Governor Ralph Cramden (aka Chris Christie) to NJ teachers on low pay...- Page 4

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/1/10 at 4:37pm

"But deserving of a better salary than someone who didn't go to college? Hell yes."

There I'll stand with you, jerseygirl. You don't have to have a college education to serve the public and be deserving of a good living wage. To me it is more about the service itself. It is possible to work one's way up without the education.

In the end, I think we can all agree that public service people aren't looking to make a killing. They just want a fair wage.

I will confess that the name-calling and weirdly-skewed sense of entitlement some posters are putting out is off-putting to this non-college-attending person, though.

eta:

"And ghostlight, I completely understand what Jason is TRYING to say. The point is that over and over his way of phrasing it is ridiculous and adding fuel to the growing fire of attitudes toward the general population of teachers. As always, the squeaky wheel gets the oil. The ones making goofy comments are being used as an example of all the teachers, which couldn't be further from the case. As an educator, one should be more aware of how something will be taken.

I won't argue that at all. As I said above, not all teachers are good writers, and I'll add that obviously, not all teachers are good teachers. None of that changes my belief that Christie is wrong, dead wrong here."


Updated On: 6/1/10 at 04:37 PM

[jasonf]

Posted: 6/1/10 at 5:16pm

It is simply amazing to me how literal some people are being. OF COURSE, JUST because someone went to school they don't deserve more money, but someone who went to school and uses their degree teaching our children, nursing or policing does deserve more than someone who didn't go to school and works waiting tables or as a clerk in an office.
Someone who went to school and is using what they learned to better society SHOULD be paid well for that.
Why aren't people asking actors and singers and athletes to take pay cuts as part of shared sacrifice?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/1/10 at 5:19pm

Because their case hasn't gone public?

Why do you assume all the office clerks, waiter, et al, didn't go to college?

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 6/1/10 at 5:26pm

Jason, you are just digging yourself a deeper and deeper hole.

[jasonf]

Posted: 6/1/10 at 5:39pm

I didn't say they didn't, but someone who DID go to college DOES deserve more than someone who doesn't, and someone who works in a capacity that benefits society deserves more than someone who doesn't. That doesn't mean other jobs aren't important, of course they are, but we're talking strictly importance of job as it relates to salary.
Does functionality not matter at all? Does education not matter at all?
No one goes into teaching expecting to be rich, despite what we all apparently believe we deserve. We DO expect to be fairly compensated for the service we perform. We also expect a certain degree of dignity and respect given for what we do, if no other reason than the lack of respect engendered by Christie and his followers have made our job all the more difficult.

[jasonf]

Posted: 6/1/10 at 5:44pm

"New Jersey’s application for $400 million in federal education funds eliminates compromises reached last week between the Department of Education and the state’s largest teachers’ union.

The complete application was not yet posted on the DOE web site Tuesday. But a press release issued by the DOE said the application includes merit pay for individual teachers, and a proposal to make it easier for districts to terminate ineffective teachers using evaluations based on student achievement as the basis for granting tenure and promoting teachers. In the event of layoffs, educational effectiveness would replace seniority as the main factor in deciding who to retain.

The New Jersey Education Association last Thursday agreed to endorse the application for Race to the Top funds after some modifications were made that replaced individual teacher merit pay with a school-wide bonus program, and supported using multiple measures rather than primarily state test results to assess student performance and teacher effectiveness.

The NJEA was blind-sided by the weekend reversal, and found out only after calling the DOE Monday to check on the application.

"We greeted the news with a mixture of deep disappointment, utter frustration, and total outrage," NJEA president Barbara Keshishian said, calling the application a “bait and switch” that would greatly jeopardize the application.

"Instead of supporting the application agreed to by his Commissioner and staff, Gov. Christie has decided to submit his own application, and to unilaterally remove the support of NJEA and hundreds of its local presidents from it," Keshishian said.

Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver and the chairs of the Senate and Assembly education committees issued a press release saying the governor had capitulated to conservatives who had criticized the compromises.

