Live From Madison

[MooseMom]

When I heard about the no-bid clause re the sale of power plants, I was really shocked.  How blatant is that?

Slightly off topic, I'm sure you heard about the income tax hike here in Illinois.  So, Governor Walker takes out this full spread add in the Chicago Tribune inviting companies to move from IL to Wisconsin.  OK, fair enough.  So now our Governor has been asked how he likes having IL as a sanctuary state for Wisconson state senators, and he replied, "We welcome the tourism."   

[cariad]

Illinois should be used to Wisconsinites using them. A few people in our social circle live in Illinois because they want to avoid our property taxes, which are among the highest in the nation.

Our state senator is carrying on a proud Wisconsin tradition.... 

[MooseMom]

Wanna know how I am spending my Saturday night?  My stepson is over for the weekend, and his government class teacher told the class to watch the news about the protests in Wisconsin (my stepson is a senior in high school).  So my husband, my stepson and I each have our laptops on and are reading the actual budget bill...all 144 pages of it.  Are we having fun yet??

[willowtreewren]

Thought you might like this link, Cariad:

http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/02/25/the-wisconsin-lie-exposed-taxpayers-actually-contribute-nothing-to-public-employee-pensions/

Interesting indeed!

Aleta

[rsudock]

CARIAD thank you thank you for bringing this topic up right now! I live in Ohio and Gov. Kaisch is trying to pass senate bill 5 that is busting unions for teachers, cops, fireman, etc... right now. It is so infuriating to me that my friend and went to Columbus and protested. Even though I am not teaching right now ( I am tutoring part time) I stand behind the men and women who work thank less job that affect the safety and future of this country!

I get sick of the Facebook comments people post too! Let me see...

1. "Well they are not trying to mess with your wages." UUmmm if unions don't have the right to negotiate then employers will continue to ask teachers to do more and more work without any extra compensation. I mean if I go to Taco Bell and they ask me to work overtime then I will get paid to make those extra tacos!!!

2. "Well the private sector has already taken a hit now the public sector should too!"  So the idea is an eye for an eye then? So that way the whole entire world will be blind? This rationale of thinking makes no sense to me all workers no matter what sector should have the right to fair wages and access to health insurance...we all should stand up for one another not throw each other under the bus.

People who are not teachers do not under stand the complete stress teachers put on themselves to do a great job. Does every teacher care or do a great job? no, but most of us do! I spent hundreds and thousands of my own money to make sure that classroom had everything. I would spend many hours off the clock getting things ready and prepared. (not to mention all the grading, calling of parents, discipline issues, preparing lesson plans, gathering resources, etc..) At my first school I taught at it was not unheard of seeing me at the school at midnight trying to get things pulled together.  Plus many teachers in hard districts don't have these sweet cherubs that are being raised properly by mom and pops to sit and listen to the teacher and get educated. YOu are dealing with kids who have MAJOR mental and emotional health issues! I did not get paid enough for all the things I had to deal with sexual abuse, kids not eating, physical abuse, drug abuse, parental abandoment...it must be nice to work at a job that when you leave at 5 oclock you leave the job behind...that is not the case with teaching.

too much corruption with the higher ups especially where I live. None of them take pay freezes like us teachers did...instead they raised their salaries. They asked us to pay more health care and to give up are tution reimbursement...to this day 4 years later those poor teachers cannot get back their pay, lower health care, and tution reimbursement back! It is a slippery slope you give the higher ups a little bit trying to be team players and they just screw you in the end anyway....

