Comments for Dash of Calabash http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org Hawaii's free-market blog Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:05:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 Comment on About by Michael Sabetta http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/about/comment-page-1/#comment-19936 Michael Sabetta Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:05:28 +0000 #comment-19936 I am still trying to understand the reason why 81% of Hawaii’s school teachers voted to close the schools on seventeen Fridays and not educate our children properly this year. I’m not ready to accept this as a done deal, and I know there are thousands of other parents out there who feel the same way I do. If enough of us get involved, we can stop this. I would like to present an idea of a possible strategy to defeat this plan, but first, I’d like to make a few points. There are other states that have had to implement teacher furlough days, but all of them have done it on teacher only days, not on days when students are in school. There are eight teacher only days from October to May. Of these, only two were chosen as furlough days. So while other school districts made sure that students would be affected as little as possible by budget cuts, Patricia Hamamoto, the Superintendent of Education, and the leaders of the HSTA did the opposite. They made sure that students and parents would bear the brunt of their decision. I think there are two reasons why they did this. One is simple, it gives them an excuse to have such a poor performing school district. When they are asked, “Why are Hawaii’s schools so bad?” they can say “we only have a four day week, because taxpayers don’t want to pay enough to educate their kids.” The other reason, I believe, they did this was to get out of No Child Left Behind. They’ll say, “How can we participate in NCLB if our students are missing so much instruction time?” A few weeks ago, Patricia Hamamoto was asked if she was going to fire failing teachers, as is required by NCLB. She said that she had no intention of firing anyone. Then, on the night of the infamous vote, a spokesman for the HSTA said that the NCLB requirements would have to be “adjusted” for Hawaii’s schools to take into account the furlough days. They passed this contract to wash their hands of all responsibility for a failing school district, and to pass the blame to the Governor and the taxpayers. Teacher to student ratios is another topic that I would like to address. There are 13,000 teachers and 172,000 students in the district. That comes out to 13 students per teacher. When I was in school, we had 30 to 40 kids in a class. We had one teacher, and she did most of her instruction with a blackboard and a piece of chalk. We also got a better education than kids are getting now. Do we need 13,000 teachers? Maybe 10,000 is enough. That would still only be seventeen students per teacher. California just had to layoff 20,000 teachers. Times are tough all over. Teachers are scheduled to work 189 days a year. That means that they have 176 days a year off. If they go ahead with the furloughs, it would be 172 days of work and 193 days off. This does not include sick days. In my son’s class they have a substitute teacher at least once a week. The average teacher’s salary in Hawaii is over $50,000 a year. If they work 172 days, that comes out to $290 a day. Is it asking too much for them to work on these 17 Fridays, instead of taking the day off? The 81% of teachers who voted yes on this contract also decided to do away with random drug testing for teachers. I cannot believe the arrogance of this. Not only do they come up with a plan to punish students and working parents, but at the same time, they decided that it’s nobody’s business if they are doing drugs or not. I sell coffee for a living, and I had to take a drug test, TO SELL COFFEE! Is it asking too much to know if the person educating my kids is on drugs? I do not believe that the majority of teacher’s wanted to vote yes on this contract. I think that their arms were twisted by HSTA leaders and Patricia Hamamoto, for the reasons I stated earlier. There are better ways to address the budget shortfall. Most teachers know this. Most teachers do not want to punish their students or working parents. They should get together, scrap the contract and vote on a new one that says they will accept the pay cut, but they will show up for work on those seventeen Fridays. If there has to be furloughs, why not stagger them, and shift the students to different classrooms on those days. It would be disruptive, but preferable to keeping kids out of school. Other options are layoffs, cutting administrative costs or cutting extracurricular activities. I find it absurd that afterschool sports will continue on the same days that students are not allowed to go to school and learn. Patricia Hamamoto has threatened to close the schools down before. When Federal Stimulus Funds were used to pay down the state’s deficit, Patricia Hamamoto said that if she did not get her 90 million dollars, schools might have to be closed. She is not the right person to be Superintendent of Education. We need somebody who will put students first. We need somebody who will do everything in their power to keep the schools open, even if it means angering the HSTA leadership. If there is a choice between cutting salaries or not letting kids go to school, we need somebody who will side with the kids. We need somebody who will hold teachers accountable and fire the ones that are not giving our kids a decent education. If the teachers choose not to scrap this contract, and they go ahead with the furloughs, concerned parents need to take matters into their own hands. Patricia Hamamoto’s contract with the Board of Education states that she can be removed from office for “The willful failure to execute the duties and responsibilities of the office.” It is my contention that by not putting the education of students as her first priority, she has failed to execute her duties and responsibilities. We have one of the lowest rated school districts in the country. Not allowing students to go to school for 17 days out of a 180 day schedule will only make matters worse. There are over 300,000 parents of Hawaii public school students. None of them are happy with Furlough Fridays. We need to get at least 10% of them to show up in front of Patricia Hamamoto’s office on a Saturday or Sunday. We need to demand that she gets rid of Furlough Fridays or resign from office immediately. The voices of 30,000 people cannot be ignored. Make homemade signs, bring your kids. This will not be a political rally or an anti-government rally, it will be a pro-education and pro-student rally. Anybody who has an idea or wants to participate, please send an email to nofridaysoff@aol.com. Michael Sabetta I am still trying to understand the reason why 81% of Hawaii’s school teachers voted to close the schools on seventeen Fridays and not educate our children properly this year. I’m not ready to accept this as a done deal, and I know there are thousands of other parents out there who feel the same way I do. If enough of us get involved, we can stop this. I would like to present an idea of a possible strategy to defeat this plan, but first, I’d like to make a few points.
