MckMama Drama - Including the Fire - Merge

[bea]

I'm in Chicago, a parent of a public school student, and lemme tell you, a good 90% of us parents were supporting the strike. We have a school board that was appointed by Rahm Emmanuel that does not contain ONE educator - but lots of billionaires - and the teachers are constantly being asked to do more with less, and less, and less, and then suddenly the school is shut and the building turned over to a for-profit charter school, which gets public money but operates with non-union teachers and not nearly as much oversight from the city. They can also turn students away - like kids who are mentally, physically, and developmentally disabled. The kids that the public schools HAVE to teach.

Chicago public education is mess. A MESS. It's like teaching in separate countries. Students in well-performing, well-funded schools score well on tests. Kids in schools in areas where the only food they eat is at school, where the utilities aren't on at home or the kids are outright homeless, where the textbooks get stolen and just going to school is taking your life into your own hands? Those kids don't score so well on standardized tests. The answer, according to Rahm, is to close the "underperforming" schools and bring in charters. MY ASS. Privatizing the school system is NOT the answer. And for once, FOR FUCKING ONCE, I'd like to see politicians and parents and regular citizens talk about funding our educational system like we actually think our children's education is as goddamned important as we SAY it is in election years.

My kid spent seven days out of school. It screwed with our schedule, our budget, our mental health, and caused a lot of stress. And Rahm Emmanuel and his Board of Billionaires can go screw themselves, because my kid goes to a Tier 1, well-funded school and there are STILL 27 kids in her classroom with one teacher, and it's only going to get worse. Rahm keeps cutting, and cutting, and cutting that budget, until hey, look, the kids are all flunking because they're jammed in classrooms with no climate control and 35 of them in a classroom meant to hold 20, so let's just close the school because it's "underperforming."

I'm sure there are shitty teachers who are just coasting. But I KNOW I don't trust Chicago's BOard of Ed to have my kid's best interest in mind, and considering I send my kid off every day to be educated by members of the Teacher's Union, I trust them a hell of a lot more.

[MyName]

Wolfie, Bea,

Some smilies to express how I feel about you.

:clap: :greetings-clapyellow:

[desertvixen]

The answer, according to Rahm, is to close the "underperforming" schools and bring in charters. MY ASS. Privatizing the school system is NOT the answer. And for once, FOR FUCKING ONCE, I'd like to see politicians and parents and regular citizens talk about funding our educational system like we actually think our children's education is as goddamned important as we SAY it is in election years.

This. Americans talk about how great education is, and then the money we spend on it is pathetic.

[smores]

Bravo Bea and Wolfie. Teachers get shit thrown at them from the school board, shit thrown at them from some administrators looking to push the blame elsewhere, shit thrown at them from parents who don't want to deal with their kids, shit from parents who hover over their kids, they have to meet increasingly crazy jump-through-hoops standards, work to make sure IEPs are followed and any kids mainstreaming are handling it ok, putting up with classroom management in areas where disciplining your child either isn't done well (ie spanking) or people just don't discipline their kids... on and on and on. I couldn't do what you teachers do and I sure as hell wouldn't do it for the price you do it. I am 24, been out of school for 2 years now, have a degree in political science which required studying for no exams to get certified for anything, have held one job in marketing and I applied at one of the big corporations here in Cincy and made it to step 3 of the process before I decided I wanted to be a SAHM for a while longer. The starting salary is twice what my sister, the teacher, makes, and all I would have to do is develop marketing and branding campaigns - sort of like developing a lesson plan and carrying it out, without all the other crazy shit.

It's fucking amazing that we even have teachers in this country.

[longskirtlotsakids]

Ya know, we can bitch about our greedy, lazy teachers all we want.

Truth is, there are millions upon millions of students in India and China that are eager to learn, chomping at the bit to learn technology, and are used to going to bed hungry in the dark.

They know true want and true effort. They aren't substituting bullshit creation for science.

American kids are overweight, overentertained, and with no survival skills. And their parents are jostling to watch fucking honey boo boo child and her foreskin-for-a-neck mother, over listening to our future leaders (the DNC). Our leaders think that women having control over their bodies and gay sex is actually something the country needs to regulate.

Republican white America are gonna get their asses STEAMROLLED if they don't wake the fuck up and get competitive. They're gonna be throwing cash at the teachers when they realize they have to hire from other countries to build our bombs for us.