And the 5 states that have passed legislation to get rid of collective bargaining ALL have the lowest standardized test scores!!! (North Carolina being one of them that I can remember)

Countries like China that have been reported to be surpassing America, the way education runs over there is way different. In AMerica we believe ALL people have a right to public education, that is not true in places like China. They take the best and the brightest and do not waste time and resources on kids that have no chance in being super geniuses!  Also a friend of mine student taught in China  2 years ago and she said all classroom have 12 students in them and the teachers have a full time PERSONAL aid!!! Plus they have longer days and school year but after school they study the arts for 2 hours then go to a tutor next! Most kids in America are latch key kids that run the streets after school, because American parents are overworked and underpaid and don't have time to instill the importance of education in their children. Plus American school districts are trying to shove 25+ kids in a classroom with major issues and then expect one teacher to control this chaos. They give us no materials or supplies then expect us to make engaging lesson that will get kids to achieve....HA! Administrators have lost touch with how tough it is to teach, but unfortunately everybody has been through a school and they think that qualifies them to make an opinion about how over paid teachers are and what a piece of cake job we have HA! I kicked ass as a teacher and did some pretty amazing things in my classroom. I didn't care that I had to be their all night, or that I barely got $800 dollars every 2 weeks to teach, or that I would have to give kids food because I LOVED my job and I was great at educating children. (and I was single with no family to take care of so I could be uber dedicated to my job) I do care that we won't have a union with full power  protecting our interest though....


Ok that is enough for now...I love this topic!!! I could go on and on but won't....for now...

xo,
R

[cariad]

Aleta, that article was brilliant! I believe on the street they would refer to that as a classic take down.... Thank you. I shall post this on the Facebook page devoted to this fight in a moment.

Rachel, (Can I call you Rachel?) thank you so much for writing about this. At school until midnight? Yeow! And only $400/week - that's barely over minimum wage, and probably well below when you factor in that you're working all those extra hours. The governor wants to convert to a charter/voucher system. At the moment, charter schools do not have to take any student. What is going to happen to all of the special needs kids in this city? I've sent my one child to charter for two years, and the teachers were fine, but they have no union and no opportunity to get any seniority - who was going to stay in that position if they could get out? That school was partially funded by Nissan. What happens when the funding dries up? Do I want my kids to be marketed to at that age? We chose the school because it was dual immersion and had a commitment to organic farming and food. But there were serious signs of trouble when California's economy collapsed, and everywhere we turned the schools were pressuring us to attend fundraisers which we could not afford, nor could most of the families.

I love my home, it is beautiful. My neighbourhood was up and coming until the collapse, now I think it has deteriorated a bit but we keep hoping it will bounce back soon. However, we are looking to leave the country, and no one will buy a home in the heart of a crap school district. We are walking distance to the top-rated primary school in the city (that is based on test scores, though, and I could not possibly care less about test scores). It's a great school, but it is a public school, and if they gut the system, it will topple like any other. Going out of district with a voucher is just contributing to the problem, and that is why I was eager to leave LA, I was so sick of spending my days in a car.

Anyhow, I hope you do go on and on. I love hearing about your experiences from the front lines, and it helps people see that they may be wrong about teachers after all. Plus, in Wisconsin, the teachers have made every salary/benefit concession requested by Walker, except giving up collective bargaining.

I have a meeting tonight that I promised various people I would attend, to try to suss out a way to keep Title I. I have to bring my kids, which means packing snacks and drinks for them. Gwyn is flying out of town in an hour. Gah! I am not going to survive this week.....

[cariad]

OK, I have not been reporting much on Wisconsin's battle, but let me assure you all that it rages on. I have been out of it, and as a friend and fellow-advocate and I agreed, once you miss one email out of the hundreds that clog my inbox weekly, you just have no hope of ever catching up.

Still, the fledgling organization that the parents from my son's school started held a major meeting last night, and it was standing room only. There was press there, but the evening was heavy on information (which was so great) and light on pithy little moments that television cameras prefer. I was wrung out by the time I made it there, so was of no help whatsoever, but I learned a good bit. Scott Walker is lying and obfuscating, and now I know just exactly what he is doing as we had a representative of the budgetary office explain it all. Charter schools are paid for out of our property taxes, but they answer to no one, certainly not the school board, they do not require a teaching license, and when property taxes go up (we pay some of the highest most oppressive property taxes in the nation) the governor does not break down exactly how much of that money goes to charter schools ($58 million at present) he just has it down as public schooling, and the school board and MPS take the blame for higher taxes when they have absolutely no say in how much of that money goes to charters and vouchers, and no recourse if the schools do not meet standards or parents have concerns or complaints. My favorite quote from last night "Public funds require public accountability" and we do not get that with charter schools.