There are other states that have had to implement teacher furlough days, but all of them have done it on teacher only days, not on days when students are in school. There are eight teacher only days from October to May. Of these, only two were chosen as furlough days. So while other school districts made sure that students would be affected as little as possible by budget cuts, Patricia Hamamoto, the Superintendent of Education, and the leaders of the HSTA did the opposite. They made sure that students and parents would bear the brunt of their decision. I think there are two reasons why they did this. One is simple, it gives them an excuse to have such a poor performing school district. When they are asked, “Why are Hawaii’s schools so bad?” they can say “we only have a four day week, because taxpayers don’t want to pay enough to educate their kids.” The other reason, I believe, they did this was to get out of No Child Left Behind. They’ll say, “How can we participate in NCLB if our students are missing so much instruction time?” A few weeks ago, Patricia Hamamoto was asked if she was going to fire failing teachers, as is required by NCLB. She said that she had no intention of firing anyone. Then, on the night of the infamous vote, a spokesman for the HSTA said that the NCLB requirements would have to be “adjusted” for Hawaii’s schools to take into account the furlough days. They passed this contract to wash their hands of all responsibility for a failing school district, and to pass the blame to the Governor and the taxpayers.
Teacher to student ratios is another topic that I would like to address. There are 13,000 teachers and 172,000 students in the district. That comes out to 13 students per teacher. When I was in school, we had 30 to 40 kids in a class. We had one teacher, and she did most of her instruction with a blackboard and a piece of chalk. We also got a better education than kids are getting now. Do we need 13,000 teachers? Maybe 10,000 is enough. That would still only be seventeen students per teacher. California just had to layoff 20,000 teachers. Times are tough all over.
Teachers are scheduled to work 189 days a year. That means that they have 176 days a year off. If they go ahead with the furloughs, it would be 172 days of work and 193 days off. This does not include sick days. In my son’s class they have a substitute teacher at least once a week.
The average teacher’s salary in Hawaii is over $50,000 a year. If they work 172 days, that comes out to $290 a day. Is it asking too much for them to work on these 17 Fridays, instead of taking the day off?
The 81% of teachers who voted yes on this contract also decided to do away with random drug testing for teachers. I cannot believe the arrogance of this. Not only do they come up with a plan to punish students and working parents, but at the same time, they decided that it’s nobody’s business if they are doing drugs or not. I sell coffee for a living, and I had to take a drug test, TO SELL COFFEE! Is it asking too much to know if the person educating my kids is on drugs?
I do not believe that the majority of teacher’s wanted to vote yes on this contract. I think that their arms were twisted by HSTA leaders and Patricia Hamamoto, for the reasons I stated earlier. There are better ways to address the budget shortfall. Most teachers know this. Most teachers do not want to punish their students or working parents. They should get together, scrap the contract and vote on a new one that says they will accept the pay cut, but they will show up for work on those seventeen Fridays. If there has to be furloughs, why not stagger them, and shift the students to different classrooms on those days. It would be disruptive, but preferable to keeping kids out of school. Other options are layoffs, cutting administrative costs or cutting extracurricular activities. I find it absurd that afterschool sports will continue on the same days that students are not allowed to go to school and learn.
Patricia Hamamoto has threatened to close the schools down before. When Federal Stimulus Funds were used to pay down the state’s deficit, Patricia Hamamoto said that if she did not get her 90 million dollars, schools might have to be closed. She is not the right person to be Superintendent of Education. We need somebody who will put students first. We need somebody who will do everything in their power to keep the schools open, even if it means angering the HSTA leadership. If there is a choice between cutting salaries or not letting kids go to school, we need somebody who will side with the kids. We need somebody who will hold teachers accountable and fire the ones that are not giving our kids a decent education.
If the teachers choose not to scrap this contract, and they go ahead with the furloughs, concerned parents need to take matters into their own hands. Patricia Hamamoto’s contract with the Board of Education states that she can be removed from office for “The willful failure to execute the duties and responsibilities of the office.” It is my contention that by not putting the education of students as her first priority, she has failed to execute her duties and responsibilities. We have one of the lowest rated school districts in the country. Not allowing students to go to school for 17 days out of a 180 day schedule will only make matters worse. There are over 300,000 parents of Hawaii public school students. None of them are happy with Furlough Fridays. We need to get at least 10% of them to show up in front of Patricia Hamamoto’s office on a Saturday or Sunday. We need to demand that she gets rid of Furlough Fridays or resign from office immediately. The voices of 30,000 people cannot be ignored. Make homemade signs, bring your kids. This will not be a political rally or an anti-government rally, it will be a pro-education and pro-student rally. Anybody who has an idea or wants to participate, please send an email to nofridaysoff@aol.com.
Michael Sabetta

