School board elections

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I just got back from voting on the school budget and for members of the school board.

1. The polling place was packed! I've never seen anything like it, not for Presidential elections or Gubernatorial or anything else.

2. In every other election I've ever voted in, people walk in, sign the book, collect their little slip of paper and then stand in line - and they do it all quietly. Not so today. First of all, there were a lot of kids with their parents, which is not unusual for school elections. But more than one child was loudly and repeatedly telling his/her parents to vote YES. Vote yes, mom! Vote yes! Clearly brainwashed by their unionized thug teachers. Absolutely shameful. And even voters who weren't there with their kids were talking about how awful Christie is. Nothing but anti-Christie chatter, loud and in-your-face.

Which, of course, made voting no on the budget all the more satisfying. Fuсk the NJEA.

Edited April 20, 2010 by w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r

[Ali G. 37]

You tell em! daaaaawwwg..

Edited April 21, 2010 by Ali G.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I don't know, AJ. Just reading the local news for NJ and it sounds like Christie and the teachers are in all out war with words.

A day ahead of school budget elections statewide, Gov. Chris Christie today escalated his war of words with the state teachers' union, accusing union representatives of "using the students like drug mules" to carry information about whether their parents planned to vote.

Christie cited what he called a "mandatory" homework assignment instructing children in the Monroe Township School District to interview their parents about whether and why they would vote on Tuesday.

"These are the typical kind of scare tactics that they involve themselves in," Christie said about the 200,000-member New Jersey Education Association, which has been critical of his proposed $820 million cut in school aid. "Scaring students in the classroom, scaring parents with the notes home in the bookbags, and the mandatory 'Project Democracy Homework' asking your parents about what they're going to do in the school board election, and reporting back to your teachers union representatives, using the students like drug mules to carry information back to the classroom, is reprehensible."

Steve Wollmer, a spokesman for the NJEA, said a third-grade teacher in Monroe distributed the homework as part of a civics lesson on voter participation, and it had nothing to do with how parents would vote.

"It's just astounding that a governor who just spent a week telling people how to vote would be upset at a teacher for just wondering if people are going to vote," Wollmer said.

Christie has urged voters to reject budgets in districts where teachers have not agreed to "shared sacrifice" by taking a one-year wage freeze and contributing at least 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health benefits. As of Friday, 145 of the state's nearly 600 districts had implemented a pay freeze or cut of some sort, but only 20 of those involved teachers, Christie's office said today.

Kenneth Hamilton, superintendent of the 5,600-student Monroe Township School District in Middlesex County, said the district's Project Democracy has been sanctioned by election officials, "because we wanted to make sure we weren't accused of electioneering." The project, in its first year, encourages students to come up with and vote on questions like where to hold the high school prom or how to decorate hall lockers, he said. He said he was not familiar with the specific assignment on the school budget.

"This was actually underway before our governor has been engaged in the politics of public education," Hamilton said. "It really was not done in response to his emphasis on public schools."

Hamilton, who said he "would take exception" to the "drug mules" terminology, said he hopes children talk to their parents about the school budget. "But I would certainly not want that to be initiated by teachers," he said.

The school district -- which lost $4.6 million in state aid, 95 percent of its total -- has prepared a budget including 22 staff layoffs, he said. It includes scaling back some programs and increasing the average property tax levy from $300 to $325 on the average home assessed at $175,000, he said. The administration has agreed to a partial pay freeze, while the teachers union is considering one, which could help offset the tax increase, Hamilton said.

Christie also said some teachers "have decided that even our families are not out of bounds." He said his "nieces and nephews who go to public school have been told by their teachers that the governor, your uncle, is an awful person." Christie's four children go to private school.

"This is the stuff that's going on in classrooms across New Jersey, at the urging and coordination of the bullies across the street," Christie said. "This conduct is just unacceptable. It's beyond the pale, and they are completely out of touch."

Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno said her children had also been approached in school but declined to give any specifics.

Wollmer said Christie is "throwing a lot of accusations around right now" to distract from the pain his budget will impose on local schools.

School and union officials say a freeze is not enough to erase the state aid cuts, which represent up to 5 percent of a district's budget.

"The governor is telling people that if they can just get a freeze out of their teachers, we won't have any layoffs. That is not true," Wollmer said. "That's what's on the ballot tomorrow, is how deeply voters want to let those cuts run in their communities. No salary freeze is going to ameloriate those cuts. Not even close."

link

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I don't know, AJ. Just reading the local news for NJ and it sounds like Christie and the teachers are in all out war with words.

Yup, they are. Our state budget is busted in large part due to the enormous political clout of the NJEA. Breaking the unions back would be the single most important thing that the new Governor can do in terms of long-term systemic improvement to the system.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Results are pouring in... many districts are voting down the budgets

[Ali G. 37]

I thought your wife was a teacher

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I thought your wife was a teacher

She is. She'll benefit from these budgets being defeated. This state spends too much money on administrators and teachers with decades of tenure, at the expense of the regular taxpayer and newer teachers who are always sacrificed just so the 20+ year people can keep their bennies.

All the teachers union has to do is accept a 1.5% contribution to their own health premiums and a 1-year wage freeze (not unreasonable given the economic climate) and all those non-tenured teachers they're planning to fire can keep their jobs.

[chri'stina 190]

unionized thug teachers...

[Ali G. 37]

I like what they are doing in DC. Teachers can now earn up to $150K but I believe they are more accountable.

The problem with teaching is that teachers tend to be the scapegoat, especially here in America where there is always 'someone else to blame'. As such, the good teachers clearly have had enough with the BS and leave. Those left don't give a ####### and for obvious reasons. It's like shopping at Walmart and then complaining about the service.

Edited April 21, 2010 by Ali G.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I like what they are doing in DC. Teachers can now earn up to $150K but I believe they are more accountable.

What is happening here in NJ is unacceptable. 55 year olds with tenure are basically coasting to a plush retirement, no longer putting in any real effort, choosing to sacrifice programs for the children and choosing to lay off younger teachers and subs instead of ponying up a measly 1.5% for their own health care and accepting a temporary wage freeze. They've become selfish and it's time to break their collective backs.

[Ali G. 37]

What is happening here in NJ is unacceptable. 55 year olds with tenure are basically coasting to a plush retirement, no longer putting in any real effort, choosing to sacrifice programs for the children and choosing to lay off younger teachers and subs instead of ponying up a measly 1.5% for their own health care and accepting a temporary wage freeze. They've become selfish and it's time to break their collective backs.

But I sure as hell bet you don't have any issue with illegal aliens and their huge cost to the NJ tax payer. After all, Jersey is one of the top states of choice for illegal aliens.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

But I sure as hell bet you don't have any issue with illegal aliens and their huge cost to the NJ tax payer. After all, Jersey is one of the top states of choice for illegal aliens.

The influence of illegals pales in comparison to the influence the NJEA has on our budgetary process.

[scandal 951]

choosing to sacrifice programs for the children

Screw the kids. What have they done for me lately? It's not like they're any part of MY future.

[Ali G. 37]

The influence of illegals pales in comparison to the influence the NJEA has on our budgetary process.

Riiiiight, so the thousands of illegal alien students being educated at a cost of ~10K per child ( per year) is pale in comparison.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Riiiiight, so the thousands of illegal alien students being educated at a cost of ~10K per child ( per year) is pale in comparison.

Yes, this wouldn't come as a surprise to you if you knew the history of the NJEA's influence over the course of many decades. The NJ right-wing is very anti-illegal and even they know the NJEA is the problem here, not illegals.