The Nuts have Taken Over Florida Schools

[Nbadan]

Senate Bill 6 has already passed the Florida Senate. Tomorrow the Florida House will vote on a bill that is equally punitive toward teachers. It is expected to easily pass, and Governor Crist has agreed to sign it....

Seriously, what good teacher would stay in an underprivileged school if your job security depends on irresponsible parents, non-linguistic students, and students with severe emotional and behavioral issues? ... Florida is fucked up..


If the proposed legislation passes, teachers' licenses, certification and jobs will no longer be based on continuing education, years of experience or professional achievement, but instead will be subject to how well students do on state tests.

Teachers who teach challenged students, non-English speaking students, the emotionally or mentally disabled, autistic students, homeless and transient children or even an average class can count on seeing their salaries frozen or cut.

Senate Bill 6 subjects teachers to firing without cause at the end of each school year. Principals will be able to fire teachers at will. If a teacher disagrees with a principal on anything -- anything at all -- that teacher can be terminated, even if her students are successful based on test scores.

Graduate degrees will have no value. Senate Bill 6 forbids teachers from earning salary based on advanced degrees or credentials. The very professionals who are to encourage, mentor and develop students to be college-ready are now told that their education credentials are worth nothing. Is that the message we want to send to our children whom we want to see go on to college?

Miami Herald (http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/06/1565022/hurting-teachers-cant-help-students.html )


Facing salary cuts, contract termination and even the loss of their teaching certification if student gains are deemed insufficient, the best teachers are unlikely to be willing to work in low-performing, high-risk schools with the students most in need of their expertise.

Here are some of the more controversial elements:

•School districts are required to base 50% of teacher's pay each year on student gains on standardized tests. But there is no special provision made for teachers with disadvantaged students, which means there is no consideration given to the large number of factors affecting student performance over which a teacher has no control (home environment, for example, which effects everything from reading ability to whether they went to bed on time and had a decent breakfast before test day). The bill also doesn't address the fact that the lowest-performing students also tend to be the most transient -- the makeup of a teacher's classroom can change as much as 80% in the course of a year. How do you decide which kids' scores affect which teacher's paycheck with that kind of turnover?

•School districts will no longer be allowed to consider teaching experience or advanced degrees in determining salary. In fact, they will face financial penalties imposed by the state if they choose to do so. If the goal is to increase teacher quality, why remove incentives for teachers to seek graduate education? And why remove incentives for experienced teachers to remain in the public schools? Critics suggest that these measures punish all teachers, especially the best, rather than just ineffective ones.

Link (http://civicconcern.org/issues/2010_education_legislation_the_bad_the_ugly_and_no t_much_good/)

This bill is designed to make it easier for private schools to hire teachers. Right now, the privates and charters have to compete with the public school system. By making public school jobs onerous, the law is actually a back hand way of promoting a two tiered education system in which rich, white Christians will be given complete priority.

[Oh, Gee!!]

nothing good has ever come out of florida.

[DarrinS]

Nbadan starts a thread with "Nuts" in the title.

Sweet irony.

:spin

[Nbadan]

Jeb Bush's singular, overriding mission has been to utterly decimate the public school system in Florida and to mow down the teachers' union, for the primary reason that they do not usually vote for Republicans.

Despite several unfavorable public voting outcomes and state Supreme Court rulings of unconstitutionality of his school voucher program, Jeb continues pushing his radical educational *reforms* onto the people. He will never stop. It is an industry with Jeb Bush, as he engineers his operatives into key positions in state government to force through his radicalized educational agenda to privatize education and to use state funds to support religious schools.

Jeb Bush will not stop until he transforms Florida into a radical Christian theocracy.

Let's strip your brother Neil's profiteering from his Ignite *educational* software, propped up by your other brother's No Child Left Behind ripoff.

2. Let's examine your role in Lehman Brothers' bad paper that was shoved into Florida's investment funds while you sat on their board.

3. Let's set the record straight about your carefully shrouded business dealings, some of which ripped off the people of Florida. Start with your Broward Savings and Loan ripoff; Nigerian water pumps deal; Medicare scam; Broward Hospital District deals. There are others.

4. Let's hear why you are so determined to gut public school education; force religious school vouchers down the nation's throat; force students in Florida's public schools to take the FCAT, while letting charter schools off the hook; destroy the smaller class-size amendment; plant your stooges in obscure state government panels to push your educational agenda, long after you left office in January, 2007.

And yet, you still bang your drum about your educational legacy, when Florida's graduation rate was dead last during your tenure. Let's talk about that, shall we?

[DarrinS]

If our current school system produces 911 nutters like Nbadan, then it does need some kind of reform.

