I have family and friends in NJ who are teachers and got laid off, so I understand that side of the issue.
For each of these people I know, who got laid off was based on seniority. If you were there longer, regardless of how good of a teacher you are, you stayed. If you were a newer teacher, you got laid off. I am not saying that all the teachers that kept their jobs is a bad teacher, but using 'seniority' as a metric for firing someone is just plain stupid. Rather than try to cut wasteful spending like over paid, tenured teachers who are piss poor teachers, or try to find more efficient ways to spend money, these Boards of education chose the easy way out (Not sure if it the same in OR - I am speaking from what I know from my peeps in NJ). Its harder to get rid of a tenured teacher, regardless of how poor they perform in their job than it is to get rid of herpes. That is ridiculous. And who do I blame? The teacher's unions. On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 3:49 PM, Judah McAuley <ju...@wiredotter.com> wrote: > > I'm not arguing against education reform. State budgets are frequently > whacked out in priorities (like the national budget), education reform > in important, social welfare systems are not optimally designed...I > can go on and on. My point was that the funds that are going to, > partially, help plug the gaping holes in state budgets mean 1,600 > teacher jobs in my state. There can be reasonable arguments about > teachers unions, educational effectiveness, seniority rules, etc. but > I find it hard to believe that kids in Oregon are going to be better > off with 1,600 fewer teachers next year. > > Even with the money coming in from this bill, things are still rough. > The school districts here are still cutting staff, scaling back > programs, etc. We are talking a minimal level of life support. When > you come across a drunk driver injured in an accident, there is every > reason to scold them for reckless behavior. But don't let the scolding > get in the way of stopping the bleeding and getting them to the ER. > > Judah > > On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 11:37 AM, Scott Stroz <boyz...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 12:39 PM, Judah McAuley <ju...@wiredotter.com> wrote: >> >>> Ah yes, the spoiled brat theory. The best time to kick someone is when >>> they are down. They'll never learn until their constituents are >>> starving in the street. Well, actually, they already are and the >>> politicians aren't learning. So lets try kicking them harder, trash >>> the education system further, increase childhood hunger rates and see >>> what happens. I know that you don't actually believe that trashing the >>> education system is a good idea, that you don't want childhood hunger >>> rates to increase, etc. You want fiscal discipline and accountability >>> from politicians, which is admirable. I want that too. But right now >>> I'm a lot more concerned about having teachers in our schools, cops on >>> the streets and children being fed. >> >> I will need to look it up, but I recall reading an article (or maybe >> saw a news show) where it showed that other countries (and if I >> remember correctly, a LOT of other countries) spend less per student >> than than the US, yet they were kicking our ass when it comes to >> actually educating students. >> >> There is a problem with our education system,but I am not sure that >> blindly throwing gobs of money at it is the best solution. >> >> That being said, I think I would rather we took the money form stealth >> bombers rather than food stamps - for anything, not just education. >> >> -- >> Scott Stroz >> --------------- >> You can make things happen, you can watch things happen or you can >> wonder what the f*&k happened. - Cpt. Phil Harris >> >> http://xkcd.com/386/ >> >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:324722 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
