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Sad, very sad. I hope the Assembly shows more sense than the power brokers in Bloomberg’s pocket.

And god bless Sheldon!

I am getting ready to leave too, hopefully at the end of the 2011-2012 school year. I have about 15 years but I just can’t see doing this for another ten. I’m sick of this.

Amen!

Jeff Klein is my senator. I have voted for him in the past, I plan on not voting for him in 2012. Next street fair I see him at I will share my opinion of him. I wrote about him back in September on my blog….http://southbronxschool.blogspot.com/2010/08/getting-to-know-state-senator-jeff.html

FYI, Susan Ohanian will be my guest tonight on my Internet radio show, at 9 PM EST http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bronx-teacher/2011/03/02/the-mind-of-a-bronx-teacher

Oh, amen to THAT! Sad to say I was once a fan of this guy…

I just need to do it for another three … Bloomberg leaves in 2014, doesn’t he?

Does anyone have a link to the individual senators’ votes?

I hope to goodness (and for the sake of your students) that your post is not representative of how you use spelling and grammar in your classroom.

I am looking to leave also. I have 2 years after this one to be fully vested with 10yrs in, and will spend those 2 (if my ATR butt can stay hanging on) getting my certificate in administration so I can look for a job outside the City (even out of state if it comes to that) once I am vested. Was hoping to make it to 55 and taking the reduced pension then (the year I turn 62 would be my 25th year, so the buy-in was not good for me), but I’d consider that a bonus now. Just trying to get vested, then out.

Layoffs are not termination, there is in theory a recall (as happened in the years after 1975 in NYC, in stages) as financial conditions improve/change. Tenure is due process for staff, firing for due cause. Two different things.

Looks like Cuomo and Silver outmaneuvered Bloomberg, Cuomo needs an on time budget and he needs Silver … Bloomberg couldn’t bully the big guys. The “fat lady” doesn’t sing until the end of the session … it almost seems as if Bloomberg doesn’t want more funding from the State.

Geez man, I’m very forgiving when it comes to spelling and grammar but if you’re shilling for a specific law firm on here, you might want to work on it.

Bravo!

Click on the link in the article where it says “bill passed”.

The Assembly won’t pass it. They know that Bloomberg is disingenuous about the need to protect the children and he’s now forced to layoff 4,500 teachers if the seniority rule isn’t changed. The State Senate passed it because they prefer to prositute their values for a chance of getting next to Bloomberg’s moneybag. The Assembly will examine the bill and look at the pros and cons of it and if the bill’s proposal will cause more instability in NYC school system, only harming the children and their future.

As for Jeffrey Klein, he made a decision to cave in and drink the kool-aid that poisoned his political career. I live in the neighborhood that he represents, which has a lot of public schools. It is time for me to give him a visit and have a long talk with him. I have to give Bronx Teacher a call and see if he would like to accompany me to Senator Klein’s office and educate him in the ABCs of why the seniority rule is in place.

There is already a “fare” evaluation of teachers in place. Those teachers highlighted in yesterday’s Post were not fired because of Bloomberg’s failure to implement it by purposely not hiring enough people to judge the cases in a timely manner. Hence, they were offered “deals” through the expedited arbitration. This is once more a failure of Bloomberg and the DOE and not due to the unions.

Didnt format well. The voting record is to the left of each Senator’s name.

Are people really so dull that they believe Bloomberg’s statement? It is so obvious that the salaries of experienced teachers must be targeted here in order to find money with fewer layoffs. (Maybe the Koch brothers can give the gov’t some charity?) Teachers are not the equivalent of fast food workers who all have a job that can be measured with very specific, uniform and straightforward quantifications. So if your salary is high, you are instantly at a greater risk to be fired; this is why seniority exists in the first place, and this fact ensures quality instruction for our children. It is so disheartening to be a teacher in America these last few weeks. The attacks are coming in from all angles. After everyone is fired, we will be a third world country (and the only jobs left for our students will be in fast food) because quality education will be a thing of the past.

You know we wouldn’t be in this mess if people weren’t so damn greedy. There’s money everywhere. The state lotteries for instance, mega is what $105 million right now, you take half of all lottery winnings and put it into a fund for teachers, police & fighter fighters because theres not enough compensation for what they do. Corporations that make a profit should automatically be forced to put say 2 – 5% of that profit into a fund to support our teachers/schools, police & fighter fighters. Athletes, don’t even get me started with them & entertainers. It’s sickening what they all are making. How many houses can you live in at once, how many cars can you drive at once, how many toilets can you crap in at once! I’m not saying that people don’t have a right to enjoy luxuries but so much is being wasted and hoarded, when it can be used to encourage, support, & secure the future of our society and most important our children who will one day not only be our leaders but our care takers.
From a deeply concerned mom of three little ones.

As a current teacher who once worked in risk management at a large trading firm in the world of high finance, I cannot believe the maddening irony that surrounds me, as I watch this country’s government punish my current colleagues, the nation’s teachers, for the sins of my former colleagues, the thieves and swindlers of the Devil’s Casino.

After watching one too many so-called “adults” drag heaping sacks of cash through the loopholes of the “regulated” markets of the SEC by way of back-stabbing, lying, and stealing, I decided I had seen enough greed and ugly humanity to last a lifetime.

So I ended what could have been a very lucrative career and enrolled in graduate school to get a Master’s in education. At the time I figured, yes, I was going to earn a fraction of my previous salary, but the changes I would make in the lives of children would make the switch worthwhile.

It is now seven years later, the stock market has since collapsed and rallied back, and the country is mired in 10% unemployment.

And now I sit here, a guy who gave up money and greed to help kids and to make the country a better place.

Being that I am still many years from retirement, I would just like to thank our federal and state governments, in advance, for taking away my pension and for driving the best and brightest away from ever considering entering the field of education.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t know too many people who have a solid grasp on physics who would be content working for $40, 000, no tenure, and no pension.

Do you know of any math wizards interested in a similar offer? No, I didn’t think so.

So, good luck to you, the good people of the United States of America. We will get what we deserve for our silence and apathy:

A generation of students who can’t read, can’t write, can’t think, or just plain “can’t”.

Get used to that word. You will be hearing a lot of it, and all because we “can’t” figure out why smart people (“the best of the best”) don’t want to work at a job with low pay and zero guarantees for the future.

But, who knows, maybe someone will make an iPhone app that will fix the whole thing.