MA - Governor Romney??

[AllyandJack]

Where was all this outrage when John Kerry was missing vote after vote after vote while he was on the Presidential trail?

Besides, whether he's here or not, he can't do anything. If there's a day at work when my computer is down and I can't get anything done, I leave. If someone knows nothing they say or do is going to make a bit of a difference, they might as well go enjoy themselves. He's not getting paid to be Governor, so who cares at this point?

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

So the teachers just decided to start teaching badly when he became governor?

(I wouldn't put it past the teachers union - they are more concerned about the employment of adults than the education of children. And don't give me any crap about amount of spending.)

NOT AT ALL!! In keeping with NCLB and as a special education teacher, he is pushing unreasonable demands on kids who often have an iq of under 50! Also, I am not going to mince words...I am SICK to DEATH of teacher bashing. Walk a mile in my shoes...no wait, walk a couple of feet in my shoes and then start bashing. Education has nothing to do with Mitt. Politics is all Mitt is about in this regard. Mass actuality has some of the highesst scores in reading and math standardized tests as compared to the rest of the country. You would never know it though!

As for the teacher's union what do people want us to do teach for free? NO, wait maybe you want us pay parents for the joy of teaching their children. Mitt wants to break unions that is true. Well, in keeping with any political system (make no mistake schools are based on politics) the union is one of the few things that stands between hard working teachers and perils of nepotism and cronyism.


Spending!! Well, I guess I should let the kids with no shoes, warm coats, back packs, lunches or outside reading books come to school just as they are. THAT would really enhance their education! If one does not want to hear this then then that is too bad. IT is the way of education. We need to take up where parents leave off and let me tell you there are tons of parents who leave off pretty much right after their child is born.

I know we ALL taught ourselves to read and write b/c our teachers were reading magazines and doing their nails!

 

[chrissyk]

Hate the guy and his politics. Scum sucking opportunist carpetbagger. If he had any interest in the state, it might be different.

And I'm sorry, but he believes six impossible things before breakfast every day, so I don't think he's all that smart.

What is the "believes 6 impossible things before breakfast" thing all about? Is that something about his being a Mormon? Just curious.

Personally I don't have anything against him, but I think he's been ineffective. I would love to see him address some of the reasons that are causing so many educated, professional young people to leave the state. I have no idea how he'd be able to go about doing that, though.

I don't think that he has a snowball's chance of becoming president. He is good-looking and smart, but he just seems rather odd to me.

 

[Charade]

Did you keep reading my post beyond that sentence? I know he's not sitting in a classroom running things, but shouldn't he be focusing some energy on improving education in the state and not allowing it to continue to slide into oblivion?

In my hometown, when I was in high school and for several years after, our public school system was one of the top schools in the state. Now, it's one of the worst. And that's because funding has been so drastically cut and the school is outdated. They do not have the updated technology necessary to provide a better education to the students. The quality of the teachers has not decreased, but they don't have the necessary equipment to teach today's kids and because of that, they are falling behind.

Show me something, anything that he's done to improve education in this state.

I don't get something. If the teachers haven't changed (are they still getting their pay raises?) and the concepts of reading, writing and arithmetic hasn't changed, why (and in what areas) are the students failing in?

 

[AllyandJack]

I went to school in MA - Boston Public School system. My teachers made crap money compared to what they make now. My classrooms had a minimum of 30 kids - some were closer to 40. We couldn't take some books home with us because there weren't enough - we got photocopied pages. The building was rotten.

You know what? Four of us got full scholarships to Boston University. Two of my classmates went to MIT. Two went to Cornell. Two went to Brown. A lot went on to be successful in the cosmetology field - owning their own salons. A lot went on to the U Mass System. Some started with Community College. Did some fail miserably? Of course. It was their own fault. Our class had a rate of 85% going to a 4 year college. 5% went on to a Community College or trade/tech school. 2% went into the military. The rest.....some of them are in jail.