[emmiedahl]

Actually we are not. Did you read my second message? And she then called me a "speshul snowflake," as well as stating that teachers were messing with her child's' life. Can she give us some examples? I noticed on another thread she complained about an early release day for professional development. If you look at your child's schedule this year, I can bet that they added a few minutes to the other 4 days of the week to make up for it, and if they didn't, then the days were already longer than required by the state.

Chicago's complaints about pay are similar, but their biggest grievance is that they're trying to tie their employment to their students' test scores. Taking away due process and firing teachers if their students don't score well. I'm sorry, but you can't force a child to score well. Let's look at what the teachers are trying, the interventions that they're using and so on. We don't start with only the highest quailty goods.

Because, honestly, I'm pissed at the badmouthing of teachers that is so common in the US. We are HUMANS like everybody else and deserve to be treated that way. We do not set out to hurt kids, even though the media seems to paint it that way. Why the hell would we take a job like this if we didn't like kids? We do have limitations in what we can take and do, and right now the government and media are pushing us to our limits.

Would everybody be fed up if it were found that a factory was hiding profits and not paying their employees enough to live in the area where they work, so they protested and went on strike?

As somebody from Europe pointed out in another thread, and I've said for years- here in the US we want to teach all the students, we don't push any aside. (This is a good thing, a very good thing and it's really only been a push for the last couple of decades) This also means that we won't always have wonderful test scores, we can only do what we can do.

I am sorry, I must have missed part of what she said.

I agree that teachers are treated generally poorly in terms of prestige and public opinion. And a lot of the test scores just aren't the teacher's fault. My school gets better test scores than the neighboring district. Is it because of better teachers? or because, unlike the neighboring district, a majority of our students come to school fed and speaking English? :think:

[hapamama]

Someone on another thread somewhere (BWOP? Can't recall now) quoted an error message that made it sound like the host had suspended the site, either for nonpayment or perhaps due to complaints about the site itself. If that's the case, then there's no hacking or DDoSing going on. It seems a more likely explanation to me.

I can't imagine anyone reading MWOP would have the skills to hack anything, or the connections to round up a DDoS attack.

Looks like it's back up now at any rate!

When the host determined that MWOP was the target of the DDOS attack, they took the site down. MWOP has temporarily been moved to a dedicated server to address the issue.

[FundiesInMyFamily]

On some occasions we have had to say to our children "dear, Daddy has spanked you, but you are not sweet enough yet. We are going to have to back upstairs for another spanking." p 173-174

This made me extraordinarily sad. She's saying that after you've been beaten, if you're not happy enough about it, or if you are angry at your abuser, you're going to get it again.

[Mustang Sally]

When the host determined that MWOP was the target of the DDOS attack, they took the site down. MWOP has temporarily been moved to a dedicated server to address the issue.

WOW. Honestly, I didn't think they'd have it in them.

[icecreamycakeycake]

Actually we are not. Did you read my second message? And she then called me a "speshul snowflake," as well as stating that teachers were messing with her child's' life. Can she give us some examples? I noticed on another thread she complained about an early release day for professional development. If you look at your child's schedule this year, I can bet that they added a few minutes to the other 4 days of the week to make up for it, and if they didn't, then the days were already longer than required by the state.

Chicago's complaints about pay are similar, but their biggest grievance is that they're trying to tie their employment to their students' test scores. Taking away due process and firing teachers if their students don't score well. I'm sorry, but you can't force a child to score well. Let's look at what the teachers are trying, the interventions that they're using and so on. We don't start with only the highest quailty goods.

Because, honestly, I'm pissed at the badmouthing of teachers that is so common in the US. We are HUMANS like everybody else and deserve to be treated that way. We do not set out to hurt kids, even though the media seems to paint it that way. Why the hell would we take a job like this if we didn't like kids? We do have limitations in what we can take and do, and right now the government and media are pushing us to our limits.

Would everybody be fed up if it were found that a factory was hiding profits and not paying their employees enough to live in the area where they work, so they protested and went on strike?

As somebody from Europe pointed out in another thread, and I've said for years- here in the US we want to teach all the students, we don't push any aside. (This is a good thing, a very good thing and it's really only been a push for the last couple of decades) This also means that we won't always have wonderful test scores, we can only do what we can do.

Yes, this came off as snippy, and I apologize, you didn't deserve it.

I will clarify about "holding hostage", years and years of threats to strike if negotiations aren't acceptable when the money is just NOT there. Most years we wait for the phone call stating that school is actually going to start. We've experienced delayed school years and strikes.

The compromise has been the continual addition of early release days and I'm OK with this. It's frustrating for working parents, but I'm fortunate not to be impacted financially, or overly inconvenienced myself because of this.

