Chelmsford Federation of Teachers Endorses Dolan
CFT president Kathryn Chamberlain says Dolan will be the most effective advocate for public schools and teachers in the state senate.
Late last week, the Chelmsford Federation of Teachers has announced their endorsement in the Third Middlesex Senate District will go to Mara Dolan (D-Concord).
The endorsement is the latest in a string that includes State Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton), State Senator Dan Wolf (D-Harwich), and Congressman James Capuano (D-Somerville).
"Mara Dolan will be the most effective advocate in the Massachusetts State Senate for Chelmsford’s public schools and public school teachers," said Chelmsford Federation of Teachers president Kathryn Chamberlain. "She is a woman who has worked in public service all her life, and her commitment to public education sets her apart from the other candidates in the Third Middlesex State Senate race."
Dolan was pleased to receive the union's support, noting that Chelmsford students deserve the best public schools, and that schools are vital in economic issues.
"A well-educated workforce drives our economy. Great public schools with great public school teachers help everyone succeed," said Dolan. "We need to build schools kids love, where their natural curiosity and desire to succeed will be encouraged."
More information on Dolan is available on her website.
Iron Mike
7:10 am on Monday, August 27, 2012
Oh, surprise SUPRISE! Union teachers endorse a Democrat. Who would have thought!?!
Let's keep playing the game – the 'answer' to failing schools and dumbed-down students with NO concept of history, economics, geography, or civics; - is to pump MORE taxpayer $$ into union pockets.
QUESTION for VOTERS: What are your Union Teachers telling your kids about Massachusetts Industry – i.e. 'Where did all the manufacturing go – and WHY?'
What are these SAME teachers telling your kids [when you're not around to hear] about the proper role of Government? What are you highly-paid union teachers telling your kids about our $103 BILLION state debt and our $16 TRILLION federal debt?
Mara is an attractive young lady – deceptively attractive, - but she'll change NOTHING. She's just another liberal Taxocrat looking for her own state pension.
Mara Dolan
7:51 am on Monday, August 27, 2012
Not so young, Mike! I'll be 50 next month. All the best to you.
Iron Mike
8:00 am on Monday, August 27, 2012
As I said M'Dear, young, beautiful, and socialist. What a sad waste!
Mike Brown
8:30 am on Monday, August 27, 2012
Mrs Dolan do you have the same philosophy as Cathy and her federation that Money comes before the education our kids? Did you ask Cathy about how she got our kids involved in her contract negotiations and took services away when she got upset with the town? You sure you want their endorsement ??
Benjamin Tracy
9:20 am on Monday, August 27, 2012
I don't trust any union's endorsement. Unions are only interested in keeping the status quo (where they continue to collect dues), not in real change, which is what is desperately needed.
Muriel McGrann
9:35 am on Monday, August 27, 2012
In my opinion, a vote for any Democrat is a vote for continued support of their party leader, President Obama and his Liberal Progressive Socialistic policies and practices. CHANGE is needed......NOW.....less Government.......a budget with 50% less spending and a cap on the outragious taxpayers money spending of PRESIDENT OBAMA on his travels to other countries and his family vacations and his campaign expenses that include those 2 million dollars buses (Tax payer paid for) flown here and there to campaign for his election for another 4 years of even more of the same......
Mike Combs
10:26 am on Monday, August 27, 2012
50% less spending? Can I choose which half of the seniors are thrown off Medicare and Social Security and which half of the roads we choose not to maintain?
Iron Mike
11:17 am on Monday, August 27, 2012
Y'know Mike, in some states they fix the roads every 8 – 10 years. Here it seems to happen every 2 years. Ever wonder WHY? Don't say 'it's the winters and the road salt', - because those same conditions exist across the northern US.
Maybe ~ our road crews know the trick to staying fully employed? Maybe ~ we're not getting our money's worth, - because the [bad] fix is in?
Just like our schools.
When the MCAS identified a kid needing help, guess who the 'help' came from? Yep, another union teacher – in the classroom across the hall – for $60/ hour after school – in the classroom we PAY for! How come the kid's OWN teacher couldn't put in that extra hour – as professional duty and diligence?
Answer: UNION! As taxpayers and parents, we're being unioned to death. But they sure endorse Mz Dolan; because she's got their back.
MarkG
11:29 am on Monday, August 27, 2012
Iron Mike,
Please provide a list of Chelmsford Roads that have been repaired every two years. Thanks!
