Tom Dooher: Yes, evaluate teachers. But let's be smart about it.

[LeJumbo Soros]

Ditch the Bitch wrote:

<quoted text>
Contact your moderator if you are tired of the wench Monet/Bruin/Seeker/Megyn/Capt Crunch/Sisyphus/Big Ellyfink and a hundred other names destroying the forums with her repeated posting of the same text dozens of times, her abusive name calling, and her ten thousand George Soros posts regardless of the topix, and her continual hijacking of other's monikers.

Oh Me, Boss, de pain, de pain! Looks like the Master cut and Paster is feeling a little pain. Le Jumbo brags that he has an in with the moderator, or that HE is the moderator, and sqeals in agfony when a taste of his own medicine is dished up to him. Bwwwaaahhaaahahah.

[Ditch the Bitch]

LeJumbo Soros wrote:

<quoted text>
Oh Me, Boss, de pain, de pain! Looks like the Master cut and Paster is feeling a little pain. Le Jumbo brags that he has an in with the moderator, or that HE is the moderator, and sqeals in agfony when a taste of his own medicine is dished up to him. Bwwwaaahhaaahahah.

Contact your moderator if you are tired of the wench Monet/Bruin/Seeker/Megyn/Capt Crunch/Sisyphus/Big Ellyfink and a hundred other names destroying the forums with her repeated posting of the same text dozens of times, her abusive name calling, and her ten thousand George Soros posts regardless of the topix, and her continual hijacking of other's monikers.

[KTK]

Adam wrote:

<quoted text>
I would agree if the above statement read like:
The first thing that needs to happen is the legislature has to level the playing field so every district has the resources to attract quality students and parents.
That is really the issue we are all dancing around here.

Seems like you're the one dancing. Correct me if I'm wrong but your point is privatize???? Of course, private schools have a leg up on the public schools because of the high degree of parent involvement and the fact that the majority of their students are secure and having basic needs met at home. When parents are involved, kids succeed-plain and simple. In a public education setting, we are charged with educating ALL students regardless of their level of parental involvement or income. It can be done, and I've seen quality teachers do amazing things with students living well below the poverty line time and time again. I'm sick of the whining - yes, there are things out of your control, but it's your job so deal with it. If you don't like the job, move on - there are a lot of great teachers out there waiting in the wings.
What I will agree with is that sweeping generalizations of the public education setting are unfair and dangerous. There are many individuals and entities that are student-centered and doing great work. The public system isn't broken, but it's seriously compromised. It needs major reform that starts with ridding the union of their strong arm in negotiations (threat to strike and financial penalty to districts for not settling by the deadline) followed by finance, tenure and mandate reforms.

[Approval]

Most americans agree that we should do away with unions in the schools, so let's get it done. We will never be able to solve our education problems as long as unions are still involved.

[No ThankYou]

No lay off teachers and increase class size!

CUT K-12!!!!

[Adam]

KTK wrote:

<quoted text>
Seems like you're the one dancing. Correct me if I'm wrong but your point is privatize???? Of course, private schools have a leg up on the public schools because of the high degree of parent involvement and the fact that the majority of their students are secure and having basic needs met at home. When parents are involved, kids succeed-plain and simple. In a public education setting, we are charged with educating ALL students regardless of their level of parental involvement or income. It can be done, and I've seen quality teachers do amazing things with students living well below the poverty line time and time again. I'm sick of the whining - yes, there are things out of your control, but it's your job so deal with it. If you don't like the job, move on - there are a lot of great teachers out there waiting in the wings.
What I will agree with is that sweeping generalizations of the public education setting are unfair and dangerous. There are many individuals and entities that are student-centered and doing great work. The public system isn't broken, but it's seriously compromised. It needs major reform that starts with ridding the union of their strong arm in negotiations (threat to strike and financial penalty to districts for not settling by the deadline) followed by finance, tenure and mandate reforms.

OK, I will correct you. Your assumption was wrong. I am not a proponent of private schools or a voucher system. Like you, I was simply trying to bring out a point that when there is poverty, the children don't do as well. Everyone is saying get rid of the teacher if they can't get their kids to produce the results. Well, you can sat that until you are blue in the face and it will not make much, if any difference. Case in point is the low income only voucher system in Milwaukee. The voucher kids actually tested out LOWER in math than the public school kids.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_17722282

[done as a society]

No ThankYou wrote:

No lay off teachers and increase class size!
CUT K-12!!!!

Where are you going with this one?
Shall we blow the whole thing up?
No more schools?
Everyone for themselves.

[Adam]

I may as well add that the stress level of dealing with the many problems and out of control administration at inner city schools is much higher also. Attracting the top teachers to the war zones of Minneapolis and St. Paul isn't an easy task either.

[monet]

MN GOP Education Agenda: No Surprises

by: dan.burns
Wed Mar 30, 2011 at 09:20:08 AM CDT

In other words, about as wrongheaded as can be. Minnesota crazed teabaggers Republicans are passing their education agenda through the legislature, and it sux. Lowlights include:
- Continued emphasis on standardized testing as a means of assessing teacher performance. Emphasizing standardized testing as a be-all and end-all, or anything close to it, is a joke.

- Destroying the teacher tenure system. Here's commentary on what a despicable agenda item that is. I'd add that right-wing squealing on this issue is a preposterous red herring, because the vast majority of teachers are pretty damn good.

- Vicious cuts to higher education. Another anti-knowledge item, brilliantly explicated herein, got tacked onto that one.
- Vouchers, a miserable idea whose time has long since passed.

That's not all, but it will do to go on. These bills will certainly run up against Governor Dayton's veto, and what the end result might include is not something on which I'm prepared to speculate, yet. Except that it won't be what our schools need: more resources, less emphasis on facile nonsense like endless standardized testing, and an end to scapegoating education professionals in a desperate effort to divert emphasis from the real problems, namely, handouts-for-the-haves governance and the brute anti-intellectualism of conservatism itself.

Of course, if I was virtually half-witted, too, yet somehow managed to get elected to the state legislature, too, maybe I wouldn't see much use in "book learning," either

[Le Jumbo Soros]

monet wrote:

MN GOP Education Agenda: No Surprises
by: dan.burns
Wed Mar 30, 2011 at 09:20:08 AM CDT
In other words, about as wrongheaded as can be. Minnesota crazed teabaggers Republicans are passing their education agenda through the legislature, and it sux.

I may not make sense, but I sure can copy and paste.

[wtf]

With the exception of child molestation, as it is right now teachers have jobs for life!

[Bob the Bilderberger]

wtf wrote:

With the exception of child molestation, as it is right now teachers have jobs for life!

The pervs in the school system are so numerous now the union is considering listing sex with minors as a negotiated benefit.

[Adam]

Bob the Bilderberger wrote:

<quoted text>
The pervs in the school system are so numerous now the union is considering listing sex with minors as a negotiated benefit.

OK, let's grow up just a little bit here...

[unemployed teacher]

Ineffective teachers as well as excellent techers can be terminated. Read "When Teachers Talk" to hear true stories from teachers whose effectivenes was undermined by administrators who were not qualified to evaluate teachers.

A teacher injured by an out of control student or otherwise injured in the course of work is at high risk of losing his/her job. All the administrator has to do is conduct repeated observations without notice, nitpick everything the teacher does, direct the teacher to teach using ineffective methods, hide the teacher's materials, and criticize the teacher in front of students. If the teacher refers a student for possible chemical abuse, tell the student who made the referral. When the student comes to attack the teacher, don't discipline the student. By the way, workers compensation will not help the teacher and Education Minnesota will not come to the aid of an injured teacher!