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Letter to the Editor - May 22, 2009
May 22, 2009 4:28 PM
HESPERIA
Ok, you have showed how mad you are at our politicians and have defeated to budget propositions. But what did it get us?
As an educator, let me explain this to you. 30,000 teachers have already received layoff notices. Now the state is changing the rules so that the school districts can layoff additional teachers to pay for the additional cuts ($5 billion more) in education. I am not sure how many more teachers will be laid off, but who really gets hurt by this is the kids.
One of the Governor's ideas is to cut the school year by 7.5 days. I personally don't know what a half day is, so in reality, think of it as 8 days. The current school year is 180 days. Let's suppose you are a math teacher who needs 160 days to cover the subject. Each day you need to review homework, present new material, and give students time to work in class independently on the new material. Ok, you say you have an extra twenty days. Not so. Six of those days are semester final exams. Twelve more are unit tests. Ok, now you have two days extra, right. No again. You will lose another two days for the state exit exam and four to six days for the California Standards Test.
You are already in the whole four to six days. Oh, don't forget all of the other school related activities such as assemblies, fire drills, etc. Just for argument sake we will use the number 154 for the actual number of days you get to cover 160 days of material. Now the state takes away another 8 days and you still have the same requirements. 146 days to do 160 days of work. That equals one whole chapter, the most important chapter, the last chapter. But who care if the teacher has more work to do than time to do it. YOU DO, because the kids are short changed!
This state historically has prospered because of the educated work force. If I don't have the time to teach your kids what they need to learn than we as a state will suffer. It's already happening. Kids in large classes perform more poorly than kids in small classes. And yet, we want to increase the class size by 20% and decrease the number of days to teach this larger class. Is that what you really wanted?
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Reader's comments
| In major economic events of the past, the presidents called for mass deportation of immigrants. They did so not because of the services they consumed but because they limmitted available jobs to americans. Fact is, they don't belong here and they are active in the destruction of our nation. Unfortunately, mass deportation now is a bit too late. Not that our lord and savior B. H. Obama would even consider actually protecting the american tax payer. |
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| just american - May 29, 2009 03:19:53 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Looks like nobigots hit a nerve. Whether we call them nannies, babysitters, child care providers, if you provide them a job and pay under the table you are part of the problem. |
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| hespresident - May 29, 2009 12:49:12 PM | Remove Comment |
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| teacher Every child counts Blah blah blah. Sniff. More hand wringing. In realty you cannot save them all. To pretend you can is naive. With some of their home lives, and homes where education is not important. you do what you can do. If you mean neglected and shuffled around by the system, then yes GATE kids often get the short end of the stick money and time wise. That was the point. Spend the time and money on the kids that have a better chance to do something, not all the hand wringing with the others. It is a non productive waste of money. The drop out rate is high. You are not going to make much of a dent in it. We have thrown millions at the problem with little or no change. Some districts it has even gotten worse. While your profession is a important one, you sure seem to put more importance in it then is justified. Get over yourself. BTW No increase in taxes. |
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| fish or cut bait - May 29, 2009 07:58:35 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Every child counts. Your future will be determined by these kids. By the way some of the most neglected and shuffled around kids are the GATE students. So, you need to reevaluate you terrible attitude. No one is whining and hand wringing unnecessarily. If you knew anything about the state of education, you would understand. |
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| Teacher - May 29, 2009 06:31:14 AM | Remove Comment |
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| teacher How about focusing on the kids that have a better than average shot at making something out of themselves instead of the hand wringing and money wasted on those who do not value education. Look at the money wasted on dropouts. Let them go. More money for the average student on up. The others will do what they will. You hardly save any of them. Either sink or swim. |
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| fish or cut bait - May 28, 2009 10:16:30 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Or maybe we would have the budget to reduce class sizes and focus on the kids who are so often shuffled around and overlooked. |
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| Teacher - May 28, 2009 09:19:56 PM | Remove Comment |
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| I don't know if we can say that we would be A okay right now without the illegal explosion, but we certainly would not be one failure away from joining mexico in its poverty status. I would also like to point out. Without the huge mass of children either illegal or belonging to illegal parents in our schools we would not be laying off teachers right now, because we would never have hired them to teach those children. |
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| just american - May 28, 2009 05:50:02 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Who said illegal's were the cause of ALL of our problems? They are not. They are in fact a large part to the tune of over 10 BILLION dollars a year. If no illegal's or their children were in our schools, local or statewide, we would not have a budget deficit anywhere. That is a fact. One quarter of our students in Hesperia are English learners. Nuff said |
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| Ni mas - May 28, 2009 02:05:42 PM | Remove Comment |
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| When you throw out lines like people up here are hiring nanny's that is a standard liberal throw away line. How many high desert residents have nanny's of any kind? Get a clue. Your repeated use of migrants to describe illegal immigrants show no matter how you try to cover it up, where your heart is. Also blaming the fed's is also a liberal trick. That gives you an out for everything wrong illegal immigration creates Ten BILLION dollars a year and more just in California alone. Enough is enough. |
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| no amigo here - May 28, 2009 01:54:43 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Well, Good luck teachers and hang in there. I do believe we will get through this rough time. I do hope that some would resist blaming Mexican migrants for all our problems but I know I am waisting time pounding away on my keyboard here, instead of directing my frustration toward Sacramento, So with that I will point my self in another direction. |