]]> Comment on New Jason Satellite Indicates 23-Year Global Cooling by 31,000 Scientist Say No To Global Warming - Page 10 - Southern Maryland Community Forums http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2008/05/12/new-jason-satellite-indicates-23-year-global-cooling/comment-page-1/#comment-15641 31,000 Scientist Say No To Global Warming - Page 10 - Southern Maryland Community Forums Wed, 21 May 2008 20:56:33 +0000 http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/?p=476#comment-15641 [...] The sun does have an effect on the temperature of the Earth. Just dumb to say otherwise. Dash of Calabash Blog Archive New Jason Satellite Indicates 23-Year Global Cooling AccuWeather.com: Global Warming News, Science, Myths, Articles How can anyone be intellectually [...]

]]> Comment on New Jason Satellite Indicates 23-Year Global Cooling by Global Warming - Page 69 - Volconvo Debate Forums http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2008/05/12/new-jason-satellite-indicates-23-year-global-cooling/comment-page-1/#comment-15637 Global Warming - Page 69 - Volconvo Debate Forums Sat, 17 May 2008 16:15:02 +0000 http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/?p=476#comment-15637 [...] here is another lie that we ‘deniers’ tend to believe? Dash of Calabash Blog Archive New Jason Satellite Indicates 23-Year Global Cooling From the reference… [...]

]]> Comment on Oh Oh! by Wendy F http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2008/04/30/oh-oh/comment-page-1/#comment-15628 Wendy F Mon, 12 May 2008 20:14:14 +0000 http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/?p=474#comment-15628 People can get used to anything. I am sure we can tolerate even more treatment. Just wait until those anatomically-sort-of-correct full body scans become commonplace. Travelers just want to get to their destination. When is the time to protest? How? People can get used to anything. I am sure we can tolerate even more treatment. Just wait until those anatomically-sort-of-correct full body scans become commonplace. Travelers just want to get to their destination. When is the time to protest? How?