"The Governor has apparently decided that hearing good things about himself over the radio is more valuable than $400 million for our schools," said Sweeney (D-Gloucester/Cumberland/Salem). "This application was crafted in good faith among everyone involved, and now that unity's been blown up because some talking heads disagreed. If the Governor was as thick-skinned as he likes to make people think, he would shrug off the criticism and stand by the team that put together the state’s application.”

In his letter with the application, Gov. Chris Christie said that it is his administration’s belief that no single factor
influences a student’s success more than the quality of his or her teachers. He said believes his proposals are so critical that he will move to implement them even if the state is not approved for the funding.

“Indeed, I am so committed to them that I decided that they should not be compromised to achieve a contrived consensus among the various affected special interest groups,” he wrote. 'Special interests that have selfishly thwarted reform should not be permitted to hold good ideas hostage.'"

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/article_f5a4d760-6db6-11df-96ed-001cc4c03286.html

He's a real stand-up guy, isn't he?

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 6/1/10 at 6:13pm

No, he's a douche, but if it gets rid of ****ty teachers, I think it's a win/win for this assclown.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 6/1/10 at 7:09pm

"New Jersey has one of the best special education systems in the country and people move there for the services."

A more accurate statement would be New Jersey HAD one of the best special education systems in the country. Like New Jersey HAD one of the best public school systems in the country. The cuts to special education have been devasting. It's even sadder because the private schools (that Christie loves so much) don't generally accept these students, or kick them out when they prove to be a behavior problem or don't perform well on standardized tests.

Merit pay is totally idiotic and only people who know nothing about education think it's a good idea. The ONLY thing I agree with him on is changing the tenure laws...becuase right now tenure is only good for protecting ****ty teachers.

The only teachers gone in this round of cuts? The young, energetic ones.

[jasonf]

Posted: 6/1/10 at 7:15pm

Erik, I agree tenure laws need to be fixed, but it doesn't JUST protect bad teachers. It also protects teachers who have differences of opinion from their administrators, teachers who have different personalities that clash with supervisors (when those who hire you retire, it's entirely possible a supervisor may come in who you simply clash with - tenure protects against that), and protects against nepotism/cronyism. There are good reasons for tenure, but I agree, there needs to be an easier way to get rid of teachers who sit behind their desk and read newspapers all day long while the kids work on dittos.

[violet72]

Posted: 6/2/10 at 7:43am

Gov. Chris Christie has proposed folding the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation, Office of the Inspector General and Office of the Medicaid Inspector General into the Office of the State Comptroller. He has also proposed eliminating the Department of the Public Advocate. - Thoughts?

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 6/2/10 at 7:46am

What the hell went so wrong in Jersey that this complete and total overhaul is needed? I think he's next proposal will be to nuke the whole thing and start over.

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 6/2/10 at 7:51am

There has been little to no economic development, hence not enough income to offset the huge debt. I have yet to see his plan to bring industry or commerce to New Jersey. Who wants to work with a bully?

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 6/2/10 at 8:01am

I wrote the man off as soon as he said he would, "veto any such bill that crossed my desk," in reference to marriage equality. He's a tool.

[violet72]

Posted: 6/2/10 at 8:16am

So the compromise that was made between the NJEA and the comissioner of education has come to an end...and now the $400 million education could have gotten from the federal government is no more...awesome...my favorite quote from the article

"The entire presentation was that this was the administration’s approach,” Diegnan (D-Middlesex) said. “I guess (Christie’s) conservative base was not happy with what the compromise was. That’s the only conclusion anyone can reach.”
here we go again

[violet72]

Posted: 6/2/10 at 8:19am

Also

"In April, the governor wrote on his blog that he was hoping to submit a Race To The Top application with ‘sufficient support from New Jersey’s education stakeholders — including the NJEA,’” Keshishian said. “Now, we learn that despite all that hard work — and the long-overdue collaboration that New Jerseyans want between Gov. Christie and NJEA — the governor has once again chosen the path of conflict.”
really?

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 6/2/10 at 8:42am

Violet, an application was submitted -- NJ isn't out of the running. It just wasn't the one Schundler and the NJEA drafted. It's actually more in line with the application guidelines. But, I still think he's a tool.