Intercepts

Click here to read:

1) Florida Education Association Chief of Staff Ousted?
2) NEA's Retention on Retention
3) No Cash Left Behind in Arizona
4) Solidarity Forever?
5) White Hat and Black Humor
6) NEA Spent $9.2 Million Lobbying in 2007
7) Last Week's Intercepts
8) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 13:16 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:03 | Permalink | Comments

About 30 teachers from McDonogh No. 35 High School in New Orleans staged a sickout as a protest against a change in the school calendar that they believed would result in a loss of pay.

Oops. Turns out they were mistaken. The New Orleans Times-Picayune picks up the story:

"The reduction in the calendar is not resulting in any reduction in pay for
teachers and staff," [chief financial officer Stan] Smith said. The board voted
to alter the calendar to reflect the number of days teachers are paid after
discovering that the district had mistakenly scheduled four extra days,
officials said. As a result, the teachers' last day will be May 19 and the
students' last day will be May 16 -- well above the state's mandated minutes for
instruction, officials said.

Smith said the district e-mailed letters to teachers and
principals Wednesday -- the first day back following spring break -- alerting
them of the schedule change and that pay wouldn't be affected. Principals and
administrative staff were also asked to distribute the information, Smith
said.

"A small group of employees at McDonogh 35 failed to receive the
explanation," according to a board statement to reporters.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 13:33 | Permalink | Comments

In Indiana, the Michigan City Education Association is planning a unique protest of slow contract negotiations in the district:

As a protest, teachers will wear clothing in colors to express their
feelings about issues they say affect not only their working environment but
also students.

On Monday, they will wear blue "because we are sad for our children for not
getting services they need due to large class sizes and the omission of
programs."

On Tuesday they wear red because "we are seeing red because we are working
without a contract."

On Wednesday they wear green because "we are envious of (school) districts
that treat their teachers fairly and respect them as professionals."

On Thursday they wear orange. In the style of a children's riddle, they
ask, "Orange you glad you're with a highly qualified teacher today?"

On Friday, they wear black "because we have not received a raise to reflect
a cost-of-living increase."

Here are a few ideas for the following week:

Monday - Silver and gold "for what we want from the taxpayers."

Tuesday - Brown "for the citizens who brown-bag it to pay for our benefits."

Wednesday - Yellow "for the politicians who cave in to our demands."

Thursday - Pink "for the pink slips against which tenure protects us."

Friday - Maroon "for the generation of maroons and ignoranimuses we're turning out."

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:33 | Permalink | Comments

Texas middle school principal John Burks is accused of threatening to kill his eighth-grade science teachers if student test scores didn't improve.

"He said if the TAKS scores were not as expected he would kill the teachers," said teacher Anita White. "He said 'I will kill you all and kill myself.' He finished the meeting that way and we were in shock. Obviously, we talked about it among ourselves. He just threatened our lives. After he threatened to kill us, he said, 'You don't know how ruthless I can be.'"

If true, Mr. Burks is unhinged and shouldn't be in charge of any school. But the Texas State Teachers Association gets to the root cause.

"It sounds like a case of TAKS tyranny taken to the extreme," claimed TSTA spokesman Joe Bean, who said teachers and administrators are often punished for disappointing test performance. "Once a principal gets a reputation as not able to get the scores that are required, that principal is virtually unemployable," he said.

Well, whatever you do, don't send him to Las Vegas.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:01 | Permalink | Comments

Jena High School is in the news again.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:39 | Permalink | Comments

I have been able to confirm yesterday's story (see "Butera Gets the Boot?") that Michael Butera, former executive director of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, was summarily axed as NEA's Northeast regional director. He has been replaced on an interim basis by Kathleen Lyons.

Lyons has held a number of positions for NEA and its affiliates, from national communications director to executive director of NEA New York during its merger with New York State United Teachers, and most recently manager of NEA's UniServ program.

Still no word on the cause of Butera's abrupt ouster, but the rumor mill is churning.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 13:55 | Permalink | Comments

An amendment to vastly increase the scope of collective bargaining in Iowa went from first sighting to passage in both houses of the state legislature in six days.

The bill passed the Iowa Senate yesterday on a 27-23 vote, and even Democratic Gov. Chet Culver is uneasy about the way it happened.

"I believe it's crystal clear more time is necessary for all Iowans to have a chance to better understand this proposed legislation and be more involved in the process," Culver said.

Sen. Dick Dearden, a Democrat from Des Moines, defended the bill's passage, claiming unions will be reasonable with their requests. "They’re not going to break the bank," he said. (File that one under "famous last words.")

Senate President Jack Kibbie, a Democrat from Emmetsburg, said he can't believe Gov. Culver would veto the bill. "Because of his future," Kibbie said. "He's running on the Democratic ticket, I presume."

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:28 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) A Historical Look at the Teacher Labor Market
2) The Atlantic and Pacific Tides
3) Keep an Eye on Iowa
4) Butera Gets the Boot?
5) Last Week's Intercepts
6) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 14:58 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:39 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 10:28 | Permalink | Comments

From today's Miami Herald:

"Whatever happens with the Florida Democratic delegation, neither Obama nor
Clinton will have enough delegates to win the nomination. They're locked in a
bitter struggle that I predict will continue right through the Democratic
convention, and then through the November presidential election. Next January
President McCain will be giving his inaugural address, while somewhere else in
America, Clinton and Obama will be holding their 1,387th debate, with the
hostility level between them having reached the point where the debate consists
entirely of spitting."

