Fate of Tangerine PO is in Your Hands [Maybe]

Mark your calendar for August 1, 2014. There will be a meeting at 6 pm at the Zellwood Post Office regarding the fate of our Post Office. The Post Office sent out surveys to people with PO boxes in the 32777 zip code area. After the meeting the powers that be will determine the fate of our PO.

We could end up with our PO closed or run by a business which seems to be something staffers are considering seriously. I think we need to go … see you there.

Related article on Post Office cuts

Free Lunch Share

Shared by a Tangerine resident. I’m not taking sides on this issue. I want to hear what you have to say about this post.

FREE Lunch? 900 teachers just got laid off from the Los Angeles Unified School District . They are $650,000 over their annual budget. The following English teacher helps to explain one area that looms large over California ‘s educational crisis.

“As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of: I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels.

Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens , Huntington Park , etc.. where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools.

Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program.  When I say free breakfast, I’m not talking a glass of milk and roll — but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud.  The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten.

I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight.  About 75% or more DO have cell phones.  The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids.

I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial.  I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center, half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America .

I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country less than 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them “Putas” (whores) and throwing things, that the teachers were in tears.

Free medical, free education, free food, day care, etc, etc, etc.  Is it any wonder they feel entitled not only to be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements?

To those who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they like their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the true costs.

Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases etc., etc, etc.  For me, I’ll pay more for tomatoes.

Americans, we need to wake up.  The guest worker program will be a disaster because we won’t have the guts to enforce it.  Does anyone in their right mind really think they will voluntarily leave and return?

It does, however, have everything to do with culture: A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate, and an American culture that has become so weak and worried about “political correctness”that we don’t have the will to do anything about it.

If this makes your blood boil, as it did mine, forward this to everyone you know including your Congressmen and Senators.

CHEAP LABOR?  Isn’t that what the whole immigration issue is about? Business doesn’t want to pay a decent wage.  Consumers don’t want expensive produce.

Government will tell you Americans don’t want the jobs. But the bottom line is cheap labor.  The phrase “cheap labor” is a myth,a farce, and a lie.  There is no such thing as “cheap labor.”

Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children.  He takes a job for $5.00 or 6.00/hour.  At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an “earned income credit” of up to $3,200 free.

He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent. He qualifies for food stamps. He qualifies for free (no deductible & no co-pay) health care. His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school. He requires bilingual teachers and books. He qualifies for relief from high energy bills. If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI.

Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare. All of this is at (our) taxpayer’s expense.  He doesn’t worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance. Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material. He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.

Working Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $6.00/hour left after paying their bills and his. The American taxpayers also pay for increased crime, graffiti and trash clean-up.  Cheap labor?  YEAH RIGHT!
Wake up people!

A Note of Thanks

 

Yesterday another subscriber signed up for e-mail updates bringing the subscribers up to 22. Some of you have told me you’ve subbed to follow  local news updates, others are keeping up with the Spencer Mcalister murder investigation which remains unsolved. Many are checking on updates for Thomas Lafoe’s charges for the murder of Jeff Norton.

Regardless of your reason for subscribing, please let me know what you want to see more stories on. Simply make a comment on this post and I’ll adjust my posts accordingly. I appreciate each and every one of you.

Blessings

Adventures in Lost Mail {How much mail does the PO lose?}

There’s been a lot of quiet grumbling about lost mail lately. This is an emotional topic so a little investigation was in order. Here’s what I found. This was written in 2007. Any idea if things have changed?

You’d have better luck finding Dick Cheney’s social security number. Even though the United States Postal Service routinely hires contractors to assess performance, it doesn’t release statistics on lost mail. The post office uses something called the “External First-Class Measurement System,” or EXFC, to determine the percentage of first-class mail that travels within USPS time standards from a collection box to the addressee. Relying on those results, the post office has determined it’s doing a pretty good job. For example, the USPS reported an EXFC score of 90% nationwide last year.

The Government Accountability Office, however, has found some post office assessment criteria “unsuitable as benchmarks.” Furthermore, the post office “does not measure and report its delivery performance for most types of mail. Therefore, transparency with regard to its overall performance in timely mail delivery is limited…(so) it is difficult to hold management accountable for results and conduct independent oversight.”

