Free Republic

And, parent unrest is starting to surface Short-notice wildcat teacher sick outs during Kentucky’s current legislative session have already caused a lot of pain for Kentucky parents. On several recent occasions, parents in a number of Kentucky school districts have received a less-than-24-hour notice that schools were being cancelled so teachers could go and fuss at legislators in Frankfort. In consequence, such things as arranging baby sitting and providing for students’ lunches suddenly became a parent problem. ... Talk about disruption! And, parents are not happy. ... For sure, parents are beginning to question the sick outs. The Courier-Journal just...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools will close Tuesday due to teacher shortages as local educators continue protesting at the Capitol. JCPS made the call around 10 p.m. Monday, saying that about one-third of teachers had said they'd be absent. Tuesday will mark the fourth work stoppage at JCPS in less than two weeks. Teachers have voiced opposition to three bills before the General Assembly, notably one that would legalize tax credits for donors to groups that award private-school scholarships. ... JCPS will rescheduled the ACT test that was to be taken Tuesday to April 24.

<p>Teachers in Jefferson County, Kentucky’s largest public school district continued their sickout on Thursday in protest of lawmakers’ actions in the General Assembly.</p> <p>School district officials made the announcement Wednesday night.</p> <p>Fayette County Public Schools, which closed one day last week due to teacher absences, stayed open on Wednesday and Thursday. District spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said late Wednesday that the number of current Fayette teacher “absences are typical for this time of year.”</p>

FRANKFORT - A raucous crowd of Kentucky teachers who skipped school to show their disdain for a bill that would alter how members of the Teachers’ Retirement System Board of Trustees are selected was not enough to deter a panel of House lawmakers from approving the bill Thursday on a party-line vote. House Bill 525 would change the nominating process for board member, moving the nominations away from the Kentucky Education Association and spreading them among eight eduction-related professional groups. “I know of no other board, created by statute, that has its membership controlled almost entirely by one private organization,”...

The Kenosha Education Association (KEA), the state's third largest teachers union, was officially decertified on August 31, 2013 according to the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. Mark Belling, who broke this story on Thursday, said that the decertification came after a recent vote by members in which only 37 percent voted to reauthorize the union. KEA is the largest teachers union to disband since Act 10 was signed into law in 2011. The union had 2,400 members according to their website. Act 10 limited collective bargaining rights for public employees and required public unions to have an annual vote to recertify....

TAMPA, FL -- Angel the pit bull received quit a bit of attention recently after her story exposed many people to her plight. She was tossed from a moving car and managed to move her malnourished body to a home while she waited to be rescued. She is making a tremendous recovery so she was able to lead Saturday's Pit Bulls Pounding the Pavement Parade at the corner of Bayshore and Bay To Bay Boulevard. She joined at least 40 other so called bully breeds and their owners for a 4 mile walk to promote a positive image for a...

I just thought this was a neat view of the volcanoes on the Big Island. Click for full-size. The Pu'u O'o crater is in the foreground; outflowing lava degasses through the crater then enters the tube system and flows toward the sea. The Halemaumau plume (the vent has gotten a little more active in the past few days) is in front of Mauna Loa. Mauna Kea is on the right.

LOUISVILLE - The green grass of Waterfront Park's great lawn turned into a sea of protesters as state and union workers joined thousands of school workers in their fight against Gov. Ernie Fletcher's proposed healthcare plan. "Take a note, I vote." "Ernie Fletcher, Dr. Man, threw our healthcare in the can." "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Fletcher's plan has got to go." The chants and catchy rhymes of protesters began Monday's day of protest and reinforced the non-budging stance that school staffers and a handful of other state workers and unions have taken against the governor. Fletcher's proposed healthcare benefits plan...

At rallies, marches, petition drives and town hall meetings across Kentucky, thousands of teachers and state workers gathered yesterday to protest proposed increases in the cost of their health insurance coverage. School was canceled in 23 of the state's 176 school districts in response to a call from the Kentucky Education Association. ~snip~ "Need a stretcher? Don't call Fletcher," went one slogan. "You can't afford a gurney thanks to good ol' Ernie," said another. Fletcher, meanwhile, was out of the country on an economic-development tour of Spain, Italy and Germany. ~snip~ "But I have a problem, as a taxpayer and...

Gov. Ernie Fletcher said yesterday that the Kentucky Education Association has "gone too far" by calling for an October strike unless the state improves the health-insurance plan for public school employees. In a statement released yesterday afternoon, Fletcher urged the union to reconsider, and he said unless that happens, "it is inappropriate for me to negotiate in response to an illegal threat." -- The Courier-Journal Click here for Story

KEA board votes to give Fletcher 'ultimatum' JOE BIESK Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. - The Kentucky Education Association board of directors voted early Saturday morning to give Gov. Ernie Fletcher an ultimatum with a list of demands that, if not met, could result in a strike by teachers and school employees. The strike proposal calls for school districts across the state to voluntarily cancel school on Sept. 27 to allow teachers to participate in a statewide protest. Negotiations would continue beyond then. If teachers' and public school employees' demands are not met, they would go on an indefinite strike starting...

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