Wednesday, May 11, 2011
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Saturday, April 23, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Dear Ms. Baumer:
Earlier this year you contacted me about Planned Parenthood and I want to provide you with an update on recent activity. On April 14, by a vote of 42 to 58, the Senate defeated an amendment to eliminate all federal funding for Planned Parenthood. I was among those who voted to support Planned Parenthood and against this amendment.
I opposed this bill because, like you, I believe that it is in the best interest of our nation to take steps to promote preventive health care such as cancer screenings, breast exams, and HIV testing, as well as to reduce the occurrence of unwanted pregnancies. We all want access to high quality health care when we need it, and for many low and middle income women these health centers are their only source. This critical safety net must be maintained.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me and please feel free to do so in the future.
Sincerely,
Herb Kohl
United States Senator
Earlier this year you contacted me about Planned Parenthood and I want to provide you with an update on recent activity. On April 14, by a vote of 42 to 58, the Senate defeated an amendment to eliminate all federal funding for Planned Parenthood. I was among those who voted to support Planned Parenthood and against this amendment.
I opposed this bill because, like you, I believe that it is in the best interest of our nation to take steps to promote preventive health care such as cancer screenings, breast exams, and HIV testing, as well as to reduce the occurrence of unwanted pregnancies. We all want access to high quality health care when we need it, and for many low and middle income women these health centers are their only source. This critical safety net must be maintained.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me and please feel free to do so in the future.
Sincerely,
Herb Kohl
United States Senator
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
this was written by my dad.
Dear State Senator Lazich;
According to your article in the Waukesha Freeman, Governor Walker's
budget bill really will not make much of a difference to state employees
in the area fair treatment in the work place. If that is so, why was it
necessary to take away the state workers union rights? Yes, I know you
will tell me that having a union is a privilege, not a right. We could
argue that point all day, but the bottom line is that Governor Walker
did not campaign on a union busting platform, our public schools are
losing millions in funding as well as the City of Waukesha.
We have been told that the current budget bill is the only solution.
That is simply not true. There are always other solutions. What is true
is that if you want to bust state worker unions, hamstring the public
education system and dump the budget problem the state has on local
municipalities, then maybe it is the only solution.
Please understand the the frustration you have seen in the capitol and
on the streets of our state is representative of real concern. What you
should be praying for is that Governor Walker is right, because if he
isn't both he and you will be looking for different work come the next
election. My email box has been flooded with information on recall
votes for both Democrats and Republicans alike. Perhaps it is time to
clean house and seek different answers for our states problems.
Please convey my thanks to the Governor for diminishing my grand
childrens future education.
Michael Poytinger
Waukesha, Wisconsin
Mail me!
According to your article in the Waukesha Freeman, Governor Walker's
budget bill really will not make much of a difference to state employees
in the area fair treatment in the work place. If that is so, why was it
necessary to take away the state workers union rights? Yes, I know you
will tell me that having a union is a privilege, not a right. We could
argue that point all day, but the bottom line is that Governor Walker
did not campaign on a union busting platform, our public schools are
losing millions in funding as well as the City of Waukesha.
We have been told that the current budget bill is the only solution.
That is simply not true. There are always other solutions. What is true
is that if you want to bust state worker unions, hamstring the public
education system and dump the budget problem the state has on local
municipalities, then maybe it is the only solution.
Please understand the the frustration you have seen in the capitol and
on the streets of our state is representative of real concern. What you
should be praying for is that Governor Walker is right, because if he
isn't both he and you will be looking for different work come the next
election. My email box has been flooded with information on recall
votes for both Democrats and Republicans alike. Perhaps it is time to
clean house and seek different answers for our states problems.
Please convey my thanks to the Governor for diminishing my grand
childrens future education.
Michael Poytinger
Waukesha, Wisconsin
Mail me!
Monday, February 21, 2011
The budget question
I wonder why we always seem to start with education and teachers when discussing budget cuts in a state? Someone in the twitter verse said if we put a .10 tax on beer in this state we could raise 167m in a year. Why don't we start with luxuries and "sins"? The state tax of cigarettes & booze generates millions a year...would anyone even notice if we added 10 cents to each bottle of beer, would anyone even care? Why do we seem to be so complacent when we hear that the state or local governments want to cut funding to schools, why isn't education a priority?
A story this morning on your favorite cable news network discussing how there is a projected shortage of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) teachers projected within the next 4 years and the president has put out a call for people to take up jobs as teachers in those areas. With the current situation in Wisconsin and the possibility of union busting in other states across the country, why on earth would ANYONE want to become a teacher, especially someone "smart" enough to teach a STEM subject?
My husband is a mechanical engineer and is quite possibly one of the smartest guys I know. He also has a great job as a mechanical engineer making more money than he would make if he went to work for the school district. Why would someone like him want to leave the private sector and go to work in the public sector?
Teachers work their asses off. 12 and 14 hour days are not uncommon. Many teacher spend their summer "vacation" in classes getting credits, working on masters degrees, or working a "summer" job to make ends meet. Teachers, like my dad, who are also department heads full time and have to teach part time in addition to their administrative duties never get a "summer vacation." For the majority of my life my dad worked all year, summers, breaks, teacher record days...he didnt get "days off."