There is the Penny for Kids campaign that would raise the state sales tax 1% and would fix this problem tomorrow. We pay some of the lowest sales tax in the nation, and this would certainly take some of the enormous financial pressure off property owners and spread some of the responsibility to everyone in the state, for educating our kids is the responsibility of everyone in society, and if you don't believe that and don't like it, might I suggest you move to a country like Afghanistan? Certainly no one there is going to hassle you for funds to educate kids, especially not girls.

What I really want to show you, though, because I am sure few of your care about the budgetary details of Milwaukee, is a letter left on my husband's car. My husband has one of the stop sign placards in his back window (Stop the attack on Wisconsin Families). Now, my husband pays for this car, it is his personal property, and he parks it at his workplace, which is also privately owned property. He came out to his car at 5PM to find the note attached below on his windscreen. Everyone, please listen, this is important: If you disagree with a stranger, don't ever do this. All that is going to happen is that people like us are going to post it all over the internet, in addition to Gwyn reporting the incident to HR and showing it to all and sundry at work. This is no way to change anyone's mind, and it makes you look like a cowardly saddo.

[Zach]

Charter schools are paid for out of our property taxes, but they answer to no one, certainly not the school board, they do not require a teaching license, and when property taxes go up (we pay some of the highest most oppressive property taxes in the nation) the governor does not break down exactly how much of that money goes to charter schools ($58 million at present) he just has it down as public schooling, and the school board and MPS take the blame for higher taxes when they have absolutely no say in how much of that money goes to charters and vouchers, and no recourse if the schools do not meet standards or parents have concerns or complaints. My favorite quote from last night "Public funds require public accountability" and we do not get that with charter schools.

Actually, charter schools are public schools.

Usually it is the State Department of Education or State Universities which grant the charters for a period of five years.
If the schools fail in raising student achievement, the schools are closed.

[cariad]

True, they are public schools in that parents do not pay tuition, but the school board - our elected officials that are charged with overseeing public education - have NO authority with them. Also, the state government is discussing dropping the income limits for the voucher program, allowing the wealthy to send their kids to private school on the public dollar. I sent my son to a charter school in Los Angeles. Charters are really a hybrid of public and private schooling. They often receive corporate sponsorship (the LA one was sponsored by Nissan, among others) which made me queasy even as I was sending my son there. What Walker is proposing was described last night as a privatized version of our public school system. Charter schools are not required to take special ed kids, and they won't take them, because that will ruin their test scores. I forget what percentage of kids in Milwaukee are considered special ed, but it is much higher than the 1% who are in charter schools. Charter schools can drop kids for low test scores, just like a private school can.

Also, as was pointed out last night, you need a license to groom a dog in this state, but not to teach at a charter school. The teachers in charter schools have no union protections and can be sacked on a whim, which is not going to provide the stability and experience we need for our kids. I support our public university - I spent tens of thousands on my masters there, and they run the best preschool in the state, which we get as a public school because of their affiliation with the public school down the road. Basically, my son is technically going to that public school, but he attends the excellent school that he has attended since his infancy. We do not elect the UW chancellor nor the board, there is little we can do if we disagree with the likes of Lovell. There is a committee appointed to find the chancellor, and unless you work at or attend that university and are chosen to be on that committee, you just stand back and hope for the best.

[Wanted to add an edit: I pay A LOT to send my younger son to his school. You can get school hours as part of the public school system, but it is not possible anymore to just send your child there during school hours, you pay for the 'afterschool' program there, even if you do not want to use it. I use it happily and love it, so this change really does not affect me. Is it public? Private? For sure confusing...]

