On this point I believe you are completely wrong. It can be done much cheaper than is being done now. Most private schools operate on less than $8500 per student. I know I could do it for less. I would love to put together a business plan and get a grant to test this theory. I am convinced it will work and at higher class size levels than public schools currently have.

Interested in having your kids be test subjects?

Second, as far as corporal punishment. It is legal, there are stringent rules behind it. You must be told up front before the school year begins. You must sign a permission form agreeing to it if it becomes necessary. If you don’t agree, it cannot be used. If corporal punishment is at some point deemed necessary, the parent must be contacted by phone again personally explaining the situation and must agree again verbally. No, not all schools even go through this process, but it is an option if the school desires. There may be some other rules on the school side that I am unaware of. I am speaking of a parent whose children attended a school where this porcees was explained to us.

Sorry, but teaching elementary school is not Rocket Science. Yes, it takes hard work and a lot of patience. It takes good techniques and abilities to work with many different types of kids. But, they are not teaching physics, molecular engineering, laws of thermodynaics, of fluid dynamics necessary for a rocket science course. That is what I meant in case you did not understand. Elementary school is a lot of repetition in many different ways to get kids to learn and remember.

What I am saying is a lot of these things can be implemented with less dollars than we are spending now, not the other way around.

The school still gets more than they reveived last year because they can raise the raise up to their tax cap max. Your rate and thus your actual taxes went down because of the increased property values across the district.

with regard to tenure, you forgot the first part of the quote…remember context, lennie.
“If a teacher is kept on after they fail to deliver, it is the fault of the administration.”
it is possible to eliminate a tenured teacher; it’s just easier to look the other way. happens in every industry…doesn’t make it right. remember the “Peter Principle”?

now be careful lennie…don’t tell an elementary school teacher that what they do isn’t rocket science; it’s a whole lot more involved than you make it out to be, but that’s neither here nor there. i didn’t say YOU were the best teacher for your kids, i said you were the FIRST best teacher for your kids; it’s your job to set the stage so the teacher can go to work and do their magic. the teacher shouldn’t have to dicipline the child if the parent won’t…THAT’S THE PARENTS JOB!!! besides, they CAN’T dicipline the child; it’s against the law…just call DCFS.

we used to put ESL kids in a different class to be taught, but that got eliminated, too. many of these ideas you have are great lennie; they just aren’t original and they’ve been phased out with the dollars. so now we’ve got less dollars (you know, the assessed value of my home went up 2 years in a row, so did my taxes, but my D46 taxes went down) and even more services will diminish.

your last comment? sorry, been there, done that. can’t do it right that cheap. maybe with 3 at home, but not in the communal setting most of us consider traditional.

and you want to know what’s really rich? the anti-tax 4, well 2 of them anyway, finally got back to us. they’re saying they never said they could restore the programs without a tax increase! so we’re gonna have to have it anyway; we’ll just fall another couple years behind and loose the best teachers in the process.

Our obligations to our children are to provide them the best education we can. That does not mean we just fork over money to the district without questioning whether it will bring the desired results.

Most teachers are great people. I do not believe the Teachers’ Unions are protecting the kids. They are protecting themselves. I don’t believe teachers should have the right to strike. The teachers claim to be helping the kids, but a strike hurts the kids.

“Teachers do not receive a paid dental plan or a company matched 401k; their pension, which they pay into, is in lieu of social security for which they are not eligible, both of which are in jeopardy; and they do not receive stock options or opportunity for advancement.”

I know lots of work environments where there is no paid dental plan. I have worked at many jobs that do not have matching 401K plans. We pay into Social Security and it is in jeopardy as well. The state was who opted out of Social Security. I would bet that the teachers’ retirement will be much better than what you or I will every receive from Social Security. As far as their retirement system being in trouble, that is the fault of their union. They get written into the contracts a huge pay increase the final year before retirement . This inflates their retirement pay and that is what is bankrupting the sytem. This has been brought up to the unions and it is rejected.

“Some claim it’s not possible to eliminate a tenured teacher, but nothing could be further from the truth. No, it’s not easy, but that’s why they call the administrator’s job “work”

A number of interesting and debatable topics. I’m certainly no expert, so let me speak to what I know.

Teachers and administrators have not forgotten that they are paid by tax dollars. They also know that they DO NOT work for the people; they, like other public servants, work for the officials the people have elected to hire, fire and manage them. And teachers, too, are taxpayers.

When the community fails to step up to its obligation and provide an education for its children, quite often the attention is turned to the teachers. You see in most districts, the Education Fund which pays teacher’s salaries represents over 50% of a districts operating budget, and as such, people feel the fat must lie there. In our district, it’s already cut to the bone representing just a third of the total budget. By failing to meet its obligation to its children, the community itself has created the need for teachers unions to protect the children and those charged with delivering on the community promise.

It is not the teachers’ responsibility to fund the programs the community overwhelmingly rejected by means of its no vote. Teacher jobs are lost because the community votes not to fund them. The teachers 5% raise and ability to bank sick days are things that come at a cost in negotiations. What did the teachers give up to win those benefits? How many years did they work without contracts or raises to win the 5%? How many years do they work at sub-standard pay to reach the salary some seem to consider inappropriate? The teachers’ health insurance is a benefit they also negotiate for. It is not for their families; it is based on the cost of an individual policy for the teacher. Anything additional is the sole responsibility of the teacher. Further, the value of that benefit is generously included in the salary figures the community relies on at http://www.thechampion.org. Teachers do not receive a paid dental plan or a company matched 401k; their pension, which they pay into, is in lieu of social security for which they are not eligible, both of which are in jeopardy; and they do not receive stock options or opportunity for advancement. Over 50% have educations at a master’s degree level or beyond and earn a starting salary about 30% less than the average entry level graduate with a bachelor’s degree.

So if it’s really about the children, why would the community vote overwhelmingly to abandon them? You see, it’s not just about the children; and it’s not just about the teachers. It’s about the community and the people’s responsibility to it.

Pay for performance is a novel idea; and if I’m not mistaken, it’s the driving force in the industry. If you perform your duty as a teacher, you are paid for your performance. If you don’t perform, or if someone comes along that might perform better, you get RIF’d and are no longer paid for your performance. A teacher is evaluated, coached, reviewed, subjected to requirements for continuing education, and all in an effort to ensure that teachers continue to provide performance worthy of their pay. If a teacher is kept on after they fail to deliver, it is the fault of the administration. Some claim it’s not possible to eliminate a tenured teacher, but nothing could be further from the truth. No, it’s not easy, but that’s why they call the administrator’s job “work”