From going to my kids school and dropping them off at 7am the parking lot already has at least 10 cars in it, the principal is always the 1st car in the lot..and at the end of the day when I pick my kids up at 5pm, those same cars, plus many others are still there. Teachers work. Teachers work their asses off. They spend all day educating your kids, they spend all day dealing with at least 30+ personalities, discipline issues, kids from diverse backgrounds, kids with learning disabilities, special needs...kids from bad and broken families, and kids who are geniuses.
What do you deal with in your normal day? If you have kids could you imagine dealing with 30 children 8 hours + a day 5 days a week, 180 days a year? What if you are a middle or high school teacher? That means 150+ kids you need to teach. You also need to teach these kids, you are responsible for the future of this country. That is not just hyperbole, that is a fact. Our job as parents and teachers jobs as teachers is to make sure that our children are the best they can be. If we want our country to go back to being the best in the world, we need to make sure we have the most well educated kids in the world.
We need to start making education a priority, and not just lip service. We need to NOT look towards teachers and education as the place to make cuts. Teachers already make due with less and less. Fees for enrolling my kids in their "free" public education rise yearly...almost $200.00 for this year alone, which also does not take into account the endless fundraising the school asks us to do to help fund programs within the school. The school's PTO is an amazing organization which helps teachers buy supplies, smart boards, playground equipment etc...
My daughters classroom is in constant need of kleenex, paper towels, antibacterial gels and wipes and post-its for the kids to use. My kids teacher was more appreciative than I can express at my donation of a pencil sharpener to her classroom. The school can't afford an electric pencil sharpener. This is just sad.
The fact that our governor wants to get rid of all collective bargaining rights for state workers in Wisconsin is also sad. Teachers, and workers everywhere should have the right to collectively bargain for wages and benefits.
It's my hope that our governor backs away from this hard line stance against unions, compromise should not be a dirty word. Reaching hands out across the aisle is nothing to be ashamed about, working together, regardless of parties and idealogy...
Mail me!
A story this morning on your favorite cable news network discussing how there is a projected shortage of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) teachers projected within the next 4 years and the president has put out a call for people to take up jobs as teachers in those areas. With the current situation in Wisconsin and the possibility of union busting in other states across the country, why on earth would ANYONE want to become a teacher, especially someone "smart" enough to teach a STEM subject?
My husband is a mechanical engineer and is quite possibly one of the smartest guys I know. He also has a great job as a mechanical engineer making more money than he would make if he went to work for the school district. Why would someone like him want to leave the private sector and go to work in the public sector?
Teachers work their asses off. 12 and 14 hour days are not uncommon. Many teacher spend their summer "vacation" in classes getting credits, working on masters degrees, or working a "summer" job to make ends meet. Teachers, like my dad, who are also department heads full time and have to teach part time in addition to their administrative duties never get a "summer vacation." For the majority of my life my dad worked all year, summers, breaks, teacher record days...he didnt get "days off."
From going to my kids school and dropping them off at 7am the parking lot already has at least 10 cars in it, the principal is always the 1st car in the lot..and at the end of the day when I pick my kids up at 5pm, those same cars, plus many others are still there. Teachers work. Teachers work their asses off. They spend all day educating your kids, they spend all day dealing with at least 30+ personalities, discipline issues, kids from diverse backgrounds, kids with learning disabilities, special needs...kids from bad and broken families, and kids who are geniuses.
What do you deal with in your normal day? If you have kids could you imagine dealing with 30 children 8 hours + a day 5 days a week, 180 days a year? What if you are a middle or high school teacher? That means 150+ kids you need to teach. You also need to teach these kids, you are responsible for the future of this country. That is not just hyperbole, that is a fact. Our job as parents and teachers jobs as teachers is to make sure that our children are the best they can be. If we want our country to go back to being the best in the world, we need to make sure we have the most well educated kids in the world.
We need to start making education a priority, and not just lip service. We need to NOT look towards teachers and education as the place to make cuts. Teachers already make due with less and less. Fees for enrolling my kids in their "free" public education rise yearly...almost $200.00 for this year alone, which also does not take into account the endless fundraising the school asks us to do to help fund programs within the school. The school's PTO is an amazing organization which helps teachers buy supplies, smart boards, playground equipment etc...
My daughters classroom is in constant need of kleenex, paper towels, antibacterial gels and wipes and post-its for the kids to use. My kids teacher was more appreciative than I can express at my donation of a pencil sharpener to her classroom. The school can't afford an electric pencil sharpener. This is just sad.
The fact that our governor wants to get rid of all collective bargaining rights for state workers in Wisconsin is also sad. Teachers, and workers everywhere should have the right to collectively bargain for wages and benefits.
It's my hope that our governor backs away from this hard line stance against unions, compromise should not be a dirty word. Reaching hands out across the aisle is nothing to be ashamed about, working together, regardless of parties and idealogy...
Mail me!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
So lets chat about teachers....
Are you sick of highly paid teachers?
Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit!
We can get that for less than minimum wage.
That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.
However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET'S SEE....
That's $585 X 180= $105,300
per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special
education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an
hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute -- there's
something wrong here! There sure is!
The average teacher's salary
(nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days
= $277.77/per day/30
students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!
Make a teacher smile; repost this to show appreciation for all educators.
Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit!
We can get that for less than minimum wage.
That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.
However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET'S SEE....
That's $585 X 180= $105,300
per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special
education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an
hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute -- there's
something wrong here! There sure is!
The average teacher's salary
(nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days
= $277.77/per day/30
students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!
Make a teacher smile; repost this to show appreciation for all educators.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.
Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.