I have NEVER bad-mouthed teachers, and I've never heard anyone do so either, but the teachers do seem to constantly be complaining about compensation, when many people don't have that luxury in these economic times. The private sector is experiencing the same conditions you are, unmet promises, mandatory furlough days, decreased benefits, and lay-offs. I'm tired of teachers whining, I just am. I feel the same way about the Boeing engineers, and the longshoremen, and in that regard you are most definitely NOT a spechul snoflayke ;) .

Again, I'm sorry for my tone, it was uncalled for.

[NurseNell]

I agree that teachers are treated generally poorly in terms of prestige and public opinion. And a lot of the test scores just aren't the teacher's fault. My school gets better test scores than the neighboring district. Is it because of better teachers? or because, unlike the neighboring district, a majority of our students come to school fed and speaking English? :think:

So true. And students don't move every month or two, sometimes having to be in 4 or 5 different schools in a school year. The parents in your district probably see to it that homework is done. They go to parent teacher conferences. They don't send sick kids to school. In the district I came from every student gets free breakfast, and those who qualify get free lunch. But they still need a good supper and meals on non school days. Each school has funds to pay for taxis to and from parent teacher conferences. Our refugee and immigrant parents use this service, because they really care about their kids doing well in school. Other parents, not so much. I made home visits as part of my job. If you could see the conditions some of these kids live in it's any wonder they even make it to school.

The urban school district where I was a school nurse have students who speak 100 different languages. Various programs have been tried to help second language students. This year all the grade school aged children entering as recent refugees or immigrants will go to the same school for 2 years, no matter where they reside. They will get intensive English as a second language. They will be hooked up with medical care and other support services.

A friend of mine taught in the Chicago Public Schools. She lasted 3 years, longer than those who started with her. She had to provide school supplies for her class. She taught 1st grade, she said the kids were already foul mouthed and did not want to be in school. Our district got a lot of students from Chicago. Getting their previous school records was impossible. They were not at grade level with their MN peers. I remember back in the 70's Jesse Jackson sent his kids to Catholic school in Chicago. I heard him speak once about how the public schools in Chicago set their standards too low, that if you have higher expectations the students will perform at those levels.

I'm not big on teachers, or nurses, striking but sometimes it is the only way to get some needed changes. I'd like to see each and every member of the Chicago Board of Education spend one full week in a Chicago public school classroom. They might have their eyes opened, and they would recognize no amount of money is too much to pay those teachers.

[bea]

A quick note on the "compensation" issue - in Illinois, at least, the legislature has actually passed laws regarding what issues the union can strike over. Essentially, the union can strike over compensation AND ALMOST NOTHING ELSE. So to make the strike "legal," the CTU filed for the strike over compensation. The fact of the matter was, the CTU membership was perfectly okay with the compensation they were to receive in the proposed contract. The issues were the standardized testing, teacher layoffs, school closings, class size, eliminating phys ed and arts classes, the extension of the school day by one hour without any input from teachers, the conditions teachers were teaching under, etc. - only they were legally prevented from striking over those things. I don't think that anyone outside of Chicago really understood that.

[Wolfie]

Yes, this came off as snippy, and I apologize, you didn't deserve it.

I will clarify about "holding hostage", years and years of threats to strike if negotiations aren't acceptable when the money is just NOT there. Most years we wait for the phone call stating that school is actually going to start. We've experienced delayed school years and strikes.

The compromise has been the continual addition of early release days and I'm OK with this. It's frustrating for working parents, but I'm fortunate not to be impacted financially, or overly inconvenienced myself because of this.

I have NEVER bad-mouthed teachers, and I've never heard anyone do so either, but the teachers do seem to constantly be complaining about compensation, when many people don't have that luxury in these economic times. The private sector is experiencing the same conditions you are, unmet promises, mandatory furlough days, decreased benefits, and lay-offs. I'm tired of teachers whining, I just am. I feel the same way about the Boeing engineers, and the longshoremen, and in that regard you are most definitely NOT a spechul snoflayke ;) .

Again, I'm sorry for my tone, it was uncalled for.

I can tell you that if we were paid comparably to the other teachers in the region AND our district wasn't adding biliions to their "reserves" every year, I wouldn't be complaining. But they are. They are a non profit, that doesn't mean that they need to keep hanging on to money. Or refusing to do things, like allow a payroll deduction for an extra insurance that will be entirely paid for by the teachers who want it, that won't cost them any time or money. (it will be 100% computerized, and handled by the county, not the district.)