[DarkReign]

Jeb Bush's singular, overriding mission has been to utterly decimate the public school system in Florida and to mow down the teachers' union, for the primary reason that they do not usually vote for Republicans.

Thank fucking Christ.

Hopefully, his Union busting works and Michigan adopts a similar strategy. Then we can fold the public school system wholesale and go back to what it was prior.

In case you havent notice, Dan, the public school system in this country fucking sucks. A lot of that has to do with local education boards and administrative excess, but it is wrapped around a public education system that tries to standardize curriculum across all intelligence levels, powerful Teacher's Unions in every state who want no further responsibilities and certainly no paid-for-performance model.

They, like any self-interested group, want their cake and eat it, too. Their chokehold on the education system only exists because their employer is the State Government (who is, in turn, funded by the Fed), not a private business.

In a private school, underperforming shit teachers get canned. In a public school, they get annual raises and protection.

Much to the chagrin of all politically correct morons in this world (and there are far too many), not all people are created equal. They are in the eyes of government and law, but not in intelligence, apptitude and potential.

Education is such a system-wide, broken piece of shit, there is no amount of activism or legislation that could possibly change it for the "better". Because "better", in this instance, is just another word for "less powerful blackhole of suck", and quite frankly, I like to think we hold ourselves to a higher standard than that.

Sometimes, the forrest needs to be burned in order to flourish again. I hope Gov. Bush breaks theie educational system in a million pieces and privatizes it for the profit of his corporate buddies.

Burn the witch.

[Nbadan]

Hopefully, his Union busting works and Michigan adopts a similar strategy. Then we can fold the public school system wholesale and go back to what it was prior.

What's that?? segregated?

[DarkReign]

What's that?? segregated?

Seriously?

[Nbadan]

In case you havent notice, Dan, the public school system in this country fucking sucks. A lot of that has to do with local education boards and administrative excess, but it is wrapped around a public education system that tries to standardize curriculum across all intelligence levels, powerful Teacher's Unions in every state who want no further responsibilities and certainly no paid-for-performance model.

..it's not the teachers union who thought up standardized testing and No Child Left behind, that was the politicians......

[Nbadan]

Seriously?

Seriously, the problem isn't the schools, it's society..

[Nbadan]

In a private school, underperforming shit teachers get canned. In a public school, they get annual raises and protection.

It's easy to make fine wine with the finest berries, but public schools have to take the bad berries too...

[Nbadan]

Education is such a system-wide, broken piece of shit, there is no amount of activism or legislation that could possibly change it for the "better". Because "better", in this instance, is just another word for "less powerful blackhole of suck", and quite frankly, I like to think we hold ourselves to a higher standard than that.

The schools are merely a reflection of the society around it, those societies that pride education and success have fine schools, while those that don't, don't...

[Wild Cobra]

Seriously, the problem isn't the schools, it's society..
The primary problem in the schools are the teacher's unions. Local communities cannot get the teaching they want.

[Nbadan]

The primary problem in the schools are the teacher's unions. Local communities cannot get the teaching they want.

What the hell are you talking about? The teacher's union have nothing to do with setting up curriculum, that's the local and state school boards, those are the fuckers screwing up the system.....

....local communities? You know there are local school boards right?

[DarrinS]

Thank fucking Christ.

Hopefully, his Union busting works and Michigan adopts a similar strategy. Then we can fold the public school system wholesale and go back to what it was prior.

In case you havent notice, Dan, the public school system in this country fucking sucks. A lot of that has to do with local education boards and administrative excess, but it is wrapped around a public education system that tries to standardize curriculum across all intelligence levels, powerful Teacher's Unions in every state who want no further responsibilities and certainly no paid-for-performance model.

They, like any self-interested group, want their cake and eat it, too. Their chokehold on the education system only exists because their employer is the State Government (who is, in turn, funded by the Fed), not a private business.

In a private school, underperforming shit teachers get canned. In a public school, they get annual raises and protection.

Much to the chagrin of all politically correct morons in this world (and there are far too many), not all people are created equal. They are in the eyes of government and law, but not in intelligence, apptitude and potential.

Education is such a system-wide, broken piece of shit, there is no amount of activism or legislation that could possibly change it for the "better". Because "better", in this instance, is just another word for "less powerful blackhole of suck", and quite frankly, I like to think we hold ourselves to a higher standard than that.

Sometimes, the forrest needs to be burned in order to flourish again. I hope Gov. Bush breaks theie educational system in a million pieces and privatizes it for the profit of his corporate buddies.

Burn the witch.



:clap

[Wild Cobra]

What the hell are you talking about? The teacher's union have nothing to do with setting up curriculum, that's the local and state school boards, those are the fuckers screwing up the system.....

....local communities? You know there are local school boards right?
Ever see how hard it is to fire a teacher who is ineffective?

