Parents fear furlough's effects - Hawaii News

[KAzman]

alice wrote:

<quoted text>good point...don't let lingle divide us

again, you are not part of "us" if you are not registered to vote here.

[Stumpy]

KAzman wrote:

<quoted text>again, you are not part of "us" if you are not registered to vote here.

You just invalidated about 90% of Hawaii's residents. Mainland transplants vote, so don't complain about where the state is headed if you don't vote to prevent what happens to your islands. You let this place turn into Los Angeles, it's your own fault. The neighborhood boards already look like a bunch of Hollywood wannabes.

[alice]

Teachers here do not believe they are professionals. They think of themselves as hired hands who take orders from self-interested union leaders. How sad. Teaching used to be an honorable profession..a sacred profession. I would work through the furloughs and give the finger to the union thugs and Lingle.

[alice]

Nukkenfuts wrote:

If not attending school for 17 additional days is enough to make your kids get pregnant, or arrested, or addicted to drugs then you have already failed as a parent.

true

[dewdalohajjoe]

No mo moneh. No mo kala. Only get black n white.

[alice]

Joe..come home! The high humidity in TN is bad for your health. And those huge black trusks with 490 pound rural whites..I mean...they might be upset with you.

[DonnaMerck]

Concerned Parent HAWAII wrote:

<quoted text>
All of the people on here are missing the point. Under IDEA the services are provided on what a child needs not what you can offer them. Thus the 5 day IEP for the past year now becomes a 4 day IEP thru the furlough days and violates the federal law. Lawsuits are going to cost the state $, they need to audit the DOE and FIRE PAT HAMAMOTO--any CEO with a 30% rating wouldn't have a job.

No it does not violate the law. You are saying that each and every IDEA student NEEDS 5 days of special education, although it's not individual if that is the case, is it?
I highly doubt IEPs specify "5 days a week" because if that is the case, each time the child is sick, or there are holidays or waiver days, then the school is in violation of the law.

[alice]

Real teachers would have stayed on the job.

[okole kau kau]

alice wrote:

Real teachers would have stayed on the job.

Dis not Alice. Dis sound like Lana. Lana is that you?

[alice]

Lana and I agree on this point.

[Stumpy]

If your kid has initials like ADD after his name, just face the fact that you have a problem child because you are a failure. This is a result of parents not spanking their wayward children, and trying to be their friend instead of the parent. New-age buzz words translate into "brat." You can beat that right out of your kid. If you can't handle it, then don't have kids and expect the rest of us to pay for him forever. We didn't have this problem until the hippies took over, and now nothing is anyone's fault. You would be able to tell my kids if they pulled this stunt, they would be the ones in class that couldn't sit down.

[u wacko]

Yeah right. Always talking big. Based on all of your comments I know you have small man syndrome. ie. stumpy

[Ed Advo]

Blame Ratio:
20% on HSTA
20% on Pat Hamamoto (DOE)
20% on Garrat Toguchi (BOE)
20% on Democratic Controlled Legislature
20% on Lingle

Put 80% of Furlough Friday blame on the Hawaii Democratic Party

Put 20% on Governor Lingle.

[javlasubba]

Satyagraha wrote:

The only hope is the Feds.
Hawaii is failing No Child Left Behind.
Many of the schools have moved to "restructuring" which means they have F-A-I-L-E-D to meet standards for 5 years.
The Feds may just step in and over rule the furloughs as a detriment to the educational system in Hawaii. If the schools are restructured the Feds tell the BOE what they will do.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but our best hope lays with the Feds...in this case anyway

And do you know why Hawaii schools are failing NCLB standards? Because ALL students, including Sped (even the ones strapped to their wheelchairs and in diapers) must perform at the same grade level. Because according to Bush, every single child can (and will) learn everything they need to know at the same time, in the same way, at the same pace. Hawaii has some of the MOST stringent standards in the nation when it comes to NCLB (our lawmakers shot too high). Also, ELL and even truant students are included in the "count" when tests are given. Schools don't have the leeway to not include these students. Every year the percentage of students who must pass in order for your school not to fail gets raised so by the time 2014 rolls around, 100% of your students must pass or your school will fail!

