Opening Statement



Thursday 1 May 2014

Teachers May News + Views!




Hope: April showers bring May flowers! And what showers they have been!

Welcome to the April edition! My routine is the same. I keep adding stories under each header below. New stories are often first included in large type for your convenience, once we get going. Please note: My Teacher + Union Acronym Guide is Here!

TEACHER + UNION

OSSTF D12 President Doug Jolliffe claims Toronto TDSB principals routinely try to cover up serious incidents at their schools. Listen: it's not just the public board. A school reports an incident and its labelled unsafe, rather than proactive. Another one down the street says nada when something happens there and is seen as the better school. Far from it. I spent over 20 years of my teaching career in the Jane Finch Corridor and the situation was epidemic. I can't see how it could even possibly get any better in the year since I retired. Story @ Cover Ups!

Sometimes the veil of secrecy is lifted just a little bit. Note the spin control as the powers that be play down the threat of violence in the recent incident at St. Jean de Brebeuf Catholic Secondary in Woodbridge. Everything is under control folks, it was just an isolated incident involving "social media, a rival school and a gun." Nothing. Not to worry. Nope. BS!!! It's not just Brebeuf. Think carefully about the implications here @ No big deal! Under control? 

Ontario will be going to the polls for a spring election on June 12! More in Party Politics below!


Alas! There's infighting among our illustrious union leaders about whether the Liberal budget was good or not @ Infight!

Spring Election: OPSEU President Smokey Thomas wants to hear a real discussion on what we want for Ontario. Acknowledges Hudak PCC's are out to kick our union butts. More below under Party Politics!

OSSTF President Paul Elliot criticizes lack of new education funding in the OLP budget @ Thumbs down

BC teachers set to begin rotating strikes @ Strike!

OECTA TSU Election results: Dave Szollosy is elected President. Gillian Vivona 1st VP. Peter McKay 2nd. Councillors are Sheila Gatensby, Mike Nicolaidis + Angela Tersigni. Bianca Hudak acclaimed 3rd VP + Veronica Tuzi as secretary. Rosemary Lavery is Treasurer, it's a 2 year term. Congratulations to all! This is public info + not the official announcement of course. Please go to @ The TSU Site

Ditto: Election results are in for the troubled OECTA Halton Elementary unit. Nina March took more than 64% of the vote for president with 836 members voting. Also elected: Tara Hambley/ Vince E/ Anne M/ Krista H/ Mary Anne M/ Lee Ann B/ Patrick D/ Roberta M/ /Alicia N/ Anne Marie O.

BTW I understand there is a gag order of sorts in effect on all matters pertaining to our Bad Boy Brock. Even the status of the July 5 court date seems unsure. We wish Richard well and God speed! Also congrats to Nina + Co! Best wishes go to all at OECTA Halton Elementary unit for making do during what must be the most difficult + trying of circumstances. 



PC leader Hudak's latest white paper on education discusses cutting non teaching jobs in the school + putting the breaks on all day kindergarten @ Harris Redux

Did Hudaks attack on the Working Families Coalition inadvertently help strengthen the Ontario union movement? More @ Cohn + TVO

Happy international workers day! Here's a link to my May Day blog @ Happy May Day!

A student of colour is bullied, taunted and badly beaten at school in Sutton @ ?!?!!!!!!

The Hamilton public board is creating controversy by allowing outside volunteers coach student sports without teacher superivision @ Safe Schools?



Do you Hop on pop?! Read further for the answer! 

Political correctness almost run awry: The Toronto Public Library is refusing to pull Dr. Seuss's 1963 kids classic "Hop on Pop" from it's shelves because of complaints it promotes violence. Hey, lots + lots of children have learned the love of reading from this book for crying out loud! The story, besides being a whole lot of fun, is about as basic as it gets, in as few words as possible .... What's the good doctor's advice to hopping on pop? It's "Stop. You must not hop on pop." Thankfully somebody doesn't think kid's today are too dense to deal with that. Duh @ No hopping on pop!

How do you spell lazy? Canadian youngsters are getting a failing grade for being sedentary when it comes to physical activity. The study notes that  the programs + opportunities are provided, the kids just don't seem to care @ Won't get up off their butts!?!

Here's an OTPP update on your indexed pension written to focus in the short term as a good news story @ Less



OECTA's Speak for Children campaign is up + running!

Videos, posters + info on OECTA's "Speak for Children" educational advocacy campaign during the spring election is posted. Nice one Cheryl, Vic + Co! @ Speak 4 Children!

Penny wise + pound foolish: Hudaks education cuts threaten Ontario's economic future @ Failing grade!

Ahead of the 8 ball: OECTA's position papers + video ads for its "When You Speak for Students" 2014 provincial election campaign are posted Election Readiness

Understanding what's driving them NUTS [National Union of Teachers]: Here's why progressives don't like the UK Tories explained in a rap song. Hmmm. Wonder if the kids for hire @ F The Tories 2.0

PARTY POLITICS



It's a spring election! NDP leader Andrea Horwath has decided to roll the dice! My blog coverage has been moved to the new May 5 blog.

