Write-in Ken Jackson for President.

You are brilliant and you "get it!" Thanks for this amazing post. Not sure this was your intent, but you make me feel empowered as an educator, a woman and a supporter of our district schools. Perhaps you yourself will consider a school board run in the future, once your personalized coat of armor is made?

Thanks Mr. Jackson.

Wish I could read something written by you every morning.

I second Ann's comments on Finland's system of educating teachers.

Outstanding!

Great post Ken. Teacher unions arose because of a great imbalance of power which was used to impose artificially low incomes on them even as the education and credentialling requirements increased. Teachers have a huge financial investment in their education just as attorneys and doctors do. Should we bar the AMA or American Bar Assn? I don't think so. Just remember that the teachers are what make our schools great--they're not the enemy. Great post Ken.

I second both of Amy's suggestions! Our country and our school district need people with your perspective to serve as elected leaders and policy makers.

Thank you for your eloquent defense of my profession . As one of those female college grads of the late '50's my choices were limited as you say: teaching or nursing...or forget your education and become a secretary...or better yet just forget it and become a housewife! Not that there is anything wrong with the last 2 choices, but women had a hard and long road ahead to be accepted in all the professions and work places they are today.

The teacher bashing needs to stop. I would encourage anyone to spend one day serving in the shoes of a teacher (and keep in mind a "day" is normally 12-14 hours long) to fully understand that these dedicated professionals care about your kids and influence their lives forever.

Please seriously consider a possible run for our school board or the OISD board. Our future generations need someone with your insight to make policy and protect public education.

Thanks for the nice words. But blogging is relatively easy and doesn't take much time or effort. School Board work? Oh my goodness gracious. Watch the last study session through to the end. Mac provided the link earlier. For the moment I am content that we have four excellent candidates running; I regret I can only vote for 3. I do wish other candidates like Mr. Baron would step forward. Women and men who know and understand long term finance and financial structures and value public education without pre-determined ideological bent. BHSD is rich in many forms of talent and training.

Mr. Judge,
Tempting. Would that all on your side of the political spectrum felt that way. But in my experience many don't look for win-win. They look only for the "kill," as in gut public education entirely. The economics are, indeed, bizzaro and require a serious rather than ideological analysis. A physician or dentist, for example (I will avoid lawyers), may hate the unions or hate public education and fund those politicians that wish to gut the system. But if these professionals (more than likely trained by highly state and fedarally subsidized universities, either through direct aid or NSH NIH grants) succeed they succeed only in hurting their own interests. Here is how: Many, many consumers of dental care, for example, pay regularly for services only because of union negotiated (partial) pay. Kill the unions, kill the contracts, less trips or no trips to the Dentist. The Dentist looks up one day and says what gives? Where's the money? Answer: you funded the wrong politician. How to solve that....

The teachers are not respected because they themselves do not respect their profession. If they did respect their profession they would not only allow but encourage the unions to make it easier to dismiss the bad teachers. The districts basically can not fire a bad teacher. It takes years and a court battle with the teacher's union to see a bad teacher let go. The bad teachers drag all the good ones down with them.

I suppose we all know what a good teacher is and what a bad teacher is. However, in order to fire someone, any kind of unprofessional or bad behavior must be documented. If bad teachers were not fired in the past, somebody at the administrative level didn't do his or her job. It is insulting to imply that teachers or anyone else want to have "bad teachers" around. The new tenure laws and the new teacher evaluation laws provide a more accurate way to document any shortcomings seen in a teacher's performance. The unions get into the picture, not to protect bad teachers, but to make sure that every teacher has a fair, accurate assessment and receives due process.

Vote NO on ballot proposals 2-6 as those proposals have language that would make them part of the STATE CONSTITUTION. That is not good.

Marcia: I don't take a position on your view of the proposals but you have to know your post on this thread is gratuitous. You wouldn't like something this off point being posted on your blogs, it's not very respectful to the blogging process.

In the title of this blog is Proposal 2. Vote NO on ballot proposal 2. Why? Because if passed, the language would become part of the STATE CONSTITUTION. The language becoming part of the state constitution is NOT good.

The important thing to remember about Ann's comment above: That legislation is NOT in the state constitution and may be amended, changed or eliminated depending on its merits and how it actually affects the system. I say, work outside of the state constitution for issues that matter to you. Thus, vote NO...proposals 2-6.

Again, gratuitous union bashing does nothing to deal with our kids' education. If that legislation creates an imbalance of power it should go away.

Neal, if you don't believe seniority plays a huge role with the BHSD teachers than you are not familiar with "co-teaching" in our high schools.

From what I understand, some of our BHSD teachers are not comfortable at all with the concept of teaching in teams. Talented, hard-working teachers prefer to work as individuals, and hold themselves accountable for connecting with students, engaging them, and reaching some degree of mastery of a subject. I am anxious to hear from teachers about recent mandates regarding classroom management and and working within a new "21st. century education" framework. Should our students be encouraged to learn in groups? (Collaborative learning) Or is individual effort and achievement better for most in the long run? Please weigh-in on this discussion if you are a teacher or student who has knowledge of upcoming changes in our schools. Protect your identity if you feel that you should.
Lots of students study and do lab work, projects, etc. in groups. Nursing training is a good example. But students (who plan to enter professions) must be held responsible for mastering a subject as individuals. (I'm not as concerned about teachers as I am concerned about students.)