Let me put it into a simple example: Say you are the manager of a widget factory that the government runs. A new mandate comes down which says that all workers must produce 5,000 widgets a day or your factory will be penalized. Now, it does not matter to the govt. that some of your workers are blind, or don't have two hands, or are old and move slowly, they each must produce the required amount of widgets. Heck, even those employees who called in sick that day must somehow produce those 5,000 widgets! And don't forget, each year the quota will go up! And no, you can't get rid of those "handicapped" workers or have them not count in the quota.

Are we getting it yet people? Stop blaming teachers and bashing public education. Many schools make tremendous gains toward attaining the standard, but fall short on one or two counts, but NO ONE reports the gains, only that they have failed again. I am proud of the gains my students make and I encourage them, not degrade them for the things they did wrong. How can students feel worthy and proud of their schools when all they hear in the news is the ONE side of the story; that their school failed, again. Makes me sick!

[Seitz]

javlasubba wrote:

<quoted text>
And do you know why Hawaii schools are failing NCLB standards? Because ALL students, including Sped (even the ones strapped to their wheelchairs and in diapers) must perform at the same grade level. Because according to Bush, every single child can (and will) learn everything they need to know at the same time, in the same way, at the same pace. Hawaii has some of the MOST stringent standards in the nation when it comes to NCLB (our lawmakers shot too high). Also, ELL and even truant students are included in the "count" when tests are given. Schools don't have the leeway to not include these students. Every year the percentage of students who must pass in order for your school not to fail gets raised so by the time 2014 rolls around, 100% of your students must pass or your school will fail!
Let me put it into a simple example: Say you are the manager of a widget factory that the government runs. A new mandate comes down which says that all workers must produce 5,000 widgets a day or your factory will be penalized. Now, it does not matter to the govt. that some of your workers are blind, or don't have two hands, or are old and move slowly, they each must produce the required amount of widgets. Heck, even those employees who called in sick that day must somehow produce those 5,000 widgets! And don't forget, each year the quota will go up! And no, you can't get rid of those "handicapped" workers or have them not count in the quota.
Are we getting it yet people? Stop blaming teachers and bashing public education. Many schools make tremendous gains toward attaining the standard, but fall short on one or two counts, but NO ONE reports the gains, only that they have failed again. I am proud of the gains my students make and I encourage them, not degrade them for the things they did wrong. How can students feel worthy and proud of their schools when all they hear in the news is the ONE side of the story; that their school failed, again. Makes me sick!

Sped kids are to blame for the DOE shortfall! Seitz and his cronies can whine all they want but they're still idiots!

[alice]

school outcomes will get worse and worse.

[Not Lono Anymore]

Daily Telegraph. UK. Tuesday October 22.

Barack Obama sees worst poll rating drop in 50 years

The decline in Barack Obama's popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term

[kimo]

Satyagraha wrote:

<quoted text>The only hope is the Feds. Hawaii is failing No Child Left Behind. Many of the schools have moved to "restructuring" which means they have F-A-I-L-E-D to meet standards for 5 years. The Feds may just step in and over rule the furloughs as a detriment to the educational system in Hawaii. If the schools are restructured the Feds tell the BOE what they will do. Correct me if I'm wrong, but our best hope lays with the Feds...in this case anyway

The Feds! My school has NEVER made AYP since year one, yet the Feds are not stepping in. We do not have an "approved" reading program (SFA, America's Choice) yet we've never been mandated to adopt one. We have so much paper trail and documentation showing what we're doing for school improvement that we are left alone. When we were visited by the Feds, they said all schools should be doing what we're doing. Yet we've NEVER made AYP. So don't put all your hopes in the Feds.