The way they measure student achievement is asinine. I know my son is intelligent, but he scores as a mid-seventh grader (in 3rd grade) and either those standards are desperately low or we have a child prodigy on our hands. I know what my suspicions are, much as I love the boy. My son goes to a dual immersion school, yet no one ever tests his Spanish abilities, there are no tests in Spanish for ESL learners, and the state wants to eliminate all dual immersion programs. We have a thriving Hispanic community in Milwaukee, and our school is one of the few in the country (there are approximately 340 nationwide) that will teach your Spanish speaking child English, but also teach him to value and retain his own language.

Anyhow, I should review my notes from last night to make sure that I am not misrepresenting anything. Thanks for the reply!

[cariad]

Brief update on the letter: Gwyn went to HR. They were gobsmacked. They asked Gwyn what he wanted to do and he requested an email going out clarifying that putting notes on people's vehicles is just not on. They share parking with another company, so it could possibly be that this person does not actually work with Gwyn, but in case he was being honest with 'dear co-worker', HR will probably issue a statement. (most people know which car is Gwyn's, so the writer may know exactly whom he was addressing). HR asked if he wanted further investigation, and Gwyn said he was not so vindictive as to want someone's job to be in jeopardy over this, he just does not want to receive any future political discourse via his windscreen.

An unexpected consequence is that as colleagues are hearing about this, they are asking for their own copies of the very placard that Gwyn has. We also have a pro-union poster as we know a union organizer and head of the local Democratic Party. I will get on trying to collect these materials for Gwyn's coworkers over the weekend. I think the letter writer should have guessed that this strategy was going to backfire in some way.

[carol1987]

Brief update on the letter: Gwyn went to HR. They were gobsmacked. They asked Gwyn what he wanted to do and he requested an email going out clarifying that putting notes on people's vehicles is just not on. They share parking with another company, so it could possibly be that this person does not actually work with Gwyn, but in case he was being honest with 'dear co-worker', HR will probably issue a statement. (most people know which car is Gwyn's, so the writer may know exactly whom he was addressing). HR asked if he wanted further investigation, and Gwyn said he was not so vindictive as to want someone's job to be in jeopardy over this, he just does not want to receive any future political discourse via his windscreen.

An unexpected consequence is that as colleagues are hearing about this, they are asking for their own copies of the very placard that Gwyn has. We also have a pro-union poster as we know a union organizer and head of the local Democratic Party. I will get on trying to collect these materials for Gwyn's coworkers over the weekend. I think the letter writer should have guessed that this strategy was going to backfire in some way.

Just read about the car note... what a coward!! and they obviously watch faux news... the thug comments give that away!! LOL
That is unreal.. glad his HR dept was supportive.. and as to  the other co-workers who want copies ..YES!!!

[willowtreewren]

Brief update on the letter: Gwyn went to HR. They were gobsmacked.

Bully for Gwyn! 

And fantastic that he has HR behind him. 

Aleta

[cariad]

Thanks for the support, Aleta and Carol!

Latest update: HR sent Gwyn an email stating that they are now rewriting their policy on harassment to include harassment based on political leanings. What happens in this case is that every last employee will receive an email noting the change to the policy, and they must click a radio button stating that they've read and understood the policy. I imagine that the person who did this will not be sharing his views with us again. (And yes, I am making an assumption that this is a male. Gwyn and I both have the same suspicion on this.)

It's an election day here in Dairyland. We are voting on supreme court justices and if the favoured liberal candidate wins, I think the balance will be tipped back to the left. Not sure as I could not name a current justice. (This is state, obviously, not federal where I could easily name all nine.) It's a great day for an election - the mood in the state is heavily anti-Walker.

On the more personal front, la directoria of the school where both of my boys will be next year sent out a notice stating that none of their teachers will lose their jobs (great news) but some have been reassigned to other schools/jobs. She is promising to see us through this rough time. We hope to use this next year to get serious about moving to the UK.

I'll post updates if anything interesting happens. Thanks to all who replied.

[carol1987]

I'll  be following the election!!  I sure hope that it goes our way... ( I say our because I  want collective bargaining defended across this country!!)

Glad no teachers will be fired !!

