And They Wonder Why CPS is Broke??

Just the facts: 

Jean Claude Brizard "resigns" in October because he "fell out of favor" with Rahm Emanuel but gets to keep working at his current salary until December 31, 2012.

Brizard will get one year salary after that, which has a price tag attached of $250,000.00!

Brizard will get one full year of health insurance for him and his family paid for by the school system!

Brizard will leave with a "glowing recommendation" for a job well done!

(What teacher, fireman, police officer enjoys these perks when they are "asked to resign" or as we know it in laymen terms as "being fired"?)

Wow!  What an interpretation of the facts.  Brizard was hired by Rahm to come in to try and break the CTU and 17 months later, the teachers were on the picket lines showing Rahm and Brizard what they thought of their tactics.   Now, it's going to cost the taxpayers a ton on money to have Brizard walk away quietly.

And what else do the Chicago taxpayers get?...Another new and transplanted CEO who has worked in wonderful school systems like Detroit and Cleveland.   How much will this cost us?

Barbara Byrd-Bennett will receive a $250,000.00 as the new CEO.

Byrd-Bennett will receive $30,000.00 in moving expenses.

It seems to me we can find some incompetents right here within our city limits to hire with less of a price tag.  We don't have to keep reaching across state lines to do it.  It's costing us just as much to hire these people as it does to fire them...all at the taxpayers' expense.

To read more about this Click Here

And to further add insult to injury, Rahm is now trying to "bribe" parents with a $25.00 gift card from Walgreens to become responsible parents.  How do you get parents involved in the education and welfare of their kids, why you pay them, of course!  Click link for more... http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/16053933-418/some-parents-to-get-25-gift-cards-when-picking-up-report-cards.html

English...it's the American way!

While the new school day that CPS has created is definitely l-o-n-g-e-r, it certainly is not getting any better.   For years now, where I work, every written communication has been sent home in English and Spanish.  The next thing was that parents got to choose if they wanted to receive their child's report card in English or Spanish.  Then as we sit at assemblies all the talking, explanations, and introductions are always translated.  Seriously, when someone says Mrs. Smith...does it really have to be translated to Senora Smith. Please!  So, this year it's happening more and more.  There was a Hispanic Heritage assembly recently  and everything was translated into Spanish.  But, were there translations done for all the songs that were sung in Spanish...NO! Why should the majority of the people in the school, who speak English, understand what's being sung?  Why don't those of us who speak English receive the same courtesy? 

When my grandparents came here from Italy, they learned English, while still keeping their Italian language among family and friends.  When my father was born, he grew up for the first 5 years, speaking Italian. Then when school began, guess what?  He HAD to learn English.  No one catered to him or the millions of other immigrants who came here, and no one expected to be catered to.

From an educational standpoint, the school system is doing these kids a total injustice.  For anyone who ever took a foreign language in high school, you could get by and pass the classes by memorizing and doing strict translations, but if you are to fully understand a language you have to learn "to think in that language".    From firsthand experience, I wanted to be a German major and studied German for 5 years.  The problem was I only spoke German at school. No one in my family spoke the language.  I was unable to study abroad, and so was basically on my own.  The fact was, I did not get the practical experience of having to think and write and live "in German".  I ended up changing my major.  

The students today need to learn to think and write and live in "English".  When those standardized tests are given, they are given in English only. These are the same standardized tests whose scores are now going to be part of the evaluation system for teachers. 

Is the goal of public education to set us all up to fail?  I'll let you be the judge.

Political Correctness will be the death of us yet!

The picture and article below are from Chicks on the Right. If you haven't seen their website, it's worth checking out!

I’m warning you right now, that the level of stupidity I’m going to write about in this post could very well make your head explode.  If you have high blood pressure, or have reached your tolerance limit for incredibly stupid politically correct bulls*t, then you probably should just skip past this post and save yourself a potential trip to the doctor. 

If you’re still with me, then I would like to inform you that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hasremoved the word “freshman” from all of its official university documents, because that term is not “gender inclusive” enough. In fact, they made this change 3 years ago, but only recently did a Stossel story uncover it.

I’m not making this up, you guys.  The word “freshman” dates back to the freaking SIXTEENTH CENTURY, but UNC, being “progressive” as they are, wants to make sure that no one gets offended by being called a word that potentially excludes their gender. Their plan?  To use terms like “first year student” instead. 

University spokespeople won’t elaborate on the reasoning behind this.  Because there is no reasoning behind this.

But you know who IS elaborating about it?  Students with Actual Brains.  The executive vice chair for the college Republicans, Brandon Hartness, said, “I feel like they are making a big deal out of nothing.  Girls are not going to deem the word “freshman” as sexist.  I feel like most people don’t even think about it.”

