Posts: 23
Threads: 4
Joined: Mar 2009
Wow!
As the parent of a 4 year old we have been trying to figure out what is going to happen with his education.
In the 20 years I have been here I have uttered to myself "When are these kids in school?" often. I can hardly believe they will be in school even less than they seem to be.
So there are pros/cons with home/charter/public schools. I am going to need to do some real soul searching over this subject.
So what then...get the kid an XBox for a babysitter while we are at work and he is at home an extra 17 days? Scary stuff!
I know when I was a kid I would've been just thrilled to death to hear we were getting another 17 days off a year.
Please be kind.
Posts: 1,727
Threads: 29
Joined: Feb 2006
It is interesting how previous to the ratification of the furlough days it was always TEACHER furlough days they were discussing and folks just didn't seem to pay much attention to the fact that is it ALSO student furlough days.
If I had a child, I'd be teaching them everything I wanted them to know and not depending on the school system to do it for me. Anyone who has a job where their child can work alongside them, it would seem to me to be in the best interests of the child to "apprentice" them so they learn. There are many more places for learning and teaching than just the school system. However, my advice is not valid since my kids have tails so feel free to dis or ignore anything I say regarding kids and their education.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
Posts: 3,035
Threads: 201
Joined: Aug 2006
Prior to the furloughs Hawaii had the standard 180 day schedule, minus a handful of teacher work days and in service training days (which are mostly the result of federal mandates due to No Child Left Behind) which most states have. The days off and vacations are distributed a little differently here. Surprisingly, there is no federally mandated number of instruction days.
However, I would happily settle for my students' parents sending their kids to school for more than 2/3 of the scheduled instruction days. I had never seen such a casual attitude towards attendance as I have encountered at every school I've taught at in Hawaii. Parents keep their kids out of school to babysit younger siblings and cousins, go hunting or fishing, visit family, go to Oahu to shop, or just because they feel like it. Teachers can't teach kids who aren't in school, and make up work is generally reading and writing based, while in class activities are multi-sensory and are designed to work with multiple learning styles. The attitude about attendance reflects a real lack of valuing education on the part of many parents, and sends the message to their kids that school is an unpleasant chore to be avoided at all costs. The furloughs reflect that same attitude, just from the government instead of the parents. Remember, Lingle first wanted 36 furlough days for all government employees, including educators.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
Posts: 4,533
Threads: 241
Joined: Jan 2006
And on this I am in complete agreement with you Carol! Well said!
Posts: 2,980
Threads: 177
Joined: Aug 2006
This all part of the "starve-the-beast" strategy. Voters would never vote to decimate our public schools. So, you teach people that taxes are inherently evil, that government is bad, manufacture a "crisis" (plenty of money for some things; but a shortage for others), start attacking the salary and benefits of public workers, reduce the quality of education and then presto change-o, private schools and homeschooling become the best option.
Mission accomplished. Destroy public schools. On purpose. This is not negligence. It is by design.
Posts: 1,595
Threads: 111
Joined: May 2007
Is it true that there are more administrators than teachers in the hawaiian state system?
If so, this answers any questions I might have had about the problems we are experiencing.
punatoons
Posts: 447
Threads: 27
Joined: Sep 2006
Teacher Furloughs Not Written in Stone
The two year contract ratified by 81 percent of Hawaii’s public school teachers on Tuesday could be amended to eliminate furloughs, according to Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto.
“Should there be an infusion of cash or our economy starts to look better there's always the MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) process or the amendment process we could take a look at,” Hamamoto told Khon2 one day after the ratification vote. The amendment process would involve the Hawaii State Teachers Association and the Department of Education.
Hamamoto said she would be asking lawmakers to come up with additional revenue in order to drop some or all furlough days.
“We will be lobbying the legislature for funds so that we can add more school days back to the school calendar,” said the public schools chief.
Under the new two year contract teachers who work a ten month schedule will be furloughed a total of 17 days. Those who work year round are mandated to take 21 furlough days. The furloughs, which fall on Fridays, amount to a 7.9 percent pay cut for the state’s more than 13,000 teachers.
Sen. Norman Sakamoto, the chair of the Education Committee plans to reintroduce legislation that calls for a one percent increase to the state’s general excise tax. Sakamoto likened teacher furloughs to a destructive house fire.
“Whether it's that bill or similar bills I'm sure they'll be different vehicles to say how can we help rescue or how can we repair the part of the house that's burnt.”
Sakamoto’s bill to raise the GET exempted food, medical care and a portion of rent but failed to gain enough votes when it crossed over to the House. He says part of the reason it failed is a lack of public support.
“It needs to be a community effort,” said Sakamoto, “not a legislative effort.”
A one percent hike in the general excise tax usually translates into $500 million a year in added tax revenues for the state.
