Already 8 schools closed for Friday in the Madison area.

<http://www.channel3000.com/closings/index.html>

The teachers are not there!

Good answer.

Many of these kids have parents who are public service employees who have been joining their parents and families in support in Madison.

They are learning more in the streets of Madison tommorrow than they will having NCLB rammed down their throats...

Just worried about the education of the children whose instructors are not there doing what they decided they wanted to spend their life doing.

Every teacher I've known went into the profession to educate not pontificate.

The AFL-CIO and UMWA will now stop accepting my dues.

HHHMMMM.

and police? How can you possibly voice such venom when you are a worker yourself? Do you not think we will stand up for you when the time comes? I promise you I will.

civics. Those kids will learn more from this than any sitting behind a desk could teach them. Consider it a field project.

screw over the educators.

Ever have someone threaten to take your ability to pay your bills away? Sometimes you have to do the lesser of the two evils. These are not the first people to create a work stoppage and they won't be the last.

by the fascist Walker and his junta. Public school teachers 'decided they wanted to spend their life' (your words) teaching at far lower salaries than they could earn in the private sector, precisely because their jobs were protected by collective bargaining contracts. Abrogate those contracts as Walker and his fascist junta propose and the premise upon which they made their decision is ripped to shreds. Bye-bye social contract (which includes universal education, btw).

Oh, the poor wittle children. Well here's a suggestion for you: let Walker and his fascist junta teach wittle children.

Wisconsin needs a general strike immediately by all public sector employees (including fire and police) to shut the fucking capitalist system down. You want capitalism, fine, then you have to honor collective bargaining agreements and not legislate them away. Otherwise, you don't get your capitalism.

And they are learning American Government.

My partner teaches children in an impoverished school district.He is a big man and an ex-MP,so he and the kids(ages 10 and 11) get along fine.the last teacher didn't have it so well.
his students all live below the state poverty level.he teaches math.Thanks to Gov perry,over 1000 teachers in his district are set to lose their jobs.this means my partner's school(already overcrowded by an extra 600 students) will gain whatever kids these layoffs displace.he already has 30 kids...his class size will go up to 40 more than likeley.
many of his kids haven't had the same address every month.All are on free lunch.Texas has cut free breakfast over 3rd grade,so my partner and his fellow teachers take turn making sure the kids eat.he buys his kids school supplies,makes them holiday bags,....and has seen to it they all pass their TASS tests...all of them.
Now you feel this is the way to put hope in a poor kid's life... destroy the glimmer of stability that exists?

Yes, if the teachers are out for a day, the students suffer.

If the teachers are out for a week, the students lose a week of instruction, it's true.

If the teachers can't bargain, then they suffer from budget cuts, but the suffering of any individual teacher is really of no consequence, because the real suffering gets passed along to the kids.

Budget cuts lead to reduction in force or reduction of services provided or both.

R.I.F. leads to larger class sizes. Larger class sizes lead to reduced teacher input per pupil, which has a cumulative effect.

Reduction in services leads to cuts in lunch programs, health programs, after school programs, etc., which decreases student health, preparedness for school, opportunities to keep them out of trouble, etc. again.

If the teacher is out for a day, the student loses a day, yes. The problem with budget cuts and reduction in services and "austerity" programs that can't be bargained over is that they never last for a day, or even five. In fact, I've never seen these cuts be as short as a year. Oftener they last for a decade or even an entire generation of students. Long enough for the cumulative effect to add up to years of lost education. So, the question is, is having students suffer a day or five of lost instruction a lesser evil than having them face, potentially, an entire school career in overcrowded classrooms with overburdened teachers, a reduced school staff that can't even keep the school clean and safe, much less feed and attend to the health and well being of the students?

As a teacher I deplore the loss of a day of instruction. As a worker, I cringe at the loss of a day's wages. As a human being, though, I can't stand the fact that we are willing to flush a child's future down the toilet over a few dollars that we could easily come up with by not bombing other peoples kids for a day or five.

And I applaud your rationality.

personally, I felt the need to use swear words in my response. :blush:

Superb post that needs to be on the airwaves.

I love your closer... wish Ed could read it on his show.

Bravo! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

like those shits give a fuck about working parents and what they pay for childcare.

perhaps not one you aprove off though.

All over the state.

from the link in the OP:

Baraboo Schools
Closed Teachers Should Report
Submitted at: 6:51 PM CST on Thursday, Feb 17
Belleville Schools
Closed Teachers Should Report
Submitted at: 9:06 PM CST on Thursday, Feb 17
L TOP
Lodi Schools
Closed Teachers Should Report
Submitted at: 8:26 PM CST on Thursday, Feb 17
M TOP
Madison Schools
Closed All Staff Should Report
Submitted at: 8:30 PM CST on Thursday, Feb 17