Posted by admin! / Under Duncan Idaho
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan got a $50,000 payout in unused sick and vacation leave when he left his job as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools system to join the Obama administration. According to a new report by the watchdog group Better Government Association, the secretary was able to take advantage of department policy to covert unused, accrued benefits into a cash payout. Since 2006, Chicago's school system has paid $265 million to employees under this policy, with $227 million for sick days alone. The policy was put into place by the Chicago school board and predates Duncan, a...
Published on Sunday 5th of February 2012 04:34:37 PM
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Posted by admin! / Under Duncan Idaho
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that a federal law making it illegal to lie about being a war hero is constitutional and making false statements is not always protected free speech. ... The Colorado case involves Rick Strandlof, who was arrested after claiming he was wounded in Iraq as a Marine and had received military medals. His lawyers have acknowledged the claims were false.
Published on Sunday 5th of February 2012 04:34:37 PM
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Posted by admin! / Under Duncan Idaho
Education Secretary Arne Duncan thinks public-school teachers are “desperately underpaid†and has called for doubling teacher salaries. In a new paper co-authored with Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation, I look into whether teachers really are desperately underpaid, or underpaid at all. Jason and I find that the conventional wisdom is far off the truth.At first glance, public-school teachers definitely look underpaid. According to Census data, teachers receive salaries around 20 percent lower than similarly educated private-sector workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says teachers’ benefits are about the same as benefits in the private sector. But both the salary...
Published on Sunday 5th of February 2012 04:34:37 PM
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Posted by admin! / Under Duncan Idaho
If Education Secretary Arne Duncan has his way, kids would be spending a lot more time at school — and a three-month summer would be a thing of the past. Duncan joked with attendees at a luncheon at the National Press Club Tuesday in Washington that he would like schools to stay open 13 months out of the year. Then he told the audience of over 100 that he seriously supports longer school hours. “In all seriousness, I think schools should be open 12, 13, 14 hours a day, seven days a week, 11-12 months of the year,” Duncan said....
Published on Sunday 5th of February 2012 04:34:37 PM
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Posted by admin! / Under Duncan Idaho
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been a presidential candidate for barely two weeks, but already polls indicate he's even with President Barack Obama. So the administration trotted out Education Secretary Arne Duncan to knock him down a peg. Texas schools have "really struggled" under Gov. Perry, Mr. Duncan told Bloomberg's Al Hunt Aug. 18. "Far too few of their high school graduates are actually prepared to go on to college ... I feel really badly for the children there." It's cheesy for a Cabinet officer to be so political. But that's not why Mr. Obama shouldn't have used the former...
Published on Sunday 5th of February 2012 04:34:37 PM
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Posted by admin! / Under Duncan Idaho
Time Magazine’s Andrew Rotherham professed to being “confused” over Arne Duncan’s attack on the performance of Texas schools — and his ignorance over the performance of the Chicago school district Duncan actually ran. The Dallas Morning News’ editorial writer Rodger Jones isn’t confused at all. He’s irate. In a column that appeared in yesterday’s newspaper, Jones prints the response to Duncan from Robert Scott, Texas’ education chief, but not before getting in a few shots himself at Duncan’s “lies”: Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s insult to Texas public education was a politically motivated distortion that doesn’t become a federal official in...
Published on Sunday 5th of February 2012 04:34:37 PM
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Posted by admin! / Under Duncan Idaho
More than 150 years ago, Horace Mann fervently hailed education as "the great equalizer in the conditions of men." Horace Mann, generally considered the father of US public education, counted on good schools to fulfill American democracy. Poorer children, via effective education, would rise as far as their talents and hard work could take them. Social mobility would be guaranteed; merit would be the chief determiner of success. Shirley Tilghman, the president of Princeton, recently praised Mann's vision, and lamented that we are not honoring it. She pointed out that our K-12 education system is "leaving vast numbers of students...
Published on Sunday 5th of February 2012 04:34:37 PM
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Posted by admin! / Under Duncan Idaho
Gov. Rick Perry today released the following statement regarding sanctuary city legislation: "As the special session appears to be winding down, I am disappointed the Legislature did not address sanctuary cities. Working with legislative leaders last weekend, we worked to include sanctuary city legislation in Senate Bill 1. Unfortunately, SB1 Conference Committee [Republican] Chairman Robert Duncan ultimately refused to allow language related to the ban of sanctuary cities into the final version of Senate Bill 1. Because of this action, the special session will not provide our peace officers with the discretion they need to adequately keep Texans safe from...
Published on Sunday 5th of February 2012 04:34:37 PM
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Posted by admin! / Under Duncan Idaho
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will give remarks at the Department’s first-ever Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) youth summit at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 7, at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C. The two-day summit, “Creating and Maintaining Safe and Supportive Environments for LGBT Youth,” will take place Monday-Tuesday, June 6-7. Duncan will highlight the administration’s commitment to ensuring equal access to education for LGBT students as it does for all students. He also will discuss the Department’s Office for Civil Rights recently released guidance on the protection against harassment in an education setting based on gender,...
Published on Sunday 5th of February 2012 04:34:37 PM
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Posted by admin! / Under Duncan Idaho
Obama Administration Holds LGBT ‘Youth Summit’ – Gov’t ‘Has Finally Come Out of the Closet,’ Official Says Monday, June 06, 2011 By Penny Starr (CNSNews.com) – Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius spoke at the first “Federal LGBT Youth Summit” on Monday after being introduced by a homosexual on her staff, who said the secretary “gets us” and is “tireless” in her support of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender youth. “Your federal government has finally come out of the closet in support of LGBT youth,” said Pam Hyde, HHS administrator for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services. “It’s great...
Published on Sunday 5th of February 2012 04:34:37 PM
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