California: California's schools to lay off 25,000 staff

The Independent (UK) ^ | 6 April 2003 17:16 | Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles

[TankerKC]

In northwestern Arkansas, almost every one of the crimes that is commited is done by a hispanic.

I did a search on “arrest reports” and “police reports” in the Northwest Arkansas Times (Fayetteville). Here are the names listed:

Manuel Rodriguez – murder
Leonardo Lara and Claudia Lynn Reynolds - possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver-methamphetamine
Ezra Joe Jones - possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture-methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia
Rachel Diane Weber, and Benjamin Sloan Weber - manufacturing a controlled substance
Kelly Kay Clark - commercial burglary, second-degree criminal mischief and a misdemeanor charge of theft of property
Seth Isaac Batterman, and Aaron William Stocker, - reckless burning, and misdemeanor charges of unlawful burning, criminal trespass and possession of an instrument of a crime
Buck Anthony Wright, - commercial burglary and second-degree criminal mischief.
Timothy Paul Billbe – Jail escapee
Mark Randall Davis – failure to register as a sex offender
Kenneth Edward Treib – online fraud
Jose Ramirez - first- and second degree battery

When I searcher on “murder” I got:
Timothy Gary McCollum
Patrick Manus Boyle
Manuel Rodriguez (repeat)
James Robert Pugh
Allen Lee Davidson
Helen Gately
David Preston Pardue
William Lagnion Jr

When I searched on “robbery” I got:
Rodney Dutton
Michelle Dutton
Richard Burley
Steven Proffitt
Laveris Townsend
Tessa May

Certainly not scientific, but unless the Hispanics are changing their surnames, you may have the wrong idea. For what it's worth.

[eleni121]

The NEA - one of the most dangerous left wing organizations in the US. This org is hell bent on bureacratizing education completely. They go bonkers when privatization or vouchers is spoken. They ally themselves with the bureaucrat administrators and book publishers - they are an octopus whose tentacles reach far beyond the classroorm. If laying off or firing is part of the financial solution - it must be done whether is it comes from Davis or anyone else.

NEA must be broken or brought down to size.

[Centurion2000]

Well we all know that the Bisexual Asian studies courses will still be there .... of course they'll axe the physics department for it.

[Proud Legions]

The problem will never be fixed until the NEA power is broken. You are so right about admin:teachers ratios. 30 years ago local schools had a nurse, but she also had to teach health, and had a principal and vice principal, but both taught full loads. Everyone else was a full-time teacher (even every coach). The only others working in the school were a couple of maintenance workers/janitors and the cooks. And these including even the larger high schools of over 1500 students.

The districts had a couple of rented rooms in a building downtown, and only a couple of full-time positions.

Now, go to your local larer schools and you will see dozens of non-teaching administrators in the school (my old school now has a day-care center with staff, numerous mental health care workers, and even "diversity integrators." Our local school district has a huge wonderful new building--the size of a large high school--for the the dozens and dozens of district administration office workers.

Man...what a waste.

[kcar]

OMG! Greedy, selfish taxpayers strike again! Maybe CA should invoice the Republican Party for encouraging this self-centered individualist perspective?! Alas, now the TEACHERS are being going away. Wither Amerika?...

[not-an-ostrich]

Although the teacher's salaries are high in California the administators salaries are outrageous.

[thunders]

From what I have seen, and perhaps I am wrong, many of the crimes are committed by hispanics. I will do some research and see what I can pull up....

[Lancey Howard]

States across the country are suffering their worst budget crisis for half a century, and few are receiving help from the federal government, which is pouring funds instead into counter-terrorism, the military and tax cuts for the wealthy

This line tells you all you need to know about the author and this column. (Yawn.)
It's just a pathetic rant from a Euro-scum socialist mouse.

[1poedpatriot]

purely a political move,

either to set up for more taxes, or the layoffs will be blamed on lacking fed funding which is being spent on the war, grey davis is setting up his run for presidency, " I had to do it because of those mean old republicans, boo, hoo, vote for me I will fix everything ",

[John Jorsett]

The state isn't "broke". It'll have more tax revenue this year than last. The deficit is the result of not having as much money as it wants to have. Sacramento got accustomed to jacking up spending by a hefty amount each year and they're going thru a heroin-addict-style withdrawal.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Just a note, as a former teacher in California. (I was laid off after the prop 13 reduction in teachers, this time its the incompetence of the politicians, but no matter.)

