Posted on 05/28/2012 12:07:06 AM PDT by Impala64ssa
Janesville teachers and their supporters expressed outrage this week after an anonymous group distributed fliers listing their salaries and urging parents to request their child be assigned to a "non-radical teacher" next year.
The fliers, which included the names, titles and salaries of the 321 highest-paid Janesville teachers, also urged readers to go to iverifytherecall.com to determine if the teachers signed the petition to recall Gov. Scott Walker.
Orville Seymer, an open records specialist with the conservative Milwaukee-based activist organization Citizens for Responsible Government, said the group responsible for the flier has asked to remain anonymous "for obvious reasons."
On behalf of the anonymous group, Citizens for Responsible Government filed an open records request with the Janesville School District seeking teacher names, salaries and titles. Seymer provided the information to the anonymous group, but was not involved in drafting or distributing the fliers, he said. No other requests of a similar nature have been filed with other districts, Seymer added.
The flier angered teachers, who were already targeted by a flier earlier this year accusing them of having a "Marxist, globalist agenda," said Ted Lewis, regional union representative for Rock County teachers.
"It's trying to intimidate them and make them feel guilty for earning salaries," Lewis said. "They're creating this witch hunt for people who engaged in their civic duty."
Lewis said it was "ironic" that whoever distributed the fliers "very publicly posts the names of individuals and their salaries and yet he or she won't even divulge their identity."
Chris Kliesmet, executive administrator of Citizens for Responsible Government, said his organization isn't responsible for the content of the flier, but said it has raised the question about what's being taught in public schools.
"The question in the back of a lot of people's minds is, 'Are my children being indoctrinated?'" he said.
Lewis said feedback he's heard from the public indicates that people find the vilification of teachers "outrageous" and appreciate what public school teachers do.
"Everybody I've spoken to say teachers don't deserve this," Lewis said. "This is an attack against teachers, against public education."
The Janesville Gazette reported Tuesday that the flier was not distributed in newspapers, but instead was placed in newspaper boxes at private residences without the paper's permission. Janesville Police Deputy Chief Dan Davis said Tuesday distributing fliers in newspaper boxes is not against the law.
The person I quoted from the article said it was to try to make the teachers feel guilt. I think it is hypocritical to say one can not question what teachers make when the teachers and others are doing the same thing to other groups of people (bankers, investment brokers)
As was shown in a district in OH, teachers are often individually earning way more than the people in the school district paying their salaries and when exposed taxpayers may question it.
I found a picture of me in first grade. One teacher, about 30 students, we were having ice cream and cake in the class. All the kids were sitting politely, well-groomed, etc. In other words, we were raised properly at home before we ever set foot in a classroom.
I’m sure you’ve seen the devolution of how children are raised - and I don’t see an easy path back. Teachers spend an inordinate amount of time teaching students how to behave in public (whether conservative or liberal, the task remains).
I hate to sound conspiratorial, but I often wonder if that’s not the State’s agenda - leave the child-raising to the government, and it will mold them to its own purposes.
And most of these master's degrees are in education. I'd like it better if they mandated the salary increase be awarded ONLY to teachers who achieved a masters IN THE SUBJECT THEY TEACH.
Does not include paid vacations,
Does not include the average of 20,000 to 40,000 in tax free benefits, putting many of them over 100,000 in earnings.
Yet they bitch and moan when "forced" to pay a few percent into their pensions, or their health care.
Lastly, here is CA they retire with full health care and a pension of approximately 4,000 a month.
It's good to be a govt milker.
We are not talking about Catholic school teachers. We are talking about public school teachers. Teachers immunized by their union (for now) against being fired, no matter how lazy or stupid they are.
Anyhow, I challenge YOU to try and deal with a classroom, given all the legal, curricular, parental, etc. pressures, never mind the little imps themselves.
How many teachers would like to be challenged to deal with a downed power line in a sleet storm? Or searching a dark alley with a gun in her hand, looking for a murderer? Or putting up roofing in the hot August sun?
Stop whining.
I think it is a spiral. Get taxes and prices up so both parents have to work just to stay even, get the kids in the schools as caretakers to extort more form the parents with the ever looming threat of a strike or sick-out, and keep the cycle going. The liberal agenda, cultural pollution, and even women's lib (don't you work, or are you a useless housewife?) all work toward that end.
Now this is the way to deal with these people. Shine a really bright light on them and watch ‘em scatter like cockroaches.
Teachers also do other stuff during their summer time. A friend of my wife's does tutoring for extra pay during the summer.
Outstanding! The left hates when their tactics are used against them. It is about time the people attacked back. The public school system is nothing but a leftist money and power hungry ripoff.
Point is, nobody complains about the pay these jobs accrue.
With government & taxes out of control, people are looking for scapegoats. The federal & state Byzantiums are too large and disparate to attack. Local school taxes are close to home (all politics is local). I'd love to see an exposé and audit of the myriad bureaucracies that are strangling our economy, in addition to the focus on education.
