MB Toronto
Morning Brew: Pantalone to march alone, Rossi rails against shortened pool hours, E. coli in North York, Toronto worst in Ontario for speed traps, TDSB at the ACC
Joe Pantalone is the only mayoral candidate welcome to participate in this year's Labor Day parade. The Star reports that both Sarah Thomson and George Smitherman asked, but were denied a chance to march in the parade organized by the Toronto and York Region Labour Council. The Council's endorsement of Pantalone seems natural, given that he's the only candidate whose platform does not include selling assets or contracting-out city workers' jobs.
Rocco Rossi spoke out on, um, pool reform yesterday, saying that Toronto's shortening of hours for pools all over the city is a result of mismanaged books and out of control spending. Many people were upset at the limited hours as temperatures reached 32-degrees and pools closed early. Rossi spoke outside Kiwanis Outdoor Pool in East York, which had its hours shortened to 4pm to 7pm. No updates from Rocco on his broken blender.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a warning that beef products sold by North York's Kabul Farms store may be contaminated with E. coli. The agency, along with the Ministry of Health and Health Canada, is already investigating an outbreak of E. coli-related illness in the GTA. The statement, issued yesterday, said that all beef products sold from that store on August 6th should not be consumed.
The National Motorists Association (whose website is host to articles on topics such as "several ways to bring public and private wrath down upon the perpetrators of speed traps") released their annual "Worst North American Speed Trap Cities" list yesterday, and Toronto gets the top spot for Ontario. The list, I should mention, is compiled by tallying the number of speed traps submitted by drivers to the NMA's website; for Toronto this amounts to about 250 to 260 individual traps submitted over the last few years. The Allen Expressway's southbound Lawrence Ave. on-ramp is just one of the hot spots listed on the site. But there is no disclaimer mentioning the fact that Toronto, as our largest city, is likely to have more users submitting speed traps than most other cities in Ontario.
The Air Canada Centre was host yesterday to 19,000 teachers of the Toronto District School Board in a somewhat controversial rally entitled "Believe It! Our Time is Now." The event has garnered criticism ever since its initial price tag of $345,000, later reduced to $125,000. Education director Chris Spence called the conference "absolutely inspirational," with its pulsing lights, big screens and a performance by Kardinal Offishall almost an hour after the event was scheduled to end. I guess someone forgot to ring the bell.
Photo by asianz of the blogTO Flickr pool.
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If he doesn't have the guts to stand up <i>(but I am standing)</i> and say that he will not march, unless the rest of the candidates are allowed to march, what are we to expect if he becomes Mayor? Is this an indication that he would cater to the Unions? We need someone in office that will stand up to these Unions and why are the Unions dictating who attends the parade anyway?
<b><i>Daniel .. Toronto</b></i>
<a href="http://bit.ly/bKGa13";>My take on the city</a>
Yeah, they "they kind of need it to deal with kids today", but that's what happens when you sign up to be a teacher. You have to teach kids!
This was an event pushed by Chris Spence (director of the TDSB). Trust me, most teachers would rather have spent the day in their classroom preparing for the start of school and have the money spent on actual needs.
The teacher's union is an out-dated system that only exists to keep teacher's on their lax schedule.
Dont forget to add countless breaks, PD days and all that to the list. It goes on and on.
Seems like my daughter always has days off of school.
Read more in wikipedia's entry on Labour Day, or a great book by two Toronto historians: The workers' festival: a history of Labour Day in Canada, By Craig Heron, Steven Penfold.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Day
because J, unlike shareholders in a company, we, the public have no choice in paying for this. teachers have had it too good for too long and the fact that taxpayers money was spent for this, rather than on things that would benefit our children is appauling. when you choose to be a teacher, you know what you are getting into : a decent paying job that can be extremely stressful at times, a monday-friday schedule that isn't 9-5, and summers off. just like the TTC employee knows what he/she is getting into, just like the doctor, the pilot, the grocery clerk, etc.......i've been a chef for 10 years, and in those 10 years i've almost worked 20 by 9-5 monday-friday, 2 weeks vacation standards. am i complaining, no. i knew this going in and accepted it as part of my career. i decided i needed a break from the hours and stepped away for a year and a half, and will be going back soon. do i know what i'm getting back into, you're damn right i do. you can't reap the benifits of your feild and whine, bitch, piss and moan about the hardships.......unless you are a teacher or work for the TTC that is.
Call it the cost of having an educated workforce that's going to take care of your a** when you're employing people, or sick, or retired. If you think you can teach your kids so well, I ask you to take it upon yourself and teach them. It's so simple, right? Or if you feel that the public education system is so costly and inefficient, please take your kid to the private system.
We are trained professionals who do more work than you know. It would be nice to work only three hours a day except we start (no less than) 30 min before school starts and stay afterward as well. We need to constantly prepare materials and have them ready. Imagine doing a different presentation to your business clients everyday - do you just through it together at the last minute, or do you plan it out and make things ready? We call meetings about the mental health of students, their performance, meetings with grade teams, meetings with clubs, meetings with divisions/subjects. Yard duty, reports, photocopying, marking, day plans, filing, etc. (I lie, marking can usually be done at home). PD days are professional activities, meetings of all kinds (teachers, admin, parents), filing and catch up days. Not days off, as many believe.
So yeah, you may think that teachers don't do anything at school but to tell the truth, some find it hard to even get the time to use the washrooms.
I'm not moaning. I truly love my job and I knew what I was getting into. The pay is enough, but it's not why I do it. I want to help kids, all kids. No they are not always perfect, some are downright awful. But it's a pleasure to know that I am doing something to help make them into productive members of society. The only downside to my job is that there are a lot of jerks out there that don't respect my contributions.
