Housekeeping and other BS ...
First off, I have had to put a small comment modification procedure into effect because of the amount of spam comments I have been receiving. Serious shit it has been about 25-40 per day lately. So, after you comment, just type TG in the box below the comment and it will post as usual. If you don't do that, it will be put in my junk folder and may take a little more time to show up. That's TG without quotes. Simple, huh? Thanks in advance for your cooperation. Now on to the "other BS"
My son is home from school today. School was canceled. "TELL US TOMMY! Was it an outbreak of food poisoning? Did the school flood? Did a sewer line bust or did they find black mold and condemn the joint?"
No friends the reason is much simpler than that. The teachers want more money so they took off to gather in the capitol to demand it. What? Don't believe me? This is from "The Daily Advertiser," a Lafayette newspaper.
BATON ROUGE - Gov. Kathleen Blanco will join members of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers in a pay raise rally on the Capitol steps today, but the teachers might find a cool welcome in the Legislature.
Schools will be closed in at least seven parishes because so many teachers and school employees have requested a day off to attend the rally, the LFT reported Tuesday. To some legislators, that shows dedication to their cause but to others, teachers should have stayed in the classroom, especially since there's universal support for raises.
The LFT said school systems in East Baton Rouge, Calcasieu, Tangipahoa, Richland, Jackson and Washington parishes will close all schools. Beauregard Parish schools will be open for teachers who aren't attending the rally, but students won't attend classes.
A delegation of support workers from St. Landry Parish is expected to join the rally.
Sen. Charles Jones, D-Monroe, whose district includes Richland Parish, said he supports the move because "it means they are committed to education. It speaks volumes about their dedication" that they are willing to take a day off to show legislators that they seriously want a raise.
"Richland is one of the parishes in the Delta where education needs are the greatest," Jones said. "A number of the teachers in the Delta are not certified teachers" because the salaries are so low that some systems can't attract certified educators.
"This is an unprecedented opportunity, from a fiscal standpoint, to help them," he said.
State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek takes a different view.
"While I respect every teacher's right to visit with their legislators and bring their issues to the state Capitol, I do not believe it should be done at the expense of children and instructional time," he said. "It is disconcerting to me that teachers would choose for kids to lose an entire day of school and inconvenience parents in such a way."
The governor has a proposal to grant each certified teacher and certified school employee a $2,375 pay raise and $750 pay raises to support workers.
The Louisiana Association of Educators and Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana refused to participate in the rally. Representatives for both groups said they prefer to let legislators know of their concerns about salaries and requests for raises in other ways.
Ya know? I love teachers, think they do a wonderful job (most of the time) and put up with shit that would make most of us run screaming for the hills, bleeding out the ears and clawing our own eyes out. Most days. Today? I'm with the State Superintendent of Education. I wonder how many of the fuckers took the day off and stayed home? GET BACK IN THE FUCKING CLASSROOM AND TEACH MY KID! GRRRRRR!
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Comments
wow. well, thats a tough one. if they just stayed home they should be read the riot act. if the marched, well...sometimes it's necessary to make your point.
Posted by: lime | May 2, 2007 5:47 PM
You won't get any sympathy from me on this one. My late wife was a teacher for 34 years and believe me, teachers are paid no where near enough for what they do, I don't care where you live. The abuse, the bull shit, the politic, the aggravation they are subjected and lets not forget that they are responsible for teaching the people that will run our country some day, is worth more than any job there is. If you want to bitch, how about the CEOs of the companies that make hundreds of millions a dollars a year? Remember, everything we buy pays those salary.
Besides, aren't the teachers that took off docked a vacation day?
Posted by: BTExpress | May 3, 2007 7:31 PM
When I was in high school we missed a whole month while the teachers were on strike. It fucked a lot of things up. I can understand wanting more money - but shouldn't students come first?
Posted by: Jay | May 9, 2007 8:47 PM
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh that sounds very African!
Posted by: Wenchy | May 12, 2007 5:32 AM