This 1991 manifesto against the post office from the CATO Institute, admittedly an organization that would rather see oxygen privatized than praise a government agency, claimed that one original intent of the EXFC was to “determine…the percentage of mail lost or misdelivered.” But when the initial test was completed, the USPS didn’t release those figures. The CATO report went on to accuse the post office of “losing or throwing out over a billion letters a year.” Of course, that was 16 years ago, but that’s not to say at least some shenanigans still don’t occur.

Charlie Crist Speaks Out on PSC

Charlie Crist wrote a letter to the editor of the St. Petersburg Times that all Floridians should read so I’m sharing it in its entirety.

Florida consumers should be aware of troubling actions by elected officials that are putting their financial interests in jeopardy. Specifically, the Public Service Commission has and continues to be under siege by powerful utility companies with the assistance of some legislators. There is no clearer example than the recent rejection of the Public Service Commission nominees David Klement and Steve Stevens.

I strongly believe that it is vital for ratepayers to have public service commissioners who are honest, fair and responsible, and Commissioners Klement and Stevens fulfilled those qualities. Not only were they blocked from service because of their opposition to unjustified utility increases, but the Legislature also chose to block Commissioners Nancy Argenziano and Nathan Skop. These two commissioners have served Florida consumers well, offering candid, truthful, and most importantly, ethical voices on the commission. I am truly disappointed they will not have the opportunity to be reappointed.

The decision of the Legislature to block these consumer-friendly voices could not come at a worse time as individuals, families and businesses struggle under financial strains due to the economy. As we recover, we need to ensure that Floridians are able to afford everyday services and need to nominate and appoint people who understand the responsibility of the position they hold.

I am calling on the Public Service Nominating Council to put politics aside and nominate commissioners who will serve as consumer advocates and put in place much needed consumer protections so we can continue to keep Florida affordable for our people. The people of Florida are counting on us to create an environment of trust.

Charlie Crist, governor, state of Florida

Support Hometown Democracy? Write a letter to the editor!

Via Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment 4 on Facebook

Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment 4 Want to help get the word about about Amendment 4? Write a Letter to the Editor – connect the dots for local voters between bad city and county commission decisions and the need for Florida Hometown Democracy. Be sure to include the website address and our tollfree telephone number: 866-779-5513. If you want to write a letter to your local newspaper editor, or a guest column but would like some idea of what to write, please visit our website for talking points…and thanks for voting YES on Amendment 4!

Comment of the week: “If Amendment 4 “will have a devastating effect on Florida’s economy” what have we had in the past 5 years? How’s the current system working for you? The growth machinen has led us into this devastation. The people can’t do any worse. I want a vote since my commissioners are owned by the developers and lobbyists.”

Taking Control of Growth

By TONY GOUDIE, Ponce Inlet

I write in response to your editorial in the June 24 edition of The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

The Growth Management Act was established in 1985 by the Florida Legislature. The theory was that a town or city, by statute, now had to give citizens an opportunity to provide feedback when a municipality wanted to make changes to their comprehensive plan; cities could no longer ignore the will of the people. But Floridians have witnessed a vastly different scenario.

Some elected officials have proven time and again that they are fundamentally incapable of listening to the voters that put them in office. Addicted to the “build it and they will come” mentality dutifully peddled by lobbyists in Tallahassee, they fail to see what everyone else can: Housing booms go bust, and an economic engine built on more houses cannot be sustained.

Too often, our citizens are witness to a process where attorneys representing developers attempt to convince a majority of city commissioners that certain land-use changes are in the best interest of the town and its residents.

The News-Journal’s editorial says that allowing the course of land-use changes to be decided by the citizens would unwisely remove it from the elected bodies. I submit that where comprehensive land-use changes are concerned, it is this repeated failure of the elected officials to act in the best interest of Florida’s citizens that has driven voters to seek a remedy such as Amendment 4.

Letter to School District Superintendents in Florida

I am a public school teacher who is watching our public education system being killed like an insect in the hands of a child. Systematically, the legs are being torn off of the bug one at a time. The abdomen, thorax, and head are all that remain. Next week the plan is to sever more pieces to all but kill this public trust.

