No more summer vacation?
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090927/...us_more_school

I'm sure the Teachers Unions have nothing to do with this...

The School system....there's another unqualified success!:rolleyes:

don't assume your example is universal.

I'm talking about the Public school system...the one where 95% of students are functionally illiterate. Not being able to fill out jobs apps is a real bitch!

Tim...Even you have to admit that Dems care a whole lot more about Public Schools than righties

What exactly can this be based on? Concessions to teachers unions? What the Democrats dont seem to care about is the private schools that consistently massively outperform public schools by killing time after time any legislative help for an expansion of these schools. Of course those schools arent mandated to hire union teachers and as such the teachers unuions lobby hard AGAINST funding or tax breaks for these schools. The practices of teachers unions have helped create the debacle that public schools have become in many areas. And we know whose pockets they are in.

95%? LOL...Now, you're just making sht up like a good Conservative? Be consistent here. You do you want the Gov't involved with schooling? If you're consistent, then seems a good Conservative would want all private schools, and no public money involved in it.

That was probably a little high....was a stat I saw awhile ago...75 anyway

The Dems have been feeding at that trough for decades!

Geesh, they've been talking about this for the past 40 years ....

Guess you are unfortunate enough to live in a place where those stats are true.

I grew up at public schools, absolutely terrific, where 65-70% of the kids went on to college. Good tax base.

You made my day (too funny.)

Based on test results everyone should want all private schools

who has?

Seems a difficult thing to measure. The private schools probably have more of the better students to begin with. Wouldn't you need to somehow test the private school kids in the public school environment? I mean, for some reason, you think you can compare totally different groups of people that are in different situations. Wouldn't you need to test the same students in both situations (public n' private.)

chuck ny state teachers pension fund lost over 8 billion last year in the mkt meltdown , well who makes that up ???? the taxpayer does because the pension fund is guaranteed by ny state law .... well what in the world were they doing with 70% of the $ in the stock mkt , shouldn't it be in cash , i am not against the penisons the teachers get , but when the taxpayer has to subsidize their losses it ain't right.... a lot of people who make what teacher make in ny 50 - 100k are not getting their 401k 's made whole

Every school district I've ever been in contact with. Especially the deeply GOP one I grew up within.

it's kind of funny....
when you say teachers make plenty since they only work half the year, they jump up and say 'that's not true, we have summer workshops, etc etc'. but then when it's mentioned there should be a full school year, teachers say they'd need a raise for their extra time.

so....which is it? they work, or they don't? :D

Yawn

Didnt know you were so deeply involved with school districts internal policies. You are well rounded. Where do you find the time?

In NY union teachers only have to work 130 days out of 180 to be considered full time. Thats 50 days off out of 180. Nice.

No one is saying that teachers arent very important and have made a noble career choice. But they need to take some of the blame for poor results. Many teachers union stances are directly opposite to improving the quality of education in this country. Bad teachers need to go. Good teachers should be rewarded. But that isnt how it works.

cutting class sizes necessitated hiring more teachers-when you dig deeper into the pool to hire, guess what you're going to get? i doubt there's a discernible difference from when class size was larger-but the union has more $, since they had more paying in-so they're happy.
and yes, a good teacher is a good thing. but there could definitely be improvements in public schools. parental involvement would certainly help as welll, with less parents taking their 'little angels' side when junior messes up.

unintended consequences?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...critics-claim/

Our schools best work

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...official-says/

I sincerely apologize the the President for suggesting that the teachers unions were behind the newly proposed school schedule for kids. It seems as though the teachers have been actually going the other way and want to spend less time in school in order to avoid layoffs or paycuts. I feel bad that the President and his team actually seemed to come up with thier own idea for a change and underestimated the unions chutzpah.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...shorter-weeks/

Since 2000, he said, school districts nationwide have hired teachers at twice the rate that they have added new students.