Seattle Teachers Union Seeks to Ban Teach For America
Seattle Teachers Union Seeks to Ban Teach For America
Teachers unions, known for fighting to keep pedophiles in the classroom, try to get rid of good teachers in Seattle. Last week, I wrote about the particularly egregious case of a teacher in Rochester, NY who sent sexually charged emails to her principal and was subsequently jailed for ignoring a restraining order. Upon her release,...
By Larry Sand
Adults’ Rights Come Before Children’s Health and Welfare in Public Schools
Adults’ Rights Come Before Children’s Health and Welfare in Public Schools
Parents send their children to school assuming that kids are its number one priority. But as recent events have shown, public schools are Ground Zero for a culture that puts children last and doesn’t hold adults accountable. In Waiting For Superman, Michelle Rhee stated that it took her a while, but she finally realized that...
By Larry Sand
School Choice: Time to Move Forward
School Choice: Time to Move Forward
As evidence mounts that the government/union education monopoly is failing our children, 2012 should see ramped up efforts to advance school choice. Last week, Education Week published “What Research Says About School Choice,” in which nine scholars analyze the results of various studies concerning “school choice” – the quaint notion that parents should be able...
By Larry Sand
CTA in Bed with the Occupy Crowd? LOL!
CTA in Bed with the Occupy Crowd? LOL!
The California Teachers Association is seeking cover in the Occupy Wall Street movement. The OWS crowd doesn’t understand that CTA and other public employee unions are a major part of the problem. Last week, part of my post concerned itself with the March 5th “Occupy the Capitol” protest being promoted by the California Teachers Association....
By Larry Sand
The Brazen Hypocrisy of the Teachers Unions
The Brazen Hypocrisy of the Teachers Unions
When teachers unions wear their duplicity like a bright red bandana, it shows the whole world what they really are about. Last week, New Jersey Education Association Executive Director Vincent Giordano, who makes over $500,000 a year in salary and assorted perks, shoved his foot in his mouth big time. Appearing on “New Jersey Capitol...
By Larry Sand
CTA Sponsored Legislation Could Cripple Charter School Growth
CTA Sponsored Legislation Could Cripple Charter School Growth
The California Teachers Association can’t realistically unionize all charter schools, so it promotes laws that limit their numbers. In Golden Missed Opportunity, recently published in City Journal, I examined the options that families in California have if they want to remove their children from failing public schools. The pickings in the Golden State are rather...
By Larry Sand
Jerry Brown and CTA: Testphobic Twins
Jerry Brown and CTA: Testphobic Twins
Children in the Golden State will get a better education when teacher quality becomes a priority. In perhaps the most in-depth study on the subject to date, three Ivy League economists studied how much the quality of individual teachers matters to their students over the long term. The paper, by Raj Chetty and John N....
By Larry Sand
Exposing a 40 Year Education Crime: Why California Needs School Choice
Exposing a 40 Year Education Crime: Why California Needs School Choice
Busting LAUSD and every other school district in the state for negligence should help kids, but it’s anyone’s guess as to when. In the meantime, giving families more educational options would be a great help, but don’t hold your breath, California. With National School Choice Week underway, we see many positive things happening across the...
By Larry Sand
More Pension Truths and Why You Should be Very Angry
More Pension Truths and Why You Should be Very Angry
How much is that sweet retired teacher who lives down the street draining from your bank account? As the public employee pension mess worsens in California, little Rhode Island shows a way out. In last week’s post, I focused on “air time,” a little known scheme in California and 20 other states that allows teachers...
By Larry Sand
State Sponsored Thievery Continues in Plain Sight
State Sponsored Thievery Continues in Plain Sight
Teachers and other public employees use “air time” to pick your pocket. The California State Teachers Retirement System tries calming words. David Crane tells the truth and loses yet another job. Saying that the state teachers’ retirement system is underfunded is the understatement of this or any year and now, CalSTRS is giving us specifics....
By Larry Sand
Visitors from Outer Space and Their Strange Ideas About Education Reform
Visitors from Outer Space and Their Strange Ideas About Education Reform
There are those among us who think that teachers unions, collective bargaining and peer assistance review are the way to a better education for kids. They look like earthlings, but in fact are extraterrestrials. As the year draws to a close, newspapers, magazines and blogs are filled with best of and worst of lists that...
By Larry Sand
The “Let’s Brainwash American Children Club” Has a New Member
The “Let’s Brainwash American Children Club” Has a New Member
Venerable Scholastic has joined progressive educators and teachers unions in an effort to indoctrinate and radicalize American school children. Scholastic, a student magazine that has been in business for over 90 years, has caught the progressive fever. (H/T Mary Grabar.) This malady affects common sense and good judgment and leads the afflicted to report news...
By Larry Sand
Tenure for Teachers: Enough is Enough
Tenure for Teachers: Enough is Enough
Every year untold thousands of school kids are harmed by teachers who shouldn’t be allowed in a classroom. Parents must be given an opportunity to send their children elsewhere. A teacher arrives at work high on drugs…daily. A teacher regularly flies into rages, terrifying kids and coworkers. A teacher talks in explicit terms about sex...
By Larry Sand
The Route to Teacher Union Extinction: Is the Other Shoe Dropping?
The Route to Teacher Union Extinction: Is the Other Shoe Dropping?
In addition to online learning, Democrat’s abandonment of their traditional union allies could put an end to the educational status quo and decimate the teachers unions. In my October 18th post, I wrote about Terry Moe’s book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America’s Public Schools. I specifically addressed that part of the book in which...
By Larry Sand