Chicago MMXII

R n I r going 2 c Prince!

G4Y!

Ha - Good 4 You, not GAY.

LOL. I thought you were calling the endeavor gay.

I have a ticket for The Magic Flute at Chicago Opera Theater on 9/26 that I cannot use or change if anyone wants to go. Just one ticket but you can have it at no cost to you.

Jesus, we really should open a Boystown bar called G4Y! and get rich.

I just got back from the DG sidewalk sale. It was fun!

Walgreens at Halsted & Diversey

http://i.imgur.com/jDMfk.jpg

tre kronor has an immensley delightful patio, I was surprised. Good food, too.

god i hate autumn. it's the "i don't watch television" of seasons.

― well pull down my pants and call me swamp thing (latebloomer), Wednesday, October 14, 2009 12:30 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wtf does this mean?

That it's pretentious and affected? It's probably a joke.

That is one of all-time favorite ILX posts!

Oh! jaymc, you reposted it. I thought you were the OP. Sorry, I saw it when I was just waking up this morning. N'mind.

rob lowe was awesome - super skeez, got the accent just right

I didn't see it, but a few h.s. friends posted about it on FB, delighting in the errors of geography -- e.g., visible palm trees in a couple of scenes, a "B0lingbr00k Middle School" (we had several middle schools).

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/120831-chicago-teachers-140a.photoblog600.jpg

ON STRIKE SHUT IT DOWN CHICAGO IS A UNION TOWN

I fully support the unions and their ability to strike, but I hope there are no major repercussions from this. Union support and membership are at all-time lows, and this is the sort of strike that hurts kids and parents first and foremost. I hope they resolve it soon. Can any of you better illustrate the sticking points here? I am under the impression it is not about money, but I find that hard to believe (I think teachers agreed to a pay freeze a few years ago, and now are angling for a raise to retroactively make up for the lost pay?). What are the sticking points?

Casimir Pulaski Day

Class size is a big one.

New evaluations procedures that would put a lot of focus on standardized test scores.
Increases (or status quo) in teacher training.
AC units in classrooms!
Small class sizes.
Elected school board.
More social workers, counselors, audio/visual and hearing technicians and school nurses.

http://www.ctunet.com/blog/cps-fails-to-negotiate-fair-contract-to-prevent-first-labor-strike-in-25-years

1. I am not a huge fan of the president of CTU just based on some of the things she's said in interviews BUT Rahm is a jerrrrrrrrk and a half when it comes to union stuff. Bargaining in good faith is not his strong suit.
2. Holy shit put AC units in the classrooms!
3. An elected school board is a big one to me. A school board is appointed by the mayor is largely worthless because it's going to be a repository for politically connected hacks (I have some experience with this on the state level). I bet CTU will never get this one.
4. Additional staff resources are crucial in some neighborhoods.

I can't really speak to standardized tests other than knowing that every teacher I know hates them, and training seems like a good thing. It all sounds very reasonable to me.

isn't the standardized testing stuff related to teacher evaluations which is what the whole 'shutting down schools and opening non-union charter' tactic hinges on? seemed like that was a big bone of contention to me.

I think so. Mayor is also way into charters if it means people get off his back (this seems to be all he really cares about) and he has some test scores to flash around, but honestly this is not really my bag. I don't work at a union school (unfortch) and higher ed has its own major probs to deal with.

I like that photo though -- lady on the left is making quite a face at the "(s)maller ass sizes" sign she's standing next to

A good read from a teacher:
http://gapersblock.com/mechanics/2012/09/07/whats-at-stake-for-chicago-public-educators/#.UE3gRCwqRj4.facebook

It seems that a couple of the big sticking points involve teachers resisting closing underperforming schools and more control over teacher evaluations, which probably means firing practices. Frankly, I'm not sure, given budget squeezes, how they can afford to do many of the things being asked for - A/C in all classes, smaller classes (which means more teachers), more social workers, fewer firings and/or school closings - in addition to pay increases, which I'm pretty confident the unions would not concede.

Commentator on the radio this morning hypothesized that an underlying impetus for the strike is a power play reacting to threats to collective bargaining rights. A lot of the comments from the union seem a tad disingenuous, given how little this and pay have been brought up. Not sure if there's even room to compromise, given the demands. Really hope they find a solution, because if this goes on it will be pretty damaging to the unions, which increasingly have been under fire by way of the ballot box.

BTW, with regard to test scores, how beholden are CPS to the No Child Left Behind nonsense, which seems designed to tear schools apart with rising, unreasonable standards? Legally, can schools bypass lame NCLB laws?

