A snapshot of what is wrong with Oregon public schools, the OEA for starters.

This is from the local paper, the Bend Bulletin. I find it amusing that our local demosocialistacrats rail on the BB as it is sooo conservative and far right. Not even close but they do get it right on many issues, as evidenced here.
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No substitute for real K-12 reform

Published: September 27. 2010 4:00AM PST

 Seven Oregon school districts, including some in Central Oregon, learned last week that they’ll receive more than $13 million in federal grant money to design new ways to evaluate and pay teachers. That’s the good news.


The bad news is that the Oregon City teachers union is threatening to withdraw from the Chalkboard Project’s CLASS program, which received the grant. If any of that district’s money is used to provide “teacher incentives,” or merit pay, the union’s out, according to an article in The Oregonian.


Cooler heads may prevail, of course, and the Oregon City teachers may stay put. It no doubt would be difficult to explain to district taxpayers why factoring student performance into teacher evaluations is so problematic that the district can afford to turn its back on badly needed money.


But the union’s response to the conditions of the grant makes one thing clear. As good as the Chalkboard Project is, it’s no substitute for legislative action where education reform is concerned.


The Chalkboard Project does great things, to be sure. The creation of six of Oregon’s leading private foundations, it has worked to come up with reform ideas based on research and on broad discussions across the state. It currently is focusing attention on pilot programs, including the ones being set up in Bend, Redmond and Crook County, that seek to find new ways to evaluate teachers and to reward those who are effective. Its efforts are starting to pay off, too, though only a handful of districts around the state are involved.


For outsiders, the Chalkboard Project’s CLASS program includes two notable components. Teacher evaluation is one, and, to that end, participating school districts are using various criteria to determine who’s a good teacher and who is not. One such measurement is student performance. Union members have, generally, opposed any evaluation program that actually sought to see how well kids did with a given teacher at the front of the room. The CLASS project’s second notable component, rewarding teachers whose evaluations mark them as better than average, is equally unacceptable to the state’s largest teachers union, the Oregon Education Association.


The OEA’s refusal to support meaningful reform measures, in fact, helped sink Oregon’s application for federal Race to the Top funding.


Unfortunately, too many lawmakers appear to be prepared to look at Chalkboard and its successes, and cite them as proof that education reform is moving ahead briskly in Oregon. So it is, but on a very small scale. It’s no substitute for the kind of fundamental reform Gov. Kulongoski promised to support when he pulled the state out of the Race to the Top competition.

Original editorial is here

Wisconsin Governor Signs Bill to Require Teaching of Union History in Schools. Shining moments in Union history,

Not much posting tonight due to lots of
work looking for work today. Will make
up for slacker time this weekend.


No doubt Unions will be presented in a glowing
light. As Mr. Fouse runs through some of 
America's finest union bosses, and moments
keep in mind that crime sometimes pays. It
is a real shame that the children of Wisconsin
will be the real losers during these teachable
moments.



Wisconsin Governor Signs Bill to Require Teaching of Union History in Schools

Cross posted from Fousesquawk

Recently Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle signed a bill that will make the teaching of the history of organized labor compulsory state-wide in Wisconsin schools. Of course, Doyle got big union bucks-especially from the Wisconsin Teamsters- in his last campaign for governor.

But before I go any further, I'd better check one detail because I know you are all wondering what party he belongs to, and I honestly don't know.

I'll be right back. Here are some pictures to keep you entertained while I do my homework. You might want to consider them for visual aids for the kids in Wisconsin.

I'm back. Yes, he's a Democrat. Just wanted to be 100% sure before I mentioned that.

So now that the kiddies are all going to be taught about the virtues and greatness of the labor unions, I thought since I am a teacher, I would submit some suggested lesson plans.

We could start with the Teamsters Union since they seem to be Doyle's biggest supporters. I won't bore you with real ancient history, but let's go back say, half a century and review the bios of a few past Teamsters presidents.

Dave Beck was president of the Teamsters from 1952-1957.
He was later indicted and went to prison for his corrupt practices.

The next president was Jimmy Hoffa from 1957 to 1967 when he
went to prison. President Nixon commuted his sentence on condition
he would not re-enter labor. He reneged on that and tried to get the
presidency back from strongman Frank Fitzsimmons. In 1975 Hoffa
disappeared and has never been seen since.

His successor, Fitzsimmons, was president of the Teamsters from
1967 to 1981. During his tenure, he was under numerous investigations
for his mob connections.