~~~~~~~~
The rest of the article can be found here....
http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/Te...aDm8w.cspx
Posts: 447
Threads: 27
Joined: Sep 2006
.
Hawaii State Senators' Contact Information
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/site1/sena...embers.asp
State of Hawaii House of Representatives -- Contact Information
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/site1/hous...embers.asp
Since Punaweb seems to get readers from all over the state, I'm including contact information for all areas of the Hawaii. It's imperative that folks throughout the islands make their wishes known; contact their state legislators with ideas.
People need to pipe up. Drag those part-time legislators with their 36%-pay-raise, kicking and screaming, back into session.
To my way of thinking, a teensy hike in the General Excise Tax seems a ridiculously easy fix.
But then again, folks, that may not be the only good idea. Please, if you have alternate proposals, contact your state legislators.
The sooner the better.
Posts: 773
Threads: 83
Joined: Dec 2005
quote:
Originally posted by malolo
.
Hawaii State Senators' Contact Information
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/site1/sena...embers.asp
State of Hawaii House of Representatives -- Contact Information
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/site1/hous...embers.asp
Since Punaweb seems to get readers from all over the state, I'm including contact information for all areas of the Hawaii. It's imperative that folks throughout the islands make their wishes known; contact their state legislators with ideas.
People need to pipe up. Drag those part-time legislators with their 36%-pay-raise, kicking and screaming, back into session.
To my way of thinking, a teensy hike in the General Excise Tax seems a ridiculously easy fix.
But then again, folks, that may not be the only good idea. Please, if you have alternate proposals, contact your state legislators.
The sooner the better.
Contact our State Rep. now that’s a joke if you live in lower Puna. Let’s see…Oh that would be Faye Honohono. When was the last time anyone has heard a peep out of her? Oh, that’s right it was last year when she tried to submit her bill to ban fire crackers and got it to the committee late and there was no vote. Well, Faye you can change the date and submit it again this year, if that’s not too much work. No headlines from her about the prison closings either, eh?
And why should the GE taxes go up to support any local group of workers? First it’s teachers then fishermen and next it will be cowboys. No way! I have no children in school, my wagers were reduced by 30% this year (and the year isn’t over). Why should I be burdened with any percent increase in GE tax on EVERYTHING I do in this State? And while I’m on this soap box….Calling all Democrats…..Where is that stimulus money for construction workers, eh?
I still work 5/12’s and Saturday if needed. My work ethics are do what’s needed to get the job done and I’m not complaining. I’m sure am glad that I still have a job! I wish I would get some furlough days with my reduction in pay but I don’t, and life goes on.
I wonder what it would be like to have a job and not have to produce daily and make money for the company and still take home a paycheck? The teachers, County and State workers need to get on the same program as private workers. Did you know it takes more than 18 months to get a permit from the DOH to install a dry well? I would like to see that guy’s desk.
Oh, and I don’t have lifetime medical for my family for the rest of our lives after retirement, and they still complain.
My rant for the weekend.
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free...now here come the taxes.....
Posts: 2,980
Threads: 177
Joined: Aug 2006
Sadly, some have exploited the fact that so many are feeling insecure right now, are uninsured and do not have health care at all. The proposed solution is to encourage a race to the bottom where NO workers have health care, pensions, or any sort of job security. That place is called Mexico. I don't want to live there. Capitalism the way it is practiced today is unpatriotic. It recognizes no state or national boundaries. It only seeks to create two classes: the very rich, who have healthcare, and worker bees.
The idea that we should "take down" those that have health care so that they will be on the level of private enterprise is....well, it's a surprisingly effective form of propaganda on the part of anti-democratic and anti-American capitalists living in New York, Dubai, Houston and Bejing. They could care less about Hawaii.
Instead of tearing down government workers, we should be working to ensure that everyone has a modicum of security. To suggest that teachers do nothing is, I think, incorrect. I thank God for the education I received in California public schools in the '50's and for the Californians who supported it through their taxes. My parents were upper-lower class Texans. My dad dug ditches for a living and never graduated from high school. I have a doctorate -- thanks to my own efforts and to the contributions of the then-wise citizens of California who understood, at the time, the need to invest in our future, in our infrastructure and to have a functioning, working Government.
For an older person like me, it is heartbreaking to see the lines outside the DMV, stretching into the parking lot. Ridiculous.
Government isn't the problem. It's the solution. Anti-democratic and unpatriotic capitalists would have you believe otherwise. They don't want to pay for healthcare. They don't want to provide pensions. They want people to be fungible, expendable and compliant.
The best way to give them what they want is to try and tear down government workers, and the government itself, rather than trying to ensure that all of our citizens have a more secure future, including universal health care.
That's just the beginning of my rant. Don't make me go on, and don't make me come over there.
|
