Free Republic

Two of the country’s most powerful and politically influential labor unions are backing President Obama in the recent court challenge to his 2014 executive action on illegal immigration, saying they support the president’s effort because "undocumented workers" need more workplace protection and their participation helps the U.S. economy. The AFL-CIO and the National Education Association on Monday each filed so-called amicus briefs in a federal appeals court case in which Texas and 26 other states are challenges the president’s 2014 memorandum on illegal immigration. The memorandum essentially expands work authorization and delayed-deportation programs for illegal immigrants. And it provides similar...

The Saginaw Public School district has been operating with a deficit since the 2010-11 school year, and the proposed sale of a shuttered school building could erase the red ink, according to the Michigan Department of Education. Rather than sell the building to an interested party— a charter school — the Saginaw school board originally elected to demolish it. However, after months of effort, the board had a change of heart and approved the deal. On Thursday, the Saginaw district board accepted a $3.5 million offer from the Francis Reh Academy to purchase the Phoenix Science and Technology Center, which...

The threat of failing may no longer be such a consequence for underperforming students in some Virginia schools. Why? School administrators in the city of Fairfax are prepared to ban zeroes to spare students’ feelings. In Montgomery County, students cannot be given a score lower than 50 percent “unless they did not actually do the assignment or put in effort to do it,” said schools spokesman Dana Tofig. In Loudoun County, the grading practices regarding zeros varies school to school, said spokesman Wayde Byard. Starting as early as this year, grades in northern Virginia could have more of an emphasis on...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Yellowhammer sources say the National Education Association (NEA), the national teachers’ union with which the Alabama Education Association (AEA) is affiliated, cleaned the AEA’s house late last night, ousting Executive Secretary Henry Mabry and revoking building access to former Associate Executive Secretary Joe Reed.

The Michigan Education Association has dropped an unfair labor practices complaint against Grand Rapids Community College, and also dropped its request for suspension of an election to “decertify” a union local which represents college secretaries. The decertification vote was authorized when one-third of the nearly 100 members of the Grand Rapids Community College Education Support Professionals signed a petition requesting it. The MEA filed its complaint and request a few weeks later. Supporters of the election say time was of the essence because the local bargaining unit’s contract expires June 30 and contract negotiations are set to begin April 1....

We, at the National Education Association, know that our members have a long and proud history of social justice activism. In advocating for the human and civil rights of their students, some public school educators are ahead of their time—challenging the social conventions of the day and taking extraordinary action to welcome, protect, and educate America’s students. Beginning this year, 2014-2015, NEA will proudly recognize one of these outstanding social justice activists via NEA’s Social Justice Award. This special award will be presented to one exceptional member who demonstrates the ability to lead, organize and engage educators, parents, and the...

CNN announced this week that their policy is not to show images of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, that may potentially be offensive. The editorial decision followed the outlets decision not to show the now-famous Charlie Hebdo cartoons. However, as of Tuesday morning CNN’s website still displayed pictures of crucified Jesus in a jar of human urine.

Here’s a story which you didn’t expect to see coming out of the New York State government. There was a bill on the table which would have exempted New York teachers from being fired if they received the lowest proficiency ratings based on Common Core guidelines. In a bit of irony, this was a bill that Governor Andrew Cuomo had originally proposed himself. But when it came time to finalize it, Cuomo had harsh words for the current system. Declaring the state’s teacher-evaluation system a joke, Gov. Cuomo on Monday night vetoed legislation that would have barred the use of...

A Maine school superintendent is allowing students to display a poster protesting grand jury decisions not to indict two white police officers who killed unarmed black men.

After wasting millions of dollars on losing Democratic candidates in this month’s midterm elections, the American Federation of Teachers has completely gone off the deep end and banned Coca-Cola and Coke products from its events and facilities. The teachers union — America’s second largest — based its prohibition on America’s best product and, certainly, its best export, on allegations of human rights violations that were described in a trio of books published several years ago... Larry Sand, president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network, a group that frequently stands athwart teachers unions, spells out the motivation more clearly: ”Obviously, they...

NODAWAY COUNTY, Mo. – A homeschooling family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit after they say their home was illegally searched by the sheriff’s department. The Home School Legal Defense Association is aiding Laura and Jason Hagan. Their house was raided by Nodaway County Sheriff Darren White and Chief Sheriff’s Deputy David Glidden.

