Free Republic

Adam Neuman left the classroom in Michigan to serve in the army in Afghanistan. Michigan high school social studies teacher Adam Neuman was surprised when he saw the $80 deduction on his paycheck from the Brighton Public School District. Then, he was angry. The U.S. Army veteran, who served one tour in Afghanistan, had opted out of the Brighton Education Association and parent organization, the Michigan Education Association, in August, as was his right under the state's 2012 law. He knew he wasn't subject to dues withholding, yet the itemized stub showed the deduction. “I don’t feel that they should...

American teens are a rich demographic for political investment. Their unassigned stem cells can mature into conservative wisdom or attach permanently to the free radicals that cause liberalism.As an engineer, one of the most valued books in my personal library is How We Decide, by Jonah Lehrer. The author briefly uses politics to illustrate his lesson on cognitive dissonance, “Once we identify with a political party, the world is edited so that it fits with our ideology.” Based on Lehrer’s research, advancing an effective appeal to high school age citizens could pay off over 70+ years of voting.As a long...

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...

In a stunning move that could reshape the face of city schools, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted Monday to unilaterally cancel its teachers’ contract. The vote was unanimous. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers was given no advance word of the action — which happened at an early-morning SRC meeting called with minimal notice — and which figures to result in a legal challenge to the takeover law the SRC believes gives it the power to bypass negotiations and impose terms. Jerry Jordan, PFT president, called the move "cowardly" and vowed to fight it strongly. "I am taking nothing off...

Philadelphia teachers vowed to fight a sudden move by the district Monday that cancels their union contract and forces them to start paying health premiums. The teachers union, with about 15,000 members, accused the state-led School Reform Commission of ratcheting up its "war on teachers." However, district leaders said there was nothing else to cut after years of funding woes that have prompted nearly $1 billion in cuts that includes the loss of 5,000 positions and the closure of 30 schools. Many Philadelphia schools operate without a nurse or librarian on duty. "If the contract is blown open, what's going...

Erin FuchsOctober 6, 2014Angela Williamson An unusual racketeering trial in Atlanta began last week against a dozen ex-educators, including a fired 4th-grade teacher previously found innocent by a disciplinary tribunal. That teacher, Angela Williamson, was one of 35 Atlanta Public Schools (APS) employees indicted last year in a massive cheating case that accused them of engaging in a criminal conspiracy to boost standardized test scores to get higher bonuses. The cheating ring allegedly went all the way up to now-disgraced ex-APS superintendent Beverly Hall, and state investigators used wiretaps to gather crucial evidence in the case. Williamson's lawyer, Gerald Griggs,...

DESTREHAN, La. —Authorities in St. Charles Parish arrested a 34-year-old teacher Tuesday afternoon on allegations of sexual misconduct with a student. Deputies placed Shelley Dufresne under arrest for one count of carnal knowledge of a juvenile. She is a teacher at Destrehan High School, located west of New Orleans. ... Officials with the St. Charles Parish Public School District reported the incident to the Sheriff's Office. Investigators were told that the student was bragging to other students that he was "having a sexual relationship with teachers." "An additional incident has allegedly occurred in another jurisdiction and that agency is participating...

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...

Prosecutors are using a law originally enacted to go after mobsters to accuse former principals, teachers, and administrators of trying to boost their bonuses by conspiring to artificially raise kids' test scores. While only 12 ex-educators are on trial in Atlanta, dozens of teachers and administrators were initially charged and many have since pleaded guilty in exchange for their cooperation. The dozen on trial could get up to 20 years in prison, and they might never have been prosecuted if it weren't for a pair of ambitious reporters at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC). Back in 2008, Heather Vogell, now a...

Oceanside Unified School District officials (San Diego) investigated complaints that a teacher threatened to have a robot shoot and kill students, and the educator was allowed to resign and receive a $92,000 settlement instead of being fired.

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...