I also am expected to teach 25-26 elementary classes a week plus two middle school classes a day. There is a block out time at every school in the afternoon, some principals complain if I pull the elementary classes in the morning, there is nearly always some negotiating involved with the process of scheduling so I don't have big gaps in my schedule. It never fails that a week or two after I have negotiated everything one school in particular will complain. This year I had moved stuff out of a particular time slot- discussed it with the principal, both vice principals and my supervisor in a meeting- and still got an e-mail a week later asking why I couldn't put a class into that time slot. Um, WE discussed it and I told another school that I had to teach them at that time because you told me I couldn't teach then.

[Witsec7]

I just went to catch up on the McMama drama and when I went to MWOP I got this message on the page.

This Account Has Been Suspended

Did McMama get another cease and desist order?

[Vex]

The thing about public school teachers is that they are not just another group of civil servants doing it tough and sucking it up. They have to deal with teaching all day, and it is a hard ass job. My mother is a public school teacher, and even though her current school is one of the best-funded and most highly-regarded schools in the state it's still a damn difficult job and she deserves every pay increase the unions fight for.

Back on topic, I can't believe the sanctimonious crap was getting to be in MWOP. Whenever I hear that parents who don't take every chance to beat their kids are lazy or soft or, worst of all, harming their children, I just want to flip the author off. Fuck you. Fuck you for being lazy and pretending that good parents have a problem. Hitting a baby because it's squirming on the changing table?! Really?? I thought they said you start punishing the kid when it's old enough to resist. If the kid is too young to understand the parents, how can they be disobeying? It's not logical.

Furthermore, how else is the baby supposed to let you know it's cold and dirty? I probably have no right to talk about child behaviour since I'm not a parent, but it seems so obvious to me why a baby would be fussing in that situation.

[Sola]

No, they've had bandwidth and DDOS issues so haved moved. Mckmamatruths.com is the new home.

[Sola]

No, they've had bandwidth and DDOS issues so haved moved. Mckmamatruths.com is the new home.

[Emme]

This made me extraordinarily sad. She's saying that after you've been beaten, if you're not happy enough about it, or if you are angry at your abuser, you're going to get it again.

agree. this makes me want to vomit. and then call CPS

[grateful1230]

Great news! I'm bored as all and have spent the morning goofing off. After sadly finding that Emily and Dna are still not pleasuring us with their 2013 comeback, I found that MckSwindy is still posting on instagram

web.stagram.com/n/mckmama77

They've been traveling the country, the MckParents are in a stage of love or some such nonsense, and MckSwindy herself has pink streaks in her hair. Oh and she's still peddling the XYNG!!

[NurseNell]

Great news! I'm bored as all and have spent the morning goofing off. After sadly finding that Emily and Dna are still not pleasuring us with their 2013 comeback, I found that MckSwindy is still posting on instagram

web.stagram.com/n/mckmama77

They've been traveling the country, the MckParents are in a stage of love or some such nonsense, and MckSwindy herself has pink streaks in her hair. Oh and she's still peddling the XYNG!!

Yes, and she takes her kids out of school, showing no regard for their education, or respect for the school's schedule. Not only is she peddling the XYNG she's telling people with heart arrythmias the it has cured the arrythmias of two people she knows. And then there's the son who played in poop all over the rug and wall.

[laura oz]

This made me extraordinarily sad. She's saying that after you've been beaten, if you're not happy enough about it, or if you are angry at your abuser, you're going to get it again.

Holy Fuck! My grandaddy did this to my momma when she was little and it fucked her up for life. Seriously, she didn't feel loved unless she was beaten by my stepfather. She had to smile BIG and thank him for loving her enough to correct her. :angry-screaming: Poor momma :(

[chaotic life]

OMG, she's peddling her stimulant as a cure for arrythmias? I hope she can be SUED for that nonsense, since I know her sheeple will believe anything the moron says.

[persuas1ve]

Oh don't worry, according to her & several other xyng bats, irt also cures Autism. As a parent w/ a non-neurotypical child, preying on desperate parents really frosts my cookies...

[Angri-la]

I am shocked that Mckmama is still on the lam and on the scam; I will follow her until she goes offline or it is reported that she gets her comeuppance.

[Emme]

Oh don't worry, according to her & several other xyng bats, irt also cures Autism. As a parent w/ a non-neurotypical child, preying on desperate parents really frosts my cookies...

Agreed. Nothink irks me more than that!