Brandon is exactly right, of course, but probably should have been more specific and said that girls with Actual Brains won’t deem the word as sexist, and that most NORMAL RATIONAL people don’t even think about it.  That way, he’d account for the remaining moronic imbeciles who think this word change is a good idea.

This is the kind of crap university administrators are getting paid HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY to think about and act on, you guys. 

To learn more about Chicks on the Right, click HERE!

Here is another article on the PC stupidity.  http://www.northwestohio.com/news/story.aspx?id=816482#.UIfKfcXBHTo

Looking for a little bit of light fun this week...

 Click the link for a fun new contest! Name the Dog Contest!  It ends November 2, 2012 so join in today!

What's on Your Calendar?

There's some good blogs coming next week...but in the meantime, if you are looking for something to do on Saturday, October 20, 2012, I have just the place to go!

Proud to Support our Troops!

I love it when a plan comes together.  This summer I became involved with a group called Operation Paperback that has volunteers send paperback books to soldiers overseas.  I was thrilled to be able to send some of my favorite books on for someone else to enjoy and no one deserves it more than our military.  

Last month there was a special Operation Paperback request for children's books.  At first, I could not figure out why that would be so important, but when I learned that our military parents use Skype to read to their children at home from all points abroad, I must say I was touched.  I knew I was going to send my books but that just didn't seem like enough.  So, I gave a "shout-out" on Facebook to fellow children's authors to see if anyone wanted to take part.  The response was great, and I was able to send 40 autographed books from 10 different states and Canada to our military men and women.

I want to thank each of the authors personally for being so generous with their talents by donating their books.  Let me introduce them to you and share their books with you.  If you have children or know someone who does, you might want to check out some of these books yourself. I attached the links for your convenience.

 

 A BIG THANK YOU TO:

Author Rachel Edmiston from Texas who wrote 

BUDDY FINDS A HOME!

Author Vanessa Canevaro from Canada who wrote

ZERO THE SUPERHERO and I WANT A DRAGON! 

Author Sherry Rossman from Arizona who wrote 

THE MIRACLE OF RAIN!

Author Cindy Hanson from South Carolina who wrote

A MIGHTY EAGLE!

Author Virginia Finnie from Colorado who wrote

HEY WARRIOR KIDS! 

Author Brad Francis from Michigan who wrote

EMALINE'S GIFT - The Magi Chronicles!

Author Vivian Higginbotham Nichols from Texas who wrote

HENNY AND PENNY!

Author Marla McKenna from Wisconsin who wrote

MOM'S BIG CATCH!

Author Ronald Destra from Florida who wrote

HOPPY THE FROG!

Author Mary Lee from South Carolina who wrote

MY AIR FORCE MOM!

Author Judy Perry Drewett from Texas who wrote

'TIL THE COWS COME HOME!

Author Tawnya Bulger from North Dakota who wrote

KATRINA GROWING WINGS!

Author Jan Clifton-Watford from Georgia who wrote

Drabsville!

I would also like to thank my sister-in-law Betty Rowe who, while not an author, was quite generous and sent books too! 

I am sure our military and their children will truly appreciate your generosity.  

Feed the mind? Nahhhh...

This should be interesting...in the Board of  Education's infinite wisdom, they brought back student "Half Days" and today is the first one of the school year.  I am sure this thinking goes right along with the "longer school day" and "it's all for the children".  

It seems what is "all for the children" is FOOD.  It is so important that even on the CPS calendar it is stated that the children will receive both breakfast and lunch.  So, the students will be in school for three hours and, on average, 15 minutes will be for breakfast and then 30 minutes will be for lunch.  That leaves 2.25 hours for teaching.  Actually, take out at least another 10 minutes for a bathroom break because you know if the students are eating and drinking not one, but two meals, in a short amount of time they will have to use the washroom.  The last 5 minutes of the day will be to pack things up to go home, so now we are at 2 hours of teaching.  Note, I said teaching not learning.  

At the building where I work, over 600 students must be fed and watered twice during the 3 hour morning, and the scheduling is absurd.  Some classes, in most cases the primary grades, have breakfast at 8:15 and then will have lunch at 9:30.  I am sure that this will satisfy their hunger needs until dinner while they settle in for a great morning of studying...

Because it IS...all for the children.

Head in the Clouds??? More like...

It's been a busy week, but I could not pass up this opportunity...

Al Gore "Mr. Go Green-Save the Earth-Environmental-I invented the Internet" said today that the reason Obama bombed at last night's debate was because of the altitude in Colorado.  Since Al Gore said it, does it now make this official????

Read more here: http://global.christianpost.com/news/al-gore-on-lackluster-debate-in-denver-altitude-to-blame-obama-romney-82720/  and http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/04/gore-blames-denver-altitude-for-obama-debate-performance/