I’ve heard it all before: overworked and underpaid. Public school teachers are neither. They work part days and they have many vacation days, sick days and professional development days. Their work year is about 9-10 months. Most contribute a pittance (if anything) to their health plan (”Cadillac” plans, usually) or to their retirement. They can retire at 30 years regardless of their age. Most have teacher’s “aides” (sometimes an advanced student earning “community service” credits. Class size has been reduced to relatively small numbers compared to 30 years ago. There is little accountabilitity (tenure and unionization).
So...why do teachers keep whining incessantly? Are they guilty that they are continuing to screw the taxpayer? Many are shameless parasites who excel at making people feel bad for calling them on their exhaulted situation.
At town meeting day here in Vermont we get a booklet with the details of how the town’s money was spent. This includes the salaries of all the town employees, including teachers.
Strange that this would cause a commotion.
BINGO
Nice to see our side fighting back...
“I’d like it better if they mandated the salary increase be awarded ONLY to teachers who achieved a masters IN THE SUBJECT THEY TEACH.”
I agree.
I have a masters of education in political science and a few decades of experience in the military and government.
You can’t believe the difficulty I experienced trying to get hired by a community college to teach government/political science.
I was able to get hired (finally) and found myself surrounded by the most radical left-wing indoctrinating fools I ever saw. These fools teach government as the solution to all problems, and when discussing contentious issues they always frame the right side of the argument as evil and the left side as compassionate and wise.
The acting chair of the department is head of the local teachers union (which I did NOT join), and she is the most vile mean-spirited nasty women you will ever meet. Totally committed to the union and nothing else. Oh, and ignorant as well. Story follows.
The union head gave all of us new hires a “welcome to the college” brief and tried to convince us to join the union. . .throwing in gratuitous bashing of republicans and conservatives, of course.
She then mentioned an annual regional teachers conference sponsored by the union. She made a point to say that when you are there all these vendors and book publishers will buy you breakfast, lunch and dinner, and give you all this great free stuff.
I asked a question: As state employees, covered by state law regarding bribery and ethical considerations, and subject to additional guidelines issued by the attorney general of the state, what limitations—monetary or otherwise—are we under when it comes to accepting gifts and dinners and such?
She stood stunned and mute for several seconds, eyes bulging and then she quickly said there are no laws covering those sorts of gifts and we are free to accept whatever they offered. Even a $400 dinner, I asked? Yes, she said.
Hmmmm. . .I did my own research and found, yes, the state DID have laws governing gift-giving to state employees and the attorney general HAS issued further guidance that made accepting gifts difficult.
I then wrote a sourced white paper on what I discovered, outlining the limitations on accepting gifts and other gratuities. I sent this paper to the chair/union boss, as well as info’d everyone in the leadership up to the college president.
Quickly the leadership responded and forwarded to the college my paper and cautioned ALL employees to follow the law and attorney general guidance.
This embarrassed the union head to no end. . .she now hates me and will not make eye contact. HAH!
“I’ve heard it all before: overworked and underpaid.”
Indeed. Everyone claims to be understaffed, overworked and underpaid.
Everyone.
In Racine, WI, $70K for a nine month work year, plus a great pension & health insurance at the cost of peanuts is a verrry generous pay. We can still a mixed drink for under $5 and eat a good bar burger with fries for another $5 just about anywhere in our great state.
I'm sure it was intensely satisfying to make her look like an idiot. I'm not sure of the wisdom in making the person who has influence (if not control) over your continued employment, and who may be called as a reference by future potential employers, look like an idiot in front of her bosses. Women in particular can be very spiteful and vengeful over such incidents, and have long memories.
True, women can be spiteful, for sure.
I am adjunct and they need a guy to teach during the day. . .and I am retired from two jobs (military and corporate). I have the time and I really don’t need the bucks so I do have some level of protection—she can’t hurt me.
Anyway, that said, I like the job and work hard at getting the students to THINK. . .which is harder than many would think.
The previous chair hired me, good guy, and he was removed after some sort of clash with the union head. She now has his job (acting chair).
Hmmm. . maybe I’ll put in for the job, as that would be delicious if I got it and displaced her!
I might have a chance, given that the college accepted straightaway my letter and distributed it. . . hmmm. . .
;-)
Janesville teachers and their supporters expressed outrage this week after an anonymous group distributed fliers listing their salaries and urging parents to request their child be assigned to a "non-radical teacher" next year. The fliers, which included the names, titles and salaries of the 321 highest-paid Janesville teachers, also urged readers to go to iverifytherecall.com to determine if the teachers signed the petition to recall Gov. Scott Walker... Orville Seymer, an open records specialist with the conservative Milwaukee-based activist organization Citizens for Responsible Government.. filed an open records request with the Janesville School District seeking teacher names, salaries and titles.
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