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| nobigots - May 28, 2009 12:15:25 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Repeating Liberal talking points. Are you kidding me. Thats the best you can come up with. Reality check, until our elected government officials decide to do something about illegal immigration it is here to stay. This is not a left or right issue. Until people stop employing migrants they will need services. Fact! Stop blaming migrants for wanting to do for their families. Blame our government and for heavens sake stop blaming liberals. Blaming liberals is way to simplistic. |
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| nobigots - May 28, 2009 11:52:20 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Mr Chapman makes a nice argument in support of education dollars. I Don't disagree with his contention that kids will suffer when cuts are so deep. What I absolutely disagree with is that he tied the argument in favor of education spending to the need for more taxation. Don't know if he is aware that according to law, California MUST pay its teachers BEFORE they pay ANYTHING else. The first at trough are they schools. Californians made it clear they value education above all else. The problem is, the law itself does not mandate a given spending amount. The teaching contracts demand step and column while the government has no obligation to step up payments in proportion. Mr Chapman, I would urge you to make your argument as you have and ask the state lawmakers to make cuts eleswhere before they reduce education funding. |
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| Just american - May 28, 2009 10:19:27 AM | Remove Comment |
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| I'm tired of the mentality that us tax payers need to provide pencil and paper, lunch, and all the other various stuff. If a kid comes without pencil and paper thats not my problem. Fail the kid! All we are doing is teaching a generation that they do not have to show up for a job prepared to work. How about time limits on welfare? How about we tie welfare payments to GPA for those parents who have no clue where their kids are before during or after school? How about we stop with the mentality that a 4 year degree is the only way to suceed? How about we push trade schools just as hard as the university's? I have heard kids give up because they know they can't get into a 4 year school when they could have got into a vocational school and learned a trade. CA has become a handout state in so many ways and it really needs to stop. |
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| Parent - May 28, 2009 09:35:03 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Teacher, I never said teachers have fat paychecks. What I said was that CA teachers are one of the highest paid in the nation. I can back that up with fact. Unemployed for two months? This is absolutely absurd. I cannot stand complaining teachers who complain about low pay, complain about a two month lay off, and all the other various things that YOU KNEW BEFORE going into the profession. Every complaint you have had you should have known about before going down that road. I don't want to hear complaints from teachers about low pay, summers off, snotty kids, etc etc etc. You knew this going in and the bottomline is you are not a slave and are free to find a different job. Next month my job is going to India. I can complain about outsourcing in America, even though nobody really saw it coming 15 years ago when I got into the profession. I'm choosing to try and change my efforts and direct my job search towards jobs I know can't be outsourced. |
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| Parent - May 28, 2009 09:26:30 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Nanny your kids? Sure we have so many in our area. You are just repeating liberal talking points. |
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| no thoughts of your own - May 27, 2009 08:27:30 PM | Remove Comment |
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| My grandchildren live out of state. Every year they are given a list of supplies the family needs to provide for each child. This list includes Kleenex and Clorox Wipes not just pencils and paper. Here we are in California where by law everything is provided for our elementary students. Why? Here's a place to save some money. Eliminate the law and save some money. The law does not cover secondary students, but it might as well. Ask any teacher how many times a day they are asked for a pencil or paper. High school students come to school empty handed every day. That means no folder to carry their assignments, no pencil to write with, and no paper for their work. These same students have IPODS, and cell phones. What's wrong with this picture? |
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| HUSD Teacher - May 27, 2009 08:06:40 PM | Remove Comment |
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| By the way, you who employ illegals to nanny your kids, clean your yards and homes should pay more taxes to pay for the illegals health, schooling and meals. How do you like that idea. You want cheap labor , you want to pay poor migrants under the table to avoid taxes, then pay for their care. Stop blaming the migrant looking for work . Anchor babies piss you off then insist our politicians do something . |
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| nobigots - May 27, 2009 07:21:27 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Oh give me a break. Blame Obama, What a crock. We have had illegal immigration long before President Obama. No one gives a darn pure and simple, Business big and small want cheap labor. No one Rep. or Dem wants to do a fricken thing about it. What did the Republican majority do . Nothing, No can do. Now, until we have some change in immigration policy we are going to have poor migrants coming here for work . Blame them for taking the life out of our social services but you are fooling yourself. |
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| nobigots - May 27, 2009 07:09:36 PM | Remove Comment |
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| nobigots The 2/3 tax vote is the last line of defense against the tax and spenders of this state. Sick illegal's and all illegal's? Send them home along with their US born children. We cannot afford them anymore. Also not all come here to work. Many come here to drop a kid and get the benefits. Our county pays the full bill for child bearing on out even if the woman is here illegally. Check it out yourself. MediCal makes no distinction if the woman is pregnant. Again, this madness must end or we are all doomed for a much lower standard of living. My thought is that is exactly what Barry O and crew want. No one to have anymore than the lowest on the rung. No matter how much schooling. No matter how hard you work. No matter how much you succeed. Nice plan Karl M, I mean Barry O. |
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| enough already - May 27, 2009 05:06:03 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Teacher, keep up the good work. Some of us do appreciate all your efforts to educate our youth. Remember there are plenty of union/teacher bashing whiners in this town Education should not suffer for this ridiculous way politicians have brought our state to gridlock. This 2/3 rds budget rule is terrible for us all. |
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| nobigots - May 27, 2009 04:48:34 PM | Remove Comment |
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