The next crook was Roy Williams, who served as president from 1981-1983. In 1982, he was convicted for conspiring to bribe a Nevada senator.
Off he went to prison for three years.

He was followed by Jackie Presser (1983-1988) who was under constant scrutiny for his mob links (the Cleveland crime family).

He was called to testify before the Presidential Commission on Organized Crime in 1985 and took the 5th 15 times. In 1984 and again in 1986, he was indicted on corruption charges. Somewhere along the line, it came out that he was an informant for the FBI. At any rate, his prosecution was delayed due to ill health until he died in 1988.

Then there is the UAW or the United Mine Workers union. This may not be fit material for younger age school children, but we might want to teach them about former president Joseph Yablonski. In 1969, he and his wife and daughter were murdered in their home by gunmen who broke in in the middle of the night. Turned out they were acting on behalf of one W.A Boyle who was a successor to Yablonski and wanted him out of the way. Boyle was subsequently convicted and sent to prison.

And it goes on and on. One would think that this course would fall under the Criminal Justice department of some university or that the teachers would be retired FBI agents.

But rest assured the kids will never hear about this stuff. They will hear about the early days of the union movement, you know, Samuel Gompers and all that stuff. Of course, there was a time when the unions were needed in America, but we never needed the likes of Jimmy Hoffa. We never needed unions that were in bed with organized crime. We never needed the corruption.

I suppose the kids will also get a healthy dose of the new big union on the block, the SEIU, under the "progressive" leadership of Andy Stern, a regular visitor to the White House in the past year. But they won't hear about the "Purple People Beaters", who have showed up to lend their muscle to Democrat rallies and town hall meetings, and who have on a couple of occasions beat up those "who don't go along with the program".

So teach them well all you Wisconsin teachers. After all, these are the union thugs of the future.



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-teachinglabor,0,3594315.story

New York fails to pass gay marriage bill. Major set back on the heels of Maine vote

New York does not pass Gay marriage
bill. This lost by 12 votes which was a larger
margin than expected. Many thought that
this bill would pass in New York. Perhaps
the American piblic is SICK and TIRED of having
this issue shoved in their face every time we
turn around. Leave marriage between a man
and women and call gay unions something
else, but NOT marriage.


updated 1 hour, 44 minutes ago

ALBANY, N.Y. - New York lawmakers rejected a bill Wednesday that would have made their state the sixth to allow gay marriage, disheartening advocates already stung by a similar decision by Maine voters just last month.

Did not work out too well

in New York, did it?

The New York measure failed by a wider margin than expected, falling 12 votes short in a 24-38 decision by the state Senate. The Assembly had earlier approved the bill, and Gov. David Paterson, perhaps the bill's strongest advocate, had pledged to sign it.

New York also doesn't allow civil unions, but has several laws, executive orders and court decisions that grant many of the rights to gays long enjoyed by married couples.

The vote comes after months of delays and arm twisting of lawmakers sympathetic to the bill but representing conservative districts. It also follows a referendum in Maine that struck down a gay marriage law before it took effect.

Immediately after the vote, gay rights advocates chanted: "Equal rights now!" Many said they weren't surprised by the decision. Most, including Paterson, said they at least wanted a floor debate and vote.

Senate sponsor Thomas Duane, a Manhattan Democrat and the Legislature's first openly gay member, vowed not to give up his life's goal.

"I'm like a dog with a bone," said Duane in his closing remarks on the floor, when defeat was becoming clear. "I wouldn't let go of anyone ... Because I don't give up. I don't know how to!"

Gay marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont. A New Hampshire law takes effect Jan. 1.

"It's certainly disappointing," said Richard Socarides, a 55-year-old Manhattan lawyer and resident and former President Bill Clinton's senior adviser on gay rights issues. "I'm surprised that it was not closer. We'll have to take a hard look at what went wrong."

'My Bible stays out'

Sen. Eric Adams, D-Brooklyn, challenged lawmakers to set aside their personal religious beliefs. He asked them to remember that once even slavery was legal.

"When I walk through these doors, my Bible stays out," Adams said.

"That's the wrong statement," said gay marriage opponent Sen. Ruben Diaz, a conservative minister from the Bronx. "You should carry your Bible all the time."

Diaz was the only opponent among the 38 to speak. Eighteen senators gave impassioned speeches, often about family members who survived the Holocaust and discrimination and would want gays to be equal under law.

msnbc.msn.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34242872/ns/us_news-life