[Nbadan]

What is really gonna happen is that good experienced teachers, which are needed most in poverty districts will move to districts, usually white, where they can easily make their numbers...and the poor minority districts will get a constant turnaround of new inexperienced teachers....

[Nbadan]

Ever see how hard it is to fire a teacher who is ineffective?

No, it's not that hard...teaching is the only profession where you have to reapply for your job every year...

[Wild Cobra]

No, it's not that hard...teaching is the only profession where you have to reapply for your job every year...
A technicality that still doesn't have merit.

Why is everyone so afraid or merit based pay for teachers?

[TeyshaBlue]

..it's not the teachers union who thought up standardized testing and No Child Left behind, that was the politicians......

Except for the whole concept, indeed the model itself, was developed by educators, then ok.

You might want to read up on the history of standardized testing in the US before you spout nonsense like that.

The NCLB was the result of the outcome based approach that politicians tend to gravitate towards. It was an utter piece of shit. Unions fought the testing largely based upon the merit pay component...and the points they made were valid somewhat. Being held responsible for factors out of their control was a common argument. The effects of said factors were far from quantifiable, other than corelative. The seminal "A Nation At Risk" was a huge factor in establishing tests as measurement devices of relative performance having discovered the maxim, "We don't know what we don't know". The committee members? Overwhelmingly, educators.

[TeyshaBlue]

No, it's not that hard...teaching is the only profession where you have to reapply for your job every year...

That's odd. I never had to. My contract was always renewed. Much like my job in the private sector currently.

[Nbadan]

A technicality that still doesn't have merit.

Why is everyone so afraid or merit based pay for teachers?

...because it's easy to make your numbers in rich districts, but not so easy in poor districts, and it could have nothing to do with the quality of the education this kid is receiving, but that Mom and Dad are in jail and they live with grandma who is old and senile, brother or sister is hooked on drugs and experimenting around them, mom or dad drink all day and have low expectations, just a bunch of problems that come with poverty...

[boutons_deux]

"merit based pay"

test score success is a questionable measure of teacher merit.

Much of Repug/conservative interest in teachers is a smokescreen for attacking and weakening teachers' unions

[TeyshaBlue]

"merit based pay"

test score success is a questionable measure of teacher merit.

Much of Repug/conservative interest in teachers is a smokescreen for attacking and weakening teachers' unions

What is your idea of an acceptable metric of teacher merit?

[TeyshaBlue]

...because it's easy to make your numbers in rich districts, but not so easy in poor districts, and it could have nothing to do with the quality of the education this kid is receiving, but that Mom and Dad are in jail and they live with grandma who is old and senile, brother or sister is hooked on drugs and experimenting around them, mom or dad drink all day and have low expectations, just a bunch of problems that come with poverty...

Really? It's easy to make "numbers" in rich districts?
You make alot of statements with zero attempts at causation.

I think you will find the truth lies closer to the middle than these two extremes you seem to want to gravitate towards.

[TeyshaBlue]

What's that?? segregated?

No, stratified.

[baseline bum]

Basing teacher pay on standardized testing is horrible. I remember how much time we wasted on the fucking worthless TAAS test, being constantly drilled with elementary crap and taking practice TAAS tests over and over. What a joke. Instead of learning new material, we'd have weeks all we did in some classes was study for this crap. Standardized testing as an evaluation of teachers and schools is just a lazy answer pushed by bureaucrats so they can say they did something without having to think too hard.

[Wild Cobra]

Basing teacher pay on standardized testing is horrible. I remember how much time we wasted on the fucking worthless TAAS test, being constantly drilled with elementary crap and taking practice TAAS tests over and over. What a joke. Instead of learning new material, we'd have weeks all we did in some classes was study for this crap. Standardized testing as an evaluation of teachers and schools is just a lazy answer pushed by bureaucrats so they can say they did something without having to think too hard.
I agree that is the wrong way to measure a teacher's worth, but something has to be done to get rid of bad teachers.

[TeyshaBlue]

Basing teacher pay on standardized testing is horrible. I remember how much time we wasted on the fucking worthless TAAS test, being constantly drilled with elementary crap and taking practice TAAS tests over and over. What a joke. Instead of learning new material, we'd have weeks all we did in some classes was study for this crap. Standardized testing as an evaluation of teachers and schools is just a lazy answer pushed by bureaucrats so they can say they did something without having to think too hard.

Exactly. It's as if we only consider outputs and ignore the inputs. One of the odd champions of input reform was Ross Perot. Remember HB 72 back in the early 80's? I was teaching at a 5A High School when that passed. No pass no play? Absurd! Essential Elements for lesson plans? Outrageous!

