This is life for teachers at public schools, these days.... Wisconsin example

[mojowork_n]

http://bloggingblue.com/2011/08/30/republican-thugs-part-8-new-berlin-edition/

Today the New Berlin school district voted on a new handbook that they presented to the teachers as a finished document. With Scott Walker ending collective bargaining for public employees, examples like this show where this will lead. The draconian measures that were in the ending of public workers collective bargaining rights, played out as many thought in this draconian handbook forced on the teachers. Here are the changes that were passed tonight...


....Tonight was the board meeting and unfortunately the hate right radio triumverate got word that the teachers were going to attend the meeting and put word out to their brownshirts that they were needed to heckle and intimidate the teachers. Their mission was accomplished as the minimal crowd of ” tea party” leftovers did the hate radios bidding and showed up and not only caused a disturbance, but according to people at the meeting, yelled and spit at the teachers, pulled signs out of their hands and ripped them up and even disgustingly handed out pacifiers to the teachers.

Yes the sin of professionals wanting a say in their workplace rules and a few disgusting thugs and bullies show up to attempt to degrade the teachers of New Berlin? They were dramatically outnumbered yet yelled the loudest and were the most antagonistic. The hypocrisy of that amazes me, also where were Sykes or Vicki Pyzinski or Jeff Wagner?? Too ashamed to show up on their own or too cowardly?

[rzemanfl]

1. Sounds a lot like Old Berlin to me. n/t

[mojowork_n]

3. Not too long ago, when neo-nazis showed up in public,,,

...one of their media spokespersons was quoted as saying that that particular suburb (there were a lot of
Germans in southeastern Wisconsin, I think the name was selected before the second world war) was a
very comfortable place for her family to live. There aren't that many who actually belong to that splinter
group there, but way too many of the locals are in complete sympathy with the frame of mind:

http://expressmilwaukee.com/article-15967-nazis-set-to-converge-on-west-allis.html

Paletti said she moved to New Berlin because she can live a "separatist lifestyle."

"Anyone who's familiar with New Berlin will know what the demographics are," Paletti said. "Our demographics are majority white, about 95%-96% white. We just fit in better with our own type of people. The values are, in the majority, the same as far as what we want in our city. The political stances we take fall along the same lines to a certain extent, the way that people take care of their houses. And for my kids to grow up proud of who they are and where they come from."

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/129187398.html

It's probably no coincidence that the district is represented in the state legislature by one of the hardest-line, pro-Walker Republicans.

Not all that many of her constituents wear swastika arm bands in public, but too few of them ever seem to challenge or question ideas or attitudes they inherited from the time before humanity started taking steps forward, to erase that kind of bigotry.

Which -- to tell the truth -- isn't exclusively German in origin. Ever since this country was founded, we've always had problems accepting people who believe in equality. The trick that's made it easy for bigots to prosper has been the same -- label or define or paint those who aren't hateful as being aggressive or hostile as war-liike:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pequot-massacres-begin

[coalition_unwilling]

4. Touche! - n/t

[msongs]

2. that's what happens when the majority of voters in your state choose republicans. nt

[aandegoons]

5. How is much of that legal?

* You can be required to work an additional unpaid 15 hours; no more than 3 hours a week
* No set pay for overtime; only stipends
* You may be required to start as early as 6:15 AM and end as late as 5:00 PM
* You may be required to attend inservice or other training, outside your regular work schedule
* THIS YEAR, ELEMENTARY WILL BE WORKING AN ADDITIONAL 205 HOURS WITHOUT ADDITIONAL PAY; SECONDARY AN ADDITIONAL 95 HOURS WITHOUT ADDITIONAL PAY; NEXT YEAR, ADD 80 MORE HOURS TO THAT TOTAL, SINCE WE WILL BE STARTING AUGUST 15th AND ENDING JUNE 15th
* Retire after 2021 no benefit packages given.
* 5.8% of your salary will be deducted for state retirement benefits (pension system)
* You must report all traffic incidents (except speeding) or any tickets you have received to the District within 3 days or face dismissal even if it occurs during your time off
* Take away all microwaves, refrigerators, and coffeemakers, even though each administrator and the District have these items.
* Resign before first day of school, you must pay $200 plus board contributions of benefits (insurance).
* Resigns after the first day school, $2000 plus benefits payments if not 60 days notice given

And that is just a partial list.

Sounds like indentured servitude.

[mojowork_n]

7. They've lost maybe a third of their teachers.

Front page article from this past summer:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/new-berlin-could-lose-a-third-of-teachers-eh5sb1k-160305175.html

New Berlin has become ground zero for testing the delicate balance between the pursuit of savings and workplace satisfaction in schools. Freed from the restrictions of union contracts in this largely Republican, fiscally conservative community, New Berlin's administration and School Board members say they've implemented changes that are good for the district and the 4,700 students enrolled here.

They've gotten control of salaries, bringing them closer to the state average; raised the minimum starting wage by $5,000, because board members believed there was too much compensation on the high end and not enough at the entry level; and in general taken back a district that many considered to be in the pocket of the teachers union.

But whereas other districts are reporting normal turnover, 50 of New Berlin's 314 teachers have resigned or retired so far this year, according to the administration.

There's strong speculation that about a third of this year's staff will be elsewhere by the end of the summer; employees have until Thursday to resign without a financial penalty.

The administrators have always been really authoritarian. A few years ago, some kid scrawled a bomb threat on a toilet wall and next thing there were half a dozen city cops strolling the halls with guns on their hips. Every day, in plain clothes. Video cameras all over the place. I went to a high school in the same athletic conference, not that far away. Schools were totally different back then. Critical thinking and the pursuit and challenges of "intellectual curiosity," (thank you, Mr. Lemley) are what I remember being emphasized.

...It's all legal because the majority of voters back the school administrators.

[obamanut2012]

8. Forget all og the big things, look at the little petty things

No fridges, microwaves, or coffeemakers/electric kettles???

That is just mean and petty and totally humiliating.

These people suck. Why would anyone want to stay in that district? You won't even get a real retirement package anymore. My God, I've worked retail, and was treated with more respect.

[coalition_unwilling]

6. From the state that brought us McCarthyism (and Joseph McCarthy) - n/t

[mojowork_n]

9. Tail Gunner Joe

He could have been Wisconsin's first openly gay senator, decades before Tammy Baldwin. But he drank himself to death in the closet, instead.

Not a proud chapter in the state's history. But we had Fighting Bob LaFollette, too. Bill Proxmire, Gaylord Nelson, who started Earth Day. A few others who did a little bit of good.

[coalition_unwilling]

10. I've forgiven Wisconsin for McCarthy and Walker, since it also gave us Russ Feingold. His

first Senatorial campaign in 1992 was a pleasure to behold, made doubly sweet when he defeated the Neanderthal Bob Kasten (a Joe McCarthy throwback if ever there were one). OK, maybe Feingold benefitted a little from Clinton's coattails, But Feingold went on to distinguish himself as the very antithesis of McCarthyism.

[Starry Messenger]

11. Our CFT field rep mentioned this handbook a couple of months ago.

It's what lit a fire under my ass to help defeat Pro 32 here in CA. This is what the ultra-right wants for union workers. You should see the stuff that didn't make it onto the ballot that they were proposing.