On Amendment could let teachers union modify compensation, save district $3.1 million
Posted on June 10 at 10:08 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Wow, apparently there are people in Janesville who think serve the community actually means allow one's self to become enslaved by the community. Teaching is not indentured servitude people - they have professional degrees (often two or more). Teachers deserve to make money, they deserve to defend their incomes, they also deserve to be respected. All three of these things are continually under attack in this community. Kudos to those teachers who are leaving - and good luck to you as well.
Also, I am curious as to what a "real" education would consist of Kiesha. If you are truly worried about what is being taught you have the right to ask your student be exempt from certain lessons. The current school board president does this with his children often. However, to call the education in Janesville "liberal propaganda" is simply ridiculous.
Janesville teachers should not reopen their contracts. Most of the board and the superintendent have shown nothing but an untrustworthy disdain for the teachers and other employees of the district. Our community and the ways it runs itself is a joke to the rest of the state. I am not proud of this, but apparently some of you are as the attitudes are not changing and the condescending, hateful, and prejudicial comments continue to flow from our community.
Thank you teachers; thank you for teaching our kids, for making our community a better place to live, and for sticking it out for the students even when much of the community is ignorant.
On Beloit College commencement shows individuality
Posted on May 17 at 8:27 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Always proud to be an Alumnus of Beloit College! Congrats graduates!
On Janesville teachers won’t re-open contract
Posted on March 8 at 10:35 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
It boils down to trust people. why would people re-open the contract when the school board is not trusted? There was no guarantee this would have been a quick process; it could have taken forever and if Walker's bill had been passed while the contract was open -poof- no contract. Janesville teachers save the district money through their health care system. They pay taxes too. Oh, they also make Janesville a better place; and judging by the comments here it needs all the help it can get. The Janesville teachers are not the problem here - many of the citizens are. What is it going to take to make people realize that we cannot have a successful community without a great education system? Sure people will say we're too poor to pay more taxes. So, it's simple stay away from Red Robin one extra time and it's taken care of. It seems unlikely that Janesville will attract people who can make our community soluble if our school system is always dumped upon by its citizens. To those of you who will say 'no, the school is always first and that is why we are in this mess,' I say to you, no. This mess is being caused by many other factors including the Governor, other conservative groups and individuals, the school board's inability to make reasonable decisions resulting in a stronger educational environment, and the public's unwillingness to support it's students, teachers, and itself through education. To say teachers have brought this upon themselves is to set up a straw-man argument and continue the chain of uneducated arguing. The fallacious rhetoric used in this community and state by the conservative folks is becoming ridiculous.
I for one am glad they didn't open the contract. Let us pay more taxes, look for superfluous areas to cut, perhaps shrink the athletics budget. There are ways for this ship to be righted that do not involve laying off multitudes of teachers or having them risk their well-being and re-opening their contract. It is not a matter of throwing some under a bus to protect their jobs; this was about trust plain and simple. The school board is not an educated body that necessarily understands the ramifications of the decisions it makes. In fact, the lack of people on the school board that understand education administration is astounding and should call many of their decisions into question. To close, bravo teachers, bravo!
On Janesville School District to cut $6.5 million
Posted on February 10 at 3:57 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I for one hope that the people of Janesville get over their ridiculous rage against the educational community. There is a reason the rest of the state looks down on our community. If you are unsure why that is please read these comments. People are continually spouting off unsubstantiated generalities against education - there are too many examples here to cite. I understand times are tough. However, education should not be the target. How can we as a community expect to move out of our current quagmire and toward an economically viable community if the attitudes of our citizens are stagnant and vicious toward education? We cannot. It isn't that the schools provide poor education, it is that the public does not understand a quality education when they see one. When people continually complain about everything to do with the schools of course they look bad. Wake up Janesville - the anti-education individuals (including some board members) are making us all seem ignorant, cheap, and short sighted to the rest of the state. I like many things about Janesville, but the attitudes of many of its citizens and the way they treat educators (and students) is not one of them. Janesville's students deserve more respect than this. Simply because there may be a few bad apples that seem to get all of the attention or because *your* student had a bad experience does not mean they received a bad education. It is not for the individual family to judge as they do not have the understanding or capability to make realistic comparisons. There may be other schools who perform better on 'X' measure, but I assure you the education our young people are receiving in Janesville is top notch. I understand I was complaining earlier about unfounded claims, well, I have an advanced degree in education policy studies (I'm not a teacher or administrator however) and I have at least a basic understanding of what makes a productive and successful K-12 environment. So, please stop crippling our students with this incessant negativity toward them, their, teachers, community, and district. I believe we can be better than this. Support education in Janesville or watch our community continue to falter - simple right?
Posted on January 28 at 9:44 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
First off I am an unemployed homeowner. With that said, raise taxes to support schools - please. I would rather pay a bit extra and retain (or god forbid increase) the quality of education in the community I live in. With excellent schools comes more home value. I would rather skip a meal out and pay extra in taxes than watch the quality of education decline. I do not have children in the district either.
In terms of cuts why not examine sports? Better yet, the numerous charter schools in the district. Are they all necessary (possibly) or could some be combined? Also, why not examine the rent on those spaces. It seems as though paying rent for charter schools is a luxury. I do not deny the benefit to these programs, however, why not hold them in a district building - possibly a portable classroom?