Andrea Horwath claims she's not worried about vote splitting resulting in a PC win! Maybe she should be, it certainly isn't without precedent! You know, if you look at the combined OLP +NDP numbers in seats and popular support, the PC neo cons would no longer be a threat if the two could unite ..... Perhaps it's about time?! Anyway, story @ NDP vs OLP!

Ontario election ads can officially begin at midnight May 20. Brace yourself Ads

IPSO poll finds Hudaks PC are receiving 62% of the action on Twitter, Unfortunately for Tim 59% of them are negative. Well, that accounts for my tweets! What if you add in everybody elses?!? :-) @ 2 Thumbs Down!

What do Ontario + Quebec elections have in common? Not much @ O Canada!



308 aggregate poll puts the OLP + PCs back in a dead heat after a scary surge in their numbers put Hudak into majority territory. It seem anything might still happen @ 308

Adding insult to injury: Hudak kicks off his campaign at the Metalworks Music Studio after having voted against the Ontario Music Fund to "the balance the budget". Needless to say the optics were not good @ Ironic!

Then he brought up his "million job plan" @ National Post

A musician at Hudaks announcement challenges him over his support for cuts to the music arts! @ Ironic!



PC Hudak acts like people of colour are a "ball" for the cameras. Are what he says + does 2 different things? And what will Ford Nation + Tim's white bread neo con supporters outside Toronto in the hinterlands think?

Toronto Sun goes easy on Hudak for not categorically condemning Mayor Rob Fords sexists, bigoted and homophobic comments last week. Of course, he does not want to alienate his neo con voters aka Ford Nation in Toronto @ Fumbled?

Hudak caught using fake video clips outsourced from Russia to show Ontarians steering the province to better times under a PC government @ More BS

IN OTHER NEWS

Complete Rob Ford coverage is now posted @ Campaign Trail!?



How can 234 girls go missing for so long?! What's anybody doing about it???

On April 14 234 teenage girls were abducted from a government girls school in Nigeria. They are still missing. How can you hide 234 teenage girls without anybody knowing?! What's the government doing about it? Amnesty International says its all another case of gender based violence against women. They also want you to help out @ Amnesty

200 couples will get wed at Toronto's Castleloma during World Pride Week celebrations here this year Gay Pride 2014



Danger: Beached whale! Hey, don't go stand by it!!!

It's an Atlantic Canada mind bender: what do you do with a dead bloated 60 ton beached whale that is set to explode at any minute? And we thought we had it bad worrying about street gangs here in the big city?! Still, human nature never ceases to amaze: what do folks do? Go and stand beside it! Ho boy! Watch Blech! Then see what happens @ Ugh!

KULTURE KULT INK



Note: The seventies are definitely over!

Led Zeppelin's Page + Plant are being charged with plagiarism for the opening cords of the signature song "Stairway to Heaven". It wouldn't be the first time. "Whole Lotta Love" was later rightly accredited to blues legend Willie Dixon. "Dazed + Confused" wasn't their melody either. Story @ Stairway to Plagiarism?



Fun + games in Zombieland Toronto!

Dem darn Zombies never cease to amaze! Check out the one above from the 5km Zombie obstacle course event in Toronto! Also, see my blog on the psychology of the zombie phenomenon @ Zombie Psych!

Canadian novelist and environmentalist Farley Mowat is dead at age 92 @ Never Cry Wolf



Small is best: I always like to support the grassroots on my blog, whether its at school, in the unions or in politics. The same applies for music. Change always starts here, and it can best reflect our life beat, better than the big corporate musical flavour of the day, we hear everywhere else. For that reason I am adding a link to "Underground Operations" here in Kulture Kult Ink this month. You can visit the Toronto page to hear whats bubbling in the underground, sample or even download for a recommended donation to the artist. [Support the arts!] It's a fabulous idea for getting new sounds out there and creating a buzz. And the music is much more varied than the Itunes store too. [Zzzzz]. Underground Operations is @ Here!

Streaming music has created a crisis with artist's royalty rates. But who suffers most, the artists or the greed big labels? More @ Royalties

PS Kindly note: If you are indie + want me to post a link here please forward any, including downloads. If I don't like won't post, otherwise, hope this helps!


Smile + say martial law!

Sign of the times: cellphone selfies are all the rage in Thailand which is under a state of martial law @ Selfies

Bonus Quotes for anyone who read this far!

"We love and die because we must." 


[from Good Boys Never Win]

"If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything."

[a fortune cookie]

You can email me: davechiarelli@gmail.com
My Twitter hashtag is: #davidchiarelli

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

OSSTF holding a special meeting of the provincial assembly at the end of the month to add a supplemental fee to members (strike fund). OECTA hopefully will lead the way this time and take one for the team as they sure screwed us all last time. At least their members get a vote this time and not allow one individual to send us back 30 years.

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