Now, I still don't think that this event was useful. The union doesn't either. So, e-mail the TDSB (no these aren't "The Teachers", but rather our bosses) and tell them not to waste money on this kind of thing again and to instead use it to keep EAs and CYWs in the classroom.
Did you know that any child that can't swim the width of the pool and back is required to have an adult within arms reach at all times...in the shallow end! Half the adults there probably couldn't pass that test mind you. Which leaves us to wonder exactly what is that over-staffed lifeguards are paid to do besides warn people from running, or resting on a floating rope.
I suspect that this is another case of the "safety of our children" being leveraged for exorbitant concessions, and public costs, to benefit the few.
Just Sayin
Jo
Me and the rest of Toronto were busy working our asses off.
And no, I'm not a teacher. I have had two children go through the public system (and subsequently graduate university), and I am in awe at the diversity of challenges that teachers face day in and day out. Remember, boys and girls, teachers not only have to have a good knowledge of their subject matter (humanities, social sciences, and STEM - science, tech, engineering, and math) and the theories and practices of pedagogy (including a variety of instruction methods, several different forms of evaluation and assessment methods, etc.), but also have to be skilled in psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology (esp. here in Toronto), and political science.
All in all, teachers are excellent value to society, and contribute far more relative to their salaries and benefits than the average office worker.
Most teachers are dedicated hard working professionals that often pay out of pocket for supplies due to chronic underfunding and mismanagement by TDSB.
I'm anti-union and believe that governments often waste gobs of money on iniatives they have neither the mandate nor competency to carry out. But teacher bashing has nothing to do with either. Yes, they're required to be union members, but that doesn't necessarily make them lazy freeloaders. Blame the union, blame the TDSB, blame the education ministries, but picking on the teachers is wrong.
I've visited my kids' classrooms. I sure as hell wouldn't want to have to run those rooms for 6+ hours a day. They earn their 60-80k.
I wish I had teachers that seem to be as dedicated as you come across. I was in high school in the 905 during the Mike Harris years and my teachers were quite the opposite and some were militant.
I never needed or wanted to hear their opinions of the Premier in Math or Chemistry class...yet I did, non stop. I understand this may not be the case today but it certainly opened the door for continuing political commentary in classrooms.
I can only think of a handful (less than 5) that were truly the exception and made learning fun and enjoyable.
For too long teachers have fought change. Ideas the public would like implmented (teacher testing, year-round schooling, pay cuts) are routinely rejected and followed up with a threat to strike or work-to-rule.
I recognize this has not happened lately but only because the unions have been bought off with more taxpayer money. But even this should rightfully anger people. I don't want my tax dollars used to buy off peace with teachers.
The entire system needs a revamp.
I do not have kids but I can imagine (if I put myself in the shoes of a parent) that all we want for our kids is to have politics taken out of the classroom, competant teachers teaching their material and year round schooling so students don't forget what they've learned.
I will say the public is quick to get jealous about the summers off. Although the constant complaining about prep work is a bit annoying.
I understand it's tough but I prepare stuff for my boss everyday. I make presentations regularly. And as for your hours, I start at 8 and work well past 5, so I put in the same, if not more, time as you do.
All the public sees is this aging body that refuses to listen and resists EVERYTHING.
Your comments, this event, the summers off and everything else people complain about will never change this perception unless your unions decided to radically change the way they operate and how education is taught in the province, which will never happen, unfortunately.
"If he doesn't have the guts to stand up (but I am standing) and say that he will not march, unless the rest of the candidates are allowed to march, what are we to expect if he becomes Mayor?"
Why should he have to stand up for his other mayoral candidates, especially when the council clearly doesn't support their platforms or views? He's in a race against them not with them.
Maybe if you included yourself in your daughters education you would be better prepared to discuss said system.
I have to make sure she has something to do with all those PD days and holidays and early-day-Tuesdays and blah blah blah.
You weren't forced into your profession. You chose it, just as teachers opted to go into theirs. You enjoy the benefits of your job, just as they enjoy theirs.
I wish I made as much money as Gloria Allred does, but I'm not a lawyer. Should I cry about all the money she makes and complain or should I kick myself for not being an attorney?
Also johnny, I don't know which board your daughter attends school in but in the TDSB there was only only 1 PA day last year in Feb and I believe there are 2 this year, and teachers do have to work on those days.
dean, its THEIR, not there
I graduated in 1980. My generation witnessed the end of the dedicated teacher, although you surely didn't want to get in the way of the teacher's parking lot at 3:20! LOL
Rob's comments are bang-on. We never had to endure the political commentary, but in the '70s the government was under the illusion that they had endless amounts of money to spend and caved to nearly every union demand - in fact, that is why all levels of government are bankrupt today. Governments in the '80s began to realize their was a massive train wreck coming and when they tried to reign in some of those golden contracts; well, the unions surely didn't like it.
The fact is most teachers don't know what it is like to have a real job. Most people have to go in early, stay late, work through lunches and don't get 10 weeks off in the summer, plus Spring Break and Christmas.
I can't stand kids, so I'd never want to be a teacher, but I sure would like their perks!
PS: My generation had to endure a doozer of a teachers's strike in the winter of '74 I believe it was. The TTC also went on strike that year for most of the summer. Ah, those were the days!
Have you considered that there were more teachers than those you encountered in a dog park? Maybe they weren't around because they were (brace yourself) still at school.
<i>"I can't stand kids, so.."</i>
Teachers have to deal with these kids you can't stand, only everyday, yet you think teachers have it easy?
You clearly have never met a majority of teachers or I'd wager even more than 20. Would you insist that every example that is the opposite of your personal one is an "exception to the rule"?