For those who prefer radio to words - WBEZ's Linda Lutton on reasons for strike http://soundcloud.com/wbez/what-are-the-details-of-the

evaluation a huge thing
too much emphasis on test scores

job security
closing low performing schools

etc

mayor is pissed

also acc to lutton union leaders are taking a stand on
* recent neighboring states attacks on collective bargaining
* evaluation being tied to test scores
* their position on wide reaching philosophical issues that a group can only protest through collective bargaining

can you tell i am working on ways to teach summarizing?!

from a teacher friend via fb:

t is official; Chicago Teachers Union is on strike. There is plenty of rhetoric supporting both the teachers and the board. I have been asked how I can do this to the kids. I want to turn around and ask how can I not! What I am fighting for is a better education for all students.
• I fight for smaller class sizes for students, as studies continue to show have a positive effect on student learning.
• I fight for wraparound services that will help students to focus on their education because their basic needs are finally being met.
• I fight for more professionals in the special education department. Currently about 15% of the students at the school at which I work receive special education services, with that number increasing daily and they deserve the services and professionals to help them learn.
• I fight for a way to fairly evaluate teachers on more than just test scores.
• I fight for students to receive equal opportunities whether they live on the north side, south side, west side, or anywhere in between.
• I fight for social services to help students cope with the realities of tragedies that many are going through daily.
• I fight against CPS giving up on schools and giving tax dollars to charter schools that only keep the strongest students and kick out the weaker struggling students and still don’t show consistent better data than CPS schools.
• I fight for enrichment programs like art, music, and physical education so our students can be well rounded critical thinkers ready to take on the challenges of a changing world. Being able to fill in bubbles on a test does not measure skills like that, nor does it teach them.
• I fight to help my students identify their strengths and skills and lay out a path that can help them follow those to a life after high school that incorporates those gifts that they possess.
• I fight for a fair wage based upon my education, the need for me to keep attending classes to keep up to date on current studies so I can best meet the needs of my students, and to keep the educational certificate I have earned.
Do I like being in this situation, no I don’t; but I would rather miss a couple of days of school now to ensure a better education than to passively sit by while students are shortchanged in their education for a four year contract that the board is proposing. I am an educator and I fight to be able to actually educate students in a meaningful way. Why do I feel this way? Because I was lucky enough to have parents and quality teachers who challenged me and shaped me into who I am. I say thank you to the educators who came before me, solidarity to those around me now, I fight for you, educators who will come next, and most of all, I fight for students; past, present, and future!
-C@r0lyn L@tsh@w
Proud CPS Educator

The smaller class size thing isn't so much about teachers, but it's about students. Yes, the budget is in shambles but students (and ESPECIALLY students in cruddy neighborhoods (that are cruddy due to municipal decisions dating back to Daley Sr.'s reign)) should not bear the burden of it.

what it sounds like to me, outside of the physical plant issues (climate control, leaky roof, etc) is that no one believes that teachers know best about how to educate students.
this is what it takes for them to have their opinion considered seriously.
depressing that this is true, but i support using whatever voice people will listen to.

^^^ otm

Schools should not be a lab for testing out free market solutions or political ideologies or a place to cut corners because we're talking about educating human beings that are going to grow up and take over when I'm too old and weak to stop them from killing me with their stupid, uneducated decisions so please, for the love of Pete, let's funnel some serious money into these institutions, listen to teachers, and put students first.

gonna steal that line carl fyi

Help yourself!

I think spending is the solution to many problems. People are often so focused on cutting - cutting programs, cutting budgets, cutting staff - that they forget that actually investing - in schools, in newspapers, in infrastructure - is a legit strategy that benefits/behooves everyone. But the question really is where the money will come from, no? Virtually everything the teachers are asking for entails a considerable budget expenditure, and I wish there were a way to find the money. But my understanding is that the city budget, like the state budget, is teetering in a really precarious place as it is, and there's really no reason to believe Rahm is lying about it; if anything, budget problems are probably worse than most of us realize. So what is the solution? All teacher demands can be perfectly reasonable and equally unimplementable barring major compromises on both sides. Which seems tough, given the total lack of goodwill on both sides.

teachers be strikin outside my window

been seeing a lot of pics w/ signs decrying TIFs as part of the problem, fundingwise

right -- alderman's ofc is across the street

I can't speak to city budgets, but I will say this about state budgets: since our current governor took office, he has created six management level positions in the high 5, low 6 figure salary range that did not exist in the 20 years prior. So generously that's nearly half a million dollars of additional spending in this agency alone in unnecessary jobs in the last three years. The people filling these jobs come from the campaigns and offices of other well-known, powerful state politicians, and not because they are particularly skilled at these jobs.

Again, this is state government. Under Daley I would have said that is exactly what is happening in city govt, and while I don't know that Rahm is up to the same shenanigans, I am confident there are legacy situations going on similar to this.

So as for where the money is coming from, you can rest assured that some of it could easily come from dismantling the insanely expensive patronage system going on in state and local government.

And don't even get me started on union employees' state pensions. Just trust me that they took a closer look at the pension systems for governmental appointees and made the same changes there that they have made to union employees' pensions, we'd be in much better shape.

HUGE group of protesters outside my window screaming hey hey ho ho rahm emanuel's got to go

xpost All that makes perfect sense, but it doesn't sound terribly different from unfair criticisms levied again "underperforming" teachers or schools. It just seems weird to complain about allegedly superfluous legacy government employees that cost too much and could be let go when one of the major concerns of the teacher's union is retaining the power to basically prevent the government from firing teachers it considers superfluous and closing schools it thinks are unnecessary. No one wants to be fired, no one wants pensions cut, no one wants their benefits curtailed. But everyone wants more money.

they're gone now btw

Where did they go?

not sure -- there are only three left
i'm talking about the large group of protesters that was outside my window screaming at the top of their lungs

iirc official picketing of individual schools ends around 10:30 so that everyone can go to the loop for the big rally

ahhhhh
nice logistics, folks!

plz don't quote me on that, I can't even find the source (but I think it was on fb, got 3 different teacher friends, one of them is a 'strike captain' and I think he posted it)

Power in numbers.