I understand why some in the community balk at the idea of raising taxes, it sucks. Cutting teachers, social workers, and APs, however, in lieu of raising taxes seems short sighted. These are the people making sure our community's children are becoming reasonable and educated adults. Perhaps I would understand better if I sold cell phones for a living? Never underestimate the amount one can learn about educational administration while peddling an i-phone.
Posted on November 15 at 10:42 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I wouldn't complain too much about having to shoot a doe this year. Where I go in northern WI I cannot shoot a doe. Buck only season there because people are not seeing deer. As someone who hunts almost exclusively for meat it will be a tough year having to wait for a buck, and an even tougher year eating one. Last year I counted myself lucky and got three (two does and one nice nine-pointer) but those were the only deer taken between five of us. Good luck everyone and I hope you are all safe (and warm).
On Undergraduate tuition increase working
Posted on October 27 at 11:20 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
It's disappointing to see so much anger over the differential tuition policy at UW-Madison. Did you know that if a student's family makes less than $88,000 a year (the average for students at UW) they do not have to pay the surcharge? Also, because the state pays so little for the university (less than the 20% quoted earlier) they need to find money somewhere to increase learning opportunities. It would be different if the money were used to fund frivolities, however, it was used to hire much needed faculty who help keystone courses not be so large. The money is also being used to revamp the advising at UW - something that many students feel is lacking. Both of these things point toward a much better college experience for all students.
Now, Northman, wow. Need based financial aid does not point toward socialism on the board of regents. It seems as though getting more people to and through college is a key to helping our economy compete globally (especially since we are being outpaced in this regard by many other countries). You have taken your extremism too far with this comment as virtually all research points toward the merit of need-based financial aid - and yes that includes conservative sources as well. In this particular case need based aid has been raised due to the tuition increase paid by the wealthy, however, many other resources have been increased as well, most of which help the wealthy students too (possibly even more because they are more likely going to know how to find and utilize those resources as they have more support with college).
Finally, in regards to the comments calling this greed. People should be very proud of having UW-Madison, it brings so much recognition and money into our state. It is one of the most prominent research universities in the world. We, as taxpayers, should be glad that our tax money is going here, at least we know where it is - helping make the people of our state more competitive nationally and globally. When it comes to UW most of their money comes from research grants and donations, not tuition and tax money. In fact, very recently corrections has passed education in the amount of money it receives from the state. So, to say that they are greedy, not worth the money, or other silly things is ridiculous. I praise this effort by UW-Madison to make it more accessible to all (not elitist)and to increase the learning and support opportunities for those already on campus.
On Feingold has $3.65 million on hand for election
Posted on February 1 at 3:13 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
First of all, I am not sure that voting the way RetiredAirforce reports is backing down from issues. Increased costs does not necessarily equal not delivering health care. On the same note, voting for the health care reform while being against some of the spending found within it seems to be a case of compromise, although many people seem to forget what that means.
I also disagree with oldtimer when he/she claims we are losing our freedoms one by one. To begin with we don't really have that many. With that said, I do not see where we are losing any of our "freedom". I know some of you may quote some interesting sources claiming 'X' or 'Y', but really, politics now is simply maintaining the status quo, not taking our freedoms away.
I do agree that many of the young (and old for that matter) people are far too consumed by television to care about politics beyond what it costs them. However, I am not sure it is in the county's best interest to have everyone actually involved, especially considering the level of intelligence often displayed when normal citizens make their voices heard.
And finally, you can disagree at length I am sure, but when talking politics in America it is a Democrat Republican thing. Maybe not when talking about how "fed up" some are, but when talking about actual change (not in the Obama way, but actual change) it will come down to the two parties. There is not enough willpower within the people to change it, especially when those who want change often come off as crazy uneducated radicals who simply want less taxes.
On Feingold has $3.65 million on hand for election
Posted on February 1 at 11:56 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
To those of you who think Feingold is bad for raising so much money you should look at Paul Ryan's warchest from the last election as it too was bulging. I also believe Feingold was in favor of capping campaign spending, however, that was blocked by the Republicans and did not go through. With that in mind, how can anyone blame him for going in with as much money as people are willing to give him.
Also, there is no correlation between how much money was raised and "doing the work of the people." That comment simply does not hold water. Attacking Feingold over the amount of money he has raised is ridiculous, especially if the attackers vote republican and are from Ryan's district. I say, good job Feingold, at least there has been one senator in Washington that does not back down on serious issues.
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On Amendment could let teachers union modify compensation, save district $3.1 million
Posted on June 10 at 12:31 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Jvl93, if that is all you take from my comment then over dramatic sure. However, consider sarcasm the next time you read. Also, I wrote that remark to respond specifically to the people who are arguing very hatefully against the teachers. I know they are not slaves, nor are they treated anywhere nearly as badly. The point was simply that people are talking as if teachers are accountable to the random public almost as if they were owned or "indentured" to them. Janesville is the perfect example of why the public should have little to no input into education policy - it is bad enough they get to vote for a school board; that system is apparently not working out.
Again, great job Janesville teachers!