My DH builds schools in MA. Is imported Italian marble necessary to education? Is having specially made $1,200 light fixtures in the parking lot necessary to education? If you think it's Romney's fault the money for education is going down the toilet, you're wrong. It's the insane cities and towns building these Taj Mahal schools - I was just at one yesterday. I guess they're going to start holding Broadway plays in the auditorium because they place looked like the Wang Center. Money is there.....but, it's being used to fund things like professional dimming systems so they can hold their school plays in style. Somehow, I find it hard to believe that Mitt Romney is behind this.

 

[Charade]

Hate the guy and his politics. Scum sucking opportunist carpetbagger. If he had any interest in the state, it might be different.

.

How do you feel about your Senators?

 

[Ub_Iwerks]

Besides, whether he's here or not, he can't do anything. If there's a day at work when my computer is down and I can't get anything done, I leave. If someone knows nothing they say or do is going to make a bit of a difference, they might as well go enjoy themselves. He's not getting paid to be Governor, so who cares at this point?

That sounds like a cop-out to me, and since when are governors not paid?

As far as teachers go, there's many reasons why education is on the decline. The govt. keeps adding things to the curriculum (character education, technologly, etc.), and NCLB takes up an enormous amount of time, resources AND money. Really, it has more to do with the things that are going on in society and with parenting-- too much tv, video games, surfing the web, overscheduled kids. The list goes on and on.

 

[AllyandJack]

That sounds like a cop-out to me, and since when are governors not paid?

Romney declined his salary.

 

[Ub_Iwerks]

How do you feel about your Senators?

I get it. You're one of those "ALL Republicans=good, ALL Democrats=bad" people. It does make analyzing politics much easier that way, doesn't it?

 

[Ub_Iwerks]

Romney declined his salary.

So he doesn't have to do any work?

 

[Charade]

Romney declined his salary.

He's just after the perks!!!

 

[Charade]

I get it. You're one of those "ALL Republicans=good, ALL Democrats=bad" people. It does make analyzing politics much easier that way, doesn't it?

No, you don't.

I'm really curious how you feel about your two Democrat Senators.

I happen to like Joe Lieberman. It's a shame that he's being tossed under the bus after years and years of loyal service to his party.

 

[AllyandJack]

So he doesn't have to do any work?

His healthcare plan is brilliant. At least he got that accomplished.

If Kerry got away with it, Romney should, too. I don't agree with either of them taking off, but if it's good for Kerry, it's good for Romney and at least Romney's not getting paid.

 

[Crankyshank]

I don't get something. If the teachers haven't changed (are they still getting they're pay raises?) and the concepts of reading, writing and arithmetic hasn't changed, why (and in what areas) are the students failing in?

I can only speak for the school system in MA that my siblings were raised in (I went to Catholic school) and have several friends and family members that teach in, are principals in, are members of the school board.
A lot of the problem is due to the MCAS testing and funding. Much like in other states, the focus has become on test scores and less on a well rounded education. By less well rounded I don't just mean art and phys ed- I mean history, civics, critical learning skills- anything but math, science, and reading skills. The kids who are in danger of not graduating because of their scores are getting the special education assistance and the borderline kids are allowed to slip through the cracks.

Now the Governor is to blame (but not entirely) for this partially because of funding issues. Yes I know the man has to balance the budget and the state really is in a fiscal mess. However in the area I'm from there's been a significant increase of new residents (even though the state itself is losing population each year). The funding is not being increased to meet those new resident needs and the towns are struggling with their budgets because we've got schools built in the 70's that are in serious need of overhaul. So instead of additional much needed teachers, they're having to lay people off (normally newer teachers with less seniority) so they can afford new boilers, etc...So we have more demands being placed on teachers, more students for these teachers, and less resources available to them.

The Governor does understand there is a problem with the public schools and wants to solve this by instituting merit raises for teachers. I think this is a good idea. honestly the teacher union does have its own faults in the matter but I understand where they are coming from. I don't think the merit raises are going to do much except for make more pissed off teachers with "screw 'em" attitudes. We do have lots of teachers that really need to go but yet they stay because of their seniority despite the fact that they are not as effective and a lot of them have "senioritis" because they know they're going to retire soon. YKWIM?

