Mates,
I do not get int politics because of what I do in the military, but I want to send out my vote of support for all of you. I am enraged that teachers are about to be cut because of funding. It is because of all of you that I have been successful in my life. I Thank You and want you to know that you are in my thoughts and prayers!
ABS

I think that it's contemptable to cut teacher funding.Next to parents,teachers are the most important people in a child's developement. Sadly these days teachers are even more important than some kid's parents as a lot of parents depend on teachers to instill the social skills that they should be teaching their own.It is incubent on all governments that they provide adequate numbers of properly trained teachers as the future of the country very much depends on what the children learn from them.These days teachers have to put up with more abuse and aggravation than ever before yet they are treated poorly and paid way below their true worth for the conditions they have to work in.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I don't talk politics either but this is more of a social injustice platform.

I once was a teacher but gave it up because of the way we were constantly used and abused by the powers that be. The above is one glaring reason which seems to never end. Even back in my day, such things sent a clear signal to so many of us that we are of no priority nor tangible importance. Consequently, this is one of the chief reasons I and many of my colleagues gave up the profession.

Not just because I was one mind you, but I honestly believe that teachers should make as much as medical doctors as their contributions are just as important if not more so, to society. Primary case in point: All who are reading this right now regardless of your fields of endeavor know whom they can thank for the ability to do so.

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You dig?

My Niece is 26 years old and teaches here in Maryland. Three years now has her masters and makes 43,000+ for nine months a year.
I think it all comes down to where you live, I know my niece had offers of no interest housing loans, moving cost and many other incentives offered to her. I don't think that is to bad My self but then there are jurisdictions that just don.t have the money or the teachers that want to teach in them. Baltimore city can't keep teachers and many they have don't meet minimum requirements to teach. Yet the school board gets over 10,000 per student into the system and say they don't have enough. The money gets eaten up before it gets to the classes.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

ABS, thanks for the support and thanks. As an update to the letter that I wrote, the Florida house had passed that bill along party lines. However, after a concerted Facebook campaign by teachers ALL OVER Florida sending Gov. Crist close to 100,000 emails, calls, and letters, and postings on his own website, he vetoed the bill saying it was wrong for Florida. One of the groups had gathered around 70,00 members in a week. I guess he saw the writing on the wall. We teachers feel that because he is behind Marco Rubio in the Republican primary polls by double digits, there is a chance he will run as an independent, hoping to get the teacher vote.
Serge

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica

Several counties in Maryland were looking at trying to get the state to take over teacher pensions and even merit pay scales it did not go anywhere here in Maryland this year being a election year for Governor. This was the year of nothing in the way of tax increases and other things to piss people off. So all gets postponed to next year. We are a one party state Democrats control all and have for the last 35 years except one term Republican Gov. he vetoed much of what the state house passed and they gave him little of what he wanted, a good 4 years!!!! And he is vying to get back in office.

Coming from the Socialist Republic of Maryland that up until last year issued 200+ drivers licensees a day to illegal aliens and even register them to vote using the motor voter law. It is almost impossible for anyone other then a Dem. to get elected. Governor. Win Baltimore city ( one of the deadliest cities in U.S.), Prince Georges county (One of the highest crime counties in the U.S.), Montgomery county ( one of the top five riches counties in the U.S. VERY LIBERAL) and your governor. the other 22 counties can vote the other way.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Cutting teachers per se isn't "the answer" but neither is throwing money at the schools. I had some great teachers and to be frank, some outright incompetent ones, in my years in public school. But it's the great ones I remember and who had a positive influence on everything that's come after.

Even my own "style" when I taught finance at a 2 year college later on. I imitated to an extent those teachers who'd influenced me. I have two uncles who were career public school teachers (now both retired) and I have several friends who teach now, on in the LA Unified District. We all agree that teachers are a key component in how you turn out. But ...

- parental involvement is a must. That's why it's usually mandatory in private schools. But public school teachers have a valid point when they say they can't do anything about absentee parents. Even worse, they can be sued for disciplining a child even if warranted.

- that leads to spineless administrations. We probably can't stop some parent from suing over anything, but the administration chooses to back the teacher ... or not. And often its "not" so they don't rock any boats with the local school board.

- school boards in many cases have become an atrocity. It's all big money these days and (at least here in LA), being on the school board can be one of the most lucrative jobs in town. I've known several people on school boards much smaller than LA, and let's just leave it this way: you find every special interest in a 100 mile radius plus every parent who wants to get their kid a no-effort free pass on your doorstep the morning after you win the election.
Let's also say that the money they wave in one hand, and the threats in the other ... can be a very powerful 1-2 punch toward you quickly forgetting that the school has anything to do with kids and education.

- teachers themselves (so say my uncles and others in the field) can sometimes be their own worst enemies. True, teachers should be protected from arbitrary firing and should have some discretion in what and how they teach. But the key here is "some" ... the unions have become far too powerful in protecting weak and over the line teachers while sacking the good ones.
Keep in mind that some of the layers of administration we have today were put in place via union demand. The original idea may have been okay -- no teacher could be fired by a single principal with an axe to grind and no review. Ie., the theory was that teaching should have vital academic freedom that never exists in a corporate job. But it went too far with reviewers reviewing reviewers, consultants who consulted both sides and then more consultants to review the advice of the consultants.

So I think what we need to do is refocus on the main idea -- the class. Good teachers should be rewarded (not punished by the union) and pass on their methods to average teachers so they can improve. But bad teachers (and yes, they do exist) need to be identified and dropped, not covered for.