Benjamin Tracy
11:58 am on Monday, August 27, 2012
Teacher salaries are ridiculously low given their importance to society, so your complaint about $60/hour teacher pay after school rings a little hollow to me. We need to have laser focus on how we can make teaching attractive. If we did that, they wouldn't need unions to fight for them for higher pay. Myself, I'd be willing to kick in some more in property taxes if I could be convinced that it would go straight to teacher salaries.
Iron Mike
12:51 pm on Monday, August 27, 2012
If all teachers were good, I ~ might ~ agree...
But too many of them are using classroom time to 'socialize' our kids, i.e. fill their minds with left-wing soft propaganda. Our tax $$ are being used to brainwash our kids; - not to teach them.
Think I'm wrong? Go ask any 5 high school grads 'what were the three root causes of tension in Europe prior to the outbreak of WW I?' See if you get anything but a blank stare. Then toss 'em a softball, - ask them what YEARS WWI was fought... See if they know the years of our own Civil War.
Meanwhile, don't over-inflate the teaching profession. They work a short day and a short year, in air-conditioned buildings. They get every conceivable holiday off, they have their own parking spaces and they retire early at 80% and full [if unfunded] benefits.
You'd THINK they'd have a CODE of HONOR, - but alas – they have a UNION, - so most of them cover up / ignore the worst amongst them.
I will fully respect teachers again when they do honest peer reviews and offer up the lowest 3% for termination each year, - and when they INSIST on 100% audits of their school computers.
Until then, with full apologies to those amongst them who are worthy, I'd judge them by the majority of brain-dead kids they issue us each spring.
Any teacher who in good conscience could vote for Obama again, who voted for Deval Patrick a second time, or who would vote for Mara Dolan – just doesn't support the values this country was founded upon.
Benjamin Tracy
1:23 pm on Monday, August 27, 2012
I agree with you that the quality of the education being put forward in our public schools is bad. I just think that if we were to increase teacher salaries, decrease administration costs, and figure out a good way to keep teachers accountable, that would go a long way toward improving them. We need better people to stay teaching rather than going where the money is in administration, and we need to keep them accountable.
MarkG
1:35 pm on Monday, August 27, 2012
Sorry Iron Mike, maybe I missed it in that long post. What are the roads in Chelmsford that are getting repaired every two years again?
Mike Combs
3:44 pm on Monday, August 27, 2012
Just ask any old crank how often roads have to be repaired and you'll see that our education has utterly failed some people rendering them not only useless, but also a burden to everyone else who would like to discuss the issues as adults.
Iron Mike, which roads are repaired every two years?
And your point is that teachers are overpaid, but if we don't hike CEO pay they will underperform? Where's your math on that one?
Iron Mike
2:35 pm on Monday, August 27, 2012
There WAS a time when unions were the only protection working men had against ruthless and unscrupulous industrialists. It was a era when labor was cheap – freed slaves and hungry Irishmen by the boatload.
But over time there's been a shift in the dynamics. Unions now protect the incompetent and the unscrupulous at the expense of the honest, the worthy, and the high achievers. That's why the teachers unions opposed the MCAS and No Child – because testing pinpointed the poor teachers immediately.
Unions actively discourage members from exceeding quotas or going 'above and beyond'; and they can be nasty and brutal doing it.
Pouring money into a failing union school is like investing in the Titanic – as it is taking on water.
MarkG
2:40 pm on Monday, August 27, 2012
"That's why the teachers unions opposed the MCAS and No Child – because testing pinpointed the poor teachers immediately."
Teachers (and most everyone vaguely familiar with current public education) oppose these because they are ineffective and only serve to create more hoops to jump through. All the matters is the test, so teachers are stuck "teaching to the test". There is no ability to use the skills they gained through training and experience to tailor the curriculum to the students they are teaching. Instead, they must simply do whatever they can to make them test well. Unfortunately, testing well has never been shown to correlate with much of anything.
Oh yeah, one other thing. WHAT ROADS ARE REPAIRED EVERY TWO YEARS???
Benjamin Tracy
2:52 pm on Monday, August 27, 2012
Mike and Mark - the scary thing is with respect to MCAS and No Child, you're both right. Mike describes the union view, while Mark, you're hitting the individual teacher view. Education reform could very well be the hardest social problem of our time. It's very hard to measure what it is about what we're doing that's making the results of our schools be sub par. Every part is hard to measure. How do you evaluate learning (tests versus real world)? Which teachers are better than others? Which administrative systems and curriculums work better? That's why I support trusting individual teachers as much as possible: almost every teacher I've come across has the right heart about helping kids learn. My theory is give them the tools and the support they need, and get the hell out of their way.