Posts Tagged ‘teacher layoffs’

Kyle Olson

D.C. Schools Chief Michelle Rhee Targets ‘Sacred Cow’ of Tenure

by Kyle Olson

If President Obama is really serious about education reform, he ought to consider putting D.C. school Chancellor Michelle Rhee in charge of the effort.

This lady is not afraid of a major challenge, as evidenced by her latest brawl with the AFT.

feature_michelle_rhee_11_kjarticlemain

Rhee is courageously targeting the sacred cow of teachers unions – tenure. It’s the system that pretty much guarantees a teacher a job for life, if he or she can make it through the first few years. It doesn’t matter if they go on to become good, mediocre or bad teachers. With tenure, they are pretty much protected until retirement.

But Rhee understands that such a system can no longer be tolerated in Washington D.C. schools, which have a dropout rate of nearly 40 percent. She knows that the school district must have the power to sift through the teaching staff, keep the good ones, work with the middle-of-the-roaders, and get rid of the bad apples.

She also understands that it has to work both ways. She’s willing to develop a compensation system that would offer teachers much higher pay, in exchange for the union abandoning, or at least reforming, the concept of tenure.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | | Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , ,
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 at 4:03 pm in Big Labor, Education, Politics | 65 Comments

Amber Gunn

The New Voodoo Economics: Jobs ‘Saved’ by Federal Stimulus Dollars

by Amber Gunn

The federal website that tracks the final destination of the $787 billion “stimulus” package reported more than 640,000 jobs were created or saved by the funds as of October 30. A closer look at one state’s reporting, however, should cast serious doubt on that number’s veracity.

rabbit

Washington state is listed as the third-highest job-generating state, according to www.recovery.gov, which records the number of jobs created or saved as 34,517.13. The problem is that at least 24,000 of those jobs were not really in jeopardy.

You read that correctly.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | | Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , ,
Posted Nov 10th 2009 at 12:13 pm in Congress, Economics, News, Politics, State Politics | 27 Comments

Kyle Olson

Speaker at D.C. Union Rally Threatens DC School Chief Michelle Rhee

by Kyle Olson

Our stomachs turned a bit this morning when we watched a YouTube video of part of last weekend’s DC AFT rally in Washington, D.C.  You can see it here:


The event was billed as the “Rally for Respect.” If the AFT wants respect, we respectfully submit the following suggestions:

Number one – Stop threatening people. During the rally, an unidentified male speaker was clearly heard on the video threatening D.C. school Chancellor Michelle Rhee. “Michelle Rhee had better watch her back,” the large, angry man chanted into the microphone. That clearly sounds like a physical threat, typically used by street gangs. His next few words were not clear, but then he added something about “She’s going down.”

Perhaps Ms. Rhee would be wise to contact D.C. police. Union thugs may very well have her on their target list. How disturbing.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | | Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , ,
Posted Oct 14th 2009 at 2:00 pm in Big Labor, Education, News, Politics | 46 Comments