]]> Comment on The Truth About “Alternative Energy” by joelsk44039 http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2008/04/07/the-truth-about-alternative-energy/comment-page-1/#comment-15575 joelsk44039 Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:52:25 +0000 http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/?p=465#comment-15575 Mr. Innes ignores biomass as a source for power. My company can produce power competitively priced from biomass and will be doing so within a year at two sites in Ohio. By including manures, wood waste, crop wastes, MSW and ASR in the mix, it is possible to meet the proposed 100,000 MW of installed capacity handily by 2020. Why are solar and wind the only forms of renewable energy everyone talks about? Mr. Innes ignores biomass as a source for power. My company can produce power competitively priced from biomass and will be doing so within a year at two sites in Ohio.

By including manures, wood waste, crop wastes, MSW and ASR in the mix, it is possible to meet the proposed 100,000 MW of installed capacity handily by 2020. Why are solar and wind the only forms of renewable energy everyone talks about?

]]> Comment on The Conspiracy to Deny the Poor Mobility – and Opportunity by GRIH http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2008/02/14/the-conspiracy-to-deny-the-poor-mobility-%e2%80%93-and-opportunity/comment-page-1/#comment-15437 GRIH Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:16:44 +0000 http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2008/02/14/the-conspiracy-to-deny-the-poor-mobility-%e2%80%93-and-opportunity/#comment-15437 Barun Mitra of the Liberty Institute has also written about India's $2,500 car and the related issues. See his article in Hawaii Reporter or at www.indefenceofliberty.org. Barun Mitra of the Liberty Institute has also written about India’s $2,500 car and the related issues. See his article in Hawaii Reporter or at http://www.indefenceofliberty.org.

]]> Comment on Sept Letters to Advertiser and Star Bulletin supporting Superferry by GRIH http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2007/09/10/letters-to-the-editor-the-honolulu-advertiser-91007-4-to-1-supporting-superferry/comment-page-1/#comment-15272 GRIH Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:09:42 +0000 http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2007/09/10/letters-to-the-editor-the-honolulu-advertiser-91007-4-to-1-supporting-superferry/#comment-15272 You are right Eli. We are not sure what the numbers show. We just don't have anything else to measure. Would a poll be better or just measure people interested in calling in or reflect the bias of the question writer? Do the newspapers have a responsibility to let us know how the letters are running? How do they pick the letters that are printed anyway? You are right Eli. We are not sure what the numbers show. We just don’t have anything else to measure. Would a poll be better or just measure people interested in calling in or reflect the bias of the question writer? Do the newspapers have a responsibility to let us know how the letters are running? How do they pick the letters that are printed anyway?

]]> Comment on Grab Your Popcorn and Watch “The Great Global Warming Swindle” by GRIH http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2007/12/18/grab-your-popcorn-and-watch-the-great-global-warming-swindle/comment-page-1/#comment-15209 GRIH Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:05:04 +0000 http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2007/12/18/grab-your-popcorn-and-watch-the-great-global-warming-swindle/#comment-15209 Really worth watching, even though it is long. Highly recommended. Really worth watching, even though it is long. Highly recommended.

]]> Comment on In China, a Man’s Home is his Castle Too by GRIH http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2007/12/03/in-china-a-mans-home-is-his-castle-too/comment-page-1/#comment-15208 GRIH Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:58:11 +0000 http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2007/12/03/in-china-a-mans-home-is-his-castle-too/#comment-15208 This story was so interesting I tried to find out more information online. It was apparently the wife who kept the protest going for years. Shortly after this article appeared the couple settled for more money and the house was demolished. Many other property owners accepted what was offered in this case and others across China. This story was so interesting I tried to find out more information online. It was apparently the wife who kept the protest going for years. Shortly after this article appeared the couple settled for more money and the house was demolished. Many other property owners accepted what was offered in this case and others across China.

]]> Comment on Banning Gun Bans by Dash of Calabash » Blog Archive » DC is Murder http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2007/11/29/banning-gun-bans/comment-page-1/#comment-15135 Dash of Calabash » Blog Archive » DC is Murder Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:01:20 +0000 http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/2007/11/29/banning-gun-bans/#comment-15135 [...] Dash of Calabash Hawaii’s free-market blog « Banning Gun Bans [...] [...] Dash of Calabash Hawaii’s free-market blog « Banning Gun Bans [...]

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