The co-teaching I am referring to is the use of two teachers in a classroom at the same time, teaching the same thing. Although my understanding is that the second teacher usually just sat in the back of the classroom looking at their laptop. It appears these second teachers were just stuck in a classroom because there was not really a need for them in the building yet, due to seniority they could not be let go.Very similiar to the autoworkers "job banks".

Please don't forget that Prop 2 (collective bargaining in the state Constitution) refers to public and private unions.
I live near the vacant field where GMs "truck and bus" plant used to team with well-compensated workers and year-round production of magnificent vehicles....I used to work for the News and Free Press before they were forced to combine business operations....we used to circulate over 1-million copies daily with retail ad revenue to support all...What has happened? Can we afford to allow it to continue?

Parentaxpayer: Invective is not substantiation.

My answer was not invective. You're not going to believe anything I could say to substantiate my claim of co-teaching so I suggested going to the source of allocating teachers through out the buildings, the principals.

Nor will anyone else P'payer if you don't try to back it up. Chris Fellin tries this approach often. Ask him how it's helped him out.

For those that have NOT voted yet.... here is a link to an article where the author, Phil Power, founder and chairman of The Center for Michigan wrote:
"Reserve constitutional changes for serious matters; reject Props 2-6"
http://bridgemi.com/2012/10/reserve-constitutional-changes-for-serious-matters-reject-props-2-6/

Chris: Whether we agree on ideas is one thing. Your (and Jenny Greenwell's) methadology of constant attack of the district and the nonfactual statements you and she have made, along with the lawsuit you had no good reason to file other than to try "to throw a wrench in the works" (which seems the basis for Moigis and Greenwell running for election) makes you (and her) bad actors and you deserve to be called out. Your interest is in being divisive and destructive not positive change. Sorry for the harsh words but "me thinks you doth protest too much."

You seem to be making a career out of vindictively attacking those who, for now, have saved Pine Lake School from being turned into rubble just to salute your ex boss, Steven Gaynor, his real estate speculator buddies, and his blind followers. Real estate speculators, builders and constructors are still drooling and hoping for more profits from that 22 acres by putting up “family friendly housing” and killing a perfect elementary school located in a lovely, sleepy neighborhood. All courts have acknowledged the valid deed restriction, but influenced incumbents like Ingrid Day and rubber stamper Joan Berndt supported efforts to buy off the donor’s heirs at the expense of the community. If it would not have been for residents like Jenny, Gaynor’s overly inflated $145M Mega High would have begun in 2003, and our district would have been tossed into a deep financial hole. Without concerned citizens like Jenny Greenwell, W.F. Moigis and Howard Baron, we’ll head back to where we’d been with Gaynor and his cronies. You and you frequent Patch Pals, who also seem to despise Mr. Fellin and Ms. Greenwell, should not railroad this community and a fine superintendent like Rob Glass with your ill conceived and brain washed rhetoric. It is you who “deserve to be called out” and should “stop throwing a wrench in the works”. Let others enjoy reading Patch and not have to deal with the froth of you and yours. What a waste of time. Get enlightened at www.bhsforum.com

I am pleased to be one of many adults in this community who understand that students, education outcomes and academic achievement, are more important than anything else, including compensation to adults, in a high-perfroming, respected public school system. I don't believe that a 12-lane pool is what most educated adults feel is important at this time. Will we broaden our curriculum to include indoor sailing? Are nearby districts closing schools?
What are we doing that is so wrong? We are forgetting about the well-being of our students. This can't continue. I hope area voters will understand that the board and their "insiders" need to be challenged. Our students deserve better.

Oh Chris, it is hard to imagine your intentions being pure when you have personally done so much harm to the district. And the "facts" you skew and spew, reforming them into something that has very little resemblance to the truth. The hundreds if thousands of dollars YOU cost the district could and should have been spent in the classroom. Chris, you are one person. What you think is "right" and "best" for our children and community is your opinion only. Thankfully you are not in any sort of leadership position that might foist your negativity and single-minded nastiness on unsuspecting children.

Hmmm...."the board is a fiduciary duty". Sure is......remember Day et al Herner, Berndt and the rest of the group all tried to steer us down the river with a 4000 student high school, 120 million bond issues, etc etc etc.....all rejected because Jenny led this district to demand better solutions. If anyone has demonstrated fiduciary duty it's Greenwell. VOTE FOR GREENWELL AND MOIGIS

You are right there have been so many proposals, over a short period of time involving somany multi millions of taxpayer dollars and divergent proposals it has your head spinning.

I hope the Non incumbent school board candidates know when elected they will inherit becoming landlords of empty school buildings, employers of a bevy of costly consultants, heads of a proposed medical clinic, making the term "is there a doc in the house" a reality; overseers of major new construction, ....hope they have time and energy left to do their main job of ensuring we are educating our students for the future.

Oh I forgot because my head is still spinning...They are also farm managers.

Linda, your previous 2 posts highlight the fact that you have very little idea what the job of a school board member is.

Per earlier posts of others, "will the real Amy Cardin, please stand up, please stand up."

Linda is emblematic of the supporters of Ms. Greenwell and Mr. Moigis. If she is representative of you feel free to follow her advice. If not, please stand up and vote and send another message that their methods and destructiveness has been repudiated by the community. It's up to you.