A fire needs heat, oxygen, and fuel to burn, the oxygen is being limited and the fuel has become scarce. The flame is weakened.

Even though Senate Bill 6 was vetoed, there are supports from that bill that are being killed in this last session. Systematically the props are disappearing by law.

Look at the headlines of newspapers around the state. Massive lay-offs throughout the state are killing public education. Fuel is being withheld to keep public education ignited and glowing.

I would like to suggest that our state legislators be invited to every high school graduation across the state. Every school should be inviting those leaders who are voting to smash public education into the ground.

Media will be there and cameras will be rolling as these elected officials are put on the spot to speak about the importance of education and the future. Parents and a new batch of voters will be listening. Media will be taping these same people who just kicked all the slats out of district budgets.

This idea must come from the top down! Timing is critical. Make these Jeb-licans look into the eyes of those who were not failed by the system. These are the representatives of the people, who have not been listening to the voters.

Educators didn’t have to follow politics so closely before because we thought we were safe. But public education has been attacked this session. We must bring the politician into our domains and educate them.

Please, get the word out to superintendents to insist high schools invite your representatives to speak at graduations in June. If they decline a speaking engagement, take note for the media.

We are going down for the last time. Now is the time that superintendents must act boldly to help save their districts. November, if not the primaries, are critical to public education.

All other schools should be sending all positive news to the offices of these representatives. All programs should include an e-mail, or better yet, a hand-written invitations to events celebrating our victories.

We have done all of this to ourselves by not keeping our lawmakers informed, and they must be drawn back into the schools so they can make wiser choices in the future, Our children are counting on you!

Please save education as a public trust.

Sincerely,

Carol King
35 year veteran of public education in Florida

I Am a Teacher in Florida

2/6/10 Editor: This was found a a Facebook page during the days immediately preceeding the vote for the House version of SB6. The post was so long it was painstakingly broken up into the alloted comment space, one comment after another. It is posted here in full because it is easier to read in one location. I do not know Cagle Miller-Jamee, but she speaks to me and many others. It is her story and, at the same time, our story too.  Enjoy.

 

I rise before dawn each day and find myself nestled in my classroom hours before the morning commute is in full swing in downtown Orlando. I scour the web along with countless other resources to create meaningful learning experiences for my 24 students each day. I reflect on the successes of lessons taught and re-work ideas until I feel confident that they will meet the needs of my diverse learners. I have finished my third cup of coffee in my classroom before the business world has stirred. My contracted hours begin at 7:00 and end at 3:00. As the sun sets around me and people are beginning to enjoy their dinner, I lock my classroom door, having worked 4 hours unpaid.

  

  

I greet the smiling faces of my students and am reminded anew of their challenges, struggles, successes, failures, quirks, and needs. I review their 504s, their IEPs, their PMPs, their histories trying to reach them from every angle possible. They come in hungry—I feed them. They come in angry—I counsel them. They come in defeated—I encourage them. And this is all before the bell rings. 

  

I am a teacher in Florida. 

  

I am told that every student in my realm must score on or above grade level on the FCAT each year. Never mind their learning discrepancies, their unstable home lives, their prior learning experiences. In the spring, they are all assessed with one measure and if they don’t fit, I have failed. Students walk through my doors reading at a second grade level and by year’s end can independently read and comprehend early 4th grade texts, but this is no matter. One of my students has already missed 30 school days this year, but that is overlooked. If they don’t perform well on this ONE test in early March, their learning gains are irrelevant. They didn’t learn enough. They didn’t grow enough. I failed them. In the three months that remain in the school year after this test, I am expected to begin teaching 5th grade curriculum to my 4th grade students so that they are prepared for next year’s test. 

  

I am a teacher in Florida. 

  

I am expected to create a culture of students who will go on to become the leaders of our world. When they exit my classroom, they should be fully equipped to compete academically on a global scale. They must be exposed to different worldviews and diverse perspectives, and yet, most of my students have never left Sanford, Florida. Field trips are now frivolous. I must provide new learning opportunities for them without leaving the four walls of our classroom. So I plan. I generate new ways to expose them to life beyond their neighborhoods through online exploration and digital field trips. I stay up past The Tonight Show to put together a unit that will allow them to experience St. Augustine without getting on a bus. I spend weekends taking pictures and creating a virtual world for them to experience, since the State has determined it is no longer worthwhile for them to explore reality. Yes. My students must be prepared to work within diverse communities, and yet they are not afforded the right to ever experience life beyond their own town. 