It was awesome. :lol

[Stringer_Bell]

Standardized tests are shit, especially when schools take away time from other subjects to "teach to the test." Classes can lose 20 minutes teaching a subject unrelated and good teachers aren't down with that. Our young people are getting dumber and dumber while the world is getting smarter...I still think the first teacher is the parent, and if the parent is involved the kid will be fine. But how do we get through to the parents? :(

Let's just privatize schools, more free market solutions! :downspin:

[coyotes_geek]

I understand all the arguements against standardized tests and for the most part agree with those arguements. But still, at the end of the day we do need some kind of metric for measuring how good a job our schools and our teachers are doing. If not standardized tests, what?

[z0sa]

Much to the chagrin of all politically correct morons in this world (and there are far too many), not all people are created equal. They are in the eyes of government and law, but not in intelligence, apptitude and potential.

All too well said. Everyone is taught from Day 1 they have all the potential in the world, and it's simply not true. You have more potential at some things compared with others, and less at different things compared with others.

Everyone believes they are entitled to be equal in natural talent or skill nowadays, for no reason. Most people don't expect their kids to be an NBA superstar because they can clearly see they don't have the natural ability. Yet for some reason, anyone can be a mathematician or rocket scientist from birth.

Just like bodies, brains don't possess natural talent, develop or learn at an equal rate. Until we move past being PC on this issue (perhaps never), the system will stay broken.

[z0sa]

If not standardized tests, what?

This is really the biggest dilemma. Slower kid with a shitty home life fails, but the teacher honestly put forth the effort. Who gets the blame?

[rjv]

nothing good has ever come out of florida.

emmitt smith ?

[Blake]

In a private school, underperforming shit teachers get canned. In a public school, they get annual raises and protection.


I don't think it's as general as that.

Private school salaries are roughly 10-15k lower than public school salaries. It's hard enough to find teachers for private schools, let alone keep them.

[Blake]

I understand all the arguements against standardized tests and for the most part agree with those arguements. But still, at the end of the day we do need some kind of metric for measuring how good a job our schools and our teachers are doing. If not standardized tests, what?

It would be nice if the standardized tests they give were measured against tests from other countries....

[Oh, Gee!!]

how about preparing the kids for college instead of a multiple choice test?

[MiamiHeat]

http://www.lionheart-designs.com/inventory/beltbuckles/Confederate%20States%20and%20Civil%20War/Confederate%20States%20Flag%20Florida%20Belt%20Buc kle2.JPG

http://zodiblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/rednecks20club.jpg

[MiamiHeat]

so when will everyone stop and realize we have to actually parent our fucking kids?

instead of sending them off to public school everyday and "let them deal with it" while you go off to work, then come home and not really parent your kids?

feed them, they watch TV or go on twitter, rinse and repeat.


This is all a part of the shitty, degenerate culture that has spiraled ever since the

1) feminazi's and the denial of women wanting to be stay at home mothers

2) faggot hippies of the 1960's.

[Nbadan]

I agree that is the wrong way to measure a teacher's worth, but something has to be done to get rid of bad teachers.

I'm not against some type of promotion test in every grade, but right now the objectives for every grade are too broad, this takes away from giving kids enough time to discover a deeper understanding of basic concepts - especially in math and science...

[Nbadan]

more rape the people, and take the money from the GOP...


She was a 25-year-old junior staffer when the Florida Republican Party gave her an American Express card.

Over the next 2½ years, nearly $1.3 million in charges wound up on Melanie Phister's AmEx — $40,000 at a London hotel, and nearly $20,000 in plane tickets for indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom, his wife and kids, for starters. Statements show thousands spent on jewelry, sporting goods and in one case $15,000 for what's listed as a month-long stay at a posh Miami Beach hotel, but which the party says was a forfeited deposit.

The credit card records, obtained by the St. Petersburg Times and Miami Herald, offer the latest behind-the-scenes look at extravagant and free-wheeling spending by the party touting fiscal restraint. Not only did certain elite legislative leaders have their own party credit cards to spend donors' money with little oversight, but Phister's records show these leaders also liberally used an underling's card — without her knowledge, she says.

"I did not have the sole discretion to initiate credit card spending," Phister said in an e-mail statement. "Over that period of time, there were multiple instances when the card was used to make purchases that I had no knowledge of, and I did not regularly review the monthly credit card statements which I understand were sent directly to the Party's accounting office."

Even after a series of embarrassing revelations over profligate credit card spending by the likes of Republican U.S. Senate frontrunner Marco Rubio, Sansom and incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon — and pending state and federal investigations of party finances — revelations of the huge charges on Phister's card had veteran GOP fundraisers apoplectic.

Tampa Bay (http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/junior-florida-republican-party-staffer-had-13-million-charged-to-party/1086335)

The party of fiscal restraint..what a joke....fiscal restraint everyone else while they steal you blind...