As far as him not being able to get anything done because of cronies in the legilstature, I disagree. If he truly wanted to turn things around he could. I agree that the legislature is overrun by cronies and really they should be set out to pasture along with the ineffective teachers, but turning the state around is going to be a lot of work because it's seriously messed up fiscally and he just doesn't care about MA enough to even try.

 

[kelleigh1]

Why am I coming back to this?

The materials that the teachers have at their disposal are outdated. History books that haven't been replaced in over 20 years - makes it awfully difficult to teach modern history if the book is from 20 years ago.

The building itself needs upgrading and repair. It isn't wired for new technology. There are basic issues with the effects of time taking a toll on the structure itself.

Because of the growth of the town, the classrooms are now too small for the number of kids. (And just to answer the question about growth when I've already mentioned the number of people leaving the state - the growth in my hometown has leveled off some in recent years, but there was a boom after I graduated as more people were moving away from the city and at the time it was still cheaper to live in that town - although not any longer.)

Sure, the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic don't change, but the reality is that these are not the only subjects being taught in our schools. Do you really think that kids learning the exact same things that we learned 20 years ago will be able to thrive in today's world? I think not! Times change and teachers need the resources to teach up-to-the-minute. If we only teach our children the basics, we're putting them at a disadvantage in the rest of the world.

If you believe that Romney is a fantastic Governor, that's great for you...but I'm not going to turn a blind eye to the reality of what is happening in this state while he's trudging off across the country campaigning for President badmouthing the state that he's supposed to be running. Is that really the person that we want running our nation?

 

[Crankyshank]

My DH builds schools in MA. Is imported Italian marble necessary to education? Is having specially made $1,200 light fixtures in the parking lot necessary to education? If you think it's Romney's fault the money for education is going down the toilet, you're wrong. It's the insane cities and towns building these Taj Mahal schools - I was just at one yesterday. I guess they're going to start holding Broadway plays in the auditorium because they place looked like the Wang Center. Money is there.....but, it's being used to fund things like professional dimming systems so they can hold their school plays in style. Somehow, I find it hard to believe that Mitt Romney is behind this.

I can tell you absolutely 100000000000% the Bristol County school depts do not have new schools made of marble and gorgeous auditoriums. Hell they have over a thousand dollars below state average per student to spend

 

[AllyandJack]

I can tell you absolutely 100000000000% the Bristol County school depts do not have new schools made of marble and gorgeous auditoriums. Hell they have over a thousand dollars below state average per student to spend

Then they need to get on the ball. It's ripe for the taking. My DH doesn't go down to Bristol, so I haven't seen any of the schools down there. But, Middlesex, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk counties are making out like bandits.

 

[Charade]

Then they need to get on the ball. It's ripe for the taking. My DH doesn't go down to Bristol, so I haven't seen any of the schools down there. But, Middlesex, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk counties are making out like bandits.

It's like that around here. In the more affluent areas, they got loads (but always cry for more) money.


Doesn't that make vouchers a more appealing option?

 

[LukenDC]

If Kerry got away with it, Romney should, too. I don't agree with either of them taking off, but if it's good for Kerry, it's good for Romney and at least Romney's not getting paid.

It's comparing apples to oranges. Kerry has spent many terms in the Senate representing Massachusetts while Romney has not even served one full term as governor. Kerry also did not travel the country bad-mouthing his state and constituents.

 

[Crankyshank]

Then they need to get on the ball. It's ripe for the taking. My DH doesn't go down to Bristol, so I haven't seen any of the schools down there. But, Middlesex, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk counties are making out like bandits.

They can't get the money to pay for new boilers and school books written after the Reagan administration. I don't think the school dept is going to going to ok marble sinks
Plus Attleboro only gets $7000 per student. I don't think that's enough for the appropriate sound system for an auditorium to rival the Wang