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation announced today that Brighton Area Schools and the local union “have removed illegal language from a contract in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of a Brighton High School teacher who said the union and district were violating his freedoms under Michigan’s right-to-work law.” The union president for the Brighton Education Association blasted the lawsuit when it was filed last week. "It would behoove Mr. Neuman and the Mackinac Center to check their facts before filing and publicizing this lawsuit that is 100 percent untrue," Ellen Lafferty told the Livingston Daily Press & Argus....

Eighty-eight teachers over the last decade have been permanently removed from Colorado classrooms for sexual improprieties – the vast majority violating young victims from their own schools. ... not a single teacher lost their license for simply being a weak educator of children. To get decertified, records show it usually takes felony-level criminal allegations or lying on the teaching certificate application about lesser crimes. Karla Danzeisen says she spent years teaching Spanish to Denver high school students in a fog of pain pills, cocaine and methamphetamines. She told Halsne, “I was using drugs every day. I was going to teach...

The National Education Association is highlighting October as “Bullying Prevention Month.” "I hope to never hear an educator or a parent or a Sunday school teacher say to a frightened bullied child, 'Just ignore it.' Schools that are seeing a decrease in bullying are not ignoring it. They are acting," NEA president Lily Eskelsen Garcia said, according to the NEA website. Kudos to the union for focusing on the problem, but it might be taken a little more seriously if its rhetoric didn’t ring so hollow. When it comes to public school governance, the NEA and its state and local...

Two former school district employees, including the one who oversaw its affirmative action policies, filed race discrimination suits in September, saying they were fired because they're not Hispanic. Bernice Marshall, the former human resources manager, and Edmund Treadway, the former transportation manager, argue in Superior Court filings that the Perth Amboy School District is favoring Hispanic job candidates and employees. "No one's paying attention to the kids," said Marshall, who is African-American

Taxpayers on hook for millions in retirement benefits unrelated to teaching . Thanks to a loophole created by the Illinois legislature, retired teacher union leaders are getting pension credit for the years they did union work after leaving the classroom. The arrangement has put taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars in retirement benefits unrelated to teaching, and further drained an already overburdened state pension fund. ... The union bosses collecting the payouts had jobs at the National Education Association (NEA), the Illinois Education Association (IEA) and the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) after their teaching careers. Most got...

Two teachers have taken Pennsylvania’s largest teachers union to court over its attempt to decide which charities may be supported by teachers as an alternative when they decline to join the union on religious grounds. The teachers, Chris Meier from Lancaster County and Jane Ladley from Chester County, are required—as a condition of employment—either to be a member of the Pennsylvania State Education Association or pay a nonmember “fair share” fee of $435. Last spring, PSEA accepted Meier and Ladley’s status as religious objectors. In lieu of paying membership dues, state law instructed the teachers to pay a “fair share”...

Opponent Mary Burke weighed down by jobs plan plagiarism allegationsMary Burke weighed down by jobs plan plagiarism allegations. Gov. Scott Walker is casting himself as a turnaround artist, seeking re-election with a pitch to voters that he revamped the state’s spending and business climate in just four years. For a governor with presidential aspirations, it’s a case he’s likely preparing for a national audience as well — but first he’ll have to get through a tighter-than-expected re-election race against Democrat Mary Burke, a former state secretary of commerce. As if that wasn’t enough, analysts say that his race could also...

Speaking at the National Education Association (NEA) Representative Assembly at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver on July 3rd, Colorado Education Association (CEA) President Kerrie Dallman referred to the school district of Jefferson County (JeffCo) – where teachers have staged a “sick-out” and students left classes to protest throughout last week – as one of three in her state in which the teachers’ union was “working against hostile school boards.” “I also want to say thank you to the staff and leaders from the 18 states around the country who were sending in 48 staff under the NEA shared staffing...

Nearly a decade ago, voters approved a $25 million annual property tax increase for Denver Public Schools to fund performance and retention pay for teachers who help students learn. But now, 90 percent of eligible DPS teachers are receiving the additional compensation, according to a database obtained by Watchdog.org under state open records laws. And that’s in a district where this year 22 percent of teachers were deemed as not achieving the “effective” teaching standard, DPS data shows. Critics say the ProComp tax increase was always about collecting more tax revenue for the district than rewarding teachers who truly help...