Education School tells Missouri boy his 9/11 souvenir violates school weapons policy A souvenir shell casing handed out by veterans at a 9/11 ceremony landed a seven-year-old Missouri boy in hot water when he took the keepsake to school. Sherry Falke said her son, Zane, forgot he had the souvenir in his pocket when he showed up for class on Tuesday, Fox4KC.com reported. The boy was given the souvenir at a Sept. 11 memorial ceremony in Carrollton, Mo. "He felt it in his pocket, and he took it out and was showing some of his friends at school," Falke told...

All four Harlem Success Academy charters serve primarily minority student populations (all are 93.5 to 97.1% black and Hispanic) and low-income households (75 to 80% of students at these schools qualify for free or discounted lunch), and yet all are ranked academically higher than about 97% of all schools in New York state based on 2013-2014 standardized test assessments in math and reading. What a truly amazing academic success story! Harlem Success Academy 3, an elementary school where 95.2% of the students are black or Hispanic and 80% are from poor households who qualify for free or discounted lunch, performed...

The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a civil rights investigation into the police practices that led to the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. has been welcomed by the nation’s association of teachers. National Education Association (NEA) President Lily Eskelsen García issued the following statement: “Educators applaud Attorney General Eric Holder for launching a civil rights investigation into the police practices of the Ferguson police department. This is a step in the right direction and much-needed action that family members of Michael Brown, community, and civil rights leaders have been demanding since the incident. “Like...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A T-shirt showdown has left two of the city’s most powerful unions at war – with teachers pitted against the NYPD. As CBS 2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer reported, many teachers across the city wore pro-police t-shirts after their union president, Michael Mulgrew, attended the Rev. Al Sharpton’s march protesting the death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old father of six who died while in police custody on July 17.

LANSING — Michigan's largest teachers' union should allow members to resign at any time and stop enforcing an annual one-month opt-out window, a state labor judge ruled, relying on the state right-to-work law that took effect last year. The administrative law judge, Julia Stern, recommended Tuesday that the Republican-controlled Employment Relations Commission order the Michigan Education Association to no longer limit school employees to leaving the union solely in August of each year. She said the law that took effect last year incorporated a federal law interpreted to give public employees the ability to leave their union anytime.

It’s that time of year again – when the little juvenile delinquents, future prison inmates, and functionally illiterate junior members of the free shit army pick up their “free” backpacks and “free" school supplies they will never use and shuffle off to the decaying prison like schools in the City of Philadelphia to eat “free” breakfasts and “free” lunches, while being taught government sanctioned pablum by overpaid mediocre union teachers. It’s a repeat of every year for the Phila school district. As the school year approaches they are shocked to report a massive deficit and beg the State of PA...

After the Vergara v. California decision in California’s state Supreme Court, which held that key job protections for teachers are unconstitutional, anti-union advocates everywhere began spawning copycat lawsuits. But while reformers may genuinely want to fix education for everyone, their efforts will only worsen diversity in the teaching corps. The truth is that an attack on bad teacher tenure laws (and ineffective teachers in general) is actually an attack on black professionals. If the Vergara clones succeed, black children will lose effective teachers and the black community will lose even more middle-class jobs. Black workers are most likely to hold...

The ranks of non-teachers—such as administrators, counselors, teacher aides and cafeteria workers—has swelled 130 percent since 1970 and they now make up 50 percent of all public school employees according to a new study, The Hidden Half: School Employees Who Don’t Teach.Looking at data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found that the growth of non-teaching staff has greatly outpaced student growth over the past four decades.From 1970 to 2010, the number of students grew by 8.6 percent, while the number of non-teaching personnel increased by 130 percent. Non-teachers now consume over a...

The teachers union is pitting its members against cops — by sponsoring and promoting the Rev. Al Sharpton’s anti-police rally in Staten Island next week, The Post has learned. The United Federation of Teachers sent an “action alert” ­e-mail that even promised free transportation to Sharpton’s Aug. 23 demonstration that is billed as a march for justice for “victims of police brutality.” Some teachers were furious that the union would take such a prominent role in the event. “What a disgrace. What is going on with the leadership of the UFT thinking it’s OK to protest against rank-and-file cops?” asked...