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:47 | Permalink | Comments

"This group is anti-worker, anti-labor, anti-public school and in fact anti-American. This does nothing to address the real problems in education today. We're getting a seven-story billboard when what we need are textbooks and smaller class sizes." - Doug Pratt, communications director for the Michigan Education Association, responding to the TeachersUnionExposed.com billboard campaign.

I'm glad he feels that way. Maybe now we won't see so many of these:














or these:












or these:















or these.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 10:01 | Permalink | Comments

I'm making a quick road trip to New Orleans to deliver a keynote speech at the annual conference of the North American Association of Educational Negotiators. I'll be back blogging on Thursday.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:32 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) Border Fence Proposed for Wrong Border
2) Teacher Shortage Touters Never Say Die
3) There Are Always Strings
4) Can You Hear Me Now?
5) Press-Telegram Plaudits
6) Last Week's Intercepts
7) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 12:48 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:12 | Permalink | Comments

The New York Observer features the sad lament of Leila Medley, the director of government relations for Missouri NEA and a Democratic superdelegate:

"I kept getting calls twice a day on my cell phone—once in the morning,
once in the evening. After two or three weeks it kept ringing at a pretty
predictable time. I answered it and was the Obama campaign. So they stopped
calling and I don't answer anything where a number doesn't show up on my phone.
So I'm not getting a lot of pressure from the Obama people. I told a friend at
SEIU, if the Obama people really want to talk to me, tell them to let their
number come through so that I can see where it's from."

Life's tough all over. I get hassled more often by the guy who wants to fix my car windshield. And by the way, Observer, her name is Leila. Layla would have been reasonably close, but "Leana?"

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:30 | Permalink | Comments

The New York Democrat is in the Mayflower Hotel with a $4,300 hooker while the Idaho Republican is in the men's room at the Minneapolis airport with an undercover cop.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:49 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:48 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) Top Ten Union Officer/Staffer Quotes About EIA
2) Unions Poke Holes in $125,000 Teacher Plan
3) Obama Gets Oregon NEA Endorsement… Barely
4) Calling Sister Mary Elephant!
5) Six California NEA Locals Join AFL-CIO
6) Last Week's Intercepts
7) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 13:53 | Permalink | Comments

Senior columnist Michael F. Shaughnessy interviewed me for EdNews.org. A taste:

"The only thing I worry about in education is that the next generation will be
split into a tiny group of people who can create things like iPhones, Google,
vaccines, robots and space stations, and a vast group of people who are unable
to read and understand the directions to operate these things."

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:11 | Permalink | Comments

That's the word from the Scripps Howard News Service:

"Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association, said his
frustration with the candidates' lack of focus on education caused him to write
to all four (sic) candidates saying the NEA, the country's largest
teachers union, with 3.2 million members, would not endorse a candidate this
year."

Strange story, since I haven't heard this from anywhere else, and who was the fourth candidate? Huckabee? Gravel? Ron Paul? Lucian Wojciechowski (see Item #2)?

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 10:04 | Permalink | Comments

United Federation of Teachers chapter leader James Eterno reports on the ICEUFT Blog that UFT President Randi Weingarten announced her intention to retain her position in New York City if she decides to run for the presidency of the American Federation of Teachers in July.

Incumbent president Ed McElroy announced his retirement last month, paving the way for Weingarten. She is the only viable candidate.

Both Al Shanker and Sandy Feldman stayed on as UFT presidents after assuming the AFT mantle, but times are different now. It's likely that surrogates will handle the day-to-day operations at UFT.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:23 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:08 | Permalink | Comments

Gwinnett County has Georgia's largest school system, burgeoning enrollment, and 1,600 teacher openings, mostly due to retirement. It also has a lot of applicants, including many from other states:

Krista Batten, 21, flew in from Wisconsin to interview. The senior at the
University of Wisconsin will graduate in May and had heard about the job
opportunities in Gwinnett.

"There's such a job shortage in education in Wisconsin that you sometimes need to work as a sub for five years before someone will hire you," Batten said.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 12:14 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 09:09 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

Special Slow News Week Edition!

1) Head of the Machinists Union Is a Tool
2) How to Reduce Illegal Immigration
3) NEA AK PR $
4) NEA Affiliate Executive Director Turnover Reaches Crisis Proportions
5) Last Week's Intercepts
6) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 11:58 | Permalink | Comments

The autonomy movement in Denver is leading to a strange phenomenon: a boom market for quality teachers:

Diane Kenealy interviewed for a teaching job at West Denver Preparatory
Charter School on Jan. 9, received a job offer within 24 hours and accepted the
position three days later.

Compare that rapid hiring to this spring's staffing calendar in
traditional Denver Public Schools, which dictates principals can't schedule
interviews with teaching candidates until the middle of March.

Even then, they can only talk to candidates already working in a city
school.

A DPS principal who wants to talk to a college senior such as Kenealy,
who spends her summers teaching poor children in Denver, has to wait another
full month, until mid-April.

Kristin Waters, principal of Bruce Randolph School, the first of the autonomy schools, called the hiring process "a mad rush."

"It's very fast," she said. "Everybody is kind of jockeying for the same candidates . . . and they get lots of offers, and you have to try to convince them why you are the best place to come."

Schools fighting for the best teachers? How can this be bad? Leave it to Kim Ursetta, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, to find the dark cloud behind the silver lining.

She told the Rocky Mountain News that some teachers will interview from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. before school, work a full day and then interview after school until 10 p.m.

"It's very hard to have a quality interview with such tight timelines," Ursetta said.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:46 | Permalink | Comments