NY Public School Teachers Getting Taxpayer-Funded Cosmetic Surgery

A teacher’s union in a Buffalo, New York is fighting to preserve a decades-old health care plan that covers cosmetic surgery… and taxpayers are footing the bill. A new report shows that they spent nearly $3 million of taxpayer dollars on procedures like hair removal and liposuction.

Ralph Hernandez, vice president of the Buffalo school board, joined America Live to give an update on the negotiations. He said there are reassurances from the leadership of the unions that they would drop the issue before the next collective bargaining agreement.

But in a school district where only half of the kids are graduating, Megyn asked why this wasn't re-negotiated before. He said that it’s been part of the Buffalo public school system for about 20 years, though he would like to see that money go toward the classroom.

Food for Thought - Something to Digest

by Ann-Marie Murrell


My husband had a business trip in the Palm Springs area so we decided to make a mini-vacation out of it. Thanks to an amazing Groupon deal we stayed at one of the nicest places we’ve ever been to in our lives: The La Quinta Resort and Spa, a Waldorf Astoria Resort. All the rooms are exquisite with gigantic Jacuzzi bathtubs in every room, 41 exquisite swimming pools and 53 Jacuzzi’s scattered throughout the lush, floral-covered grounds.

We got there on a Thursday and were in Heaven. The resort was virtually empty so we had entire swimming pools all to ourselves all day. We went from pool to pool like little kids, staring at the mountains and palm trees surrounding us. I seriously wanted to cry from happiness.

I need to remind my readers—this is not the type of place we would ever normally be able to afford to stay. We got it through a combination of Groupon, work trip (aka write-off) and making a deal with each other to only eat bread and water the rest of the month.

Still, we decided we just had to stay another night—Groupon or not—and called the front desk. Immediately we were told us the resort was booked the entire weekend because of a huge LA Unified teacher’s conference. (Cue sound of spa music screeching to a halt)

TEACHER’S CONFERENCE? My mother was a public school teacher for over 44 years and I couldn’t imagine her—much less her school district– being able to afford such swanky digs for a weekend conference, especially here in broke, almost bankrupt Los Angeles! How could those poor, hard-working LA teachers afford to stay at the ultra-expensive, ultra-luxurious La Quinta Spa and Resort of all places? Why aren’t they having their conference in a more affordable place?

Oh yeah—all the eucalyptus leaves must have caused me to temporarily forgot where I lived. Strike yet another win for the real owners of the entire state of California: Unions.

As we were (sadly) checking out, there they were—lots of angry looking teacher-types arriving with their bags and ID tags around their necks. Then we saw the signs welcoming them to the United Teachers of Los Angeles 2011 Leadership Conference.

Pressure Mounts To Ax Teacher Seniority Rules

by Larry Abramson

 Last week, the New York state Senate passed a bill that would end the use of seniority as the sole factor for deciding which teachers get laid off. The bill faces long odds in the state Assembly. But the vote is a sign of growing frustration with what's known as "last in, first out" — a rule that says the last teachers hired get dismissed first when there is a layoff.

Like local leaders around the country, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he will soon have to lay off teachers because of shrinking state aid. He says he cannot have his hands tied by a system that judges teachers solely on their years of experience.

"We need a merit-based system for determining layoffs this spring," Bloomberg says. "And anything short of that is just not a solution to the problem we face."

Providence Mayor Defends Firings As Teachers Protest

by Elisabeth Harrison

About 1,500 people jammed the street in front of City Hall in Providence, R.I., on Wednesday to protest last week's dismissal of the city's entire teaching force.

"I thought the only insanity was in Wisconsin, not in Rhode Island," Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told the crowd, which raised signs and banged drums.

Weingarten calls the terminations insane, but city officials say they had no choice: The city is facing an estimated deficit of more than $100 million for the next fiscal year, or roughly 20 percent of the city budget.

Providence's new mayor, Angel Taveras, says he is considering school closures and layoffs for many city workers, but teachers are feeling the pain first, because of a state law that requires districts to notify teachers by March 1 if their jobs are in jeopardy. He says he chose terminations instead of layoffs because it ensures that teachers the city can't afford will be completely removed from the city payroll.

"With a layoff, for various reasons, you can be responsible for paying teachers who are not teaching in a classroom," he said. "In addition to that, if they go into the substitute pool, you're paying them their full pay and benefits, and that's costing an enormous amount of money. I can't allow the taxpayers to be on the hook for paying teachers who are not teaching."

But union leaders point out that the dismissal of nearly 2,000 educators means the city can ignore seniority rights as it re-staffs classrooms.

"By firing all of the teachers, Mayor Taveras is not solving an educational or a fiscal problem," Steve Smith, president of the Providence Teachers Union, said. "He's making a political decision to take control and silence workers."

Dooley Observar - Dooley Observed

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said: 'Let me see if I've got this right.


'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning.

'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.

'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job.

'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams.

'You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.

'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.

'You want me to do all this and then you tell me. . I CAN'T PRAY?

Everyone Should SEE THIS - The RUBBER ROOM in NYC

Deal Reached to Eliminate Rubber Rooms by Fall
A deal has been reached to eliminate rubber rooms before the fall school semester begins, a source familiar with the negotiations tells NBC New York.

The source said the deal is expected to be outlined at an announcement this morning.

The longtime practice, which essentially pays teachers accused of misconduct to do nothing and costs taxpayers $30 million annual, has been under scrutiny for years. Some critics think the concept is absurd, but a new documentary, "The Rubber Room," from filmmakers Justin Cegnar and Jeremy Garrett, is stone-cold serious about the subject.

"To me the thing that's most shocking," says Cegnar, "is how long people can spend there. You can spend five years or ten years-- a decade in the rubber room at full salary."

The rooms are officially known as reassignment centers. And New York City's Department of Education has said there's a reasonable explanation. If a teacher is accused of yelling at a student, or throwing a chair, or incompetence, he or she is innocent until proven guilty. But in the meantime, parents wouldn't exactly want those instructors to continue supervising their kids. So, while the investigation takes place...teachers are assigned to the rubber rooms.

"We need to balance our obligation to safeguard children with our legal obligation for fairness to teachers," a Department of Ed spokeswoman told nbcnewyork.com.

But the bigger problem is many teachers don't know why they're sitting in the rubber rooms, co-producer Garrett said.

"Some teachers have been there for three years without having been given a reason for knowing why they're there."

Garrett acknowledges he was a substitute teacher in the Bronx until he snuck a camera into one of the rubber rooms. He was arrested for trespassing and fired. He's hoping his new job-- as a moviemaker-- makes more people aware of the rubber rooms.

The movie has upcoming screenings at NYU and Harvard. In the meantime, the Department of Education and United Federation of

Teachers are blaming each other for the controversial centers. The city says the union has refused to cooperate with certain cases, bogging down the system. The union counters the Department of Ed has refused to hire more investigators, which would speed up the process.

I don't think that it is mentioned that the teacher draws full pay and benefits while sitting there, pension plan and everything. Is that a great plan, or what? I don't want to think why they call it a "rubber room."