Kids, (I taught High School with a prior job as an electrical aerospace engineer, a job I went back to) are of all types, the best education is one on one, and the best students benefit as well as the worst. The teacher needs to know more than the student, and a lot more of the subject is needed to teach smart kids. (I knew more math than we ever covered, and the kids knew it. I had no problems with class sizes of 36, which was the maximum number of chairs.)

The schools need the best teachers, need to pay them more if they handle larger classes, thus the reduction of teachers using the seniority system will only further hurt the education available in public schools in the state. More will opt for private school. (Where I taught, most teachers put their own kids into private school if they had another salary and could afford it.)

The community cannot do much, funds raised for a single teacher must be carefully arranged so that some other teacher with more senority does not bid for the job. The senority system is part of the problem, since it assumes teachers are all equivalent, and clearly they are not.

Parents and community need to support hard work on the part of the kids, the single most significant indicator of success in school is homework done on time. If I ever teach again, (I would have to leave retirement) I would prefer to teach in private school, even with a lower salary, it would be more satisfying. Most teachers teach because they receive personal satisfaction doing it, they do not do it for the money. (If teachers were to throw off their union and become contractors, the profession would be a lot better off and so would the kids.)

Good luck.

[nmh]

"Class sizes, which were successfully reduced in the go-go 1990s to as low as 20 to 1 in the primary grades, look certain to expand again, with some scenarios suggesting 40 or 50 students per teacher in certain classes."

Class size has nothing to do with BUT rob taxdollars from people. Countries that are ABOVE the U.S. (foreign countries) have LARGE classes. What is wrong in the U.S. is the QUALITY of teachers. Most don't know their arse from a hole in the ground, let alone the subject they are teachings. After a few years of this they almost appear to despise kids. Not a teriffic combination.

[thunders]

Ok, so it would seem, although my research did not pull up much (since I am doing it online) information at all, that I was wrong in this statement.

I was stating this in regards to the news that received when I was at home last summer, and while I was in high school, without any thoughts that the situation could have changed much since...I remember reading the police reports in the local newspapers and seeing nothing but hispanic names--also reading them and seeing hispanic names for all of the crimes such as murder and armed robberies and such...of course, I was also reading a variety of papers from northwest arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma. Granted, my memory could be a bit screwed up...

So, please, everyone disregard my previous comments on the crimes commited in the northwestern arkansas area.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Education is really screwed up.

I am grading tests from my entry level prealgebra class at a local Community college and better than half of the students cannot handle simple fractions!

It is very distressing!

[tubebender]

The 25,000 figure is very misleading. By law they have to give 6 months notice of lay offs but they don't know how much money they will receive or which departments they will cut so they take a chain saw to slice the bread. In the end there will be lay offs but about one quarter of this number.

Humbolt County schools faces a unique problem to this state. Because of the shut down of our timber industry we are losing students in all grades and we are closing schools all over rhe county.

[jd777]

As I RECALL GRAY DAVIS had a big hand in the budget shortfall.

[off-roader]

I believe that the Clark County (Las Vegas, NV) unified district is hiring 3000 new teachers every year. The number could be much more.

Much of the work force talent of the former Kalifornia middle class and alot of the money made in the dot.com era has left that state for brighter prospects in Souhtern Nevada.

My kids attend a sparkling new public elementary school where fundamental learning and personal responsibility are the hallmarks of the curriculum. As close as I have watched, I have not seen any degree of the social engineering crap that is so prevalent in the schools of Kalifornia.

I will add that the most junior teacher makes enough to afford a home in our fair city as well.

[jeremiah]

The schools need the ability, to remove permanently, those that will not comply with rules, or refuse to learn. That includes those with disabilities that slow their progress as a student, and those that are not physically mobile. That alone, will save considerable amounts of money. There should be a move, to exclude those that can't or won't learn, it is as simple as that.

[jeremiah]

Wasn't Tyson cleared of hiring illegals? Go back to the archives of the local newspapers, I'm sure the press has reflected the true facts by now.

[American in Israel]

With the six figure "administrator" jobs at about a 1 to 1 ratio with actual teachers, this teacher layoff to save money will cause the "managment" to have to start time-sharing peons. After all how can you be an administrator if you have no one to administrate?

The school system has become a liberal feeding ground for greedy do-nothings. When a private school wihout state subsidies can produce a better product at HALF the cost, can no-one in the Schools DO THE MATH?!

Perhaps if we slashed the school budgets by 50% things would even out? First thing is fire All the teachers, and All the maintenance staff, sell All the schools and that will make up 20% of the cut. Then 30% of the remaining army of administrators would have to go...