[rsudock]

Thanks for the update...things are no better in Ohio...but people are rallying together against Senate Bill 5!

xo,
R

[cariad]

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race looks headed for a recount. The MoveOn.org update I received said Kloppenburg (the one we want) is ahead by 300 votes with 99% reporting. Wow, it's a nailbiter. I signed up to be some sort of recount monitor, no idea what it entails, but will find out if they call me in.

I'm hoping that people all through the rust belt and beyond band together to stop this disastrous course we're on. I live in an extremely liberal neighbourhood, and when I was in line to vote there was an older couple behind me, he in jeans and a flannel workshirt. As we were voting in our little cubicles, I heard him mutter something about "This IS still the state of Wisconsin". I am confident that he and I cast exactly the same ballot. 

[willowtreewren]

Interesting that a large number of mostly conservative votes were "discovered."

Makes you wonder....

[cariad]

Interesting that a large number of mostly conservative votes were "discovered."

Makes you wonder....

Oh, I had not heard this, but I guess I am not overly surprised.

I am participating in this email campaign where we are assigned legislators to write to and send them attachments of letters handwritten by community members. We have 150 letters, and we are only sending 3 at a time. So, each legislator will get 5 emails per day, each with 3 attachments, and in theory we will be done with this in 10 days. I have 11 legislators. By the end, I will have sent over 500 emails. And we are supposed to talk to them with each email, changing our message a bit each time. After ten days of this, they'll know everything about me. Gwyn has agreed to take some of them off my hands, but his typing is abysmal, so I'll be writing the cover note. Must think of 50 clever things to say over the course of 10 days....

[cariad]

I have a few updates from the Wisconsin public school scene. I have only been to a few meetings as everyone tends to scatter over summer.

My kids are both attending the same school next year, a Spanish language immersion program. I have been part of a team at the school trying to get alternative programs in place so that the kids at least get some access to the arts and physical education. I phoned our local symphony and that program is coming to the boys' school. It's a progressive program, so it will start in K5 and move with that first class through the years. Liot is entering K5 and is so musically inclined so I am relieved he will get that, plus his piano lessons from his after-school program. I also met with the community outreach coordinator at the Conservatory and he is eager to pilot a choral program at our school, but I've done all I can do and it is up to administration now.

We received excellent news at the eleventh hour. SAGE has been restored to a dozen schools in our district, and our school was one of them. These are funds, not sure what level of government they come from, but it is money for extra teachers to keep class sizes low. Every friend I have who knows anything about teaching (most of them) has said that you simply cannot teach effectively when you have 25 blubbering 5 year olds dropped on you. Class size should go down to 15-18 for Liot, no change for Aidan as he has aged out of SAGE's domain. I had been told by our principal that there was no way on earth that SAGE would be restored to the school - we only have about 78% free and reduced lunch (yeah, I know - only!) and I have come to realise that I will simply never ever never understand how public schools work.

Recall elections were a touch disappointing but could have been much worse. It is a huge deal to recall someone, they have that incumbent advantage piled on to the advantage of low turnouts at special elections. Two of the three worst republicans are gone, Alberta Darling continues to plague our city. Apparently she walked over to my recently widowed aunt and pretended like she and uncle Jeff were such spectacular friends. My uncle has always been a liberal and was very politically active. I just cannot imagine grieving such a huge loss and then enduring tacky, self-aggrandizing, dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks politicians attempting to suck up to you.

Both democrats survived their recalls and I sincerely hope that charges are brought against the organizations that attempted to fix the vote by sending out robo calls and fake absentee ballots. Why does it seem we have no laws in this state that are ever enforced? Three people in the city of Milwaukee have been sent to jail for 'voter fraud' (three!) and it was over confusion about the rules, not some conspiracy as those ridiculous, Republican-paid billboards would have us believe. (There are more people pictured on the billboard than have actually been nicked for improper voting.) But then special interest groups connected with the Koch brothers implement a deliberately fraudulent scheme and nothing happens. Do Republicans in this state care so little for the rule of law? (Don't answer - I already know.)

Anyhow, it's on to recall the big one. Walker should be nervous, but I reckon he's not smart enough to know it.