We can give massive bailouts so some CEO can upgrade his corporate jet and take a vacation in the Bahamas. So why do most teachers have to buy their own supplies? As a nation, our priorities are very wrong and it shows up in our kids. Not sure if teachers get bonuses ... but we sure give corporate execs bonuses ... for outsourcing jobs even while the stock value of the company they lead heads for the ground. Priorities ... priorities, folks. We better make that painful decision soon!

(That starts at home, by the way ... not in the White House, or state house, or Congress or your local den of thieves, er I mean city council.)

There should be a review of administrative decisions, but a single layer. And that layer should be independent of the administration and the teachers' union. We can cut out all the other administrators, liaisons, consultants and what not.

In one school district I know of, they cut teachers' aides, making minimum wage for a few hours a day, yet they could afford a consultant who made nearly $8,000 to study what color to paint the computer room. After which they didn't have any money left to buy any computers. Why? Because the consultant was a neighbor of a school board member and just starting out in her "Color Consultant" business. Her neighbor was more than happy to toss her an $8K bone to get things rolling.

And that's my last point. Based on admittedly only known scandals and the few people I know who've been elected over time, we have to get a handle on school board corruption. It seems almost universal and they're after you (no kidding on this) five minutes after the election results are announced. We need to find a way to keep the contractors, the parents looking for favors and the other politicians very far away and unfortunately, that's the one piece of this pie I have no answer for.

Boy how the times have changed. I can remember being choked by my tie, slapped of the back of my head and of course the famous hair pull and this was by nuns.lol And God forbid my parents were called up they would join in. Today if a teacher even says an off color remark to a kid the news is there and they want a public lynching. The way the schools are today and what most of them have to endure they should be well taken care of. It is as if 70% of kids today have not been taught to have respect for there elders or have had any morals instilled in them.

State and local governments are faced with these dilemmas because they have lost revenues and miss spent them when they did have them. Local Govcos will use this bait and switch for tax increases instead of cutting spending in other areas.

The biggest problem with the public school system is the "public" part.

One of my sons is a teacher and now a vice principal at the same elementary school he attended as a kid.He's a brilliant person,(even if he is my own kid) ,and could do so many other things to make a living but he chose that job because of other family members who are teachers and their influence.
I think he is becoming sick of the job and the crap that goes with it,and I hope he finds something better,he's only 29.
It's a shame that there are good people doing those jobs and are not appreciated anymore .

I dropped out of College at 17 (I wasn't academically minded at the time) to pursue full time employment. To cut a long story short I've ended up working as a Site Manager (one up from your standard Janitor) in a F.E. Sixth Form College in the UK for the last 11 years. I manage a team of 17 staff, carry out in house maintenance, setup events and project manage (and in my spare time i'm trying to get the moon on a stick !)

During my late teens / early twenties I had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. I used to “borrow” science and physics text books and then question my colleagues. One of my favourite interactions was when I asked the Physics Tech to explain the Brownian theory of particle motion. He had a huge smile on his face as he went straight to the lab and set up a microscope and a small light box which he then filled with smoke. As I peered into the scope I could see loads of tiny specks randomly flying around. He explained that what I was looking at was the particles that made up the smoke being randomly motivated by the atoms in the air.

“How cool is that!” a young Andybighair did say. This lead to a 2 hour discussion on Niels Bohr's Quantum Theory! Anyway I digress....

Dispite the quality of the teaching provision where I work, It still pains me to see five teachers wedged into an “office” that used to be a paper store. The building I look after is over 80 years old and is badly in need of refurbishment. On the same campus there are two high schools which have had millions spent on them over the past 10 years, to the point where kids are moving up to the next level in their education only to find the standard of facilities aren't even close to the school they have just come from.

Basically the LSC (the Learning Skills Council, now disbanded) has under funded the FE sector for years. Principals have had no choice but to cut the maintenance budgets to help save teaching jobs. The college was promised funds for a new building but the funds were withdrawn when the crash hit leaving the college 1.5 million pounds in the red after going through a costly planning process.

Its not looking good at the moment as we've reached the point where funds will have to be spent maintaining the current buildings which may lead to “streamlining” the courses that are expensive to run, limiting the currently diverse curriculum and stunting growth.

I have the up most respect for anyone working in the education sector and wish them all the best through what looks like some pretty crappy times ahead .

On a brighter note in time of stress I can always look to my Career Mentor for inspiration.... . ...



I love jumping out of filing cabinets and scaring the shite out of teaching staff! Sometimes its the little things that keep you going!

Enjoy!

Andy (the mild-mannered janitor!)

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Pending Greatness

Thats the truth!!!! We are are about to see the largest tax increases in history!!!! State, Local, and Federal.!!!! Then the beginning of the Federal government imposing the VAT
Federal Income tax
State Income Tax
Local Piggyback Tax 60% of State
Sales tax Md. 6% of spent money
Property Tax
Waste water tax ( Md.Flush Tax)
Federal fuel Tax ????
Maryland fuel Tax 23.5 cents per Gallon.

These are taxes all in Maryland have to pay and don't include Tobacco tax $2.00 a pack and the Liquor tax. Estate tax.
Now they want to add a Soda pop tax and the Feds want a VAT which taxes every thing at each step thru to the final user.
How much can a turnip bleed????

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

that is yet to be seen. the following is a link to factcheck.org regarding a claim the bush campaign made against john kerry regarding taxes and supposedly the "largest tax increase in history".

http://www.factcheck.org/treasury_tax_e ... rease.html