children in the nations third-largest school district in class. "We can't afford to have young people in harm's way," said Cy Fields, senior pastor of New Landmark Missionary Baptist Church, located in a violence-torn community. The strike will mean that some 350,000 children from kindergarten through high school may have to go to alternative centers for supervision such as churches and community centers. Nearly 150 schools will be open for a half day, as will 60 churches. The Chicago Park District and the YMCA will offer day-camps, NBC Chicago reported. A protracted stoppage could hurt relations between Obama's Democrats and national labor unions, who are among the biggest financial supporters of the Democratic Party and will be needed by the party to help get out the vote in the November 6 election. While Emanuel has not attended the talks, he and Lewis have clashed. She has accused him of being a bully and using profanity in private meetings. At issue are teacher pay and school reforms, including tougher teacher evaluations, which are at the heart of the national debate over improving struggling urban schools. 'A lot at stake' Both sides in Chicago agree the city's public schools need fixing. Chicago fourth-grade and eighth-grade students lag national averages in a key test of reading ability, according to the U.S. Department of Education. One union complaint is that class sizes are too big. Emanuel, who has a reputation as a tough negotiator, is demanding that teacher evaluations be tied to standardized test results, a move the union is resisting. He has also pushed through a longer school day this year. Only about 60 percent of high school students in Chicago graduate, compared with a national average of 75 percent and more than 90 percent in some affluent Chicago suburbs. More than 80 percent of the 402,000 students in Chicago public schools qualify for free lunches because they are from low-income families. The Chicago Public Schools say they have little room to maneuver on salary, with both the state and the city in dire financial straits. The district has a projected $3 billion deficit over the next three years and faces a crushing burden of pensions promised to retiring teachers. The strike is the biggest public or private labor action in the United States in a year and the first teachers' strike in Chicago since 1987.
those union thugs aren't getting enough pay from their cushy union jobs? why on earth do they need to strike, not enough doughnuts in the breakroom? that's one union as a liberal, i can't support, they ruin the lives of kids with their union lifestyle of laziness, milking the clock, getting by with the bare minimum.
"As a liberal" Sure thing! With your rhetoric? "Union lifestyle of laziness??" "Milking the clock" "bare minimum" What are you even talking about? The school schedule is the school schedule, are you saying union teachers go home and skip teaching the last half of Algebra class? You should give some thought to your made-up arguments. "One size" of union hate rhetoric does NOT "fit ALL" employees!!
With absolutely zero respect for taxpayers, their initial demand was for a 30% pay hike. .... Chicago has an overall average graduation rate of 55.8%....19.2% below the national average.... http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/2011/07/14/record-high-school-graduation-rates and teacher compensation packages are above the national average at 69K....a first year, bachelors degreed teacher at almost $51K......and a 20 year, doctorate degreed teacher at almost $94K. http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/June-2011/Chicago-Teacher-Salaries-The-Long-View/
The public teachers are committed to bigger paychecks for themselves whether little Johnny and Sally know how to read or not.
has anyone told them that 370k people left the labor pool because there are no jobs? Has anyone asked them if they tip a waiter for bad service and bad food yet they do not want to be merit based? why should laid off teachers due to lower demand be given back jobs? Is being a teacher in Chicago now a guaranteed job for life?
Shouldn't you only expect raises when you perform above expectations and bring extra value to your job, you know like the REAL WORLD works? In a private company their performance would be deemed worthy of "get the hell out of my office and find another job". Yes, measuring how good a teacher is isn't as simple as pass/fail, since each child and especially their parents have a lot to do with it. But their demands are from people who simply don't "get it". Maybe they should all get together and figure out a way to improve those graduation rates before asking for more money?
Their average salary is 30k more than the State's average salary. They have been so used to getting what they want that a 16% pay raise is not enough, they also don't want to have any limits on bad teachers.
Let's bring in third world teachers willing to do the jobs that Americans are not willing to do. Immigration is a good thing, right Dems?
Sad but true. Obama's America realized and in your face. Fiscal problems and education failures are of no importance to the self interests of unions. Their attitude appears to be "screw you and your snot nosed yard ape rug rats, we are first and you do not matter". Thats how Never Left see's it.