  

I am a teacher in Florida. 

  

I accepted a lower salary with the promise of a small increase for every year taught. I watched my friends with less education than me sign on for six figure jobs while I embraced my $28k starting salary. I was assured as I signed my contract that although it was meager to start, my salary would consistently grow each year. That promise has been broken. I’m still working with a meager salary, and the steps that were contracted to me when I accepted a lower salary are now deemed “unnecessary.” 

  

I am a teacher in Florida. 

  

I spent $2500 in my first year alone to outfit an empty room so that it would promote creative thinking and a desire to learn and explore. I now average between $1000-2000 that I pay personally to supplement the learning experiences that take place in my classroom. I print at home on my personal printer and have burned through 12 ink cartridges this school year alone. I purchase the school supplies my students do not have. I buy authentic literature so my students can be exposed to authors and worlds beyond their textbooks. I am required to teach Social Studies and Writing without any curriculum/materials provided, so I purchase them myself. I am required to conduct Science lab without Science materials, so I buy those, too. The budgeting process has determined that copies of classroom materials are too costly, so I resort to paying for my copies at Staples, refusing to compromise my students’ education because high-ranking officials are making inappropriate cuts. It is February, and my entire class is out of glue sticks. Since I have already spent the $74 allotted to me for warehouse supplies, if I don’t buy more, we will not have glue for the remainder of the year. The projects I dream up are limited by the incomprehensible lack of financial support. I am expected to inspire my students to become lifelong learners, and yet we don’t have the resources needed to nurture their natural sense of wonder if I don’t purchase them myself. My meager earning is now pathetic after the expenses that come with teaching effectively. 

  

I am a teacher in Florida. 

  

The government has scolded me for failing to prepare my students to compete in this technologically driven world. Students in Japan are much more equipped to think progressively with regards to technology. Each day, I turn on the two computers afforded me and pray for a miracle. I apply for grants to gain new access to technology and compete with thousands of other teachers who are hoping for the same opportunity. I battle for the right to use the computer lab and feel fortunate if my students get to see it once a week. Why don’t they know how to use technology? The system’s budget refuses to include adequate technology in classrooms; instead, we are continually told that dry erase boards and overhead projectors are more than enough. 

  

I am a teacher in Florida. 

I went to school at one of the best universities in the country and completed undergraduate and graduate programs in Education. I am a master of my craft. I know what effective teaching entails, and I know how to manage the curriculum and needs of the diverse learners in my full inclusion classroom. I graduated at the top of my class and entered my first year of teaching confident and equipped to teach effectively. Sadly, I am now being micro-managed, with my instruction dictated to me. I am expected to mold “out-of-the-box” thinkers while I am forced to stay within the lines of the instructional plans mandated by policy-makers. I am told what I am to teach and when, regardless of the makeup of my students, by decision-makers far away from my classroom or even my school. The message comes in loud and clear that a group of people in business suits can more effectively determine how to provide exemplary instruction than I can. My expertise is waved away, disregarded, and overlooked. I am treated like a day-laborer, required to follow the steps mapped out for me, rather than blaze a trail that I deem more appropriate and effective for my students—students these decision-makers have never met. 

I am a teacher in Florida. 

  

I am overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated by most. I spend my weekends, my vacations, and my summers preparing for school, and I constantly work to improve my teaching to meet the needs of my students. I am being required to do more and more, and I’m being compensated less and less. 

  

I am a teacher in Florida, not for the pay or the hardships, the disregard or the disrespect; I am a teacher in Florida because I am given the chance to change lives for the good, to educate and elevate the minds and hearts of my students, and to show them that success comes in all shapes and sizes, both in the classroom and in the community. 

  

I am a teacher in Florida today, but as I watch many of my incredible, devoted coworkers being forced out of the profession as a matter of survival, I wonder: How long will I be able to remain a teacher in Florida? 

  

 

Cagle Miller-Jamee