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" More money is put into prisons than into schools. That, in itself, is the description of a nation bent on suicide. I mean, what is more precious to us than our own children? We are going to build a lot more prisons if we do not deal with the schools and their inequalities." --Jonathan Kozol

HHS GRADUATING SENIOR WINS GOLDEN APPLE SCHOLAR AWARD So you've never heard of the Golden Apple Scholar? Neither had Amy Pacheco until she received a letter from the committee indicating that she had been nominated by her high school guidance counselor, Emily Chovanec. Amy Pacheco, 17, a senior at Harlem High School was named one of Illinois Golden Apple Scholars, a scholarship designed to entice worthy scholars to enter the teaching profession. The application process, says Amy, was far more rigorous than any college application she completed, including requiring eight essays! As part of the requirement for the scholarship, Amy must teach for 5 years in an Illinois public school after she graduates. In return she is granted $2,500.00 per year for four years to attend any of 53 affiliated institutions. She plans to attend North Central College in Naperville in the fall. In addition, she will complete special teaching methods coursework during the summers and be involved with structured internships involving tutoring and summer camps. The first two summers will be at DePaul University, the third summer will involve a summer camp experience, and the fourth summer will be at Elmhurst College. In return for the summer experience, she will receive $2,000.00 for each summer. Amy aspires to teach U.S. history, following in the footsteps of her inspiration, David W. Johnson who teaches that course at Harlem High School. Although Amy has considered working with younger children, her work with the pre-school program at Harlem has lead her to conclude she would become to easily emotionally attached to the little guys. Further she suspects it will be easier to prepare one subject rather than all subjects. In her off hours Amy works at Fairhaven Christian Retirement Center. Her favorite part of the job is eating leftover Jell-O. Her least favorite aspect is the picky people and having to wash dishes. She does enjoy socializing with the residents; she finds their stories amusing. Amy identifies herself as a band kid. She has played clarinet since sixth grade and intends to continue in college. Our hearty congratulations to Amy. Our profession will be honored to welcome her into the ranks when she graduates. Joanne Woods, teacher at Machesney Elementary School, has been suffering from joint pain of late. After many tests and trips to the doctor's office, findings are consistent with a large right upper lobe mass in her lung. Primary lung malignancy was diagnosed. You can keep up to date on Joanne's progress and send her well wishes by visiting her Caring Bridge web site, being maintained by her daugther, by visiting here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joannewoods The HFT sends its well wishes for a speedy recovery for Joanne!		BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD INSURANCE UPDATES (5/14/08) We are currently waiting on info regarding premiums for the 2008-09 school year. At this time the financials for 2007-08 are complete through April. The financial year for insurance runs through June 30. Somtime around this date we should have further info regarding premiums. Currently expenditures are $6,097,618 for the first 10 months. Last year expenditures were $7,462,429, so with 2 months remaining an a average monthly expenditure of $609,761, we should be very close to last year's amount which is very good news. Also, the revenues indicate that we could have a positive fund balance for the 3rd year in a row, which is also very good news. As indicated the medical plan doc. is being proofed and questions are in the process of being clarified by and to BCBS and BPS. The intent is to make sure the new doc. under BCBS mirrors the old doc. under BSSI and includes the additions to the plan which were part of the negotiated contract. If the doc. is not finalized and printed by the end of the school year, we'll need to develop a plan for distribution during the summer for members who would like a copy in their hands. The Delta Dental doc. has not been presented for our review at this time. We will pass on further info as we receive it. THREE GRADUATING SENIORS CHOSEN FOR TONY BABCOCK SCHOLARSHIPS Three $500 HFT Tony Babcock scholarships were announced at the Senior Awards Banquet on Tuesday, May 13th. The winners are: Isaura Flores Jordan Reifsteck Rachelle Smoot Congratulations, Scholarship winners, and good luck with your future endeavors! MEETING MINUTES UPDATE Meeting minutes for May's Building Representative meeting are now online.
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Think YOU'VE had a bad evaluation? Check these out! These are actual quotes taken from Federal Government employee performance evaluations.

1. "Since my last report, this employee has reached rock-bottom and has started to dig."
2. "I would not allow this employee to breed."
3. "This employee is really not so much of a has-been, but more of a definite won't be."
4. "Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap."
5. "When she opens her mouth, it seems that it is only to change feet."
6. "This young lady has delusions of adequacy."
7. "He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them."
8. "This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot."
9. "This employee should go far, and the sooner he starts the better."
10. "Got a full 6-pack, but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it all together"
11. "A gross ignoramus -- 144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus."
12. "He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier."
14. "I would like to go hunting with him sometime ."
15. "He's been working with glue too much."
16. "He would argue with a signpost."
17. "He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves the room."
18. "When his IQ reaches 50, he should sell."
19. "If you see two people talking and one looks bored, he's the other one."
20. "A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on."
21. "A prime candidate for natural de-selection."
22. "Donated his brain to science before he was done using it."
23. "Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming."
24. "He's got two brain cells, one is lost and the other is out looking for it."
25. "If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week."
26. "If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change."
27. "If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean."
28. "It's hard to believe he beat out 1,000,000 other sperm."
29. "One neuron short of a synapse."
30. "Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; he only gargled."
31. "Takes him 2 hours to watch '60-minutes'."

TIRED OF THOSE HIGH PAID TEACHERS?

I, for one, am sick and tired of those highly paid teachers. Their hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work nine or ten months a year!

It's time we put things into perspective and pay them for what they do...baby-sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage. That's right...I would give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked, not any of that silly planning time. That would be 15 dollars a day. Each parent should pay 15 dollars a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

Now, how many do they teach in a day...maybe 25? That's 15 x 25=$375 a day. But remember they only work 180 days a year! I'm not going to pay them for any vacations. Let's see...that's 375 x 180=$67,500.00. (Hold on, my calculator must need batteries!)

What about those special teachers or the ones with master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage just to be fair. Let's round it off to $6.00 an hour. That would be $6 an hour. That would be $6 times 5 hours times 25 children times 180 days=$135,000.00 per year. Wait a minute, there is something wrong here!!! There sure is, duh!!!

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued: "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminded the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers:"Those who can...do. Those who can't, teach."

To corroborate, he said to another guest: "You're a teacher, Susan. Be honest. What do you make?"

Susan, who had a reputation of honesty and frankness, replied, "You want to know what I make? "I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could."

"I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face if the student did not do his or her very best. I can make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence. I can make parents tremble in fear when I call home.

"You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them write. I make them read, read, read. I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, and definitely beautiful over and over and over again, until they will never misspell either one of those words again. I make them show all their work in math and hide it all on their final drafts in English.

"I make them understand that if you have the brains, then follow your heart...and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you pay them no attention.

"You want to know what I make? I make a difference."

-Shared through the Internet ~ Author Unknown